The beginning of the end?

[GeekyGuy]

Every other day or so I usually check Youtube to see what new Nintendo DS vids are up, and I, of course, see more and more flash-card videos. This evening I came across yet another R4 video with a kid demonstrating "how easy" it is to put games on your microSD, etc. Now, this ain't the first time one of these videos made its way to Youtube -- there's probably a ton of `em. But something about this one just filled me with the realization that we might see an end to that party, so to speak, real soon. Flash cards are becoming more and more mainstream and user-friendly -- proof of that is that I own and use one -- and if you knew me you'd agree.

I don't know, I just suspect that the powers that be won't sit back idly while the current flash-card community grows. After only a short stint using mine, it'd be a sad thing to see. But I can't imagine how it will go unnoticed and, ultimately, un-dealt with for long. Even if companies couldn't find recourse in making it illegal to manufacture and sell flash cards, which they can't, don't you think they will eventually put a lot of resources into effectively doing away with much of the practices that go on with flash-card usage?

Any thoughts about that? Is it something anyone else has feared or contemplated?

 

[Taras]

Good point. And maybe they'll make music filesharing illegal too.

 

[kellyan95]

Flash carts aren't illegal most places, I know that I bought mine for movies, music, and books/comic books. And have you kept up with the news on stuff like this? slyck.com is a good site for it, and after reading enough you see a trend. That is, it's REALLY hard to prove any of that stuff WILL happen with a product. It's like tobacco bongs, everybody knows what most people will use it for, but that's not what they're labeled.

So, no, I don't think this "party" will end anytime soon. At least, not for the DS (Wii mods are a different story, since there is no homebrew)

 

[bubblejoe]

Good point. And maybe they'll make music filesharing illegal too.

 

[kellyan95]

[Follow up post]
It's almost impossible to prove that somebody actually downloaded a song or movie. It's the uploaders that are sought

 

[GeekyGuy]

[Follow up post]
It's almost impossible to prove that somebody actually downloaded a song or movie. It's the uploaders that are sought

Absolutely, in both the case of music and games. That's my point. Not that we'll see an end to flash cards per se, but rather a more stringent effort on the part of game makers to protect their ROMs from being ripped.

 

[2cb2ct7]

So, no, I don't think this "party" will end anytime soon. At least, not for the DS (Wii mods are a different story, since there is no homebrew)

I know that Wii mods are perfectly legal in Australia... and probably in many other countries too. It has less to do with homebrew and more to do with a consumers right to bypass "region lockout" by various mechanisms. The fact that Wii uses region coding means that, in oz anyway, it is legal to mod your console so as to play games from other regions by whatever means necessary.

In a sense, Nintendo were clever in making the DS universally compatible...

 

[kellyan95]

There are more pirates than people who want to stop them. And the pirates are smarter. Remember the HD-DVD keys? They will try, but it won't last long.

 

[cory1492]

The way things stand, they are already requiring PCs to be 2-4 time more powerful just to run some programs in a satisfactory way while supporting it's coded in anti-piracy stuff, which as you say, doesn't usually work anyway.

 

[kellyan95]

Give me an anti-piracy tool that hasn't been circumvented yet. They can try to crack down on the manufacture and distribution of flash carts and mod chips that are advertised for the illegal use of roms, but nobody will support a law banning them all together. If that were the case, Nintendo would have won the lawsuit against Game Genie (does anybody know what I'm talking about?)

 

[Dirtie]

Once Nintendo have the resources (from the success of the Wii and the DS) to do so, I can conceivably see them going on an anti-piracy crackdown - the fact of the matter is that they've done it in the past, and the next one is long overdue.

 

[kellyan95]

They will crack down harder on the Chinese piracy market, that's where they lose money. I don't see it effecting us
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/05/counterf...do-2-5-million/

 

[JusDaMan]

Thats exactly what i think to myself all the time. The new slot-1 cards are good and easy to use. But I really think i prefered it back in the slot-2 days. The reason i say i prefer slot-2 is not cause of its compatability but there was less ignorant dumb asses out there saying in the middle of a nintendo forum "ZOMG! LIK3 GET THE R4! I HAVE L1K3 MAD hAxED games " Y cant these ignorant people keep shit on the down low (as i said on my other topic). And you have to notice that most Dumb asses who flaunts the Slot-1 cards are mostly R4 users. I'm not even talking about M3 or EZV or SCDS1.

Bottom line. DUMB ASS IGNORANT YOUNGINS WHO DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SHUT UP DO NOT DESERVE Slot-1 cards.

My way to solve it would tell all the slot-1 makers to Make their cards so that people with decent computer literacy can use it. therefore weeding out dumb asses.

But ofcorse Slot-1 makers are a company and company strive for profit instead of performance so that won't do.

Thank you for reading my rant.

 

[.TakaM]

I would like it if acquiring roms was at least a little bit harder..
no dedicated websites, torrents and IRC is pretty intimidating to the computer illiterate morons bragging about their R4s on official nintendo forums

 

[juggernaut911]

Good point. And maybe they'll make music filesharing illegal too.

like that will ever happen! jeez... flippen commies...

 

[shado blackstar]

I have to agree that the scene is maybe a little too accessible these days. I see more and more people with the stupidest questions and ideas involving flash carts, homebrew, ect...

But I also like having easy access to new games, so I don't wind up buying crap on a stick, minus the stick, plus an extra pile of crap.

Maybe flash-cart companies should just make less updates, so fewer new games work? Maybe only support headers for games already out of print, or something?

 

[Legend]

Eh, I actually don't own a flash card/cart/whatever. Though I've been a member here for years, I've gone legit all the way ('cept the occasional Gba, NES, or SNES rom.

)
Anyway, I can't really see this happening. I think that piracy, in any way/shape/form, is always going to exist. For example, look at Vista. It was microsoft's "anti-piracy" OS. Yeh, that's doing wonders so far.
Don't worry about it, it's all good. Let the kids post their videos. We all know who the true pirates are.

 

[shakirmoledina]

Hmm Ds going with flashcarts well dosen't seem likely since the community i big and nintendo will find it difficult to hunt everyone down so still not in a few years it's not possible

 

[Torte]

So you're saying that you need to earn to the right to pirate?

No comment.

 

[blahman]

i sense some elitist aura coming from this place