Nintendo DS Firmware Update Blocks Pirates
Ninteno DSi
Nintendo released a firmware update for DSi handhelds earlier this week, which sought to deal a blow to pirates by stopping the use of flashcarts on their handheld.
Flashcarts are small cartridges, storage devices, that allow players to play homebrew and pirated games. There is actually a big business is pushing flashcarts, as they are a both easy and highly accessible method of pirating Nintendo DS games. These devices actually help sell consoles but at the expense of scaring off many potential developers due to lost sales by piracy.
This new 1.4.1U firmware update supposedly blocks the Acekard 2i, DSTTi, iPlayer, M3i Zero, Supercard DSTwo, EZ-Flash Vi, iSmart DS, Hyper R4i and many more flashcarts from working.
Flashcarts are able to be updated themselves, so this is most likely just a small measure by Nintendo to scare off many of the non-tech-savvy DS pirates out there. Those whom know how to update their cartridges will most likely be out playing their games and using their homebrew applications within a week. Those whom are the average person who just saw the flashcart as a chance to get free games may be driven to actually start paying for their games. This is a very small chance though.
Some of the flashcarts actually have already released an update preventing them from being blocked, already. It is almost sad to see a console so ravaged by piracy that it drives away developers. Topics like these tend to be highly controversial in the video game industry. Some people make the argument that they use their flashcarts to hold all the games that they already purchased, so it takes up less space. Others say that they would not have purchased the game anyway, so the developers are not losing any money by them downloading the game. Whatever the case, I cannot make an argument, since my brothers and my sister make use of the Acekard and I enjoy every minute of it, heh.
For those of you whom are users of one of the previously mentioned flashcarts, be sure to avoid downloading the latest Nintendo DSi firmware update to avoid any issues, albeit momentary.
