Nintendo sues over illegal DS games

[Guest]

DS games are ridiculously expensive anyway..I've got 3 games and I honestly don't feel like spending any more cash on it. Especially when you consider how bad most of them are.

I hardly use my DS anymore anyway and I've been putting off getting some homebrew kit since I doubt I'd actually use it.

[Brandon]

Two things: First off, without a flashcart, i wouldnt have bought a DS because of

Reason two: why does every portable game manufacture make a ton of little carts or discs? Don't they realize that people don't want to lug around extra things? Having a AceKard2 allows me to have 10 games and 3 movies on my 2GB SD card. If they allowed and made a first-party flash cart and allowed you to puchase games and download them, that would be smart!

[Kushan]

Two things: First off, without a flashcart, i wouldnt have bought a DS because of

Reason two: why does every portable game manufacture make a ton of little carts or discs? Don't they realize that people don't want to lug around extra things? Having a AceKard2 allows me to have 10 games and 3 movies on my 2GB SD card. If they allowed and made a first-party flash cart and allowed you to puchase games and download them, that would be smart!

Two things: First off, that's only one reason, you forgot to finish the end of that sentence.

Secondly, you

[DigitalE]

Maybe Nintendo should work on better copy protection!

[morficus]

while pirating games hurts game publishers/developers a lot...... this same phenomenon is what makes the DS hardware so popular - lol

if they win this lawsuit, game title sales might go up but I'm pretty sure hardware sales are going to go down more; since I know a few people that purchased a DS not for the games but the 'homebrew' applications. (They actually don't own any games - legal or pirated)

anyways... this isn't anything new, so why did Nintendo wait so long to do this? I could see them not winning though, since the products that allow pirated games to be played aren't marketed as such (afaik). So I see it like taking Toyota to court because a bank robber used a Toyota-brand car to escape the cops.

[CelticWhisper]

Maybe Nintendo should work on better copy protection!

I wouldn't say that. The DS has next to no copy prevention at all and it's the best selling handheld in the world by a large margin. Considering that Ninty makes a profit on all hardware sold, and the relatively small market segment that actually knows how to pirate games (all steps, from getting the flash card to finding ROMs to copying them over, etc.), it'd be wasted money to engineer a complex Defective Restrictive Media system for their handheld when they're still making money hand over fist.

[Kushan]

I wouldn't say that. The DS has next to no copy prevention at all and it's the best selling handheld in the world by a large margin. Considering that Ninty makes a profit on all hardware sold, and the relatively small market segment that actually knows how to pirate games (all steps, from getting the flash card to finding ROMs to copying them over, etc.), it'd be wasted money to engineer a complex Defective Restrictive Media system for their handheld when they're still making money hand over fist.

Not quite true, the DS has some somewhat decent copy protection (everything is digitally signed), just the hackers are too kool for skool.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

/hugs his R4.

Actually, it's not, the DS would have to come before it

But 360 is obv the best purchase ;)

[Julius Caro]

usually I would be on the pirate's side but apparently DS games are worth every penny :p

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

First party games yeah, fewer 2nd party and barely any 3rd party.

Like the Wii it suffers a lot from shovelware.

Like I said on one of the previous pages though, Nintendo should be dropping the price of their first party games. Mario kart is still selling for ?25 ($45) on the DS. The Wii version is ?10 more and comes with the plastic wheel, and I'm betting it won't be long before it drops in price.

How long are they gonna charge such a stupid price for Mario Kart D:no:o:

[Julius Caro]

Not quite true, the DS has some somewhat decent copy protection (everything is digitally signed), just the hackers are too kool for skool.

the thing is the DS can't be easily emulated because of the double screen and touch screen and everything. nintendo still sells a bunch of DSs with piracy taken into account too. but for years they had to put up with emus too

[Berserk87]

without my acekard 2, theres no way i would have gotten a DS.

when you buy a PORTABLE game player you want to keep it PORTABLE not carry around a massive case to hold 4 or 5 games, then have to switch cartridges.

plus the fact that the games are all ~$40 dosn't help.

i love being able to soft reset into another game, and watch movies and music.

