I have a M3 DS Real. The perfect Bundle. I didn't buy it o pirate DS games. I bought it because a flash card allows the Ds to become possibly he best portable emulator available. Atari, C64, NES, Genesis, MAME, SNES, even SCummVM! Sure it was an added bonus that I could carry around one flashcard and have all my 20+ DS games, but I was more excited about the homebrew available that added functionality that should have been there in the first place. DSOrganize adds decent PDA features and a basic web browser that's no more crippled than Nintendo/Opera's.

Sure Flash carts allow you to pirate but most websites and communities like Gbatemp.net won't even let you talk about that or where to find roms.

Flashcards are like bittorrent. At first glance , they only seem useful for piracy, but there are many uses for both that break no laws.

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Whoa, whoa, whoa. So this is why my R4 hasn't arrived for 10+ days? Because some little fool thinks that using DSOrganize and Colors is pirating. COME ON. Some people need to conjure up a little intelligence and research. Provide US with some solid proof, and you might not be an idiot.

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In recent news the eye patch makers of America are reporting record sales.

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I guess I'm a half pirate then?

I own 47 DS games legally. I just like to try before I buy so I don't end up with something I won't like. It's convinced me to get Mario & Sonic DS after all and helped me decide to get 10 other DS games I own. =D

I like it because of the try before buy feature but I would never stop buying games because if I just pirated them it would only hurt the industry which means less games coming from my favorite developers.

While the R4 might help people I'm sure tons of the people out there who have one don't buy the actual games. Which is why these types of devices will never be legal in the US.

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The market is so large with the DS that the percentage of people with flashcart are relatively low.

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By the by, you can buy them via Amazon. They may not be mainstream, but you don't have to deal with dodgy overseas webfront companies if you don't want to, which was the only thing holding me back for a long time.

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honestly thats a load of crud. Im sure less than 1out of 10 DS owners even know of the R4 and even less use them. I didnt even know that such a thing existed untill now. Besides what does Mr. Hiller hope to gain by slapping a completely absurd statistic to an equally absurd claim?

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What about games that Nintendo never intends to release in the US? (*Cough* Mother 3 and Dragon Quest IV *cough*)! Or what about Snes games that will never show up on the Virtual Console? If Nintendo doesn't like it, why don't they do anything about it!?

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my ds is usually left on the shelf if it werent for colors ds homebrew :( i use it to paint everywhere and i find it more fun than pirating games.

i do however play roms too. thats because most games i tried to buy here are either not available, or pirated (or worse pirated and overpriced- i tried to buy a kirby game that was for $50 but i saw the cover was a cheap printout!) so im not threatening the market in any way

and owning a flashcart does not make you a pirate, my friend only uses hers to go on msn and as a personal organiser.

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Huge companies use piracy as an excuse to quash user-generated content. They scrutinize the model of the web -- free exchange -- and soil their stat sheets.

An R4 can be used for ROMs, but its redeeming purpose in a democracy is to act as an open access channel. People who develop free games in their free time free of restrictions and publish their work on the web deserve console access, and people who want to play those games deserve access as well, which flashcarts provide.

Other media have done this before, minidisc being the most egregious offender. But for its need to control content, Sony could have owned the portable recorder market in the period between DAT tape and portable hard disc recording. Instead, it chose to shackle users and strangle the format.

Huge record and game companies aren't merely protecting their own games. They're also trying to limit user choices of other available game. This decision is as ruthless as it is conscious and we shouldn't stand for hypocrits who want to limit access to products in the name of possible abuse. Ridiculous, to ban sudafed for everyone because some people choose to run meth labs. Hunting down meth labs themselves ought to be enough.

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I own an R4, but I'm the *only* person I know who does (and I know LOTS Of DS owners). I got mine because I'm a Homebrew enthusiast. No, I don't program (yet), but I am absolutely fascinated by all the nifty little things that DS users have come up with. I mean....MSN Messenger...on the DS...brilliant (I can IM people from my toilet now (^-^)!~)

Fact: this man is a twat who doesn't know what he's talking about.

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i have a flash cart and the majority of my friends do, and pretty much every other person ive met with a ds have a flashcart

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Well said and good points. I have no idea how much money I've spent on gaming over the years, but it is my one vice. No drinking, drugs, smoking or buying time with "pros." But gaming. Good grief. And not just the DS. Most of what I buy game-wise is pre-owned just because I can't afford to buy everything I want to play new, and I don't want to pirate games. Give me a legal option that satisfies my gaming Jones without breaking my wallet and I'll take full advantage of it. I've made use of VC, XBox Arcade and Playstation Network. Make something like that for the DS and I'm there.

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The article states that 90% of pirates use an R4, not 90% of DS owners are pirates.

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No, the article literally said "90 per cent of Nintendo DS users", not "90% of pirates."

And the ELSPA is backpedaling like crazy now.

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