THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL – NINTENDO, HOW COULD YOU?
We gave it our all. We played, we loved, we collected. Then Nintendo simply pulled the plug. Online servers shut down. No more races, no more battles, no more cooperative play. Meanwhile, updates clearly intended only to block homebrew and backups are still being released. And the eShop remains open so you can cheerfully buy and download 3DS games – even though you can no longer play them online. They claim, “We no longer support the 3DS,” yet the console seems to spring back to life whenever modding is involved.
For me, it’s a real slap in the face. Who among us doesn’t love their 3DS games? Many of us have poured hundreds of hours into Mario Kart 7, Monster Hunter or other classics. The fact that Nintendo offers no clear statement on such a drastic measure, yet continues to profit from eShop sales, is downright contradictory. I say enough is enough. Let’s not just stand by and watch our beloved handheld lose one of its finest features.
I began tinkering with computers in the early 1980s and have barely stopped since. In the 1990s, I moved on to Assembler, demos and small games; I’ve been working with Linux since 1996. These days, I’m familiar with about 15 programming languages and feel perfectly at home in the shell. In short, I’m keen to roll up my sleeves and get the 3DS back online – whether by setting up our own servers or through some other workable solution, so at least modded consoles can play together again.
But I need help from the 3DS community. At present, I have virtually no contacts in this scene and only basic knowledge of 3DS-specific development. If you know anyone who’s contributed to Luma or other 3DS tools, please put us in touch. I won’t inundate you with endless queries – just the most crucial ones: who’s worked on which components, which tools or libraries already exist, and where do I begin?
Alongside restoring online functionality, I have a few other goals:
3DS usage logs. The system tracks play time (and even your steps), yet there’s no straightforward way to extract that data. I love seeing how many hours I’ve logged on Steam; why not do the same for the 3DS? Those stats must be stashed somewhere – let’s figure it out.
exFAT support. That 4GB file limit is unbearably frustrating. I’d love to see exFAT integrated into Luma (or the 3DS OS) so we can finally handle larger files. It’s likely just a matter of rerouting to open-source exFAT code instead of FAT32.
A more accurate progress display in GodMode9. I’m all for good statistics, and the current copy-time estimates feel reminiscent of Windows 95. Surely we can do better than that.
Preventing the 3DS from sleeping when closed. I’d like an option in Luma that keeps the system running with the lid shut, so I can listen to Mario Kart music whilst riding my e-scooter, without having to leave the console open.
If any of this piques your interest, or if you have your own 3DS ideas to share, please do get in touch. I’m not seeking any form of funding; I don’t want money. If you wish to donate, give to a worthwhile charity instead. Should we ever meet in person, I wouldn’t say no to a bit of marijuana or other psychedelic medicine – but that’s quite enough on that topic.
If all this resonates with you, drop me a line on Matrix: @daveownt:matrix.org. Let’s show Nintendo we won’t stand idly by while they deprive us of online gaming. Working together, we can preserve this brilliant system and perhaps unlock new possibilities in the process.
Until that day, I’m just a lonely player facing CPU opponents in Mario Kart and hunting monsters all on my own.
Cheers, DaveOwnt
We gave it our all. We played, we loved, we collected. Then Nintendo simply pulled the plug. Online servers shut down. No more races, no more battles, no more cooperative play. Meanwhile, updates clearly intended only to block homebrew and backups are still being released. And the eShop remains open so you can cheerfully buy and download 3DS games – even though you can no longer play them online. They claim, “We no longer support the 3DS,” yet the console seems to spring back to life whenever modding is involved.
For me, it’s a real slap in the face. Who among us doesn’t love their 3DS games? Many of us have poured hundreds of hours into Mario Kart 7, Monster Hunter or other classics. The fact that Nintendo offers no clear statement on such a drastic measure, yet continues to profit from eShop sales, is downright contradictory. I say enough is enough. Let’s not just stand by and watch our beloved handheld lose one of its finest features.
I began tinkering with computers in the early 1980s and have barely stopped since. In the 1990s, I moved on to Assembler, demos and small games; I’ve been working with Linux since 1996. These days, I’m familiar with about 15 programming languages and feel perfectly at home in the shell. In short, I’m keen to roll up my sleeves and get the 3DS back online – whether by setting up our own servers or through some other workable solution, so at least modded consoles can play together again.
But I need help from the 3DS community. At present, I have virtually no contacts in this scene and only basic knowledge of 3DS-specific development. If you know anyone who’s contributed to Luma or other 3DS tools, please put us in touch. I won’t inundate you with endless queries – just the most crucial ones: who’s worked on which components, which tools or libraries already exist, and where do I begin?
Alongside restoring online functionality, I have a few other goals:
3DS usage logs. The system tracks play time (and even your steps), yet there’s no straightforward way to extract that data. I love seeing how many hours I’ve logged on Steam; why not do the same for the 3DS? Those stats must be stashed somewhere – let’s figure it out.
exFAT support. That 4GB file limit is unbearably frustrating. I’d love to see exFAT integrated into Luma (or the 3DS OS) so we can finally handle larger files. It’s likely just a matter of rerouting to open-source exFAT code instead of FAT32.
A more accurate progress display in GodMode9. I’m all for good statistics, and the current copy-time estimates feel reminiscent of Windows 95. Surely we can do better than that.
Preventing the 3DS from sleeping when closed. I’d like an option in Luma that keeps the system running with the lid shut, so I can listen to Mario Kart music whilst riding my e-scooter, without having to leave the console open.
If any of this piques your interest, or if you have your own 3DS ideas to share, please do get in touch. I’m not seeking any form of funding; I don’t want money. If you wish to donate, give to a worthwhile charity instead. Should we ever meet in person, I wouldn’t say no to a bit of marijuana or other psychedelic medicine – but that’s quite enough on that topic.
If all this resonates with you, drop me a line on Matrix: @daveownt:matrix.org. Let’s show Nintendo we won’t stand idly by while they deprive us of online gaming. Working together, we can preserve this brilliant system and perhaps unlock new possibilities in the process.
Until that day, I’m just a lonely player facing CPU opponents in Mario Kart and hunting monsters all on my own.
Cheers, DaveOwnt
