Hacking 3DS Bricking Rumor

[Janthran]

i dont have a flash yet but its really stupid for some company to brick someones system for hardware they weren't even aware was illegal. i mean,would anyone even know that?the flash carts ive seen online looked like they would be boxed up and shelved in a real store!

It should be obvious to anyone that something that lets you play all the games for free cant possibly be legal.

Flashcarts are legal in the U.S.

 

[mysticwaterfall]

i dont have a flash yet but its really stupid for some company to brick someones system for hardware they weren't even aware was illegal. i mean,would anyone even know that?the flash carts ive seen online looked like they would be boxed up and shelved in a real store!

It should be obvious to anyone that something that lets you play all the games for free cant possibly be legal.

Flashcarts are legal in the U.S.

Assuming you only played homebrew on it, yes. But we all know that doesn't happen. I mostly use mine just for emus on the 3ds, but its still technically illegal when I play an NES game I didn't own originally. I think you'd be hard pressed to find somebody making a perfectly legal use of a flashcart.

 

[Janthran]

i dont have a flash yet but its really stupid for some company to brick someones system for hardware they weren't even aware was illegal. i mean,would anyone even know that?the flash carts ive seen online looked like they would be boxed up and shelved in a real store!

It should be obvious to anyone that something that lets you play all the games for free cant possibly be legal.

Flashcarts are legal in the U.S.

Assuming you only played homebrew on it, yes. But we all know that doesn't happen. I mostly use mine just for emus on the 3ds, but its still technically illegal when I play an NES game I didn't own originally. I think you'd be hard pressed to find somebody making a perfectly legal use of a flashcart.

No. Downloading ROMs is illegal. Owning a flashcart is not. Even if you already own a game, it's illegal to download it.
Flashcarts aren't like drugs. You can't be arrested for owning them.

 

[mysticwaterfall]

My point was, owning it might be legal, but using it is illegal for 99.9% of the world. Now getting arrested for it is a different story. If people got arrested everytime they broke the law everybody would have a criminal record.

 

[Allen13]

It is legal to download roms of games that you own for backup if the game breaks.

 

[DarkShinigami]

It is legal to download roms of games that you own for backup if the game breaks.

no its illegal to download roms its legal to make a backup of roms you own and if said game breaks you loose rights to have a backup(well i think the break part is right but the download is right)

 

[indask8]

It is legal to download roms of games that you own for backup if the game breaks.

no its illegal to download roms its legal to make a backup of roms you own and if said game breaks you loose rights to have a backup(well i think the break part is right but the download is right)

It's illegal to download rom, that's it.

BUT, if you backup your game before it break, then you can keep playing with the backup (as long as you keep the broken original as proof of ownership), (but then it might not be true in every countries, some have laws that forbids you to backup your games if they are copy protected (pretty much every videogame company pretend their cartridges are), or also if the storage is not likely to be damaged over time such as cartridges)

 

[YamiHoshi.nl]

Having a ROM is only legal, if you dump it yourself, and never share it with anybody.
When you start sharing it, then it automatically turns illegal.

 

[mysticwaterfall]

^And at least in the US, you have to make the backup yourself without circumventing any copy protection, which makes preatty much any modern backup illegal.

 

[YamiHoshi.nl]

I don't know, USA is a huge distance away from me.

 

[Rydian]

I updated the first post to change a lot of the wording, since some of the lines were talking about the 3DS as if it had just been released and such.

 

[The Catboy]

I don't think this topic is clear enough for people. I think someone on the staff should not only sticky this topic (and this topic as well.) but do what they did with this

That way there is no excuse for people missing it.

 

[Paper Mario Fan]

FAKE if it was real Nintendo would lose millions of dollars

 

[The Catboy]

FAKE if it was real Nintendo would lose millions of dollars

You didn't even read the thread did you?

 

[Deshra]

Having a ROM is only legal, if you dump it yourself, and never share it with anybody.
When you start sharing it, then it automatically turns illegal.

