Misc Friend code genetic makeup

[Retal]

"Friend codes" are generated from an identifier unique to a copy of a game and the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection ID of a DS system.
~Wikipedia

The way in which this quoted sentence reads implies that a unique identifier is present in each copy of a DS game. If this is true then for everyone who uses the dumped copy of a game on the Internet, those people are all using the same game ID. Their friend codes will still be unique, because their DS IDs are still unique and the compound of the two IDs will still therefore be unique. But this is interesting. Because if the hash used to calculate the friend code is reversible, Nintendo can determine for each person who connects to Nintendo WiFi whether or not they are using a pirated copy of the game.

But my question is whether or not this quote in Wikipedia is actually accurate or not. I find it hard to believe that every single copy of a game that is printed has a unique code built into it. Is this really true or not? If not, none of the above conjecture matters. If so, then this is a very relevant discussion topic.

 

[dualscreenman]

All legit game cards are exactly the same too.

It's the game/system combo along with perhpas registering time that determines the friend code.

 

[Retal]

All legit game cards are exactly the same too.

It's the game/system combo along with perhpas registering time that determines the friend code.

Your response has nothing to do with what I am asking. Let me try to be clearer.
Is every copy of a game unique by the inclusion of a unique ID in the print or is every single byte in a given copy of a game identical to the next copy?

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

"Friend codes" are generated from an identifier unique to a copy of a game and the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection ID of a DS system.
~Wikipedia
The way in which this quoted sentence reads implies that a unique identifier is present in each copy of a DS game. If this is true then for everyone who uses the dumped copy of a game on the Internet, those people are all using the same game ID. Their friend codes will still be unique, because their DS IDs are still unique and the compound of the two IDs will still therefore be unique. But this is interesting. Because if the hash used to calculate the friend code is reversible, Nintendo can determine for each person who connects to Nintendo WiFi whether or not they are using a pirated copy of the game.

But my question is whether or not this quote in Wikipedia is actually accurate or not. I find it hard to believe that every single copy of a game that is printed has a unique code built into it. Is this really true or not? If not, none of the above conjecture matters. If so, then this is a very relevant discussion topic.

No, friend codes are not unqiue to a specific game. It will be randomly generated after connecting to Nintendo WFC. So, theoretically, friend codes for the same game should be different when connected to Nintendo WFC on different DS's. (I believe)
EDIT: If I'm not wrong, every single byte is the same for a specific game title, but friend codes will be randomly generated, even with the same game title/ same game cart.

 

[Little]

There is a really easy way to test this.

Use a ROM and your DS to get your friend code. And then delete the save, do it again. If it was a unique code from the ROM and then your DS that gets combined then you'd be given the same friend code. I've done it several times and you don't... its different every time. Of course, part of it could be the ROM code... but I couldn't see any similarities in any of my friend codes.

I think that nintendo just assign random codes from the server at the time and then possibly note the DS code. If they could determine an Game ID number then I'm sure we would have seen a lot of bans already.

Not to mention the technical implications of actually programming every single DS cart with an ID number would ramp up their production costs dramatically. Kinda like why CD's aren't actually paired with their CD key!

 

[Retal]

Not to mention the technical implications of actually programming every single DS cart with an ID number would ramp up their production costs dramatically. Kinda like why CD's aren't actually paired with their CD key!

I fully understand this, which is why I was surprised at the quote on Wikipedia. It can be interpreted in more than one way, but the clearest way is that games are printed with IDs, so I was hoping that someone would be able to prove the answer to this question one way or another. For example, someone with two copies of the same game could dump both and run an MD5 hash on both dumps and see if the hashes matched. Something like that that actually proves what the correct answer is would be valuable and credible as a response.