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3DS Flash Cart Now Shipping: Nintendo's nightmare coming true

This is what people don't seem to grasp. This is an entirely different situation from the DS. This absolutely has potential to be crazy-damaging, which is really shitty.

At least it seems like there's no way around the 4.5 firmware restriction at the moment (besides some janky solder mod), so it'll likely take quite a long time before we start seeing China push out carts like crazy. Still, it scares me that an exploit like this was even found. I'm sure they'll keep prodding.

The other “entirely different situation” is that the 3DS firmware is much more advanced than the DS firmware. Nintendo couldn't even ban hackers properly on DS/Wii online games.
 

Sendou

Member
Sorry, region-lock is bad and all, but I still hope this is shut down as quickly as humanly possible. Piracy is by far the greater evil.

Me too but I hope Nintendo would remove region lock and make proper accounts (maybe with the Miiverse update?) to remove basically only reasons to want such device other than free games.
 

nasos_333

Member
Me too but I hope Nintendo would remove region lock and make proper accounts (maybe with the Miiverse update?) to remove basically only reasons to want such device other than free games.

Indeed, they need to adjust to the new reality

I would definitly mod my US 3DS to play Bravely Default sooner for example and play European games when i move out of US

Why would i have to buy a new 3DS to do so ? Only to make Nintendo more of a billionaire because for zero reason they deliberatly put these constraints so we buy more systems and multiple versions of games ?

PS3 is not region locked, which clearly shows that region locking is just a mechanism to make more money (from unessesary for the consumer purshases) and nothing else
 

losername

Banned
Okay, now gimme a way to break the region locking without a flash cart.

Pls.

This is the one.

I'm okay with flash carts being used to run fan translations on the system. Pretty much the only good thing about 'em. Can't hate a method that made Jump Ultimate Stars playable in English.
 

Madao

Member
one thing that just came to mind,

since this hack came from the DS mode side of the system, could nintendo eventually revise the 3DS to remove DS BC to stop this? it looks like DS mode wasn't sandboxed quite like Wii mode in Wii U and this hack shows that.

i wouldn't be surprised if BC is gone from 3DS sooner than later, especially since the competition axed it for next gen consoles and only Nintendo has BC-capable machines now (and Sony with the Vita)
 

hamchan

Member
one thing that just came to mind,

since this hack came from the DS mode side of the system, could nintendo eventually revise the 3DS to remove DS BC to stop this? it looks like DS mode wasn't sandboxed quite like Wii mode in Wii U and this hack shows that.

i wouldn't be surprised if BC is gone from 3DS sooner than later, especially since the competition axed it for next gen consoles and only Nintendo has BC-capable machines now (and Sony with the Vita)

I suppose with a new revision, though I certainly won't buying a new revision if it can't play DS games.
 

Kurtofan

Member
one thing that just came to mind,

since this hack came from the DS mode side of the system, could nintendo eventually revise the 3DS to remove DS BC to stop this? it looks like DS mode wasn't sandboxed quite like Wii mode in Wii U and this hack shows that.

i wouldn't be surprised if BC is gone from 3DS sooner than later, especially since the competition axed it for next gen consoles and only Nintendo has BC-capable machines now (and Sony with the Vita)

Releasing a cheaper 3DS without DS BC would be a great idea actually yeah.
 

Mozendo

Member
A flashcart
(mostly)
for pirates.

Watch pirates complain about them not being able to play one of their anticipated 3DS games because no one would want to bring to localize it.

Also why doesn't Nintendo just go after the Gateway team and other flashcarts or is it harder than it sounds? I know they tried and succeeding in Japan, but what's stopping them from doing the same in other parts of the world?
 

linkboy

Member
A flashcart
(mostly)
for pirates.

Watch pirates complain about them not being able to play one of their anticipated 3DS games because no one would want to bring to localize it.

Also why doesn't Nintendo just go after the Gateway team and other flashcarts or is it harder than it sounds?

The vast majority of these cards are made in China, which is where copyright law is pretty much non-existant.

The best Nintendo can do is to try to prevent imports and shut down websites that sell them, in addition to firmware updates to prevent the cards from working.

As for removing BC from the 3DS, I doubt that will happen.
 

wrowa

Member
Generally only the most hardcore players would import* and play those in Japanese. If your game is so niche that only they are interested in buying it then can you really argue lost sales? (as it just gets a boost in its home region instead)

It is nice for the games that get remembered but those which are forgotten are lost sales.

*-Important point this: An English Wii game called Xenoblade lead to huge outcry over having to import it because NOA couldn't be arsed to release it for 8 months (only they kept you in the dark for about 4 of those).

