Nintendo apparently intends to eliminate piracy on its new 3DS with a suite of measures “too sophisticated to explain,” according to one bamboozled publisher.
Publisher THQ’s executive VP of global publishing is clear that in his view piracy has made DS publishing non-viable and that Nintendo’s efforts to stymie it in the new 3DS are essential if the console is to succeed:
“What excites me even more [than 3DS games] is that there’s technology built in that device to really combat piracy.
The problem with the DS market in the last few years, particularly with the DS Lite, is that it’s just been attacked by piracy. It’s made it almost impossible to shift any significant volume. The DSi combated it a little bit, but the 3DS has taken that a step further.
I actually asked Nintendo to explain the technology and they said it’s very difficult to do so because it’s so sophisticated. They combated the piracy on DSi, which they don’t believe is cracked yet – but they know they’ve been hurt across the world and they believe the 3DS has got technology that can stop that.
Therefore the opportunity for people to invest more in product development [on the system] and bring more 3DS products to market comes out of that. It’s going to probably cost us more to do it all in 3D – so we want to make sure we get a return on our investment when we do it.”
“Too sophisticated for us to explain it to you” – for one of THQ’s executives to accept so vapid an explanation this either indicates an extraordinary amount of trust in Nintendo, an even more extraordinary level of gullibility, or perhaps both.
Whilst most such promises of uncrackable protection have only seen the inevitable delayed, it is notable that the PS3 remains uncracked, so the commonly bleated pirate refrain that “no protection is uncrackable” may yet have to be discarded.
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I have an curiosity: Which console and games are more monetarily lucrative?
Uncrackable like PS3 and their games or crackable like DS, PSP and their games?
challenging hackers is always a very bad idea
and btw, you just CANT compare DS piracy to PS3 piracy those are completely different beasts, DS games are MUCH smaller and easy to get, you can pretty much fit all the games released for it in a cheap microSD card making the cost of storing the copy practically 0 (compare with the huge cost of downloading and burning a blu ray disc), the size of the user base is also completely different, the DS has what, 100 times more users ? its a completely different scale
also the fact that a corporate suit doesn't have a clue how technology works tells me nothing about the strength of the copy protection
In other words, it's probably the same as the DSi.
You know what makes me sad? If it really is uncrackable and stupid Namdai decides to release a Tales game for this system we'll never, ever see it in English because all possibility of fan translation will be over.
Seriously, if games as great as Mother 3, Soma Bringer, and Tales of... games come out on this system I will be very sad. Bye bye, fan translations. T_T
Worse yet, it will probably have region locking like the DSi, so you wouldn't even be able to play the originals unless they're designed only for the DS. It hasn't really been such a big deal with the DSi, because there's not a big difference so games don't often go the DSi route (and it's only DSi specific software that can be locked). But the 3DS is a big step... 3DS specific software will be coming in a big way, and that could be locked.
I'm really hoping that Nintendo backs away from region locking stupidity... I couldn't care less about pirating games (I already have more games already than I have time for) or homebrew (I have plenty of other devices that I can program and run arbitrary software on). But region locking will have me looking to crack my system (which is part of why it's so stupid, it just encourages people to unlock their systems).
I'm sure a few companies actually believe it too.
I know one company, I was told they had drm on their games. I wouldn't have known it if not told though. I usually make a disc image to make it so I don't need disc in drive. I wonder if they thought that was good enough (the need for disc in drive).
I buy most of my games from Matrix Games (they publish wargames). All they require is a serial on install. They offer updates that usually bust illegal serials of course. No biggie, you don't pay, why expect to get updates that work :) But I can install where ever, as often as I please and never once need to do anything else but use the serial.
That says to me they like me enough to not piss me off with useless DRM techniques.
I have yet to ever see a new game fail to be on the download scene the same week of release. Well accept PS3 games :)
Don't worry, the hackers will explain it for you.
Gee, I hope it's as safe as my PS2 and Wii.
/sarcasm
We need Dark_Alex(Dude who made custom psp firmware) to work on the 3ds.
THQ probably took a glimpse at the code, then realized it was a clusterfuck of random code thrown together in such a haphazard way that no one in their right mind could crack it.
They are also probably hoping people not in their right minds aren't allowed to buy 3DSs.
Confident eh? Give it a couple of years.
they said that about the PS3...
maybe all the good hackers are long-gone and grew up past hacking o3o
Lol. They all probably got real jobs by now.
Yaarrrrrr!!!
n1 ... you wont be able to hack the 3ds protection? mega phail. Ubisoft said that their protection was also "a new revolution in copy protection".... well it was, but only for the first 3 weeks xD. After that every game with the ubisoft protection was cracked in like 3 days.
you guys remember how back in the day, no one gave two shits about what console is hackable or not?
now it seems losers won't even touch a console they can't fuck with these days.
you wanna crack your PS3? have fun trying
if the 3DS is just as hard to crack, I'll be here laughing at all the morons 'waiting' for it to get cracked and missing out on playing all the games :D
Nintendo finally pissed-off i think?
Guess gonna need to buy a real copy of Love Plus...
Heh. I'm not buying.
I have a Xbox360 and a PS2, both unlocked. The interesting thing is that I only unlocked my Xbox recently and before unlocking I had 3 original games. Now I have 7 already. It would still be 3 if I had not unlocked it, specially after I found out (by playing the games) that 2 out of the 3 were completely useless crap - lucky me I bought them used.
Lol i give them A for trying.
seriously when you think about it, every game system or game has been cracked the only acceptation are the game cube and the ps3 and the reasons on that is the game cube used those small proprietary disc and Blu rey is to expensive and holds to much data.
