I bought an R4 for my wife, because I'd bought her a DS Lite a year before and she complained that it didn't have any PDA features or anything; she would've been more impressed if the gadget could do more. So, I figured out how to give her DS PDA functions, play music and videos, and so forth.

She thought it was pretty cool, but she never used it anyway! Nor did I ever get back to using it, because I remember going through hell to get the thing to work properly in the first place (though once I figured it out, it worked smoothly).

So, our R4 Revolution cart sits idle on a shelf. I've bought more games than we'll ever play anyhow, so I'm not even tempted to pirate anything. And I spend so much time playing storebought games that I don't have time to even look into homebrew.

The great thing about a DS, after all, is that you can just pop in a cartridge and play a favorite game anytime, anyplace. When something takes any more work than that (e.g., connecting, downloading, decoding), it loses its appeal for me.

I think it'd be cool, though, if the DS itself came with PDA functions. And if I could turn off the game music and play my own favorite songs instead.

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I have an R4 for a plethora of uses.

It's just like VHS machines getting bashed decades ago; they can be used to pirate, but there are so many important uses for the technology.

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My DS could never replace my PDA, and any app I could get for the DS is usually a limited version of a PDA app anyway. No R4 here, just games.

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I have an R4 and use it proudly. I have been making music on handheld consoles for the past 6 years, and have seen a string of companies sued and shut down for making excellent products.
In the music scene alone, until the release of the DS-10, there has been no well thought out was of making music without the use of piracy on any Nintendo handheld. Most of us use and R4 or the old Bung Enterprises carts that were C&D'd a long time ago.
If there weren't great designers out there making great products, like Nitrotracker, StillAliveDS, and lmp-ng. I would have had no way of playing MP3s, taking Portal with me, or making music.
There are people out there who use the R4 for piracy only, and that is a shame, since the designers don't see any of that money. However, there are many people out there who only buy USED games, and Gamestop sure isn't paying the designers on those games.
My verdict: Pirate what you want, BUT, if you EVER find more than an hour of enjoyment out of a game, go out and buy a NEW copy to support the original makers. And if you download homebrew and find enjoyment, go to their Donate button and buy them a pizza.

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M3DS Real happy owner here. ScummVMds and Colors! justify the existence of Slot-1 linkers on their own.

-Colors! is the only touch pressure-detecting software ever made for the DS, and since Nintendo forbid this feature to be exploited by licensed developpers, it will remain he best hand-drawing soft on their DS.

-Homebrew are updated and improved, while commercial games are not.

-Linkers provide interoperability so I can play my SNES and GB games wherever I want with an emulator like SnemulDS and Lameboy.

-Anyone with can code homebrew on their DS with a linker, wich will never be authorised by Nintendo.

Blaming a tool for it's user's behaviour is just inaccurate. If linkers are illegal, knives are too.

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I use my CycloDS primarily for Homebrew games which I have playing many of recently. I also use the CycloDS to try new release titles to see if they are worthy enough for me to drop what very little money I have being a college student and not working.

Is it Piracy? I think it's a debatable issue, I have about 13 games that I've purchased and I've been happy with everyone... because I've played them on the CycloDS before. I call it being a smart consumer.

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Homebrew is awesome, and Nintendo should legitimize it.

Short of that, there is absolutely nothing illegal or immoral about using an R4/M3/etc. to run homebrew software.

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I don't have an R4, but am planning on getting one in the near future. I'll admit that the main draw for myself are translation projects for games that are definitely never going to make it out of Japan--Jump Ultimate Stars (character licenses divided among various companies), Tales of Innocence (Nippon-Banzai said it would never come here), SRW OG Mugen no Frontier (Kos-Mos' presence makes licensing issues inextricably tangled), etc. I would happily pay retail for all of these should they ever be localized, but, unfortunately, the R4 is the only option for people who want to play a non-localized game in a language they can actually understand. I would never pirate something that is commercially available in my region, although I can see why English-speakers living outside of North America do it, due to the ridiculously-high tariff-inflated costs of games in some countries and the overall uncertainty that a particular game will ever even make it out of NA.

As for homebrew, the DSFanboy coverage has me more interested than I would have been otherwise. I don't want to feel like I'm missing out on all of these interesting apps and indie games, even if a lot of it turns out to be fluff that can't hold my interest. There's just too much of it there not to try.

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In the time when I bought R4, it was mainly to easily have several games with me. It's pain buying good DS case here in Germany: retails have only few options, on-line you do not really know what you're buying.

Home-brew doesn't attract me (no my (playable) games (yet)).

"Piracy" (or demoing games) came later.

And even now I'm not sure whether I'm pirate or not. In the beginning I owned all games I liked and R4 didn't changed my playing schedule a bit. But later I have discovered huge catalog of games which were never released in Europe (e.g. Luminous Arc or Chibi-Robo Park Patrol).

Last game I bought was FFTA2 and I was already at 60 hours or something. Box is laying around untouched - since I play exclusively from R4 - I only checked booklet to see what's really "Nu Mou" means (my first guess was "Naked Cow"; but it turned out to be an untranslatable name of race).

But for last year, I still cannot recall another game (except FFTA2) which I played off R4 and which was released in Europe. It seems most good games miss Europe.

Due to huge amount of shovelware and sequels, I recommend R4 to pretty much all of my friends as a was to preview game before actually forking 40€ for it. (Especially for kids, DS cartridge is much more robust, compared to relatively fragile R4.)

P.S. Cheats are also plus.

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how can you seriously be THAT opposed to TALKING TO a "pirate"

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I regularly use my R4 to try out new homebrew games and apps. I wouldn't even consider pirating software.

Nintendo should penalise retailers / users of homebrew carts. What percentage of users do you think use them for pirate software?

Also, why do Nintendo forbid the of pressure detection?

John

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"Ryan Mc said...

I love the idea of supporting the designers, but why insist on the NEW copy? I think that's going a little far when it comes to my responsibility to the designers. "

NO WAY. Do you realize that new copies and ONLY new copies go to pay the original designers? It is the same as buying used CDs. Used copies are bought from customers and resold.

So not only do the designers not make money off of that used copy, but they don't make money off of the new copy they could have sold. The ONLY people that make money off of used games are the used game resellers and for most of that it means GameStop.

GameStop does not have to pay royalties or fees of any kind to the original publisher. So if you don't buy a game NEW the designer will make the same amount whether it is Used or Pirated, that amount being $0.00

Which is why I say we need to support the designers, by purchasing NEW games. Rather than supporting the large used game stores that make ALL of the money on used games.

"Pirate what you want, BUT, if you EVER find more than an hour of enjoyment out of a game, go out and buy a NEW copy to support the original makers. And if you download homebrew and find enjoyment, go to their Donate button and buy them a pizza."

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