goosemang said:
Well I wouldn't worry about flash card updates not coming anytime soon as Nintendo is making a killing selling their handhelds with the promise of flashcard possibilities. Yea, they're losing some dough with the flashcard revolution, but how many people would Never have bought a DS or DSi in the first place without the possibility for homebrews? Nintendo was wise with issuing this update as it's free publicity and curiosity for their device kicking up dirt in the forums for New buyers. The big N gets a % from third party devs anyway, and for every in house title nintendo cranks out, there are 300+ half assed games which N still cashes in on. I suspect a fix for flashcards sooner than later; it's just business and nintendo will lose alot of business if flashcards are forever blocked
While I applaud the homebrew community on their efforts, to say Nintendo is making a killing on the NDS because of homebrew and flashcarts is hubris, and an ad hoc rationalization for piracy. Certainly some individuals like hacking devices for fun. Certainly being able to customize a device you own is a fun thing too. But be realistic. 99.9% of people who buy a flashcart, do so to pirate games.
One will note that you can't walk into a BestBuy, Target, Yodobashi or Bic Camera and get a flashcart. Thus one has to question how much of a value proposition Nintendo makes of these devices. You may also recall that Nintendo works with many custom agencies in an attempt to ban or arrest distributors of flashcarts. This is one of the main reasons why flashcarts now don't ship with any existing firmware. It would seem Nintendo is not concerned about 'losing' this market segment.
Oddly you make the point that Nintendo makes money off third party devs, then somehow equate the piracy of those games as a 'good' thing for them?
Now Nintendo could utilize the NDSi to promote homebrew, while stamping out the piracy flashcarts. They could provide a basic 'homebrew' sdk and make games available via the NDSi Store or via wifi downloads, similar to the XNA initiative for the XBOX360. Then you'd have the development platform for legitimate homebrew devs, while getting rid of the flashcarts that basically promote piracy. If you want homebrew on the NDS/NDSi we should be pushing for an XNA type of platform, not trying to sugar coat flashcarts into something they're not.