In a recent chat with Scotland's The Sunday Post, John Hillier of the ELSPA (Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) warns retailers that the R4, a popular DS flashcart capable of running pirated and unauthorized software, could ruin businesses and the gaming industry. In the scaremongering piece, Mr. Hiller throws out an unsourced statistic: "In America it's thought 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s."90%? Considering the near-ubiquity of the handheld and its expanded casual audience, we highly doubt that even 9% of DS owners in the US have a flashcart of any sort, let alone know of their existence. Though we don't consider ourselves supporters of piracy, stating a false figure like that as fact just to rally people to his cause is unconscionable.
In a way, we kind of wish the R4 was that popular, but not for any illegal reasons -- it would likely result in more homebrew projects and a much larger homebrew audience. Mr. Hillier will hear none of that, though: "The R4 has shifted balance of power in the piracy industry to the consumer -- and that is hugely worrying. That's why we intend to stop trade in these chips wherever we can."
Share
_thumbnail.jpg "Matchman")
_thumbnail.jpg "Dragon Quest IV")
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
1-31-2008 @ 12:11PM
Darko said...
CAN I HAVE EVERYONES ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank You!
For all of you Homebrew fans out there: jEnesis version 0.6 has been released!!! It now supports sound! I submitted this as news for www.dsfanboy.com but apparently they don't think its newsworthy.
Link:
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=87934
You do need to register to download... just use mailinator.com or something its a painless process
Enjoy!
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:20PM
Eddie said...
Sorry, could you repeat that? I wasn't paying attention.
1-31-2008 @ 12:12PM
alai said...
Perhaps he said "US" but meant to say "Hong Kong". I know very few people here who actually play legit games. They're impossible enough to purchase -- I can rarely find games that I want and have to make do with a flash card and then buy the legit copies when I go to Japan and the US. Every now and then I can find what I want here [Face Training!!], but it requires a lot of searching.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:17PM
Brello said...
Well I don't have an R4, and I don't know anyone that does. Let's hear it for piss poor association reps that will say anything to get attention! At least they're just going after the R4, not trying to implement some horrible DRM system for DS games. The day I have to prove my identity to Bowser is the day I quit.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:18PM
Niz said...
I have one! i will admit it, i definately download games I have no shame, if this is an excuse, i cant believe the number of shitty games out there, developers should be jailed for some crap.
The only good games ive played are the ones i already owned before the R4, eg Mario 64 DS, Mario Kart, (theres more cant list all) you guys (DSfb) made a big deal of Mario Party , BORING! i played it for about 20 mins, then deleted it. Good thing i diddnt but it! I played Metroid on the R4 before buying it, that was worthy and i, Currently tried Mario Olypics on R4 seems good atm prolli buy it. (when in comes out in the UK)
Anyway i know about 8 people with the DS (8 player Mario Kart still does it :) about 2 of us have the R4 (including me)
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:23PM
C02M0 said...
well...
im a happy owner of a ninjapass ,,,
i must say thet i use it mainley for non homebrew games.
(DO WHATEVER YOU WANT CUSE A PIRTAE IS FREE :D )
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:40PM
Synergistic said...
I know plenty of people with DSes and know of only one girl who has one of these cards, or at least some version of it. I'm certainly not going to begrudge her the chance to play Ouendan.
Reply
2-01-2008 @ 6:59AM
spugmeistress said...
the DS is region-free. everyone has the chance to play Ouendan if they want to, the internet makes it just as easy to import the game as it is to download a pirated ROM.
i really really hope Nintendo don't have to implement region locking in order to try and combat piracy as that is one of the reasons why i love my DS so much
2-01-2008 @ 11:46AM
Jamar said...
Uh, no. If they put in region locking I bet you 100% MORE people will be pirating. Oh, and about internet purchases- shipping is all I have to say on that. If you live in a "bad" country you may find that your game will never get to you.
1-31-2008 @ 12:43PM
Fredo said...
90% of my friends own a DS, one of them got an R4 about three weeks ago, now EVERYONE owns one, or has one being shipped as we speak... The ability to play NES ROMs (that we own) is definitely the killer app.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:44PM
Gil said...
R4DS is the bestest! Now if I could only find it in my house.. And another thing, 90% of statistics are made up.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:53PM
The Theory said...
