Posted this originally in the R4 thread, but it sort of got lost in the clutter. So, repost here.
I really don't see why everybody assumes a flashcart means the instant death of the 3DS. It certainly hasn't hurt the Wii or DS any, and both of those had them pretty early on, and have had insanely easy methods for a while. Yet, contrary to peoples claims, this hasn't stopped any "big games" from coming to them. This hasn't stopped 3rd party support. It hasn't changed well, much of anything. The primary reason any game doesn't come to the Wii vs the PS3 or Xbox360 is purely because of a) power or b) image. That's it. And well, there's certainly never been a stop to the flood of games on the DS, like Imagine! Crappy Game Designer.
The companies always say they have "lost" x$ to piracy. While it is true they lose something to piracy, it's nowhere near the x$. Let's say that piracy never existed and game A comes out. You have no intention of buying game A. Now, lets go back to piracy existing and you download the game for whatever reason you wouldn't have bought in the first place. There is no lost sale there. Or to put it another way - say you hate tomatoes. If the price of tomatoes goes down to 1 cent/lb, you're not magically going to buy more tomatoes. If there was a way pirate vegetables, you wouldn't be causing lost sales of tomatoes. So if a sale never would have happened, it's not a lost sale. Yet companies assume every download is a lost sale.
Now, are there some games people get for free that they would have bought? Yes, of course. These are the true lost sales. But what we tend to forget here is that gbatemp/"the scene" is a rather insular community. A lot of "regular" people have no clue that you can use flashcards or modchips or whatnot, and are totally amazed when somebody tells them that they can. (Trust me, I've had the experience a few times) Without a doubt, the majority of DSes, Wiis, or any other system are unmodded. Which is why the true loss of y$ is always less then the stated loss of x$.
Am I somehow trying to justify piracy with this post? No, of course not. People can make their own personal justifications for why they want/don't want a flashcard/mod. But please stop saying that it's killed the 3DS or anything else. The PSP didn't die (and has already been mentioned, 60 million sold is hardly a failure. It's probably more then every other non-Nintendo portable combined.) because of piracy, it died because of poor planning on Sony's part. End of story.
Now, all of this being said, it doesn't matter to me personally if a 3DS mode cart ever happens, even though it's naive to think it won't. It will be nice to have a DS mode cart if nothing else so I can get rid of my lite and still have my emus and what not. Because I love my emus and shouldn't have to lug a 2600 around to play frostbite or yar's revenge.
I really don't see why everybody assumes a flashcart means the instant death of the 3DS. It certainly hasn't hurt the Wii or DS any, and both of those had them pretty early on, and have had insanely easy methods for a while. Yet, contrary to peoples claims, this hasn't stopped any "big games" from coming to them. This hasn't stopped 3rd party support. It hasn't changed well, much of anything. The primary reason any game doesn't come to the Wii vs the PS3 or Xbox360 is purely because of a) power or b) image. That's it. And well, there's certainly never been a stop to the flood of games on the DS, like Imagine! Crappy Game Designer.
The companies always say they have "lost" x$ to piracy. While it is true they lose something to piracy, it's nowhere near the x$. Let's say that piracy never existed and game A comes out. You have no intention of buying game A. Now, lets go back to piracy existing and you download the game for whatever reason you wouldn't have bought in the first place. There is no lost sale there. Or to put it another way - say you hate tomatoes. If the price of tomatoes goes down to 1 cent/lb, you're not magically going to buy more tomatoes. If there was a way pirate vegetables, you wouldn't be causing lost sales of tomatoes. So if a sale never would have happened, it's not a lost sale. Yet companies assume every download is a lost sale.
Now, are there some games people get for free that they would have bought? Yes, of course. These are the true lost sales. But what we tend to forget here is that gbatemp/"the scene" is a rather insular community. A lot of "regular" people have no clue that you can use flashcards or modchips or whatnot, and are totally amazed when somebody tells them that they can. (Trust me, I've had the experience a few times) Without a doubt, the majority of DSes, Wiis, or any other system are unmodded. Which is why the true loss of y$ is always less then the stated loss of x$.
Am I somehow trying to justify piracy with this post? No, of course not. People can make their own personal justifications for why they want/don't want a flashcard/mod. But please stop saying that it's killed the 3DS or anything else. The PSP didn't die (and has already been mentioned, 60 million sold is hardly a failure. It's probably more then every other non-Nintendo portable combined.) because of piracy, it died because of poor planning on Sony's part. End of story.
Now, all of this being said, it doesn't matter to me personally if a 3DS mode cart ever happens, even though it's naive to think it won't. It will be nice to have a DS mode cart if nothing else so I can get rid of my lite and still have my emus and what not. Because I love my emus and shouldn't have to lug a 2600 around to play frostbite or yar's revenge.