According to the DMCA you may own ANY backup of any media you own legally even if you download a copy. It is not illegal to circumvent the copyright protection, it is illegal to OWN any software that circumvents copyright protection. As long as you own a cart for an older game, I doubt that it matters whether or not that it works becasue the point is you have the physical cart. Law enforcement really isn't going to take the time to test whether or not it works to determine if you have an illegal copy. Mostly they would ask to see the physical cart, once shown would drop the issue. Source: I'm a criminal justice major and My wife is a business law major.
Frankly it would be as bad a move as Sony or MIcrosoft locking out used games on the next gen consoles, I can understand keeping piracy to a minimum, but bricking a console or handheld will make people more apt to jailbreak them and circumvent any methods that the company tries. The stupid thing with these situations is that Microsoft has been locking out xboxes for having a second FAN to keep the system cooler and not RROD. This is the same thing Nintendo has been warning against, I knew Miyomoto was a loon but he is too smart when it comes to business, and intentionally bricking console or handheld for people modding or even using a flashcart is a bad business move. The only reason I want flashcart myself is because I want to play my old Zelda games on the go, I have so many doc visits it gets freakin boring, and if nintendo were to brick my 25th anniversary zelda 3DS I'd be pretty irate. I own atleast 3 legit copies of Ocarina of time, two of the first two zelda games, and one of LTTP, so getting bricked over playing LTTP on my 3ds would be pretty crappy by far.

 

[Rydian]

legally even if you download a copy.

It says you're allowed to make a copy. Downloading somebody else's copy is not making it, and that's unauthorized distribution (as the copy goes from one person to another).

 

[shoyrumaster11]

I've been reading this topic and I strongly believe that the rumor is fake. Look at me, I've run plenty of R4's on my 2 DS's, NONE of which have been bricked. The R4's didn't work but that's not saying much! Anyway, That is what makes me believe that the rumor is false.

Spoiler

Hell! There was a video on youtube where some guy tested out the rumor with his SuperCard Dstwo! He updated the system and guess what? No Bricks Here!

 

[Deshra]

legally even if you download a copy.

It says you're allowed to make a copy. Downloading somebody else's copy is not making it, and that's unauthorized distribution (as the copy goes from one person to another).

True, but they would be hard pressed to prove that the version you downloaded was not the same as the one in the cart that you own. The person who downloaded it would also have to prove that they owned the original prior to downloading any backup version. Also if I remember under the DMCA you may keep backups if the original is destroyed due to their archival nature. Otherwise what was the point of the backup?

 

[nl255]

I've been reading this topic and I strongly believe that the rumor is fake. Look at me, I've run plenty of R4's on my 2 DS's, NONE of which have been bricked. The R4's didn't work but that's not saying much! Anyway, That is what makes me believe that the rumor is false.

Spoiler

Hell! There was a video on youtube where some guy tested out the rumor with his SuperCard Dstwo! He updated the system and guess what? No Bricks Here!

It was only a few poorly made clones that caused the bricks (blown fuses, to be precise). There are several threads here about it along with instructions on how to fix the damage. Guess what, if you stick +3V where it doesn't belong you can expect it to do some damage and that applies to anything.

 

[Foxi4]

True, but they would be hard pressed to prove that the version you downloaded was not the same as the one in the cart that you own. The person who downloaded it would also have to prove that they owned the original prior to downloading any backup version. Also if I remember under the DMCA you may keep backups if the original is destroyed due to their archival nature. Otherwise what was the point of the backup?

What you wanted to say is that you may keep backups *in case the original is deemed unusable* - you can't make a backup of something that was already destroyed, but yes, that is the point of a backup. As far as DMCA is concerned, it's an American law concerning American citizens - it doesn't concern the rest of the world.

As for Rydian's comment, he's entirely right - you're allowed to make one, you're not allowed to distribute it, and depending on where you live (America or outside of it) you may or may not be allowed to circumvent copy protection.

It was only a few poorly made clones that caused the bricks (blown fuses, to be precise). There are several threads here about it along with instructions on how to fix the damage. Guess what, if you stick +3V where it doesn't belong you can expect it to do some damage and that applies to anything.

Never heard of it, to be honest. It must be pretty *hard* to short a cartridge slot in a way that would be harmful to the hardware. The designer would have to be a special kind of an idiot.