I don't have a flashcart, but I could see getting one for the homebrews.
No interest in pirating, though.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 12:53PM
Diego Carrera said...
I own a R4DS and I've certainly downloaded a few games and played them a while. Most of my DS use now is for homebrew, since there are only a few games worth playing. If Nintendo and their publishers don't start making really good games I won't spend any more cash in lame games. By the way I own a few games which are worth it.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 1:07PM
chispito said...
Come on, it's like Hiller has never even heard of Nethack.
Reply
2-08-2008 @ 9:31PM
James said...
OMG, yes, and Tower Defense. I get some commercial ROMs on a "try before I buy" basis, but I got the really good ones like Advance Wars, both Castlevanias, Final Fantasy, etc. legit. The only commercial games I can think of that I played more than a tiny bit on my R4 are Tingle (it's positively *criminal* to deprive us like that!) and Ouendan (and I bought EBA as a result...). I guess Nintendo might lose a buck or two on that deal, but I think most of the losses are suffered by PlayAsia and Blockbuster.
1-31-2008 @ 1:08PM
ALH said...
'90%? Considering the near-ubiquity of the handheld and its expanded casual audience, we highly doubt that even 9% of DS owners in the US have a flashcart of any sort, let alone know of their existence. '
90% is too steep, but i wouldnt put it past casuals to own a flash cart. Gaming is an expensive hobby, and those who arent *into* games often to not see the 'point' in paying for a new game- in some cases this means having a console but only a couple of games for it, in others, piracy. My sisters friend recently got a DS and the first game she got alongside it was a flash cart her uncle filled up with ROMS.
Incidentally i recently got myself an R4. I swore off the piracy side of things because i only wanted it for ebooks and homebrew- but the draw was too tempting. Now i have a small collection of games on there and think its fantastic.
I usually lug around a case with 20+ DS and GBA games. Having them all on one cart means I dont have to bother fumbling around to swap out, and i can return to the main menu at any time to use a homebrew app or read an ebook. The way i see it is i spend a LOT of money on games anyways, and as much as i do not approve of piracy- by purchasing the amount of games i have so far i've contributed to the industry, so i think its ok if i grab a couple of ROMS now and then. Especially if a game is out of print or hard to find.
The solution perhaps? A live arcade/virtual console style system which allows you to download legals ROMS for a reasonable price onto the flash cart of your choice. I dont mind paying for games- i insist on paying full price for worthy titles, but cutting out the middle man would sure free up a bit of space on my shelf.... i'm running out of space for all these plastic boxes :(
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 1:09PM
spugmeistress said...
I actually don't doubt his figures, a lot of people I know who have DSs have one, and a lot of decidedly non-techy parents I know were trying to buy these for their kids' DSs this christmas as well. The R4 carts are in no way still 'underground' and the mainstream types who are buying it are not getting it for homebrew.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 1:32PM
Peter S said...
I have to admit that I kind of like the idea of owning a cart that I could use to load up a bunch of my games so I can play whatever I want at the time without finding the missing cart. Kind of like people do with Media Centers or MP3 players. Who wants to carry around every CD you own to listen to some song or other? Admittedly the carts are a LOT smaller, but that also makes a $20-$40 (or more?) object that much easier to use.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 1:46PM
Ghaleon said...
I've been an ARRR PIRATE of some movies & games my whole life, but I really like Nintendo, and the few games I want to play I have no problem just buying. Esp with all the "niche" games on Wii/DS that need sales.
I really want more Contra, Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright, Zack & Wiki, etc -- but stealing them doesn't help. If you're a gamer and you actually care about what games the industry produces, you need to vote with your dollar.
Reply
1-31-2008 @ 2:08PM
Dio said...
My new pet peeve: the media calling flashcarts "chips" a;lsfjfklfklfds
Only a HANDFUL of DS owners use flashcarts. A handful. How many? Probably a little over 300,000. And how many DS Lite units have been sold in North America? 15 million. That's far less than 90%. Mind that the number of flashcart owners is just an estimation, as sellers in China do not release their figures. But you can rest assured that these users normally go to forums such as GBAtemp or QJ. So at most 300,000. I would normally guess like 100,000, though. So that's about 2%.
Reply