The game! Nintendo, Sony and piracy?

[Mantis41]

I was absolutely shocked when the 3DS was released and DS mode flashcarts just worked. Nintendo are not stupid. They must have known the flashcarts would work on the new console and I do not believe it is that hard to write firmware to block them.

Quite a few firmware revisions later and only a spattering of half-arsed attempts to block flashcarts got me thinking. Do Nintendo really give a shit about DS mode flashcarts or are they just making half-arsed attempts at blocking to keep the developers happy?

Lets look at the big picture. Nintendo want nothing more than to push as many 3DS consoles into the market place in the shortest space of time possible. What better way to ensure the widest audience by keeping present DS mode hacks wide open. The is especially important considering the lack lustre library available at launch and IMO a library that could still be a lot stronger.

This also got me thinking how much stronger would the Vita have been if Sony had made PSP mode hacks reasonably easy to implement while keeping Vita modes un-hackable. If you could have run all of your PSP games and EMUs at launch how many of us would have jumped straight onto the Vita bandwagon. Sony could then play the same game as Nintendo and just make some minor changes to the firmware to challenge the hackers but not entirely block while at the same time keeping the developers happy that they are addressing the issues.

The corporate world is all one big game of balancing and cat and mouse and I think Nintendo are a much smarter player in that respect.

 

[Arras]

I think it's more like DS mode was so insecure it's near impossible to completely patch it and certainly not worth the effort.
Also

The game!

I just lost it.

 

[Lanlan]

I don't think the people that know how to hack consoles/handhelds are big enough in number to really matter. I've never met anyone with a hacked Wii or a DS flashcart.

 

[Deleted-236924]

You're basing yourself on baseless assumptions, though.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

For some reason people think that pirates make up like a bagillion people. Games sell systems, prices sell systems, piracy doesn't. Why buy a Vita to play pirated PSP games instead of a PSP? Same with a 3DS at the moment.

 

[Mantis41]

LOL, My son goes to a school in a reasonable area and just bout every one of his friends has a flashcart. You would be suprised how many have been sold world wide. Just look at the number of hits on the AK firmware on each release. The PSP is the same. I don't think I know anyone who hasn't got a hacked PSP.

 

[Arras]

And DS mode pirates wouldn't buy a 3DS in the first place because they already had a DS that could do everything the 3DS can in DS mode. Why purchase a new console except for when you want to play the games on it? I doubt the DS carts matter for sales because of this. Maybe, but not enough to make a large 3DS v Vita difference.

 

[Mantis41]

For some reason people think that pirates make up like a bagillion people. Games sell systems, prices sell systems, piracy doesn't. Why buy a Vita to play pirated PSP games instead of a PSP? Same with a 3DS at the moment.

People like having one console. It is the same reason smart phones do so well. 6 years age I would have said who wants a camera, mp3 and movie player in a friken phone. People only like carrying around one device.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

For some reason people think that pirates make up like a bagillion people. Games sell systems, prices sell systems, piracy doesn't. Why buy a Vita to play pirated PSP games instead of a PSP? Same with a 3DS at the moment.

Because you're basically getting a console that can play two types of games? One that plays the latest, and one that gives you the entire library of the previous console for free.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

For some reason people think that pirates make up like a bagillion people. Games sell systems, prices sell systems, piracy doesn't. Why buy a Vita to play pirated PSP games instead of a PSP? Same with a 3DS at the moment.

People like having one console. It is the same reason smart phones do so well. 6 years age I would have said who wants a camera, mp3 and movie player in a friken phone. People only like carrying around one device.

But your point is that the Nintendo isn't enforcing much anti-piracy because it helps their system sell and that Sony is struggling for doing the opposite. I'm saying that's not the case. I don't really know where "that's why smartphones are popular" came from.

 

[Zerousen]

For some reason people think that pirates make up like a bagillion people. Games sell systems, prices sell systems, piracy doesn't. Why buy a Vita to play pirated PSP games instead of a PSP? Same with a 3DS at the moment.

People like having one console. It is the same reason smart phones do so well. 6 years age I would have said who wants a camera, mp3 and movie player in a friken phone. People only like carrying around one device.

But your point is that the Nintendo isn't enforcing much anti-piracy because it helps their system sell and that Sony is struggling for doing the opposite. I'm saying that's not the case. I don't really know where "that's why smartphones are popular" came from.

