According to Japanese retailer Enterking, a system update could render your 3DS unusable if you've used a DS flash card.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rumor/25672
A Nintendo 3DS system update could potentially brick the system if the update detects traces of flash card use, which are often used for the purposes of playing pirated software. Japanese retailer Enterking has posted a warning on their website as follows:
"Dear Customers who resell Nintendo 3DS:
In case if you use equipment which is illegal or unapproved by Nintendo, or if you do customization which is unapproved by Nintendo, there is a possibility that Nintendo 3DS become non-bootable by system update."
The warning continues to state that because of this, Enterking is unable to buy a used 3DS if there is any trace of such usage. Users are to format their system before bringing them in to sell them, noting carefully that they will not be held responsible in the case that a user formats their system, brings it in to sell, and is declined, leaving the 3DS owner with a blank system.
Nintendo declined to comment when asked about the potential countermeasures:
"We do not discuss product security details (for obvious reasons), nor can we discuss the details of countermeasures available in the Nintendo 3DS system. Nintendo 3DS has the most up-to-date technology. The security has been designed to protect both the creative works in the software and to protect the Nintendo 3DS hardware system itself."
Besides, only criminals should have a problem with this.
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Besides, only criminals should have a problem with this.
We should start installing tele-screens in everyone's home too! After all, only criminals have something to hide.
Besides, only criminals should have a problem with this.
Besides, only criminals should have a problem with this.
Pirates have been hiding behind homebrew and importing for years.
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Besides, only criminals should have a problem with this.
We should start installing tele-screens in everyone's home too! After all, only criminals have something to hide.
Don't start with this again Morari, you have made it clear you don't care about the law.
I think everyone is panicking at nothing. At best, this is a garbled translation by the manager of a single retail store.
My guess is that while the 3DS will log activity on your system, Nintendo will never actively brick systems remotely. That violates various consumer rights laws and will only lead to bad publicity and class action lawsuits without helping the bottom line. Disabling a CE device you paid money for is akin to vandalism - it'll never happen.
However, if you do soft-mod your system somehow, it means that if you try to update in future, the system will be different to what the update is expecting. Sometimes, this will mean that the update won't install correctly and introduce bugs - resulting in a brick. If you tried to sell the system back to a retailer and they could tell (via the log) that you soft-modded it or violated some higher level system permission, they then have every right to refuse to buy it from you since you modded the system. After that point, they have no guarantee that it will work as intended and have a duty of care to not sell a potentially defective unit on to other customers
If you mod a system or otherwise do something to it that allows it to do things it wasn't designed for, that's the same as spray painting it or putting sticker decals all over it. You wouldn't expect to be able to take it back to the store for a refund or to get a good trade-in price for it if it isn't close to the same condition as you bought it in. This has nothing to do with Nintendo having a killswitch they can trip. Regardless of how much they might want to do it, it would be breaking the law.
I am going to have to disagree a little. I have had an ADSL modem brick when I updated it with the official firmware that failed to unbrick following the companies procedure. What surprises me is that it doesn't have some sort of ability to fall back or roll back to hardwired 1.0. Devices brick because they are badly designed or have zero room for contingencies or are draconian.
I only hope this is only boiler plate as I know I will end up soft moding this in time to play import, if nothing else get games at a fair price. Getting bricked would be like getting shot while walking on the grass at the park.
I am going to have to disagree a little. I have had an ADSL modem brick when I updated it with the official firmware that failed to unbrick following the companies procedure. What surprises me is that it doesn't have some sort of ability to fall back or roll back to hardwired 1.0. Devices brick because they are badly designed or have zero room for contingencies or are draconian.I'm personally just going to import the system from the get-go. I imported my Wii from the US and have never regretted doing so. It'll mean that I'll miss out on some Japan-only games, but that's still an upgrade from Australia's release schedule.
I only hope this is only boiler plate as I know I will end up soft moding this in time to play import, if nothing else get games at a fair price. Getting bricked would be like getting shot while walking on the grass at the park.
Even if a system is bricked, isn't there a way to unbrick it?It depends on what caused it to brick. With the Wii, if you have a backup of the internal memory, then you can usually restore a bricked system if homebrew caused it, and sometimes for certain updates too, I believe. If you don't have a backup though, then I don't think there's anything that will restore it. But it isn't something I know much about.
