Nintendo reserves the right to brick your console following "unauthorised use", in bid to prevent piracy (Sony Too)

Would a EULA waiving your right to trial by jury actually hold up if challenged? Sounds ridiculous that can be a thing. Honestly the bigger story than the possible remote bricking imo.
This has been standard practice with American companies for a while now, unfortunately. Waiving your rights is a very complicated subject. I also wish it was talked about more
I mean, everything is possible in the world, but Nintendo customer service is pretty good. Sony customer service won't give you a reason if they permaban your account.

Alright, enough defending here, but honestly doesn't everyone get tired of how arbitrary and meaningless it all is. This is a meaningless story. It will never affect anyone in this thread and is likely targeted at a very specific group of people who are stealing Switch games and selling jailbroken switches. Anyone using their console regularly, ie 99.999999999999999999 percent of people will never, ever know this is a thing. It's more meaningless than the cmos batter in the ps5. Yet we "motherfuck" nintendo, Sony, Xbox, and lately PC every chance we get. I think we all just have some unresolved anger issues.
When an undesirable feature is added, don't be surprised when it becomes a "bug"
 
Honestly we just had a thread where Sony permabanned a dude and would not give an explanation why. He lots tons of games. This kind of thing happens everywhere. That's why I don't play online games much on my Sony account. Too risky. One mass report and you lose all your games and also never get an explanation as to why.

This Nintendo situation is not relevant to me because I'm not a pirate or a cheater so my console will never be locked. However I may be mass reported and my games taken away by Sony. Much more likely to happen.

Let's say they pass a law that says thieves get their hands cut off. Do you know why I wouldn't be worried?
In 2008, I had my Xbox / Microsoft account permanently banned (well, banned until 2999) with no explanation and no recourse after working with Microsoft support. I had spent a few thousand dollars on digital games and DLC at that point, tons of XBLA and horse armor that I could no longer access / download / or play (as it required a license check after 30 days which eventually started failing). The console itself was fine, I could log in with an alternate account and play my disc-based games.

It took almost 12 years to get satisfaction. I was forced into arbitration with Microsoft, but I filed the paperwork with my local courts and made them send their guy from Redmond to argue their point of view. Their claim was that I was using "unauthorized console modifications to bypass network security" (which is 100% bullshit). Luckily for me, by 2019 when I was doing the arbitration, Microsoft had already changed how they handle these types of bans (account restricted from making purchases, but can still play purchased games) - so I was able to successfully argue that Microsoft robbed me of the money I had spent on digital purchases. It also helped my case that I had, by that point, created an alternate Microsoft account and had spent money re-purchasing some of these same digital titles that were locked out of my old account. Even though I got a settlement, I had by that point spent hundreds of hours between working with Microsoft support, putting a case together, filling out paperwork, and attending the arbitration itself. It essentially amounted to being a waste of everyone's time, and that's the point with these types of things.
 
Sounds a bit extreme. Why would anyone agree to this?


UK wording is this
The agreement for UK accounts now states digital products are "licensed only for personal and non-commercial use", and that any "unauthorised use of a Digital Product may result in the Digital Product becoming unusable".

US wording
"You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with the foregoing restrictions Nintendo may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part."
Switch 3 policy update: "[…] we reserve the right to send thugs at your place and beat you up if you violate the agreement.".
 
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Everything can happen on any console, even without this implemented, also tech support can be shit without this too… I don't see any issue with this if you don't have plans on breaking the rules.
You must be joking right? This is some serious next level cope. Is there anything they could do that you are allowing yourself to stand against 😂?
 
Honestly we just had a thread where Sony permabanned a dude and would not give an explanation why. He lots tons of games. This kind of thing happens everywhere. That's why I don't play online games much on my Sony account. Too risky. One mass report and you lose all your games and also never get an explanation as to why.

This Nintendo situation is not relevant to me because I'm not a pirate or a cheater so my console will never be locked. However I may be mass reported and my games taken away by Sony. Much more likely to happen.

Let's say they pass a law that says thieves get their hands cut off. Do you know why I wouldn't be worried?
No offense but I loathe this style of thinking. "It doesn't affect me so who cares". This attitude permeates throughout politics.

