Today (July 29, 2008), Nintendo and 54 Japanese software makers filed a lawsuit against five Japanese companies which have been distributing R4 DS units and similar slot-1 devices. The five companies have reportedly been importing the devices and selling them to the public.
This news comes on the heels of retailers in the UK asking for R4 cards to be banned. According to MCV, retailers in the UK are noticing a decrease in DS game sales and are blaming the use of piracy devices like the R4. Sure, its the fault of pirates. It isn’t because games are much more expensive in Europe than in the US so people may be a bit more choosy concerning purchases. For example, Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training aka Brain Age is £14.98/$29.87, Mario Kart DS is £24.98/$49.82 and Harvest Moon DS is £28.48/$56.80. Would you pay $56.80 for Harvest Moon DS? I know I wouldn’t – I’d save up and only buy the best games.
While I can understand Nintendo wanting to protect their assets, I think the actions are unfair. The majority of slot-1 card users may be using the devices for piracy, but there are also individuals who use R4 DS cards to play homebrew games and applications. It is a shame that these actions could mean an end to such homebrew delights as StillAliveDS, Twin Isles, Colors! and DSChess.
This is horrible news. Like mentioned in the article who wants or will pay so much money for such a subpar game. Slot1 and backup devices need to stay around as we have a right to use homebrew and choose to have an all in one solution for the games we own already. Just because you own one of these devices DOESN'T mean you are not buying games from retailers.
I am hoping nothing but success on keeping R4 and other similar devices on their lawsuit.
Nintendo's brain age is a good game, but is not really for brain training. There are far better brain training games out there. You can see some reviews on my site.
Best,
Brian Jones
http://www.braintraininggames.net
Nintendo is fighting a lost cause…because of this most people will know about trhe r4 and buy them! Anyways..nintendo cannot stop r4ds. I did not know about one a year ago but i just ordered mine so nintendo wont be able to stop the r4
And ds games are over priced
yes it is for sure they are making it popular in an indirect way R4DS cannot be stopped from sale and especially when the games are over priced people will definitely look forward for other options and thats where the advantages of using R$ card pops up. Well though it encourages piracy R4 cards are best for any Nintendo gamer to make his job easier for installing new softwares and games of course. bringing down the game price can help a little but my guess would be it will be difficult to stop its sale completely.