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[jshackles]

Nintendo files lawsuits in crackdown against Switch hackers

Two new lawsuits were filed on Friday

www.polygon.com

Nintendo of America filed two lawsuits on Friday against Nintendo Switch hack resellers that sell software to play pirated video games, according to court documents obtained by Polygon.

With new mod chips scheduled to be released soon for the newer model Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite, it seems Nintendo is trying to preemptively crack down on mod chip sellers yet again.

NOTE: It's against NeoGAF's rules to link out to piracy websites or to provide piracy guides or in general to talk about or condone piracy on game systems. I'm more interested in discussing the legality of this move or what it means for the industry as a whole.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

Cool. Piracy sucks.

 

[jshackles]

Cool. Piracy sucks.

Agreed - although it's not quite a cut and dry in this case as the devices also enable homebrew on the newer Switch model and Switch Lite. In my personal experience, I've found a lot of really helpful homebrew applications have been made for the Switch: such as the ability to back up your save games, mod games to run at higher resolution / frame rates, see detailed activity tracking, preview Turnip prices in Animal Crossing, run web browsers, and tons more. It can be used to back up your game cartridges directly to your console's memory or SD card which is handy (but, obviously, you would want to delete said personal backups if you were to sell the game) which feels pretty similar to the old "rip your CDs to make MP3s" argument of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Obviously, Nintendo has to protect their security and creative investments.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

Agreed - although it's not quite a cut and dry in this case as the devices also enable homebrew on the newer Switch model and Switch Lite. In my personal experience, I've found a lot of really helpful homebrew applications have been made for the Switch: such as the ability to back up your save games, mod games to run at higher resolution / frame rates, see detailed activity tracking, preview Turnip prices in Animal Crossing, run web browsers, and tons more. It can be used to back up your game cartridges directly to your console's memory or SD card which is handy (but, obviously, you would want to delete said personal backups if you were to sell the game) which feels pretty similar to the old "rip your CDs to make MP3s" argument of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Obviously, Nintendo has to protect their security and creative investments.

Unfortunately there isn't really a way to "enable homebrew" that doesn't also enable piracy, so it's difficult to separate the two.

 

[DESTROYA]

Hope Nintendo wins and crushes the hackers.
Lets be honest most of the people that buy this stuff do pirate games.

 

[Tranquil]

I wonder if the switch hack software developers would file a lawsuit against the people who download their software without paying for it?

Or would they be totally cool with that?

 

[LordKasual]

Unfortunately there isn't really a way to "enable homebrew" that doesn't also enable piracy, so it's difficult to separate the two.

Doesn't really matter.

that's like saying there's no way to own a knife in a way that doesn't also enable cutting things

people who buy their hardware should be able to do with it whatever they want, within the confines of the law.


I cheer on the hackers of Nintendo.

It feels like justice to me for ever fangame they've killed and every content creator they fucked over.

 

[jshackles]

This thread needs a cringe tag now

 

[Vawn]

I don't always agree with Nintendo's lawyers, as they often go too far about trivial things (YouTube videos of people playing Nintendogames, for example). But I'm all for taking out people who pirate games.

 

[teezzy]

Most people who pirate games weren't going to buy them anyway. It doesnt hurt sales as badly as youd think, especially if you have to mod your console.

Personally, Switch Lite is going to be super rad a decade or so from now when it's a CFW emulation beast. I might buy one preemptively just for that.

 

[cookiemuffin]

I wonder if the switch hack software developers would file a lawsuit against the people who download their software without paying for it?

Or would they be totally cool with that?

The software is free.

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

Eh i don't give a shit if they pirate games and neither should Nintendo.

They should focus on improving their online service and servers, and of course keeping cheaters out.

You can't "defeat" piracy but you can minimize it through discounts/deals and perks, a thing Nintendo doesn't want to do especially with physical copies.

FFS BOTW doesn't go below 40 on sales while the Ubisoft developed Mario Rabbids was on sale a while ago for 9.99!

 

[Tranquil]

The software is free.

The OPs post says they sell it, guess he was wrong.

 

[10000]

even though nintnendo cracked the distributors down these stuff and clones for sure will appear on aliexpress later, and I want to try it

fuck nintendo, I could do whatever I want with my switch

 

[jshackles]

Most people who pirate games weren't going to buy them anyway. It doesnt hurt sales as badly as youd think, especially if you have to mod your console.

Personally, Switch Lite is going to be super rad a decade or so from now when it's a CFW emulation beast. I might buy one preemptively just for that.

No need to wait, homebrew and emulation on the Switch is already very well evolved. And with this upcoming chip (that Nintendo is trying desperately to block) it will work with the Lite as well. So you don't need to wait a decade, just a couple of months.

I love emulation on the Switch, I personally prefer retroarch because it can be configured to use the console's Wifi to connect to and unlock RetroAchievements. N64 / PS1 games all play pretty well, and N64 especially will probably see huge improvements in the coming months. Hell, there is even a half-decent GameCube emulator that can be run in Linux.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

Wow I had no idea they figured out a way to hack the newer models. I haven’t even been searching because I just assumed the flaw in the original model was fixed with updated hardware.

 

[DESTROYA]

even though nintnendo cracked the distributors down these stuff and clones for sure will appear on aliexpress later, and I want to try it

fuck nintendo, I could do whatever I want with my switch

Sure you can do whatever you wan’t with your Switch and Nintendo has every right to protect itself from theft/piracy . It’s a 2 way street.

 

[Craig of War]

This will only make them hack it more best if Nintendo would just keep releasing update instead of filing lawsuit

 

[Malakhov]

Cool. Piracy sucks.

I disagree. If you hack to get free games then yeah, it does suck.

But if you hack your switch for homebrew stuff, no it doesnt. The switch is an incredible machine once hacked with all that homebrew stuff available.

 

[baphomet]

It'll get thrown out as it should.

It's 100% legal to mod and hack your own system in most countries.

 

[10000]

Sure you can do whatever you wan’t with your Switch and Nintendo has every right to protect itself from theft/piracy . It’s a 2 way street.

ok boomer

 

[DESTROYA]

ok boomer

OK Mr.Pirate

 

[ThatGamingDude]

I like how they call a very very largely known group of hackers in the modding world "Anonymous."

No, they just don't live in countries that give a shit about you wanting to sue their citizens lol

Let them have the knife; if they use it to steal something from someone get them then
Enabling homebrew isn't bad in itself

 

[Kataploom]

They should allow people do some stuff like having a proper browser or doing backup of all their saves locally before... At least honest users won't be affected.

 

[Kamina]

It'll get thrown out as it should.

It's 100% legal to mod and hack your own system in most countries.

As it should be, because its your property. However, its also Nintendo‘s right to ban your Switch from online play if they find out.