He's not referring to lost sales by imports, but by lost sales due to pirates. What he's saying is that he fears that niche publishers will stop localizing games for the Western markets in general, because of the fear that a lot of people might rather just download the games.
 

Quicksilver88

Neo Member
Thanks for killing the 3DS, guys...



You are quite the defender of Gateway, specially in GBATemp

Hey I have just been tired of people dogging the things as BS and not real an now not even bothering to read the instruction .pdfs and understand what it can and can't do. So I am more just trying to spread the known facts about the product and maybe poke the trolls and haters that said it was fake in the eye a little bit....no harm there.

Trust me I am not working for gateway, nor did I get a free copy of the cart, I have to play for one just like anyone else, but if you want to email gateway and tell them I have been a champion of their product and it leads to me getting a free one then hey have t it..

Let me say something critical, it costs too much, it doesn't even work with the last two system firmwares that most people already upgraded to, and it is a bit (just a small bit I mean come on early DS, GBA flash carts were just as big if not a bigger pain in the ass) cumbersome meaning most casual users wouldn't fuss with it.

I am an old dude compared to most people on the scene (43) and made lots of coin in technology and have a very large 'entertainment' budget. So I pretty much buy anything I want to play. I just have been tinkering with system modification since the beginning of time and find it an enjoyable hobby. I pretty much usually own two of most systems, one for online/OFW and one to hack and use offline. In some cases modification brings huge beneffits like with the PSP which was trash when using UMD but was awesome when hacked running from the memorycard, having video players, emulators, homebrew and the 333mhz overclock. Same thing with the original Xbox...XBMC was the best and really only settop streaming media player for years before manufactures started integrating that capability into standard devices.

Last point and that is the piracy arguement has grown somewhat stale.....the % of people pirating in the primary markets (US/UK/EU/JP) is at an all time low. The last gen consoles sold 70-100mil units each and most likely only millions of people pirate. So the arguement remains the same which is make good games and make sure they get distributed well and then they easily sell in the millions or even 10s of millions these days. Most rampant piracy is happening in the 3rd world or poorer countries and this is largely because legit software is overly expensive and hard to aquire, and because many places like Russia, China, and South America don't even respect or enforce western copyright laws.

My real hope is this gateway device leads to better things for the 3DS functionality wise like a N64 emu or how about a decent AVI player that would support converted 3D BlueRay rips......end of rant.
 

dacuk

Member
Hey I have just been tired of people dogging the things as BS and not real an now not even bothering to read the instruction .pdfs and understand what it can and can't do. So I am more just trying to spread the known facts about the product and maybe poke the trolls and haters that said it was fake in the eye a little bit....no harm there.

Trust me I am not working for gateway, nor did I get a free copy of the cart, I have to play for one just like anyone else, but if you want to email gateway and tell them I have been a champion of their product and it leads to me getting a free one then hey have t it..

Let me say something critical, it costs too much, it doesn't even work with the last two system firmwares that most people already upgraded to, and it is a bit (just a small bit I mean come on early DS, GBA flash carts were just as big if not a bigger pain in the ass) cumbersome meaning most casual users wouldn't fuss with it.

I am an old dude compared to most people on the scene (43) and made lots of coin in technology and have a very large 'entertainment' budget. So I pretty much buy anything I want to play. I just have been tinkering with system modification since the beginning of time and find it an enjoyable hobby. I pretty much usually own two of most systems, one for online/OFW and one to hack and use offline. In some cases modification brings huge beneffits like with the PSP which was trash when using UMD but was awesome when hacked running from the memorycard, having video players, emulators, homebrew and the 333mhz overclock. Same thing with the original Xbox...XBMC was the best and really only settop streaming media player for years before manufactures started integrating that capability into standard devices.

Last point and that is the piracy arguement has grown somewhat stale.....the % of people pirating in the primary markets (US/UK/EU/JP) is at an all time low. The last gen consoles sold 70-100mil units each and most likely only millions of people pirate. So the arguement remains the same which is make good games and make sure they get distributed well and then they easily sell in the millions or even 10s of millions these days. Most rampant piracy is happening in the 3rd world or poorer countries and this is largely because legit software is overly expensive and hard to aquire, and because many places like Russia, China, and South America don't even respect or enforce western copyright laws.

My real hope is this gateway device leads to better things for the 3DS functionality wise like a N64 emu or how about a decent AVI player that would support converted 3D BlueRay rips......end of rant.

