R4 Made Illegal In The UK

Hot on the heels on Nintendo’s legal success against a number of Dutch retailers, the controversial R4 DS cart has been made illegal in the UK after a high court ruling against Playables Limited.  Already banned in Japan since February, the cartridge allows DS users to transfer torrented games onto their handheld – something which Nintendo have argued has caused a decline in sales.  Up until now, the defence, including that in the Dutch case, has been that they should remain legal due to the fact that many people use it to run homebrew applications and custom code, however, this was dismissed since the R4 requires the console’s security measures to be bypassed, thus making it illegal in the eyes of the court.

“Nintendo initiates these actions not only on its own behalf, but also on behalf of over 1,400 video game development companies that depend on legitimate sales of games for their survival.”

Presumably the new 3DS will have improved security measures when it arrives on our shores, but for now, remember kids…when it comes to piracy, just say ‘no’…or rather…’nnarrrr’.

Source: MCV

• EA Announce The Sims 4: City Living Expansion
• PETA Crosses The Line with Farming Simulator 17
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Review
• Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments - Review
• ONE Ring