I'm not into piracy either and like physically owning my games. It's about principle. We shouldn't be giving companies the ability to literally make something that you purchased not work anymore because they don't like what you did with it. I might not put a custom firmware on my machine but I'm not going to prevent someone else from doing that might want to.
 
Honestly, I don't care. I've never connected my modded Switch to the Internet.
Those who pirate dont connect consoles online. Nintendo cant be this dumb.
I don't see what's new here, you already risk to brick your console if Nintendo notices you hacked it
Why would anyone care unless they were planning to pirate games?
🤔
I would never connect a modded device to the servers. It does suck that once I buy a piece of HW that I cannot modify it how I want. Probably should fall under right to repair laws or owners rights.

Also Nintendo is super benevolent.

Obligatory disclaimer: I am not advocating for privacy. There are legitimate reasons not to connect a modded Switch to Nintendo servers, such as when using LayeredFS mods or EdiZon cheats.

 
Pretty sure nintendo is the most pirate plagued console.

I had mothers walking into stores when i was a teen asking for R4 cards lol
 
Yep. The difference is Sony and Microsoft do not allow a banned console to connect to their services vs Nintendo rendering the device "unusable".

Microsoft:
"A device suspension may include a temporary revoke of privileges on the console (such as communications or multiplayer), whereas a device ban permanently blocks an Xbox console or device from accessing the Xbox network. "

Sony:
"If your console is suspended you will not be able to connect to PlayStation Network with any account."
No sony does read the elaborate

6. VIOLATION OF AGREEMENT; TERMINATION OF RIGHTS AND SIE INC REMEDIES

SIE Inc determines that you have violated this Agreement's terms, SIE Inc may itself or may procure the taking of any action to protect its interests such as disabling access to or use of some or all System Software, disabling use of this PS5 system online or offline
 
No sony does read the elaborate

6. VIOLATION OF AGREEMENT; TERMINATION OF RIGHTS AND SIE INC REMEDIES

SIE Inc determines that you have violated this Agreement's terms, SIE Inc may itself or may procure the taking of any action to protect its interests such as disabling access to or use of some or all System Software, disabling use of this PS5 system online or offline

Confused Harry Potter GIF


This shit should be illegal.
 
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I know people think Nintendo is able to do whatever they want, but i believe they'll come to reeeeally regret this kind of stuff in the future.
 
It's amazing how quickly we are running towards the dystopian future many writers warned us about. Governments need to start coming down on companies hard (not only for their practices but the whole we don't pay taxes because we are based in an island on the pacific or something).
 
If true Nintendo is once again trying to set a new standard for fuckery.

Edit: Opps, just learned that Sony beat them to it.
 
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Nintendo can reserve the right to suck my balls too, while they're at it.
Succinct. I don't know who or why anyone supports a company so anti consumer (at times). Setting up bad precedents that accumulate to an erroding console industry. People will always flock to things like PC for stuff like this and the industry needs a stable retail channel to sustain the growth. It won't work entirely the same using digital only. You need presence in brick and mortar retail.

The average consumer will balk at stuff like this but just like a Sony or MSFT will get heat for some of their doings, Nintendo should never be exempt because you have a bias from being a kid. I loved Nintendo as a kid. I don't think like I'm blindly loyal and 5 anymore.
 
How does anyone even tolerate Nintendo these days. It's literally nothing but bad news. None of their IPs are worth the abuse they put on us as consumers.

This company needs to feel pain even worse than their Wii U era. They have gone insane.
 
This is truly a damn shame, between the EULA, the raised price of new games, the pal world lawsuit, as someone who has literally purchased every single Nintendo console ever released and owns numerous collectibles from them. I'm done.

Congratulations Nintendo. You will never see another cent from me, if there is a game that I absolutely must have then I will watch it on YouTube much to Nintendo s chagrin, if I ever get a Switch 2 and if I did it would be for my daughter. It will be through a secondhand party. I will purchase it used to ensure you don't get a single solitary dime.

It's a real shame to see that one of my favorite companies of all time has turned so corrupt. So greedy and sadly so worthless to me.

Sad Super Mario GIF by Mashed
 
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How does anyone even tolerate Nintendo these days. It's literally nothing but bad news. None of their IPs are worth the abuse they put on us as consumers.