100% agree with you in this... a shame that Nintendo, as it is managed now, will suffer more than adapt to the times.

Sadly, it does seem that this card will be used mostly for piracy, that, in the end, affects badly a company that can barely attract third parties to their handhelds.
 

Xenoflare

Member
I love the idea of homebrews, but at the same time, piracy always is the by product and the main focus most people are interested in, and since Gateway is an organization that cash in on something that only does playing ROMs, I have zero respect for them, I don't care about them saying that they will, I only care about what already has happened.

I just hope this "homebrew" (I seriously question the definition of the word now) scene for 3DS can hold on until the twilight years of the 3DS's lifespan, that way everyone wins. People get the freedom they want, developers won't have to worry about losing much to piracy because of the withdrawal of support, and Nintendo can cash in some late cash for it.

But oh well, I see 3DS getting cracked open before the end of next year, by then soccer moms will ask gamestop about flashcarts for 3DS.
 

Xenoflare

Member
Instead of the stupid flashcarts, why don't these peeps just find a way to make the 3DS region free?

They can't get dem $$$. Also, having true region freedom on the 3ds means higher level of hacking to the 3DS software, it will only make the piracy easier once the hacking stage reaches that point
 

gngf123

Member
Instead of the stupid flashcarts, why don't these peeps just find a way to make the 3DS region free?

That is basically what they have done, unless you mean how to break the lock without any external device. Something like that would be extremely hard to do for anyone except Nintendo.

The only way that something like that is even possible is by replacing the firmware, something that right now requires you to physically solder your 3DS.

If Nintendo removed region free themselves none of this would even be a problem, and I'd lose any reason to defend these carts.
 
If this thing writes permanently to the firmware wouldn't it be easy for Nintendo to detect this and ban any 3DS with tampered firmware so they can never upgrade and access the E-Shop again like Xbox live bans .
Let them play only games up to firmware 4.5 until the end of time .
 
If this thing writes permanently to the firmware wouldn't it be easy for Nintendo to detect this and ban any 3DS with tampered firmware so they can never upgrade and access the E-Shop again like Xbox live bans .
Let them play only games up to firmware 4.5 until the end of time .

Unless the flash cart makes it possible to run pirated versions of games requiting FW4.5+.
 

Shoyz

Member
If this thing writes permanently to the firmware wouldn't it be easy for Nintendo to detect this and ban any 3DS with tampered firmware so they can never upgrade and access the E-Shop again like Xbox live bans .
Let them play only games up to firmware 4.5 until the end of time .

Thought it was temporary from the post a bit back. But that's a futile effort, anybody on 4.5 with a Gateway is never going to want to update.
 

missile

Member
... Let me say something critical, it costs too much, it doesn't even work with the last two system firmwares that most people already upgraded to, and it is a bit (just a small bit I mean come on early DS, GBA flash carts were just as big if not a bigger pain in the ass) cumbersome meaning most casual users wouldn't fuss with it.

I am an old dude compared to most people on the scene (43) and made lots of coin in technology and have a very large 'entertainment' budget. So I pretty much buy anything I want to play. I just have been tinkering with system modification since the beginning of time and find it an enjoyable hobby. I pretty much usually own two of most systems, one for online/OFW and one to hack and use offline. In some cases modification brings huge beneffits like with the PSP which was trash when using UMD but was awesome when hacked running from the memorycard, having video players, emulators, homebrew and the 333mhz overclock. Same thing with the original Xbox...XBMC was the best and really only settop streaming media player for years before manufactures started integrating that capability into standard devices.

... My real hope is this gateway device leads to better things for the 3DS functionality wise like a N64 emu or how about a decent AVI player that would support converted 3D BlueRay rips......end of rant.
Hey, all cool stuff. Since you know quite something about all of this, I have
a question; Am a developer myself and I want to make some homebrew for the 3DS
(actually using it as a devkit for games) using a C/C++ compiler and an
Assembler. Where do I get all of the stuff necessary to actually bring
compiled code onto the 3DS? Is there a toolchain? What's all needed hardware-
wise, and what does it cost in total? Is there a guide I can follow? Thanks!
 

Lesiroth

Member
dX8hU86.jpg
 

M3d10n

Member
Can someone explain to me what is firmware spoofing and why it is so important ?

It tricks the ROMs into thinking they are running on a higher firmware version than they really are. The only game out there that needs a higher FW version is Mario & Luigi.

I assume the exploit they are using right now allows them to overwrite variables stored in RAM, so they can overwrite the firmware version string read by games and change the region code to load ROMs from different regions. If a game gets released that actually uses a feature that does not exist in an old firmware, that trick won't work.
 

