Gaming Nintendo will lock your Wii U if you don't agree to the new EULA

[Deleted User]

Some guy got a message on his Wii U telling him to agree to new legal terms or else he cannot use his Wii U.

Source :
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/...wii-u-hostage-until-you-agree-new-legal-terms

 

[FAST6191]

Do we have a EULA changelog? Assuming there is one of course.

I had a quick scan through of the wii u one on http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/info/en_na/docs.jsp and it appears to be the fairly standard "no warranty/fitness for purpose, no reverse engineering/hacking, we might use your usage data/reserve the right to comply with law enforcement..." stuff. There is also the class action waiver, which might have been new, but it is also pretty standard as far as these things go (MS. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/disclaimer Sony. http://www.scei.co.jp/ps4-eula/ps4_eula_enuk.html Valve. http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ EA. http://www.ea.com/1/product-eulas Ubisoft. http://www.ubi.com/US/Info/Info.aspx?tagname=TermsOfUse , Square Enix might be an exception but looking at what they have in various places it might not be explicitly worded as such).

 

[asper]

I think this is the time... "fail0verflow rulez" !

 

[Jayro]

"Recently, Nintendo rolled out an update for the Wii U, something that fans should enjoy right? Well, it's not that simple. The new update brings an End User License Agreement, or EULA for short, that will lock your system if you don't want to accept it. After the update finishes downloading, you will be prompted with the EULA. In that case, you can either accept, change the language, or turn off your system. While most fans don't see a problem with this and just quickly hit accept, others are outraged by this decision."
Source

Discuss.

 

[Ericzander]

Yeah... I'm a little conflicted. I know that Nintendo has a legal right to do this but is it very moral? You know, having not read the agreement, I think I'm actually going to have to side with Nintendo on this. I'm assuming that the point of this is to try to stop, or slow, the progress of hackers and I think they're completely in their rights to do this.
Though I may be misinformed.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Seems like Nintendo is taking a bit too far by locking it, but if people don't want to update due to 'other' reasons then they won't.

 

[Foxi4]

This should not happen - the system is not a service, it should work either way.

 

[Jayro]

Just from what I read in the video thumbnail, they will have the right to install stealthed full or partial updates to your system, patching anything at any time they see fit, without your say-so. I saw this coming eventually...

 

[Ericzander]

Well it says in the agreement that they sold you the console, but are licensing you the software and that they can keep it from you at any time.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Just from what I read in the video thumbnail, they will have the right to install stealthed full or partial updates to your system, patching anything at any time they see fit, without your say-so. I saw this coming eventually...

That's fine by me, I for one hate those god damn patches that take 5mins or so when I could be playing the game (I know I could just skip them).

Oh wait, this reminds me -- There'll be a new firmware update when Super Smash Bros. is released because of the NGC Adapter and Amiibo stuff.

 

[Jayro]

Well it says in the agreement that they sold you the console, but are licensing you the software and that they can keep it from you at any time.

That just makes me want to add fuel to the hardware hacking fire, opening up the hardware for anyone to develop for.

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

Keep your Wii U offline in Wii U mode permanetly, problem solved :-). Many of us are already doing this. The console won't know of such an update until you connect it to the net

 

[Foxi4]

Yeah, that's not how updates work on any other machine. The license agreement should pop up prior to the installation to give you the option to opt out. I'm not certain about the legality of this weird implementation.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Keep your Wii U offline in Wii U mode permanetly, problem solved :-). Many of us are already doing this. The console won't know of such an update until you connect it to the net

Exactly!

I don't see the big deal there's two ways this road can go:

Left - You update.
Right - You keep it offline.

Stop making such a big fuss.

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

This practice is unlawful as the user actually purchases the hardware otright. Nintendo has zero legal grounds to deactivate the hardware that isn't even their property. They are however within their legal limitations to block access to certain software (games etc) if you violate the eula or w/3 but what they're doing here is not only illegal, its just plain wrong anyway you slice it

Yeah, that's not how updates work on any other machine. The license agreement should pop up prior to the installation to give you the option to opt out. I'm not certain about the legality of this weird implementation.

 

[GorTesK]

we already had this on thursday.... https://gbatemp.net/threads/nintendo-forces-you-to-agree-to-new-legal-terms.372784/
but I agree, this can't be lawful, you own the hardware, not accepting an EULA cannot DISABLE your hardware, they can exlcude you from online features and updates, that is fine, but it cannot make your WiiU a door stopper, Ninty gone crazy

 

[WiiCube_2013]

'muricans love trying to sue big companies so I'd bet 10 Rosalinas that some guy will do it.

 

[Jayro]

I'd lawyer-up if i had the money to get started.

 

[The Catboy]

Yeah... I'm a little conflicted. I know that Nintendo has a legal right to do this but is it very moral? You know, having not read the agreement, I think I'm actually going to have to side with Nintendo on this. I'm assuming that the point of this is to try to stop, or slow, the progress of hackers and I think they're completely in their rights to do this.
Though I may be misinformed.

How is this legal? I bought the system, thus I own it and can do what I want with it.
This would be like if I bought a yellow house from someone and painted it blue. Then the old owners came back and pained it yellow again, but then set the house on fire because they wanted it yellow.

 

[Thomas83Lin]

They have the right to disable the software, which is what they are doing. It just so happens the hardware is useless without the software. This sounds legal to me