Team 17's studio director Martyn Brown has been eyeing up that SD slot as a potential source of piracy. "Adding an SD slot makes a bunch of sense for downloadable content given the way things are going," Brown said. "I just hope they've done something to counter the mass piracy that exists via the R4 on the Lite. It scares me that with an SD card input, that might leave it even wider open that it was on the original device." He brings up a valid point, but we guess we're just going to have to wait until Nintendo reveals more about the security features of the handheld.
Either way, we're sure the homebrew community will have a field day once it releases to Japan in November.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-03-2008 @ 4:27PM
Gemini Ace said...
So, adding a much needed feature to the device opens it up for piracy? The consumer benefits from the addition of the SD card slot. Piracy is going to happen no matter what. The consumer shouldn't suffer.
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10-03-2008 @ 4:29PM
monkeymonkeymonkey said...
I agree, any anti-piracy measure WILL be hacked, so why make it bad for the consumer?
Has anyone found out if the DSi has WPA support? If not, Nintendo is ass backwards.
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10-03-2008 @ 4:29PM
Bones3D said...
You know what'd be really funny? If they managed to permanently halt piracy, only to see absolutely no change in sales whatsoever. Who do you blame then? A competing system like the PSP for still allowing piracy in the portable market instead of forcing pirates to buy your content?
It's hilarious that we even bother to control piracy when even our own methods fail to stop the market from controlling itself.
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10-03-2008 @ 4:30PM
Igor said...
Piracy is going to exist whether or not you have a ds slot on the DS. I think a true fan will always buy they're games because they want good developers to be successful and thus keep showering us with good games.
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10-03-2008 @ 4:35PM
thesimplicity said...
I don't think Team17 should be so worried about piracy. They should probably focus on developing a game worth pirating first.
I'm sure they're hard at work on the ninth million edition of Worms right now... now with half the features of the last version!
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10-03-2008 @ 9:34PM
BlackDS said...
lolz
10-03-2008 @ 5:01PM
erico316 said...
i agreed with team17 the dsi is a useless attempt to stop the psp in its tracks.they took out the gba port and its cost more why because they added a cam that will bring nothing new to the ds. does the ds need an sd card not really.dlc is a great idea but to do its should had been done in a new portable system not the same one to force you to upgrade.nintendo let me down with the dsi.well its time to for a new leader in the portable system so nintendo learn that adding something so small is not a good idea. them nintendo is forcing u to upgrade if you want downloadable games on the ds you can only do its with the dsi .
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10-03-2008 @ 7:05PM
FantomRedux said...
OK, a few thing wrong with what you just said, let me point them out.
"the dsi is a useless attempt to stop the psp in its tracks" I wasnt aware Nintendo even had to "Stop the PSP in its tracks". The DS is far outselling the PSP already, the PSP 3k isnt gonna make much difference, the same with the "Slim and Lite".
"they took out the gba port and its cost more why because they added a cam that will bring nothing new to the ds" How do you know that? Theyve already said its more to add that extra bit to the possibilities to the DS. It's not up to Nintendo to make the games great, just the hardware. It's the Develelopers who need to make good games
"should had been done in a new portable system not the same one to force you to upgrade" Now to me, this arguement makes no sense. If they released a brnad new handheld, theyd still be "forcing" you to upgrade, because the DS would be phased out. Think it through will ya?
"so nintendo learn that adding something so small is not a good idea." And how has the PSP been upgraded at all? oh, they gave it a better screen and made it thinner... Isn't that what Nintendo did with the DS Lite. And now with this one, guess what. THEYRE DOING IT AGAIN :O! Yeah, thats right, and they're actually adding MORE features too! What a ripoff! And from what I've seen on Play Asia, the price isnt gonna be any higher, and if it is, it'll be a small difference. Just face it. The DSi is a good thing.
10-03-2008 @ 5:02PM
Puddles said...
Playing pirated games on the DS couldn't be any easier than it already is. All it takes is a $20 cartridge and a MicroSD card.
Also, I'm sure Nintendo wasn't stupid enough to design the DSi such that if you just stick game files on an SD card it will play them.
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10-03-2008 @ 5:04PM
CaramelZappa said...
I think the SD slot and downloadable games will do just the opposite. A lot of the Piracy on DS systems has to do with convenience, and price. If it is easier for someone to buy a game straight from their DSi, for maybe $20 instead of the ridiculous $35 you see a lot of DS games running for, a lot of people will prefer to buy it off the DSi store than even pirating. clicking a couple buttons on your DS and being able to play right there is so much easier than buying a cartridge, a microsd card, looking for roms, downloading them, transfering them to microsd in the right folder, and putting that into the cartridge, then that into the DS. If legitimately downloading the game is that much easier, I think it will curb piracy. You have to take into account also, the ammount of R4 owners who actually OWN the roms they have on their R4, and don't want to have to switch cartridges every time they want to switch games.
