Hacking 3DS Bricking Rumor

[RedCoreZero]

Don't worry they said this with the Wii a billion times.

 

[Tattorack]

But hey, Nintendo wont brick the device, that would make trouble (people not seeing the point in buying a new one etc).
But wont they be able to corrupt the data on the flashcard? Meaning; every time you plug in a flash card with homebrew data that the device has to read (connected to wifi or not) would corrupt it to the point that the card needs to be reformatted?

 

[Shiny_Lucario]

Means that the system becomes totally broken, making the Hardware as useful as a brick

Thanks gunna rumor stuff about Pokemon X & Y now...

 

[JaronMatthewHigg]

Nintendo will never disable or cause undesired operation of any of the systems.

One reason is because as Rydian said it is illegal to permanently disable or sabotage the system.
Another reason is that so far, brickings have not taken place due to an action by the user of the system. The best thing Nintendo will do is disable the flashcarts every update. But we constantly have a way around it by updating the flashcart's software before the system's software.

But what if one day, the flashcart companies stopped production? Will it be a big victory for Nintendo?

 

[RodrigoDavy]

But what if one day, the flashcart companies stopped production? Will it be a big victory for Nintendo?

As long as there is people willing to buy, there will always be some group that will manufacture flashcarts. Also, DS software sales are slowly decreasing because of the 3DS so it's not a victory that big and people can still buy a DS lite to play pirate DS games anyway

 

[SecretChao428]

Well after searching Google it seems to conguse me, but one thing is for sure, it is not all about Fear Mongering, but then again Nintendo is getting paid much more and raising it's prices of it's consules and games in order to add the "Extra Security" the DRM, DMCA, the Government of Japan and the Government along with Congress of the United States(Mostly Republicans) to improve this even more(bigger fines and longer Jail Sentinces not out of the question), but also I think it means more Raises to it's workers in the US and Japan for the Game Programmers and Hardware Makers also apply in this too.

 

[stephysanrio]

As long as there is people willing to buy, there will always be some group that will manufacture flashcarts. Also, DS software sales are slowly decreasing because of the 3DS so it's not a victory that big and people can still buy a DS lite to play pirate DS games anyway

you are correct on that "as long as there is people willing to buy... etc etc BUT if this group of ppl were to get sued and what not by nintendo I'm sure that would be it.

 

[drottning]

Kirby's Epic Yarn (a recent Wii game) flat-out tells you that if you have unauthorized stuff, an update may render your machine inoperable.

huh that's weird, where does it say that? i used to play kirby's epic yarn all the time.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

huh that's weird, where does it say that? i used to play kirby's epic yarn all the time.

In the game's manual I guess

 

[Rydian]

Yeah, I put screenshots of the PDFs from Nintendo (they have first-party game manuals available on their support site) in the spoilers.

 

[Xarsah16]

Question,

If I was to send in my 3DS for service, (thank God I don't need to), but theoretically, if I left my Supercard in Slot-1 by accident, what would be Nintendo's course of action?

Would they then sue me, or send me back an inoperable (bricked) system? (I think this would be a waste of their time though.) Would they just keep the cart and send the system back without it?

I'm sure someone's screwed up and sent a flash cart in before. D:

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Question,

If I was to send in my 3DS for service, (thank God I don't need to), but theoretically, if I left my Supercard in Slot-1 by accident, what would be Nintendo's course of action?

Would they then sue me, or send me back an inoperable (bricked) system? (I think this would be a waste of their time though.) Would they just keep the cart and send the system back without it?

I'm sure someone's screwed up and sent a flash cart in before. D:

They would keep the card, fix ur system and send it to u.

 

[Xarsah16]

They would keep the card, fix ur system and send it to u.

Really? My friend got his 3DS jammed in a car door, he paid for the repair, and Nintendo wouldn't fix his system because they said the DS had been tampered with because it was missing a couple screws around the slot 1 area... and that was because it was jammed in the car door. They must have fell out because the breakage was pretty bad. They sent his system back to him as is, accusing him of tampering with it, when that never happened. I can't believe they would just fix your system, especially after all of the "fearmongering" and wordiness that Rydian pointed out in the start of this thread.

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Really? My friend got his 3DS jammed in a car door, he paid for the repair, and Nintendo wouldn't fix his system because they said the DS had been tampered with because it was missing a couple screws around the slot 1 area... and that was because it was jammed in the car door. They must have fell out because the breakage was pretty bad. They sent his system back to him as is, accusing him of tampering with it, when that never happened. I can't believe they would just fix your system, especially after all of the "fearmongering" and wordiness that Rydian pointed out in the start of this thread.

Someone on temp forgot his DSTWO in his 3DS but he already have sent it to Nintendo.
They just have kept the card, fixed the 3DS and sent him back it.

 

[Katakana]

Do you think Nintendo is targeting flash carts, or all sorts of accessories such as battery packs

Flashcarts, of course.

Do you think Nintendo will actually brick machines, or do you think it's fear-mongering?

At the worst they will ban your console in Online.

Do you think Nintendo has a right to do it, or do you think they'll get sued?