3Ds isn't any different all it going to do is keep a hacker busy for about a few months hell if this is a bluff a few days. Got to say they got some serious balls to just challenge the hackers.
But the gamecube WAS hacked, haven't you heard of dolphin?
I'll just wait for an emulator that ignores copy protection. It's bound to happen.
i bet this will get hacked in few 1 week or even 1 day
They are still using the same system yes? The Cartridge yes? Then we still have a fighting chance. Flashcarts will be out in less than 3 months of the release yes?
Just like Microsoft said the Xbox360 was unhackable now look mods and hacks everywhere as far as the eye can see, yeah there is the whole ban from Xbox Live scare but like that is going to stop hackers.
Yeah because they've lost so much money to piracy that they can't even bring out new versions of their handheld console...oh wait
well i don't give a damn as long as it's not region locked.
Wouldn't explaining anti-piracy measures just get them cracked faster?
But... I want my 3d homebrew, Nintendo! D:<
Well, just buy the darn games or import them.
yeah, everytime i look at amazon. i have to multiply it by 160% to reach the real price at my country.
though i'm still buying it
it'll be cracked
Did they not know that majority of their console sales comes from piracy? Look at their Wii and DS sales. They're off the planet, and look at PS3 sales, it barely even made it to the ceiling.
Are they not happy about it, or would they rather see their console sales plummet?
How can a sale come piracy? There's no money being exchanged. And if you're thinking about the number of people playing their games, I doubt it's even possible to really count the number of people playing pirated copies.
No friend, he is not talking about the games sales, he is talking about the consoles sales, if its easy to pirate, the games are easy avaiable and more people will buy the console. Now, I know that some consoles are selled at a loss price and that the money came from the game sales so of course piracy bring problems , but I think that lower prices in the games can serve as a incentive to move out of piracy, if I could choose about let's say a $5 pirated game or a $15 original game I would buy the original, but when the choice is between a $5 pirate and a $100 original well...
Nintendo are more a publisher than they are a consumer electronics company I'm afraid.
Some people here says that games are cheap and ask what DS game are $100 or more, well here are a litle list of prices in dollar here in Brazil from the site Submarino.com.br, keep in mind that this prices don't include shipping:
Drawn to life: Next Chapter = $124
Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings = $119
Pokemon Heartgold Version = $113
Pokemon Soulsilver Version = $113
Lego Batman: The Video = $113
New Super Mario Bros = $113
Mario Kart = $113
Pokemon Diamond = $113
Fifa Football 2006 = $113
Whack-A-Mole = $113
And so on! So yeah, buying original games is very cheap everywhere...
Well what do you expect, living in Brazil? If you have to import everything (my Portuguese is rusty, but that is what "importado" means, right?), naturally it's going to be more expensive...
So Nintendo should make their system hackable for the sake of the countries where they don't officially sell their hardware?
he is just saying games are not cheap everywhere and you should not disregard the price so easily
also you should consider that not only they are 2x times more expensive than us in Brazil (they are around 3~4x times more expensive in Argentina btw and much harder to find) but that the average paycheck in south america is only a fraction of one in the US or Europe, one of those games might cost half a monthly paycheck here
are you surprised the piracy ratio in this area is HUGE ?
Yet most piracy happens in these rich countries like the USA. They can buy it, but what's the point when they can get it for free?
If the 3DS really is uncrackable it's a good measure, because they're left with no choice.
3DS You're going down! 3 Dip Shit!
Incoming 3DS games will cost $50 a pop ;)
For their sakes I hope it works.
Just like when Microsoft said the Xbox's copy protection was impossible to exploit. When the 3DS comes out, I give the copy protection about maybe a few weeks or a couple of months, it will not last a year.
LOL...I feel sorry for the people that say DS games cost $100. Maybe $100 of YOUR dollars, wherever you may be. Here, in the US, they usually cost $30 ($40 if it's a Pokemon game or something primo).
I'm not rich and I've had no trouble buying games that I like.
As for unhackability....that which science produces can be reproduced.
Perfect copy protection eh yawn.
Nothing like spitting in the face of hackers who only hack for the challenge.
The only people that pirate are cheap cunts. Hackers hack for the challenge of the hack.
Myself, not so interested. 250 bucks plus tax to go back to a smaller screen just because it makes slightly prettier pictures? Not fucking likely. I got 90 bucks for my DS lite which made the DSi XL not such a painful price and I got a massive screen size increase.
My next hand held purchase will be a Kindle/iPad competitor that isn't the price of a new laptop. Because if I can get a laptop for the same price, I am buying the laptop eh.
I won't buy a 3DS if I can't get my free gaems.
already mentioned above they're likely to sell the hardware at a loss to make up for it with the software, so I doubt they'll miss you as a customer.
i'm actually betting that they do something to break even. i mean they have the ability to go balls out and take a loss, but i don't think they will.
Nintendo never sells their console at a loss. As they said with the Wii, they can't afford to, since unlike their competitors this is all they do. Of course, what you ended up with in Wii's case was a console that was outdated the day it came out, which is hurting it in the present, but then normally by now a new generation would at least have been announced.
As far as being uncrackable...well, we'll see. I'm surprised no one has pointed out this gem though:
“What excites me even more [than 3DS games] is that there’s technology built in that device to really combat piracy."
Really? Aren't creators supposed to be excited about the new possibilities of a system rather than just stopping piracy? I think he has the wrong outlook on things if he's thinking about how to stop piracy more than actually, you know, make games. Of course, this would put him in the same head-space as a lot media executives.
I'm sure he is excited about the possibilities of making new games. He just wants to know that people are actually going to fork over money for all of his work.
He's the "VP of global publishing"... that's not a "creator" job, that's a marketing one. People in marketing naturally care about sales first.