Erethian

Member
It tricks the ROMs into thinking they are running on a higher firmware version than they really are. The only game out there that needs a higher FW version is Mario & Luigi.

I assume the exploit they are using right now allows them to overwrite variables stored in RAM, so they can overwrite the firmware version string read by games and change the region code to load ROMs from different regions. If a game gets released that actually uses a feature that does not exist in an old firmware, that trick won't work.

Should be interesting when Miiverse for 3DS comes out later this year.
 
I haven't been following this too much but I foolishly bought a Japanese 3DS game while forgetting the 3DS was region locked. Would this allow me to play the cart directly or would I need to dump the cart?
 

Platy

Member
It tricks the ROMs into thinking they are running on a higher firmware version than they really are. The only game out there that needs a higher FW version is Mario & Luigi.

I assume the exploit they are using right now allows them to overwrite variables stored in RAM, so they can overwrite the firmware version string read by games and change the region code to load ROMs from different regions. If a game gets released that actually uses a feature that does not exist in an old firmware, that trick won't work.

Only usefull for pirating ? meh =P

Was expecting something that would not require me to buy ANOTHER 3ds for emulators and homebrew.

That flipnote 3ds needs a HUGE improvement from flipnote ds to beat some of the animation homebrews =/
There is something about inchworm that I hate so much ><
 
The only good game that is - Disney Planes also requires FW 5.1.

Code:
[B]List of games that currently can't be pirated (as of 8/19/2013):[/B]

[U][B]Title					Reason[/B][/U]
01. Animal Crossing: New Leaf		Requires NAND Saving
02. My Western Horse 3D			Requires 5.1.0
03. Disney Planes			Requires 5.1.0
04. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. 	Requires 5.1.0

Thankfully, we're going to see this list expand dramatically in the future as Nintendo is planning 5.1.0 as necessary with future games.

Not only that, but they're even shipping new 3DS's with a more updated firmware as well.

Nintendo's anti-piracy division is really working hard to try and plug up any piracy leaks before it starts to devastate the system.
 

amrod

Member
Code:
[B]List of games that currently can't be pirated (as of 8/19/2013):[/B]

[U][B]Title					Reason[/B][/U]
01. Animal Crossing: New Leaf		Requires NAND Saving
02. My Western Horse 3D			Requires 5.1.0
03. Disney Planes			Requires 5.1.0
04. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. 	Requires 5.1.0

Thankfully, we're going to see this list expand dramatically in the future as Nintendo is planning 5.1.0 as necessary with future games.

Not only that, but they're even shipping new 3DS's with a more updated firmware as well.

Nintendo's anti-piracy division is really working hard to try and plug up any piracy leaks before it starts to devastate the system.



Mario & Luigi works according to what I read, now with the beta firmware
 

Maedhros

Member
Code:
[B]List of games that currently can't be pirated (as of 8/19/2013):[/B]

[U][B]Title					Reason[/B][/U]
01. Animal Crossing: New Leaf		Requires NAND Saving
02. My Western Horse 3D			Requires 5.1.0
03. Disney Planes			Requires 5.1.0
04. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. 	Requires 5.1.0

Thankfully, we're going to see this list expand dramatically in the future as Nintendo is planning 5.1.0 as necessary with future games.

Not only that, but they're even shipping new 3DS's with a more updated firmware as well.

Nintendo's anti-piracy division is really working hard to try and plug up any piracy leaks before it starts to devastate the system.
You're kidding yourself thinking that they won't find a way to play these games without the firmware
 
Code:
[B]List of games that currently can't be pirated (as of 8/19/2013):[/B]

[U][B]Title					Reason[/B][/U]
01. Animal Crossing: New Leaf		Requires NAND Saving
02. My Western Horse 3D			Requires 5.1.0
03. Disney Planes			Requires 5.1.0
04. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. 	Requires 5.1.0

Thankfully, we're going to see this list expand dramatically in the future as Nintendo is planning 5.1.0 as necessary with future games.

Not only that, but they're even shipping new 3DS's with a more updated firmware as well.

Nintendo's anti-piracy division is really working hard to try and plug up any piracy leaks before it starts to devastate the system.

According to certain website he new update is now being beta tested (region free/firmware spoofing) and it plays M&L Dream Team on spoofed FW.

I think we are going to see something VERY similar to PS3 piracy when one firmware is the end of all block and no new users are flooding in but for those on lower FW titles will be playable.
 
