Courts Tell Nintendo Piracy “Adds Functionality”

Let freedom reign I say!
Good job Spain.

sweet. +1 for me. i don't even use my ds for homebrew though, most of them suck.

The fisrt time my own country does something like this WELL. YOu can't judge one thing because you can use it for illegal actions, as someone stated before, is like banning knives becasue you can kill with them, well it'll be a bit more relaxing. To the writer of this page: in Spain we consume other countries videogames, bit still copyright is hard, but it's still widely player, even thouhgh there isn't an industry, there's a big market

Actually the thing about video games in spain is not entirely correct. Pendulo Studios based in Madrid is the creators of the Popular Runaway Adventure games.

They should just post something in the DS' box:

Warning: Use of pirated firmware and software forfeits 1-year warranty....

That won't stop them.... but at least they will be rid of some responsibility....

Certain types of modchipping was deemed legal in Australia because of this; it allowed Australians to play import games, which is within our legal rights, regardless of content manufacturers wanting to region lock.

"Dear Nintendo"
FUCK YOU

Well...if you have a rare original snes cartridge from 1980-1994(like seiken densetsu 3, or tatics ogre batle:the march of the black queen), you probably are favorable to backups, and know how them are a important thing. If the nintendo can't prevent ilegal uses of roms, the problem is all theirs.

On an interesting note, the DSi LL's launch seems to be pretty successful. http://i49.tinypic.com/176a39.png

From Media Create: http://www.m-create.com/ranking/

http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/top.php?page=1

People use NDS for much more than games.

LOL that court fail!

Piracy, only an excuse.

Capcom and other enterprises are angry because the second hand market and game importation make them lost money.

NDS is a hanheld console with a nice selection of games covered with casual poor games.

The "Imagine" series from Ubisoft almost destroys a nice handy console.

The Gyakuten Saiban, known as Phoenix Wright saga in Europe is a best seller, like Hotel Dusk or Zelda Phantom Hourglass.

Whatever, I own every ORIGINAL game (3 from GBA, 4 for NDS and sealed, because I use my flashcard to preserve these games in the best condition). Currently I'm looking for GS 1 and GS 4 special japanese editions.

It isn't fair that in UK a game comes up and it costs 30 pounds (about 33 euros) and in Spain 60-70 euros.

Thanks to the Internet, the people can preorder games, and if the game is MULTI5 (with several languages like spanish, german, italian, french and others), they get the cheapest version, because IT'S THE SAME FUCKING GAME.

So, you don't want piracy in Spain?

Easy, don't abuse us with the prices.

In UK, high salaries, low prices.
*In Spain, almost 4 million people is unemployed, low salaries, very high prices.

Like a slogan from MediaMarkt in Spain: "I'm not dumbass".

PS: Respect the others. I can see comments that make Chuck Norris cry.

......Nintendo is a japanese company, so why the SPANISH court??

The Spanish Court even appears in the Konami vs. Upperdeck fiasco...

Shinobu. :O

Viva la liberty!

Price discrimination isn't a bad thing, what if you're selling to a country that can't afford an equivalent North American price? You price down for the market there, everybody can afford it. Being a pirate myself, I declare this a court fail though. If the judges are pirates that would be win.

Not the first time I've heard of such. If I'm not mistaken there was a court case in Australia involving modding the PS2, and the courts ruled in favor of the modders justifed by the purchase of imported PS2 games at more competetive prices (which would have normally been locked out). I figured the console makers would have learned from this as soon as Sony made the PS3's games region free.

Seems like Spain made the right choice.

So, if I want to develop homebrew for my ARM-processor based console I should either PONY UP OVER 3.000 USD for an ARM workstation or FORK OVER IN EXCESS OF 10.000 USD to become an "official developer" when I can get a 200 USD based device and run compiled code with a flashcart...

So students should become rich overnight to afford the punk ass prices requested by HW manufacturers.

F.U. ARM, F.U. Nintendo.

At least IBM gives out the CELL emulator and compiler toolchain for free.

