3DS is watching you

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Using piracy devices could brick your Nintendo 3DS

We have touched the Nintendo 3DS and piracy before, but even some of our own staff members here at Destructoid were surprised when they heard what could happen to their shiny new glasses-free 3D game system in recent tips, so we thought we might cover it as its own news item.

Know that the Nintendo 3DS logs every cartridge you put into it. An image of my own play history can be seen in the image above. The moment you push a cartridge in the system, it pops up on this list, and there's nothing you can do to change this list, let alone clear it.

Those not concerned with piracy see it is a cool feature, as it logs your play time and date, and can even sort all your played games to tell you which ones you play the most. The flip side of this is that the system 'knows' what you've put into it. So, if you put an R4 or other piracy device into it, it'll know. Nintendo will know.

Nintendo is now making it clear here in Japan that they'll disable any 3DS with illegal games on it. Call it a remote bricking. A system update could easily shut your 3DS down. The 3DS and its always-on wireless ability make fun things like Street Pass possible, but it also gives your system automatic access to hot spots and access points. Updates can come in automatically, as you're always 'on.' Maybe Nintendo is watching you, gamer.

GoNintendo points us to a Japanese retailer that warns of this bricking by firmware update. The store also says that they won't buy systems with a record of illegal equipment use.

The 3DS actually logs every single thing you do, even beyond what games you're playing. You can actually go into your history and see how many steps you took on each day. A system that knows every step you've taken? I don't think piracy is going to be that easy on a system like this.

To DarkPGR3 who, over and over, keeps mentioning that "unauthorized" hardware breaks the EULA, so that they therefore can do this. Wrong. The EULA has no legal significance in most countries; the companies merely put them there to scare people. Read up on law a bit before you make such statements. And to add to that, flash cards also are legal in many countries. A false contract apparently overrides real law, in DarkPGR3's opinion, and in the opinion of Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and many other companies. Repeat a lie enough times and people will start believing it, and stop questioning it.

"The more they screw thieves, the better for us gamers." ...Hmm, yeah, except for homebrew software that is absolutely awesome at times, and except that these measures will, either by purpose or mistake, by default also target people who use this hardware to play games from regions other than their own. Why should I get my Nintendo 3DS bricked when I *bought* the games from Japan or the US, and used hardware or software modifications to be able to play them, because of Nintendo's region coding? This is completely unacceptable. I have more games than pretty much anyone, and have been looking forward to the 3DS, but in light of this rumour that, unfortunately, likely will turn out to be true, I will, to be on the safe side, instead sell my booked Nintendo 3DS, since I will be getting it for rather cheap, due to having booked it so early. If these measures do not become realized, after all, I will buy the 3DS at a later point, instead. If, however, they do become realized, as I guess is to be expected, I will do without it and buy manga and anime for my money, instead.

As I said in reply to this on N-Europe... just pasting as I have no energy to retype anything of it:



(As for the last part.... yeah, I'd do that if it wouldn't be for that most of the manga and anime I like now is illegal in Sweden, and soon will be in the whole EU, and maybe with even more stringent laws being realized in Japan, soon.... all my interests are taken away from me. Yay for my life.)

What anime/manga do you like exaclty?? If it's hardcore, carnal hentai or something, I see that as perfectly understandable.