According to certain website he new update is now being beta tested (region free/firmware spoofing) and it plays M&L Dream Team on spoofed FW.

I think we are going to see something VERY similar to PS3 piracy when one firmware is the end of all block and no new users are flooding in but for those on lower FW titles will be playable.

That's definitely a possibility. I wrote that above comment ignorant about their strides in firmware spoofing technology.

Supposing that mass releases, it looks as if systems that still have 4.5.0 or under will be "unlocked" to all future piracy.

But if Nintendo plays their cards right, it can be sufficiently quarantined and localized.
It's crucial that Nintendo reduces the amount of consoles available in the market with vulnerable firmware...and viciously goes after USA / European suppliers of that piracy enabler.
 

Hesemonni

Banned
Nintendo's anti-piracy division is really working hard to try and plug up any piracy leaks before it starts to devastate the system.
I just wish Nintendo's anti-region locking division were more active.

So until that happens I'm all for hacking the shit out of any machine basically and if piracy is a by-product of that...too bad.
 
That's definitely a possibility. I wrote that above comment ignorant about their strides in firmware spoofing technology.

Supposing that mass releases, it looks as if systems that still have 4.5.0 or under will be "unlocked" to all future piracy.

But if Nintendo plays their cards right, it can be sufficiently quarantined and localized.
It's crucial that Nintendo reduces the amount of consoles available in the market with vulnerable firmware...and viciously goes after USA / European suppliers of that piracy enabler.

Nintendo should do everything they can to stop this if they don't want serious hit across software sales.

This is not DS situation where game could be pirated to hell and back and still sell milions.

Although I support removong region lock, worst notion ever.
 

M3d10n

Member
Only usefull for pirating ? meh =P

Was expecting something that would not require me to buy ANOTHER 3ds for emulators and homebrew.

That flipnote 3ds needs a HUGE improvement from flipnote ds to beat some of the animation homebrews =/
There is something about inchworm that I hate so much ><

I'm not sure, but I don't think the exploit they are using allows them to run unsigned code... or atleast not unsigned code launched from the 3DS home menu. However, it looks like they override some flags/data in 3DS RAM using the DS mode exploit, which they use to disable something necessary to boot the 3DS flash card and they can use it to disable the region check (from what I've heard, the check is very trivial). So, in theory, the DS boot card could be used to launch retail cartridges from different regions.
 

Alo81

Low Poly Gynecologist
That's definitely a possibility. I wrote that above comment ignorant about their strides in firmware spoofing technology.

Supposing that mass releases, it looks as if systems that still have 4.5.0 or under will be "unlocked" to all future piracy.

But if Nintendo plays their cards right, it can be sufficiently quarantined and localized.
It's crucial that Nintendo reduces the amount of consoles available in the market with vulnerable firmware...and viciously goes after USA / European suppliers of that piracy enabler.

There are legitimate uses for a cart like this and the distributors shouldn't be being punished it should be the people who are pirating.
 

Kurtofan

Member
I just wish Nintendo's anti-region locking division were more active.

So until that happens I'm all for hacking the shit out of any machine basically and if piracy is a by-product of that...too bad.

What good is a region unlocked console if it doesn't have any game as a result? Piracy is more damaging.
 
I just wish Nintendo's anti-region locking division were more active.

So until that happens I'm all for hacking the shit out of any machine basically and if piracy is a by-product of that...too bad.

For those who have a vested interest in Nintendo's success (either through stock or just eagerly anticipating new localizations + releases), the benefits of no region locking may not outweigh the consequences of reduced profits.

Personally, I'm one of those people. But I do realize that region locking is an extremely valid criticism and systems that disable region locking are worth pursuing.

I'd just wish there would be no piracy scene that accompanies anti-region locking devices. The fact that a good majority of the 3DS library can currently be pirated...worries the hell out of me.

Specifically, I'm most worried about those who decide to purchase the device for anti-region locking (and normally purchase games new) that are tempted to delve into piracy because it's easily accessible.
 

DonMigs85

Member
I just wish Nintendo's anti-region locking division were more active.

So until that happens I'm all for hacking the shit out of any machine basically and if piracy is a by-product of that...too bad.

I really hate this selfish, entitled attitude. Go buy an open source device if you wanna experiment with hacking or homebrew. If this thing proliferates, future software prospects will become grim, especially for niche titles.
 

Kurtofan

Member
I really hate this selfish, entitled attitude. Go buy an open source device if you wanna experiment with hacking or homebrew. If this thing proliferates, future software prospects will become grim, especially for niche titles.

Which are ironically the only titles concerned by region locking.
 
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