Bricking consoles is too radical, I think.

 

[SweetieBelle]

What Nintendo have the right to do is withdraw their service agreement to you and suspend or cancel your online service/s. Legally they are not permitted to take the flash card you accidentally left in the system. They can just claim it was not in there and throw it in the bin, it will be your word vs theirs and obviously not worth your hassle trying to sue them over it.

They are also permitted to exercise their legal right to charge you over violation of the terms of use agreement with the OS, which says basically you cannot hack it. It is unlikely unless your unit contained proof you were the one to find an original 3DS hack, in that case you might be in some real hot water.

As for 3DS hacks and bricking, I would expect some kind of blocking to be added to the OS in the same way the hacked game cards are added. Potentially blocking all games from the unit. Perhaps you get 3 chances at unblocking it, and to have it unblocked you have to take it to a licensed Nintendo retailer for them to input a code and collect your name and address for Nintendo's records (and to scare those getting it unblocked.) After 3 unblocking codes, one would be refused all Nintendo services and have their unit left permanently blocked if they use a hacked card again. How they would detect this I do not know, but I expect such a move from Nintendo. Just my guess.

 

[Rydian]

They are also permitted to exercise their legal right to charge you over violation of the terms of use agreement with the OS, which says basically you cannot hack it. It is unlikely unless your unit contained proof you were the one to find an original 3DS hack, in that case you might be in some real hot water.

Considering you don't agree to this in order to legally purchase the device, this is dubious at best.

As for 3DS hacks and bricking, I would expect some kind of blocking to be added to the OS in the same way the hacked game cards are added. Potentially blocking all games from the unit. Perhaps you get 3 chances at unblocking it, and to have it unblocked you have to take it to a licensed Nintendo retailer for them to input a code and collect your name and address for Nintendo's records (and to scare those getting it unblocked.) After 3 unblocking codes, one would be refused all Nintendo services and have their unit left permanently blocked if they use a hacked card again. How they would detect this I do not know, but I expect such a move from Nintendo. Just my guess.

Nobody's done this. Nintendo hasn't done it for the numerous other systems (Wii, GC, N63, SNES, NES, DSi, DS, GBA, GBC, GB), even Sony and Microsoft (who are seen as relatively heavy-handed) haven't gone nearly that far.

Despite the negative connotation, you can hack your own system all you want. It's when you get into piracy and/or distributing legally-protected information/data (like Geohot did) that there's an issue. But that's for the law to decide what's a violation and what's done, not the video game company.

 

[SweetieBelle]

As I understand it in Australia, it is illegal. Well, you can hack the unit, but you run the risk of prosecution if they can prove loss to prevent loss, but they can also retract any services offered. There are also of course separate agreements for the online services if you hack those too.

NINTENDO OPERATING SOFTWARE The Nintendo Operating Software may only be used with Nintendo consoles, and may not be used for any other purpose. You must not copy, adapt, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble or modify the Nintendo Operating Software other than as expressly permitted by applicable law. Nintendo may use anti-copying or other measures to protect its rights relating to the Nintendo Operating Software.

Source: http://www.nintendo.com.au/hardware-warranty

As for the network services..

Article 7: Prohibition of Duplication, Modification and Reverse-Engineering.

Only Nintendo has the right to host the Nintendo DSi Network Service. Accordingly, you may not host, intercept, emulate reverse engineer or redirect the communication protocols used by Nintendo as part of the Nintendo DSi System or the Nintendo DSi Network Service, regardless of the method used to do so.

We can split hairs over it all we like, the internet seems to attract such activities, but if Nintendo want your head on a pike, they'll get it. If they have to seize everything of value that you own and stick you in a hole for 6 months for reverse engineering, to stop others, they will.

Reverse engineering-the process of looking at lower levels of abstraction to understand higher levels-is not limited to decompiling programs, as many believe. It is an excellent way to pinpoint what you need to build an interface or change a system to reflect new business goals. But unraveling someone's code opens up a legal can of worms, and as reverse engineering becomes more popular, some people are taking time out from their Y2K worries to say, “is this legal?” This in and of itself is not new-the law seems consistently to be an afterthought to solving technological problems-but in this case, the current preoccupation with reverse engineering may cause the two disciplines to finally stop and consider each other. The courts may realize that if we want to achieve a global electronic society, the law has to make it easier for systems to become interoperable, correct, and secure. Software and system developers may realize that long-standing legal principles can actually work for them, not tie their hands and, more important, that they can influence the laws being made. Unfortunately, we seem to be taking one step forward and two steps back in trying to make this happen. Laws in four key regions-the US, EU, Japan, and Australia-reveal foundational inconsistencies in attitudes about reverse engineering. And recent US legislation, both enacted and proposed, is conflicted

Source: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/logi...ore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=774940

 

[Rydian]

Never said they couldn't cut service, that's their right.

But don't confuse what a company wants and writes in the EULA/ToS with what is legal.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/04/15/online-shoppers-unknowingly-sold-souls/
etc.

 

[Duo8]

As I understand it in my country, nobody cares. Even the authorities pirate.