[Kushan]

the thing is the DS can't be easily emulated because of the double screen and touch screen and everything. nintendo still sells a bunch of DSs with piracy taken into account too. but for years they had to put up with emus too

No they didn't, a couple of months after the DS came out, someone figured out a way of "passing" through into the GBA slot, so with a bit of jiggery-pokery, you could play DS games using this special "passme" and any good GBA flash cart (That at this point were already very mature).

In fact, this is what I do to this day and I've had my DS over 3 years now.

[clx]

Ok, my thoughts on how Nintendo and its partners came to this decision.

Nintendo are printing money with the DS, its an old joke but its true, there have been no price cuts, roumers of price fixing on the screens and components and it doesnt look like its going to stop selling any time soon.

The games makers (including Nintendo) have noticed that maybe they are not quite selling as many games as they would like and are looking to work out why.

They have immediately jumped to pirates. However they failed to spot some other problems that may cause lower game sales than they would like. First off as mentioned before, high prices. Secondly, and in almost all cases linked with the first issue, crap games.

Now please, tell me im not the only one to notice this, but doesnt it seem like there is a tie in DS game for almost every movie these days? and in some cases the game is actually released before the movie! If the games developers stopped focusing so much time on "easy" yet crap movie tie ins that are aimed at kids who go and see the latest pixar-like movie then cry at their parents to get them a game that a) wont have much content, B) looks like every other movie tie in re-skinned and c) wont keep the kid interested more than a week, then maybe they could make some new IP that would rejuvenate the DS game scene.

[The Teej]

Ok, my thoughts on how Nintendo and its partners came to this decision.

Nintendo are printing money with the DS, its an old joke but its true, there have been no price cuts, roumers of price fixing on the screens and components and it doesnt look like its going to stop selling any time soon.

The games makers (including Nintendo) have noticed that maybe they are not quite selling as many games as they would like and are looking to work out why.

They have immediately jumped to pirates. However they failed to spot some other problems that may cause lower game sales than they would like. First off as mentioned before, high prices. Secondly, and in almost all cases linked with the first issue, crap games.

Now please, tell me im not the only one to notice this, but doesnt it seem like there is a tie in DS game for almost every movie these days? and in some cases the game is actually released before the movie! If the games developers stopped focusing so much time on "easy" yet crap movie tie ins that are aimed at kids who go and see the latest pixar-like movie then cry at their parents to get them a game that a) wont have much content, B) looks like every other movie tie in re-skinned and c) wont keep the kid interested more than a week, then maybe they could make some new IP that would rejuvenate the DS game scene.

The PS2 hasn't had a credible price drop in a few years and there's always a movie tie in for that console, and sales are going just dandy.

[BinaryFragger]

Nintendo are printing money with the DS, its an old joke but its true, there have been no price cuts

I paid CAD$149.99 for my DS Lite, $20 more than its current price.

I'll agree that games (especially 1st-party titles) need a price cut, but the DS itself is well-priced.

[Hooya]

Not quite true, the DS has some somewhat decent copy protection (everything is digitally signed), just the hackers are too kool for skool.

Incorrect. DS carts are NOT digitally signed. That's one of the reasons why ROM hacking (fan translations and things of that nature) are so common for the DS. It's also why so many homebrew applications are possible, because they don't need to be digitally signed. It's just a matter of getting the data off the cart, which was just a hardware issue solved a long time ago.

No they didn't, a couple of months after the DS came out, someone figured out a way of "passing" through into the GBA slot, so with a bit of jiggery-pokery, you could play DS games using this special "passme" and any good GBA flash cart (That at this point were already very mature).

In fact, this is what I do to this day and I've had my DS over 3 years now.

That has nothing to do with emulating the DS on another piece of hardware like a PC, which is what the post you're referring to is talking about. You're just talking about one of the early generation DS flash kits, which were really only necessary because they hadn't figured out how to fit all the necessary hardware into a DS Slot-1 sized package.

[-Hiroshi-]

Yeah, ordered my CycloDS today..

[Matrix XII]

R4 is in the mail :D

I should order more of them lol