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10-03-2008 @ 6:31PM
chispito said...
I have an R4 and I would say I use it for legitimate, if more spirit-of-the-law, purposes. For instance, I'll "pirate" a game while it's in the mail or in the case of the Korg DS-10, until it's released in the US (I have that one pre-ordered in case you're worried).
I'm the kind of guy whose friend sends him a few mp3s and then he goes out and buys the album if he likes it.
10-03-2008 @ 5:20PM
RupeeClock said...
Anyone can see that, it happened to the Wii didn't it?
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10-03-2008 @ 6:53PM
moominsean said...
you can already play every ds game on a ds thru a card. don't know how much more wide open you can get... how much more can you pirate than everything?
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10-03-2008 @ 7:13PM
ChaoticTails said...
This probably will open piracy in a similar fashion to the WAD Installer for Wii, but I wonder- will Nintendo have firmware updates? And also, will the DSi block flashcards from the start?
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10-03-2008 @ 7:14PM
FantomRedux said...
The thing that really annoys me about all this nay-saying about the DSi is that pre-E3, everyone was saying they wanted a DS redesign, or a new handheld. The only ones who didn't want it were the ones who had recently got a DS Lite, which is fair enough.
Anyway, fast forward to the Nintendo Media Summit and, oh my god would you look at that, Nintendo gave you what you wanted before. Except now its not good enough because its been a couple months since E3, and you wanted it announced then.
Boo-frickin-hoo. Did people complain about the DSL? Not that I can remember. Everything was seen as a massive improvement.
Now, when they do it again, and give you a built in browser, a DLC service, an SD slot AND built in flash memory, as well as a bigger screen and a thinner console. The only thing II'm dissappointed at with the DSi is the lower battery life, but I rarely go more than 12 hours of playing without charging my Lite, because I like to keep it topped up.
Less QQ, more being happy because you got what you want.
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10-04-2008 @ 12:24AM
aj said...
To be fair, I didn't want a DS redesign because I thought the idea was stupid. (You want an analog stick? Really?)
I actually bought my DS a while back.
10-04-2008 @ 7:05AM
Niz said...
The DS lite was just cosmetic. This new one gives new features that alienates existing users! Phat DS and DS Lite are the same gameplay wise thats why no one complained!
The only updates i can welcome is bigger screen, and HOPEFULLY! WPA/2 support and 802.11b/g/n
Nintendo need to introduce firmware updating to existing DS', the store to say the least could be just a firmware update, or at least a cartridge with a micro sd slot.
10-04-2008 @ 7:53AM
FantomRedux said...
I don't think I even mentioned analogue sticks. Where the hell did you get that from? And yeah, maybe those who just bought a DS aren't the only ones who didn't want a redesign, but they're the majority I think (Don't quote me on it though)
10-03-2008 @ 7:30PM
leonus11 said...
(sigh) here's where i get pissed off. EVERYBODY knows that pirating games is illegal and it also encourages others to do the same thus reducing the amount of money the DEVS make, and yet they STILL DO PIRATE GAMES! on top of that people use excuses like "well i don't have the money to pay for it but i still wanna play it" or "well it does have other perposes" but i bet if ONE OF YOU guys were in development of a game you'd also be pretty pissed off if people pirated YOUR games. sheesh! people these days only think about themselves i swear. if you don't have the money to pay for it, then TOUGH COOKIE! don't play it at all! i swear people KNOW that they pirate and yet they cover it up with lame excuses! >:O
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10-03-2008 @ 9:32PM
Bones3D said...
Having been in the software development business throughout the years myself, I'd say you'd have to be a damned fool to enter the industry and somehow not expect your work to be pirated in some form.
Piracy isn't black and white in nature. It's a very fluid grey area ranging from those too cheap to pay for software, to people looking to try your product before buying into it, to digital pack rats who are addicted to archiving warez for the sake of archiving warez with no intention of ever actually using the content.
Aside from that, piracy is an inevitable side effect of the tried and true principles of supply and demand. If you have rampant piracy of your product, you may be doing something your target market doesn't agree with. For example, are you over charging for the product? Was the product over-hyped before release? Is the product too aggressive with its registration or DRM implementations? Or is the product itself so bad that the consumers feel ripped off after buying into it?
Perhaps the problem isn't with those who pirate the works of others, but with the content creators themselves and their warped perception of entitlement. Just because you make something doesn't automatically guarantee that you should profit from it. In the end, any item or concept is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. If that value turns out to be "nothing", maybe that is what you really should be getting for it.