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NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: Nick DiMola on July 29, 2008, 11:15:06 AM

Title: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: Nick DiMola on July 29, 2008, 11:15:06 AM

Nintendo and 54 other game software companies take R4 distributors to court citing the Unfair Competition Prevention Law as their legal grounding.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=16485

 Nintendo filed a lawsuit today with the Tokyo District Court against companies distributing the "R4 Revolution for DS." For those unfamiliar, the device allows gamers to play ROMs on their DS systems. After downloading illegal ROMs from the internet players need only to transfer them to a mini-SD card and insert it into the R4 DS game shell.    

Though the R4 can be used for more harmless tasks, such as homebrew development, it is also being used as a pirated game player to a large enough extent to draw attention. Nintendo, Arc System Works, SNK, Capcom, Koei, Jaleco, Square Enix, Taito, Sega, Tomy, Tecmo, Hudson, Bandai Namco, The Pokemon Company, Yukes, Level Five, and others are pursuing the case in an attempt to curb piracy.

Title: Re: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: KnowsNothing on July 29, 2008, 06:25:34 PM

It's funny because on the DS homebrew scene, the R4 is kind of a joke.  Plus didn't Nintendo shut down a bunch of R4 factories a while back?  It just amuses me that they get hammered while plenty of other companies are making superior products, you know, with all their factories intact.  I guess that's what you get for being first.

Title: Re: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: Flames_of_chaos on July 29, 2008, 09:05:00 PM

The thing is that it isn't just for the R4 but the other devices as well.

Title: Re: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: KnowsNothing on July 30, 2008, 01:08:42 AM

Oh wait, now that I've read the article I see that it says companies DISTRIBUTING R4 devices.

Title: Re: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: MegaByte on July 30, 2008, 01:41:21 AM

Quote from: KnowsNothing on July 29, 2008, 06:25:34 PM

I guess that's what you get for being first.

But they weren't even first.  I'm really not sure how the R4 got so popular in Japanese shops (there are even identical cards with a different branding).

Title: Re: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: planetidiot on July 30, 2008, 12:01:58 PM

And yet all this could be prevented if they allowed for legitimate home brew through something like the xbox creator's club and a licensed flash card.

Title: Re: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: NWR_insanolord on July 30, 2008, 10:10:31 PM

Quote from: planetidiot on July 30, 2008, 12:01:58 PM

And yet all this could be prevented if they allowed for legitimate home brew through something like the xbox creator's club and a licensed flash card.

No, that would just stop the people who use these things for homebrew from buying them. The people who just want them for piracy would still be buying them.

Title: Re: Nintendo and Others Take R4 Distributors to Court
Post by: Nephilim on July 31, 2008, 09:58:21 AM

I hope it doesnt end up like 360 in the next gen of handhelds to stop this, with its licenced only deal.
Seems like the only legal way to block them.