I think he is talking about the Vita's built in camera, and that the Vita can play both Vita games and PSP games, while a regular old PSP would only play PSP games.

EDIT: Derp, what ShadowSoldier said.

 

[Mantis41]

For some reason people think that pirates make up like a bagillion people. Games sell systems, prices sell systems, piracy doesn't. Why buy a Vita to play pirated PSP games instead of a PSP? Same with a 3DS at the moment.

People like having one console. It is the same reason smart phones do so well. 6 years age I would have said who wants a camera, mp3 and movie player in a friken phone. People only like carrying around one device.

But your point is that the Nintendo isn't enforcing much anti-piracy because it helps their system sell and that Sony is struggling for doing the opposite. I'm saying that's not the case. I don't really know where "that's why smartphones are popular" came from.

Perhaps your right. The phone thing was just illustrate if you could buy one device for all you would be more likely to purchase it. In this case a PSP mode enabled Vita would tick a lot of boxes "gaming wise."

I still think a hell of a lot more Vitas would have sold if the PSP hacks were available. It is hard to put a figure on this but I personally think it is a lot. I also think if Nintendo wanted to they could put a lid on flashcarts for the 3DS for good.

 

[Hadrian]

There's only a DS mode because Nintendo wants less butthurt people than possible. It's nothing but an added bonus just like having GC on Wii. They know that most 3DS owners probably own a DS anyway and therefore they wont bother using their full asses on making sure people can't play pirated DS games on 3DS when people would just go back to the DS to play pirated DS games if they did manage to kill DS piracy on 3DS forever.

 

[Mantis41]

There's only a DS mode because Nintendo wants less butthurt people than possible. It's nothing but an added bonus just like having GC on Wii. They know that most 3DS owners probably own a DS anyway and therefore they wont bother using their full asses on making sure people can't play pirated DS games on 3DS when people would just go back to the DS to play pirated DS games if they did manage to kill DS piracy on 3DS forever.

This is what I am trying to get at. If Sony had let the PSP side ride then a lot more PSP owners would be more likely to fork out and purchase the upgrade.

 

[EyeZ]

An interesting topic, i wouldn't like to estimate how much piracy accounts for console sales.

I do understand the point you are making with your opening post.

I see it as Nintendo making the 3DS backward compatible purely as to encourage sales of the 3DS to the DS/Lite owners without leaving their already purchased DS games a platform to play on.

The DS has already been hacked, so Nintendo aren't able to do anything about that.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Backwards compatibility in general really helps some people decide to get a system.

 

[emigre]

I'm struggling to find the words to accurately describe how flawed I find the opening post.

 

[Deleted_171835]

What a pile of horse shit.

I hope you realize pirates only represent a very small part of consumers. As of 2010-11-05, there were only 593658 Homebrew Channel installations. That represents less than one percent of the total Wii userbase at the time.

If you make your platform open (even if it's only one part, DS games), you're essentially telling developers that you don't give a shit about piracy. With that kind of attitude, third-party developers will be staying far away from your platform.

 

[Kayot]

I bought a LoZ 3DS and a DSTWO. I owned a Black DSlite and a CycloDS. I gave them to my little sister.

I own a PSP with CFW. I will buy a vita when Disgaea 4 comes out AND there is a PSP mode hack. I don't want to lose the option to play my back log, emulators, and possible future homebrew to enjoy two games that I want to play.

What I want to know is -- Why is piracy so huge/insugnificant depening on the argument?

 

[chavosaur]

Out of all the thousands of kids at my high school, I have met one other person with a flashcart.
Barely anyone actually knows what a flashcart is. Or softmodding or anything of the sort.
People who think they are hackers and shit, are just big ego'd kids that jailbroke their iPhone. Only about 2% of the entire world actually takes the time to find a way to hack other kinds of things. Hence why their are so few flash carts and hacked consoles in the world (not to mention security)
The biggest way to tell there actually are not that many hackers and pirates out there, is to take a look at this site here. look at our total amount of members. about 300,000 members. Look at other hacking sites. Look at downloads of homebrew channel as Soulx stated, or check the advertised number of flashcarts sold, and so on.
The numbers are extremely low, yet most people make it out to seem like 1/2 the world has their shit hacked.