This company needs to feel pain even worse than their Wii U era. They have gone insane.
In the real world, outside of the gaming forums (97% of posible buyers) doesn't care about this kind of things… And 70% of people in gaming forums also doesn't care… 🤷‍♂️
 
Those who pirate dont connect consoles online. Nintendo cant be this dumb.

Never underestimate the stupidity of people.

I remember reading complaints on socials and reddit from dumb folks who took their jailbroken first generation Switches online and got smacked by Nintendo for doing so.
 
Very prudent decision.

Imagine, you sold a console, than the customer connects to your servers and you see the customer playing your STOLEN games!

Ban the thief and everyone, who supports him!
 
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In 2008, I had my Xbox / Microsoft account permanently banned (well, banned until 2999) with no explanation and no recourse after working with Microsoft support. I had spent a few thousand dollars on digital games and DLC at that point, tons of XBLA and horse armor that I could no longer access / download / or play (as it required a license check after 30 days which eventually started failing). The console itself was fine, I could log in with an alternate account and play my disc-based games.

They pulled the exact same thing on my original XBL account in December 2012. I spent several days talking to a bunch of different people at Microsoft Support and had multiple reps openly admit that they didn't know why the ban was issued. They "escalated" it where I heard nothing for months. Eventually I got an e-mail saying the ban, despite no one being able to tell me why it even occurred, was being upheld and that I'd have to go through legal processes if I wanted to contest it.

Thankfully the most digital stuff I had at that time were XBL Arcade games, some DLC I had thoroughly beaten (all the Mass Effect DLC for example) and a bunch of Rock Band DLC tracks (that were still playable) so I wrote the whole thing off as a loss and made a new XBL account. But that's one of the many reasons why I do not buy digital games on the Xbox platform.
 
It's going to be funny when users get flagged by a false positive, and get their console killed by accident.
I'm 99% sure this will happen to some unlucky people.

These corpos don't get the human nature at all. If you restrict humans they want to break that restrictions. We'll see how this will play out in the end.
 
Didn't know we needed more examples of Nintendo being a piece of shit?

And to those that say, just don't try and hack your console. There are lots of harmless things that people have done to get their accounts banned on other consoles — see purchasing games outside of your own region to capitalize on sales/discounts. The fact that Nintendo is giving themselves the legal flexibility to break your device is pretty terrible.
 


And i'm proud to be an American
Where we don't do piracy
And I won't forget the Switch that died
To protect that company

And I gladly stand up, Nintendo
And defend you still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt
I love that brand
God bless their good IP
 
In the real world, outside of the gaming forums (97% of posible buyers) doesn't care about this kind of things… And 70% of people in gaming forums also doesn't care… 🤷‍♂️

Only because they don't know about Nintendo's abuses until it affects them. They'll care about $80 games and having to second guess what these greedy executive fucks are going to price games at. I can guarantee that.
 
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Obligatory disclaimer: I am not advocating for privacy. There are legitimate reasons not to connect a modded Switch to Nintendo servers, such as when using LayeredFS mods or EdiZon cheats.

My legitimate reason is not worrying about any bullshit. Done in one. My Nintendo account has never touched my modded one. So I don't need to worry about managing the different OS profiles, or DNS settings. I mean sure that's all possible and everything, and that's great, but I never have to worry about making a mistake because I didn't touch it for 4 months, or because Nintendo figured out something "impossible". Simplest solution is the best IMO. Just get another Switch they are as low as $100 used.
 
Call me crazy, but I don't really see this as a bad thing.
Outside of straight-up cheating or trying to steal security tokens what could you possibly want to actively break this agreement?
The only thing I can think of is either wanting to use mods (which can easily lead to cheating) or pirating games and playing them online.
 
Isn't this true for all modern consoles?
Normally they just ban your account and backlist your console's serial number, preventing new accounts from connecting.
If i remember this correctly Microsoft already could brick your modded 360 for violating Microsoft's Terms of Service if you were stupid enough to play online with it.
The capability was there, both the PS3 and 360 used IBM's eFuse technology which could be used to disable the CPU. Under normal use, they are intended to prevent you from downgrading your consoles software, sine an eFuse is blown every time an update is installed.
I don't think Microsoft ever used that for bricking a console (they could already do that themselves - RROD), most of the time they would ban your console until the year 2099.
 
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