Gaming Forums => Nintendo Gaming => Topic started by: Shaymin on October 31, 2013, 10:52:45 PM
Title: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Shaymin on October 31, 2013, 10:52:45 PM
Quote from: Announcement from Nintendo
Thank you for your support.
Nintendo has learned that some consumers, including minors, have been exchanging their friend codes on Internet bulletin boards and then using Swapnote (known as Nintendo Letter Box in other regions) to exchange offensive material. Nintendo has been investigating ways of preventing this and determined it is best to stop the SpotPass feature of Swapnote because it allows direct exchange of photos and was actively misused.
Nintendo always wants to provide a positive experience for all consumers and limit the risk of any inappropriate activity or misuse of a service. We feel it is important on this occasion to take the action.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience to the many consumers who have been using this service responsibly; however this decision was made considering the point that many minors also use this feature of Swapnote. Thank you for your understanding.
Nintendo will continue to work to ensure more consumers are aware of our Parental Control features, which allow parents to manage their children's experience on our systems. For more information, please visit here or select the Internet browser button below:
Service stop date: Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, 7 p.m. PT
Service being stopped: Nintendo 3DS software Swapnote - Sending and receiving notes using SpotPass
Affected regions: All regions where the service was offered
Special Notes services are also stopped
- Nintendo (clickable link for 3DS browser access to above)
Thanks, Internet.
We probably could have seen this coming as soon as, well, PictoChat was invented. Adding online play meant that yes, sexting was going to be in play. I was a pretty frequent user of the service if only as a main form of communication for the StreetPass group I'm with (hi Halipass followers) and this really blows.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: UncleBob on October 31, 2013, 11:02:57 PM
This is dumb.
People (including kids) can trade personal information on da interwebz. They can then trade friend codes. They can then use Swapnote to trade personal information.
Couldn't they just skip the whole 3DS plan and just keep trading info on the internet?
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: TheBigK on October 31, 2013, 11:12:36 PM
WHAT?! I booted up Swapnote to check my notes for the evening, and I see the message pop up stating Spotpass was discontinued for it. C'mon Nintendo, this is NOT cool! I use Swapnote on a daily basis and it's the most played software for several people on my friends list. I'm pretty bummed over this, it was such a great way to connect with other 3DS players.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: UncleBob on October 31, 2013, 11:13:55 PM
Dumb question... couldn't I use the internet to trade my WiiU info with kids, then do video chat with them and do much, much worse than sending them photos?
Will Wii U video chat be next on the chopping block?
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: azeke on October 31, 2013, 11:34:21 PM
Noooooo! Nikki... Nikki, no!..
i haven't used SwapNote in months
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Pajamas on October 31, 2013, 11:57:49 PM
Man this is ridiculous. I haven't really used it lately, but I enjoyed it. Most of the people I've got on my friends list are off of this site and it was nice to use the service. I guess this means we won't ever be getting Flipnote Studio as well...
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: azeke on November 01, 2013, 12:08:05 AM
At least i hope they will provide MiiVerse as replacement soon. I hope.
But losing Nikki sucks.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Khushrenada on November 01, 2013, 12:19:03 AM
Dumb question... couldn't I use the internet to trade my WiiU info with kids, then do video chat with them and do much, much worse than sending them photos?
Will Wii U video chat be next on the chopping block?
I've wondered about that since I booted up my Wii U and saw this was an option. It just seemed to go against the entire Nintendo protect the minors philosophy. I still can't figure out how that got through with no handwringing.
Of course, it figures they would do this. I finally got enough juicy messages and pictures to start charging for copies of these swapnotes and maybe a make a business out of it and now this happens. One step forward, two steps back.
On a more serious note, I've really never paid much attention or looked into what spotpass means so now someone can feel free to educate me. But wouldn't people still have to trade friendcodes first and set each other up before sending each other swapnotes? How is this any different from when I send a swapnote to somebody in my friend list?
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Khushrenada on November 01, 2013, 01:55:08 AM
Ok. Never mind that question. Swapnote is just dead completely. I thought it was just a feature they were shutting down of it.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: stevey on November 01, 2013, 12:55:06 PM
Too bad Nintendo doesn't have any other choice in the matter. If only there was some sort of independent Entertainment Software Rating Board that could give the game a Mature or Adult Only rating so parents would have to first OK it and understand the risk before kids can download/use it. But obviously no such thing exist.....
:faust:
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: pokepal148 on November 01, 2013, 04:32:05 PM
Too bad Nintendo doesn't have any other choice in the matter. If only there was some sort of independent Entertainment Software Rating Board that could give the game a Mature or Adult Only rating so parents would have to first OK it and understand the risk before kids can download/use it. But obviously no such thing exist.....
:faust:
I hate to burst your bubble, but the esrb is a joke... this is likely Nintendo not wanting swapnote to become a sexting service. They could have just gotten rid of photo's but that would have made swapnote just a crappier version of miiverse.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: nickmitch on November 01, 2013, 09:28:27 PM
I think slapping an M rating on the thing wouldn't fix the problem at all. This is Nintendo avoiding calls about parents whose kids keep coming home with random drawings of dicks.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: UncleBob on November 02, 2013, 12:51:32 AM
I will say one thing - doesn't the software come pre-installed on new 2/3DS units?
Perhaps they should have left it as something that requires a download.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Stratos on November 02, 2013, 12:47:30 PM
Considering parents threw a fit about an obscure WiiWare game about frat party drinking games, I understand Nintendo being as paranoid as they are about these things.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: the asylum on November 02, 2013, 04:07:30 PM
Even though Nintendo should have no real reason to be paranoid over a parent freaking out over a frat party drinking game. Really, they shouldn't care.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Seacor on November 02, 2013, 08:29:00 PM
That's ridiculous to shutdown an entire service. Is Nintendo going to go a step backwards and pretend the Internet doesn't exist? What's next, Miiverse gets shutdown?
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Nintendad on November 02, 2013, 11:05:20 PM
I still don't get why they just can't disable the picture sharing and leave Swap Note active. Without pictures, there's nothing you can do on Swap Note that can't be done on MiiVerse.
I'm very upset that it was discontinued with no warning. I used it almost daily....267 hours over its life. I had 20-30 friends who used it a lot too and felt like we had a bond with as many notes that were sent back and forth. MiiVerse just isn't the same as Swap Note.
Title: Re: Nintendo kills Spotpass for Swapnote. Alt: This is why we can't have nice things
Post by: Kwolf on November 03, 2013, 01:10:33 AM
I'm really disappointed in this. It's not like I used it daily, but I did use it. It was a nice, and interesting social device for the 3ds. I hope when Miiverse hits the 3ds it at least gives us some kinda messaging, cause there isn't one for the 3ds now.
