You know what this reminds me of?
Kids denouncing parents for thoughtcrimes on Orwell's 1984.
I know that many people see this as a good thing, but they never stopped to think how poor those people that have to sell R4 in a black market are, and how big a corporation like Nintendo is.
People ignore the ocean of yens or dollars a company like that is swimming on, and will even help it to get more money by threading on people who are selling a device that could be useful for people on the homebrew scene, who also has no money (if they had money they'd fund an official gaming company).
But the thing about totalitarian dictatorships like the one described by Orwell is exactly that: Money and power. Everything is justifiable by those.
If you are some poor guy selling stuff people are interested in, doesn't matter if it could be used for legal purposes or not, doesn't matter if it's not the seller's fault if it is used in an illegal manner, even the people will support what the dictatorship demands, so brainwashed they are.
If Nintendo issues an order to kill people selling R4s, I wonder what the results would be.
Maybe they should up a website that gives some Nintendo market share for people who actively manipulates communities to stop buying other companies products and get Nintendo stuff alone.
Or even build their own particular police to go arresting R4 sellers.
Good to see people taking part in this. I haven't had to do it in ages, but contacting the local FBI, State DA or other law enforcement when I found a store selling pirated games or such was always fun. Sometimes they would send someone right away, which was priceless. #r4
"R4 cartridges are used to pirate Nintendo DS video games."
You mean: R4 cartridges CAN BE used to play pirated ROMs on Nintendo hardware. The R4 itself does not enable actual piracy; for that you need a computer and a torrent tracker, or you need to dump your own ROMs.
The R4 can be used for many other things, including playing media and homebrew software, including (I'm told) some very popular Japanese dictionary software.
Yes, devices like this are often used for piracy. Yes, that's bad. But the fact that freedom is often abused doesn't mean we shouldn't have it, and equating tinkerers, homebrewers, and others who find ways around manufacturer limitations with "pirates" is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
And categorically equating the R4 with piracy is like categorically equating DVD burners or BitTorrent or VCRs with piracy. It is often true, but it's not 100%, and taking away legitimate consumer interests in order to better serve corporate interests is the wrong answer.
@alaren: I used a GBA X-ROM kit to do a special project in college programming for the GBA. There was no way I could have afforded a Nintendo devkit, and probably no way they'd ever let me have one... or three, as we needed.
But, $100 later, we had a unit that could send our freshly compiled code straight to the system and try it out. #r4
Soldier_CLE says DON'T STOP AT THE STAR! REVOKE THE WHOLE DAMN THING, OWEN!!! was starred
Soldier_CLE says DON'T STOP AT THE STAR! REVOKE THE WHOLE DAMN THING, OWEN!!! was unstarred
When I was in College I put a giant blacklight Marijuana leaf poster in my Dorm window.
People started knocking on my door at all hours of the night to try and buy stuff from me. I was like 'are you an idiot?' I had to take the poster down because yes, they were idiots. Or maybe I was the idiot? It's hard to tell. #r4
The funny thing is the R4 isn't even supported anymore, at least not the English firmware. There are much better carts out there if using these is your thing.
I have a CycloDS, and it's ten times better than lugging around that Castlevania game holder. Now instead of 3 games, I can take most of my library with me. #r4
11/10/09
Kids denouncing parents for thoughtcrimes on Orwell's 1984.
I know that many people see this as a good thing, but they never stopped to think how poor those people that have to sell R4 in a black market are, and how big a corporation like Nintendo is.
People ignore the ocean of yens or dollars a company like that is swimming on, and will even help it to get more money by threading on people who are selling a device that could be useful for people on the homebrew scene, who also has no money (if they had money they'd fund an official gaming company).
But the thing about totalitarian dictatorships like the one described by Orwell is exactly that: Money and power. Everything is justifiable by those.
If you are some poor guy selling stuff people are interested in, doesn't matter if it could be used for legal purposes or not, doesn't matter if it's not the seller's fault if it is used in an illegal manner, even the people will support what the dictatorship demands, so brainwashed they are.
If Nintendo issues an order to kill people selling R4s, I wonder what the results would be.
Maybe they should up a website that gives some Nintendo market share for people who actively manipulates communities to stop buying other companies products and get Nintendo stuff alone.
Or even build their own particular police to go arresting R4 sellers.
Now I'm off to my hourly rage.
o/ #r4
11/10/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
@kitsuneconundrum: Nobody? #r4
11/10/09
10/16/09
"R4 cartridges are used to pirate Nintendo DS video games."
You mean: R4 cartridges CAN BE used to play pirated ROMs on Nintendo hardware. The R4 itself does not enable actual piracy; for that you need a computer and a torrent tracker, or you need to dump your own ROMs.
The R4 can be used for many other things, including playing media and homebrew software, including (I'm told) some very popular Japanese dictionary software.
Yes, devices like this are often used for piracy. Yes, that's bad. But the fact that freedom is often abused doesn't mean we shouldn't have it, and equating tinkerers, homebrewers, and others who find ways around manufacturer limitations with "pirates" is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
And categorically equating the R4 with piracy is like categorically equating DVD burners or BitTorrent or VCRs with piracy. It is often true, but it's not 100%, and taking away legitimate consumer interests in order to better serve corporate interests is the wrong answer.
10/16/09
But, $100 later, we had a unit that could send our freshly compiled code straight to the system and try it out. #r4
10/16/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
Hearted. #r4
10/16/09
This really made my morning #r4
10/16/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
People started knocking on my door at all hours of the night to try and buy stuff from me. I was like 'are you an idiot?' I had to take the poster down because yes, they were idiots. Or maybe I was the idiot? It's hard to tell. #r4
10/16/09
I have a CycloDS, and it's ten times better than lugging around that Castlevania game holder. Now instead of 3 games, I can take most of my library with me. #r4
10/16/09
Take a look. See anything you like? #r4
10/16/09
10/16/09
...How high? #r4
10/16/09
10/16/09
10/16/09
Cos this is not the zombie article I was looking for. #r4
10/16/09
R4 = Robin Hood? #r4