Actually some hacks associated with piracy do add functionality such as backingup games,homebrew,or installing linux on SD.
It would be nice to have a non crippled browser and a media player for Nintendo hardware.
It's good that not every country has as retarded IP laws as the US.
Which are so bad I recommended every other country ignore them and pressure the laws to be changed as the US people complaining are not enough to end the faggotry or the media conglomerates who bribed and tea-bagged to make asinine laws like DMCA go bankrupt.

Homebrew heheheh yeah right.
If I want to listen to music, I'll use something that does it much better than my DS ever will. And watching a video on a DS? I have good vision, but they're not that strong. I'd rather carry a portable dvd player and watch an 8 inch screen that runs off of actual dvds.
Nope, the fact is 90% of DS games were not worth stealing let alone paying 35 bucks for (if not more).
It's not like they can protect them though. I happen to know, there isn't a single game I have ever been able to think up I can't get a download copy of, not one.
Now you occasionally need legit for online usage. That's hard to beat.
But flashcarts are like blank media. When is Nintendo going to expect a ban on dvds? I mean what do they think we're burning Wii games onto?
I've never needed a back up copy for safety reasons though. A Nintendo game cart is likely the most survivable game media on the market. Even my son has failed to render any of his unplayable (and his room likely looks as bad as yours does kiddo).

So...

Let me see...

I'm from Brazil, fucked poor country.

Here, the games cost R$ 159, in the new fresh titles.

Now, look that the base income salary is R$ 400.

The DS itself costs R$ 600 on the "Original Shops".

FUCK!!!!!

So, I'm a big fan of Pokemon titles. So I own a ORIGINAL crap Pokemon DIAMOND, with a stupid 10 X bigger package of the cartidge that only contains a stupid manual and places for only 1 piece os plastic, called "THE GAME".

So got 250 hours of game. Top monsters, rare ones, event ones, etc...

Than, unfortunelly, my home is invaded and the thieves take my bag with the FUCKING ORIGINAL GAME away.

So, now nintendo got my money and I have no more they stupid ORIGINAL GAME.

So, if I used from the very beginning the AWSOME R4DS, or other BEAUTIFUL flash cards, I could have a backup.

Yes, I'm a DUMBASS, first for not do that (R4DS) at the beginning, and for spend R$ 159 in a game, just to the "RIGHT" thing to DO, "playing the original bla bla bla".

In the 3º world this things will NEVER WORK, only for the RICH people.

And yes, I'm MAD about that. Not blame Nintendo at all, but yes, THEY FUCKING "support" piracy in poors countries, by fucking doesn't get here the EQUILIBRIUM about the VALUE of they "gadgets".

This ("piracy support") also include everything about games (YES, here, BRAZIL, a PS3 is R$ 1700 in the "ORIGINAL SHOPS").

See ya!

Without piracy my DS would be little more than a paperweight. $30+ for a portable game? Fuck me

Nice comeback spanish court. Finally a fair use of logic.

It's not that I condone piracy, but baning flashcarts is moronic. Even if they let you pirate games, they also add a hell lot more to do with the DS than Nintendo provides, so they got screded. A homebrew to draw and paint on the DS? Pure win.

This problem has stemmed since these devices first came out. While, yes, there primary intention WAS for backing up your PHYSICAL games in case of some kind of event rendered them inoperable, people would use them for other purposes, like pirating them. Hell, I have a friend who has all SNES and Genesis games but only physically owns a small handful.

What Nintendo, and pretty much every other company, needs to realize is that you can't just say these devices are only used for one thing when everybody and their knock up mother knows otherwise. I mean, if Nintendo is really planing on taking on the pirating community, why not also go after these Emulators and ROMs as well. And while we're at it, how about these companies that make those Mod chips as well. Fucking Nintendo. So short sited. Can't see past their own greed.

More often do I use my NDS to listen to music than I do to play (pirated) games.

Well hell, it's f'en true. I honestly use homebrew programs for the DS more than the games itself.

To me, it seems like this is suing VCR manufacturers. Sure, you can use it to tape Sunday Night Football without the expressed written consent of ABC and NFL, but that's not all you can use it for.

In credit to the Spaniards, it looks like they are attempting to give the issue a fair hearing, even if it may not be the most nuanced. In other words, it's far from the 'Critical research failure' technology hearings get in the US.

I still expect publishers to fight this tooth and nail, rather than admit that current zoning laws are flawed, though.