Think of it this way, when Gateway first released on 4.5 firmware and the next firmware that came out that blocked it, they updated their cart/software to enable emunand. This allowed future games to run on it without updating the system nand and to this day, there is still 4.5fw users who can still play all the latest games.
Now imagine if Sky3DS came around at the same time. It got blocked perhaps in v5.0 or v6.0. Now think about all the games that came out that required a firmware greater then what this imaginary Sky3DS of the past would work on and you will see how flawed the product design is. The concept of how it works isn't what the problem is. It's the fact that it can't be flashed with new software to get around future blocks.
It makes it no better then the original R4. It's an early adopter type of device that isn't fully flushed out feature wise. Sure it's cool to have one for the sake of bragging to others that you can pirate all the games with ease and be the first to do so on 9.x firmware 3DS consoles but it's a terrible investment for the price it retails at given that it becomes a disposable product once a firmware update blocks it. It's overpriced and has a severe limitation that I fell really makes it a really bad investment once an update blocks it. The only reason the R4 lasted as long as it did was merely because the security of the original DS is terrible. We don't live a world with a static console that doesn't get updates anymore. It's now a never ending cat and mouse game with Nintendo and being one step ahead by updating the flaschart to get around firmware blocks.
Any decent DS flashcart of the days of old added updateable firmware to their cartridges once the DSi hit the scene and introduced the concept of up-datable firmware via wifi/gamecard. The days of releasing fixed non updatable carts like the R4 and it's clones are over. Any product that does not feature updatable firmware at the hardware level (not the "menu" firmware you see when it boots up) should be avoided. It doesn't matter if it was a Gateway or something from another company. It's just a plum bad idea and the fact that a $100 device like the Sky3DS doesn't even have a method of updating it to get around firmware blocks is a **king disgrace.
If this thing retailed at $20 or $25 then perhaps a product this flawed can be justified as being a el-cheapo device to get a quick fix for playing games. But it's overpriced up the ass right now.
Saying that it's good to see flashcarts go back up in price is an assbackwords way of looking at the market. This device is step back in terms of technology compared to Gateway and it's clones. It only emulates cartridges and does so poorly. It clearly does not cost $80+ to mass produce it. If it was higher end and was flashable to get around updates, I can see the price making sense.. But as it is now...It's clearly an overpriced product designed to milk ignorant customers of their money and once an update comes to block it, they may release a new flashcart revision or just close up shop and run with the money.
I may have my own qualms with how Gateway does things (like the whole bricking incident). But they have a proven track record of updating the existing products they sold to work on future firmware releases. Both via updates to their exploit package and the internal firmware to their flashcart and despite that it still remains cheaper then a simple Sky3DS emulation cart.
I always thought it was because a bunch of otakus wanted to play Japanese games or smth.
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Vetusomaru:
