R4 and Nintendo’s Battle Against Piracy

Homebrew on the Nintendo DS (and on everything, for that matter) is all about having it your way. You can play homemade games, listen to music, watch video, and view pictures. Sounds great and it’s pretty simple but, unfortunately, those who use these products often walk a fine line between adding to their experience and the dark underworld of piracy. In order to use homebrewed software you need a storage device, and one of the most popular storage devices is the R4.

R4 is a storage device that fits in the DS game slot and costs about $40. It comes preloaded with software that allows you to do all the homebrew goodies already outlined above. The real problem, though, is piracy. The R4 uses a Micro SD card to store data. That data could be anything from pictures to music to pirated games. Unfortunately for Nintendo (and the gaming industry as a whole) most people who use an R4 pirate games.

It’s pretty horrendous how there are torrents floating around with official DS games available for download. Imagine: hundreds of games for free with a small chance of getting caught, but at the expense of the developer. With the DS becoming more popular everyday, Nintendo is understandably pissed at this new breed of DS pirates.

On July 29th, Nintendo, along with 54 other companies(Square Enix, Capcom, Sega, and Tecmo to name a few) filed a lawsuit against companies that import the R4. Nintendo claims that R4 is “causing severe damage to our company and software makers […].” This “severe damage” that Nintendo is worried about is most likely loss of sales due to pirated games.

Of course it’s foolish to sue the makers of the R4. It’s not all their fault. Though I can’t speak of the motives the creators have, there are many legitimate reasons why one would want an R4. First off, it expands the functions of the DS. It can be used as a mini media center that plays your movies, pictures, and music. It also serves as a platform for true homemade games. Where before, small or amateur developers that wanted to develop for the DS had nowhere to go, R4 gives them a place for others to play their games. It’s wrong for Nintendo to go after the R4. It’s not the developers fault what the customer decides to do with their product.