Nintendo blocks use of PassMe!

[shaunj66]

News: Nintendo blocks use of PassMe devices!



Planning to buy a new Nintendo DS to play homebrew on? Think again.





In a surprising move from Nintendo, it's been discovered that latest production models of the Nintendo DS have been modified... to block use of any PassMe device (and variations of).

The latest models of the Nintendo DS - the new Red colour edition and China only iQue DS, have been reported to not work with PassMe.

Whether or not latest batches of all the other DS variations have been "fixed" is unknown, as there have been no reports of compatibility issues beyond the two afore mentioned models. But it seems highly likely that Nintendo will update all future batches.

Technical details are not available yet, so whether this fix was a physical hardware update or a simple firmware update is currently unknown. But it's only a matter of time before someone figures it out...

... And cracks it.

 

[Issac]

Haha... dang, that was unsuspected! Good for me I already have a DS

 

[TPi]

Yeah, read about it on 64scener. Bad news. :\ Hope Nintendo doesn't follow the Sony path and keep killing off homebrew options.

 

[legendofphil]

I wonder if it also blocks FlashMe

 

[AshuraZro]

Nintendo surprised the hell out of me on this one. Makes me a little afraid of first-party titles also recieving protection... not that they wont be cracked if done.

 

[shaunj66]

I wonder if it also blocks FlashMe

Not sure. No ones reported if these models have firmware protection. Nintendo may have blocked the ability to update firmware by using a non-rewriteable flash chip.

They may have also covered up that firmware update bridge under the battery cover...

 

[VmprHntrD]

PassMe I thought used some hardware or bios exploit to get around the lack of having a DS flash card itself. So really Nintendo either closed the hole on the hardware side or in the bios. Either way if it's hardware kinda screwed on that end with passme's but maybe a real ds flash card would be fine, but if it's a bios deal depends if it can be patched or not easily I guess. If it's hardware, smart move on the closing of a hole, if it's going to be bios updating diligence then that will be a problem.

 

[Xboxed]

No surprise...it was just a matter of time. With the upcoming release of all those sweet cards...NOA is getting uneasy. Now , we need some upgreadable "ME's" a la QOOB or Viper to keep the scene rollin'.

Now, just wait for Nintendo offering some fancy app like PictoChat2 or the WebBrowser/OnlinePlayer for free to upgrade your Firmware just like Sony did with the PSP.

Peace

 

[bryehn]

does this affect the electric blue ones too? cause i was planning on getting a second ds for the wife...

 

[shaunj66]

does this affect the electric blue ones too? cause i was planning on getting a second ds for the wife...

Unknown at the moment.

Early batches may not have been affected as they were released a fair while ago now, but I'm sure future models will have the update applied.

 

[Azngamer15]

lol, its like psp 1.5 ALL over again

good thing i have a ds already though

 

[xflash]

meh im glad i bought mine a long long long time ago lol anyway wifi still works right?

 

[Eruonen]

If you send you're DS to them for repair, do you think they'll block it too?

 

[amptor]

lol nintendo shouldn't even bother, no matter what they do all their stuff gets cracked.

guess what nintendo -> you could use truely proprietary compact discs and not have any input/output ports then nobody would be able to exploit your shit (btw how many people do you know with UMD burners? surely nintendo could get together with someone and make something similar)
btw- nobody really NEEDS multiplayer for handheld gaming. it'd still sell without. however, a very slow speed port would hinder piracy efforts greatly and still allow multiplayer gaming.

 

[decript]

Yeah, lucky me I got an old one. I don't think they would replace your DS if it was changed.

 

[ShadowXP]

Now I'm glad I got my DS when I did.

 

[Nojoy]

does this affect the electric blue ones too? cause i was planning on getting a second ds for the wife...

I bought my son an electric blue one about 3 weeks ago... the passme and flashme worked just fine with his. So at least the first shipments of them are okay...

 

[amptor]

I still want a blue DS though

well maybe i can walmart swap mine

 

[MaD_mAnIaC]

neither nintendo or sony are stupid... they know that having their systems cracked so soon, will make they lose millions in software sales, and will slowdown game production, so they're trying to protect their systems a bit more. they'll never be able to stop piracy completely, but they're slowing it down quite a bit. i think this is the right thing to do, or else this handhelds can die sooner than they should...

 

[weasley]

Lucily I got mine, the date it got released so i got no problem with passme

Yeppie I safe, But what if when the new offical firmware out will it block the passme?