And you thought PC piracy was bad...

knowledge123

knowledge123

knowledge123

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90% of US DS games are pirated


Up to 90 percent of North American Nintendo DS owners are believed to be using the infamous R4 chip to play pirated games, according to the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association.

John Hillier, manager of ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit, told The Sunday Post that the R4 chip, which bypasses the DS's security system allowing users to play pirated games illegally downloaded from the internet, is hampering Nintendo's software sales and "risking the future of the games industry" by putting legitimate retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers at risk.

"The implications are massive. In America it's thought 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s.
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Continued on site


Wow, I am shocked by this figure, but not massively surprised as R4s' are selling like hotcakes. I do wonder what the percentage for PC is ?
 
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Seems a little high, but then again remember that DS is supposed to be in every household in Japan, And on top of that, Last time I was there, the market place was absolutely swarmed with pirate copies of EVERYTHING imaginable.

If you can pick up a pirate copy of a DS game, from the market, for a tiny sum, and it work perfectly. Then why wouldn't you do it.

i don't think it's the same situation here, as i've seen no one blatently selling them on the market. And I'm unsure about america.


AND NOW AFTER WRITING ALL THAT, I NOTICE THAT IT SAYS NORTH AMERICA, SO NOW I'VE PWNED MYSELF,

But after writing all that, There's no way I'm deleting it :mad::p
 
I can very well believe it, everywhere sells them - web sites & on forums even here in the MM and if it isn't the R4 theres lots of alternatives that do the same job.
 
ScarySquirrel said:
I find that very hard to believe. 90% of DS owners probably wouldn't know how to get hold of and use an R4.

See what I did there?
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ah i see what they've done, they meant 90% of R4 owners play pirated games!

Go figure!

Edit: on a more serious not, piracy has always been popular with the DS as you could play the games from a mini or micro SD, 2GB would be less than £20 and hold up to 50 games all of which could be carried in your pocket, inside your DS no less!
 
90% is complete BS. The majority of the DS owners I know (and I know a lot) didn't even know it was possible to play pirated DS games.

Statistics are crap, it all depends on the type of person you ask. If you ask a lot of "hardcore" gamers then your more likely to find people who use pirated software, but if you ask a more diverse range of gamers I think you'll find much more accurate results.

Statistics can be used to prove anything you like, so long as your clever about the people you poll.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
ah i see what they've done, they meant 90% of R4 owners play pirated games!

Go figure!

Edit: on a more serious not, piracy has always been popular with the DS as you could play the games from a mini or micro SD, 2GB would be less than £20 and hold up to 50 games all of which could be carried in your pocket, inside your DS no less!
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Oh really? That would make more sense.

I got my GF a DS Lite and R4 for Xmas, she loves it :)
 
Jihad said:
Probably not that shocking as most games require you to have a fresh CD-key for online play so that helps a lot.
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Indeed, Plus the constant updates throw out any older cracked validation.

If you're happy running a V1 game, with no online capability. Then fine. Enjoy playing crysis. :p
 
Jihad said:
Probably not that shocking as most games require you to have a fresh CD-key for online play so that helps a lot.
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imo its harder to pirate PC games, you have to rely on release groups cracking the security of each and every game. With a console once a group cracks the drive or the console itself its open season.

For example anyone here could (with the right knowledge) mod a 360 or PS2 etc right? But then you could give that to a relative and supply them with copied discs, or they could get their own off the net or at local markets. Try giving someone a PC DVD-rom full of Starforce protected ISO's? Wont happen.

Fundamentally the PC is better protected from pirates
 
I believe that the NDA figures will prove this to be a load of tripe.

If so many people are playing pirated games then how did nintendo shift nearly 2 million units of pokemon pearl/diamond in the US.

Sounds like dodgy stats/word play to me...
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
imo its harder to pirate PC games, you have to rely on release groups cracking the security of each and every game. With a console once a group cracks the drive or the console itself its open season.
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true but there is not that much different security in pc games, and most are cracked already, I would say every PC game is cracked within days of release, and often before release. Only thing as said is for online play, but I imagine most pirates don't care for that or play on cracked servers too LOL
 
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