Importing R4 banned in Japan

[Hyro-Sama]

Japan has upped the ante on their stance against piracy once again. Three years ago, the government placed a sales ban on all flashcarts being sold within the country. Now, Japan has implemented an import ban on the R4DS. Blocking consumers from ordering the device online and cutting out the middle man.

Kokatu

I know Kokatu is unreliable but they were the only ones with the original Japanese source.

 

[Ace Overclocked]

Bitch please, there are tons of other flashcarts.
Besides, all those r4 clones could just rename themselves.

 

[Foxi4]

Oh well, sucks to be you, Japanese people.

It's just another law in a long chain forged to make sure that the Japanese consumer doesn't rise a finger on the corporate machine - they're quite butthurt about the whole backup copies business and frankly, it's worrying. What was once natural (having backups of the software you own) now is deemed unlawful - they're chasing the wrong people, they should focus on the distributors of illegal software, not the backup device manufacturers.

 

[gokujr1000]

Japan seems to still be under the impression that the R4 is the only reliable flashcard available.

 

[GameWinner]

They didn't say anything about importing an Acekard

 

[Foxi4]

People seem to be under the impression that this is only about the R4 - it isn't. The ban concerns the R4 and R4-like devices, meaning everything that you shove into your console for the purpose of loading ROM or ISO images, at least as far as I know. Nintendo's even running a sub-page on their portal describing the devices in-question.

https://ap.nintendo.com/detect/photos/

 

[Gahars]

R4? Seriously?

I have a bad feeling about this; I'm sure they aren't going to stop here. Today it's the astromech droids, tomorrow it'll be the protocol droids!

 

[Veho]

I'm sure someone will find some exploitable loophole/technicality in the law's wording that will result in some (bizarre) workaround. That's how it usually goes, just take pachinko balls or tentacle hentai for example.

 

[Qtis]

If I'm not entirely wrong with reading the Japanese source, the ban includes all R4 type devices. Not just the R4 named ones. What will be interesting is that will people owning such devices (say a family going on holiday to Japan) have theirs confiscated when coming into the country if such a device is found.

@Densetsu or someone else confirm this?

 

[Lastly]

I see two smugglers. One with a grenade. Another with a r4. Hmmm.... I wonder who I should arrest first?

 

[Minox]

If I'm not entirely wrong with reading the Japanese source, the ban includes all R4 type devices. Not just the R4 named ones. What will be interesting is that will people owning such devices (say a family going on holiday to Japan) have theirs confiscated when coming into the country if such a device is found.

@Densetsu or someone else confirm this?

That's also how I interpreted the Japanese source. They mention Majikon, aka devices capable of enabling pirated software to be run. Majikon in itself does not refer to just R4 to my knowledge but rather all similar devices of that kind.

 

[ProtoKun7]

Not only don't I live in Japan, but I moved off the DS scene a long while ago anyway.

It's almost like they're playing catch-up; the DS is probably still fairly popular over there though.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I see two smugglers. One with a grenade. Another with a r4. Hmmm.... I wonder who I should arrest first?

The one with the grenade.

 

[raulpica]

People seem to be under the impression that this is only about the R4 - it isn't. The ban concerns the R4 and R4-like devices, meaning everything that you shove into your console for the purpose of loading ROM or ISO images, at least as far as I know. Nintendo's even running a sub-page on their portal describing the devices in-question.

https://ap.nintendo.com/detect/photos/

https://ap.nintendo.com/detect/photos/platform.jsp?platformId=10&categoryId=3

R6 Gold? What a bad choice on Nintendo's side... choosing one of Team NeoCa$h's crappy flashcards There are probably only 50 pieces around of that one!

Looks like the ACE3DS ships in something resembling an USB card reader:

That when opened reveals the flashcard itself. LOL
(also another bad choice with the iSmart MM)

 

[Lastly]

Or we could peel off the label and paste something else.

 

[Foxi4]

The photographs are only for presentation purposes so that the people on the borders know what to look for, AFAIK.

 

[the_randomizer]

Or we could peel off the label and paste something else.

No way to prove if it's a flash card or not, is there?

 

[chyyran]

Note to self: If I take a vacation to Japan in the near future, I shouldn't bring my DSTWO.

 

[Rydian]

No way to prove if it's a flash card or not, is there?

Ds carts don't have a MicroSD slot...

 

[Foxi4]

Ds carts don't have a MicroSD slot...

Pretty sure he was being sarcastic.