Tag Archives: r4

A Japanese court has ruled that the sale of DS’s R4 cart is illegal.

From Kotaku:

The Tokyo District Court has found against the Chinese makers of the R4 – officially known as the “R4 Revolution for DS” – and granted an injunction against sales of the device, prompting Nintendo, Square Enix & Capcom to issue statements proclaiming that they’re a “violation under Japan’s laws”.

Most outlets have already halted sales of the R4 following pressure from the lawsuit (and the publishers, such as Nintendo & Capcom, backing it), but this ruling now makes it official: you can’t legally sell the thing in Japan.

More through there.

Whoops. The ELSPA story doing the round a few days ago concerning R4 carts and US DS piracy is, to be blunt, a load of old bollocks. The newspaper piece claimed that manager of ELSPA’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit, John Hillier, had said, “The implications are massive. In America it’s thought 90 percent of Nintendo users are playing pirated games because of R4s.”

The organisation spoke to GI today, claiming, “The quotes from The Sunday Post were ascribed to his name from another article which originates from a website in Singapore. This, it appears, is where The Sunday Post first found out about the supposed R4 situation and for some reason unknown to John have quoted him on what this article said.”

“[John] didn’t quote The Sunday Post on any figures whatsoever,” the spokesperson added.

GI goes as far as to say the report is “completely false”. That’s that settled, then.

ELSPA has issued a startling figure regarding DS piracy in a UK newspaper, claiming that up to 90 percent of American DS owners are playing illegal games using R4 carts.

“The implications are massive. In America it’s thought 90 percent of Nintendo users are playing pirated games because of R4s,” said John Hillier, manager of ELSPA’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit. “That’s the real danger – you may think you’re getting a good deal but using the R4 is risking the future of the games industry.”

Hillier reinforced the point in the story that playing downloaded ROMs is, obviously, illegal. Even selling R4s is an infringement of UK copyright and patent laws and can put you inside for up to two years.

Going to prison is one thing. Going to prison for playing a hooky version of Cooking Mama on your pink DS is another. Think on, cyber-thieves.