While legal cases against items like Flash cards typically rule in favor of whatever game company brought up the suit, a French judge has turned the tables in a recent ruling. MCV is reporting that Nintendo has lost a lawsuit against a DS Flash card manufacturer named Divineo Group.
The judge said that Nintendo’s policies are locking out developers on their platforms. He recommended that the Japanese publisher take on a policy like Microsoft with Windows, where others have freedom to develop programs as they wish. Nintendo’s comment on the situation was, “We are reviewing the judgment and it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.”
This is a rather unprecedented ruling against Nintendo, a company that has managed to maintain a firm stance against piracy by keeping a tight lock on who can legally develop for their consoles. There are a lot of people who make and use homebrew software on “jailbroken” consoles and portables, so it will be interesting to see where this ruling leads.
4 Comments
December 7, 2009
France is really giving to many rulings that support piracy these days.
I have no problem with homebrew work . . . but really now . . . everyone knows these retail memory card systems are created to facilitate pirating not for homebrew. Perhaps Nintendo can create a low-cost entry for indie people that want to develop games. But to force the systems open is not fair. What is is next? Forcing the Wii, xbox 360, and PS3 to get rid of their locks against unauthorized software?
December 8, 2009
Why the hell would Nintendo even consider making any policy similar to Windows gaming? Microsoft makes no money from Windows games unless they are part of that "Games for Windows" label Microsoft has. What incentive would publishers have to become a licensee or pay to get their game rated by the ESRB?
France has a reputation for ruling against copyright owners. France is also the country that rules Apple has to allow multiple companies to offer phone plans for the iPhone. France also does not allow Muslims to wear religious clothing. France is messed up. Thankfully countries like Japan and the United States wouldn't support piracy like France does.
December 9, 2009
While Flash cards can be used for homebrew software, I'm willing to bet that its main purpose is piracy in 99% of cases. It's also a little weird for a portable games console to be compared with a a PC OS designed to do several different things - of course, the appeal is already coming from Nintendo.
June 18, 2010
I don't exactly know what your talking about but i would say no.
What i think is Ds flash cards are not illegal but downloading ROMs for Nintendo DS game on the flash card is.
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