A number of independent games retailers have joined forces with the Entertainment Retailers Association to call for action against R4 cards.
Shop owners have claimed the prevalence of the device has cost them much needed revenue and significantly damaged sales of DS software.
"Since the appearance of these cards we have noticed a downturn in the sale of our DS games," said indie shop owner Steve Pooler to MCV. "It is frustrating as we could make decent margins on the DS. Sadly this has now been eroded with the growth of these cards."
If one were so inclined, they could buy an R4 card for around £20 from respected online retailers, and then illegally download games for nothing. In comparison, DS games can cost £29.99 each.
Unsurprisingly, the ERA isn't happy about that. Representative Kim Bayley said: "We expected that the piracy suffered by movies and music would make its way to games, and it's something we all need to get a grip on.
"The industry needs to be on its toes and take advantage of the digital models already in place."
its an SD card with a slot for a micro-sd card. You put the micro SD card into your pc, download rom files, plug it into your R4 Card, plug that into the DS, it boots up, hello free games.
Its illegal, its immoral, but its the only damn way you'll ever understand WTF Jump! Superstars is all about, thanks to language patches/hacks.
Half of the DS games out atm are utter s**te anyways.
its an SD card with a slot for a micro-sd card. You put the micro SD card into your pc, download rom files, plug it into your R4 Card, plug that into the DS, it boots up, hello free games.
Its illegal, its immoral, but its the only damn way you'll ever understand WTF Jump! Superstars is all about, thanks to language patches/hacks.
Half of the DS games out atm are utter s**te anyways.
Right, cheers. I'm only keeping my DS for Chrono Trigger and the odd game now and again so I don't think I'll bother with it.
Any time I've dallied with piracy in the past has led to me getting bored of all the games, it somehow 'devalues' the experience for me.
I like the fact there's an advert for one at the bottom of this very article!
If companies think piracy is bad now, what would they have made of the Amiga generation. I had disk boxes full of hundreds of games - I think I bought about ten games in the god knows how many years I had my Amiga.
It certainly does cheapen the experience a little though.
Just ordered one for Ł23.99 off ConsoleUp.com. Scared in case they get banned. (Chose not to order off Amazon because they seem to be selling a lot of fakes)
Just ordered one for Ł23.99 off ConsoleUp.com. Scared in case they get banned. (Chose not to order off Amazon because they seem to be selling a lot of fakes)
Oh dear someones just been robbed of there money you paid Ł23.99!! Nothing wrong with Amazon i got mine from there.. more chance of finding fakes elsewhere... cant believe you paid Ł23.99 gutted!
There is something ironic about a fake "r4" something designed to rip off ds games.
They can be used for legit things- and i think technically they aren't illegal. They'd be better off targeting the websites/p2p networks that distribute roms, as that would also mean everyone using them illegally already wouldn't be able to continue.
I managed to get mine to play "300". Looks funny as hell on the tiny screen. Sounds ok though. Play it on the bus and people expecting to hear some brain training or whatever it is that has people hooked on the damn thing, jump when all of a sudden they hear:
I like the fact there's an advert for one at the bottom of this very article!
If companies think piracy is bad now, what would they have made of the Amiga generation. I had disk boxes full of hundreds of games - I think I bought about ten games in the god knows how many years I had my Amiga.
It certainly does cheapen the experience a little though.
it brings it all back. 100's of images of atari 400 games on disc. then came the c64 tape to tape decks freely available,doctor snes with 100 1.4 meg floppys. same on doctor n64. atari st cant even count em i had so many. 100 in 1 carts for gameboy. 25 in 1 carts for GBA. PS1 who doesnt have a shed load of disks and a chipped machine. then evo x dashboard on the xbox for instant backup onto an expanded hard drive, same on the ps2. it will never stop. the only thing now is you cant get on line if you have a chipped machine (not unless you want to patch evey five minutes). oh i forgot about those psp games you can download onto a 2 gig duo. one major drawback with all this of course is you dont play a game the whole way though unless it's a triple A.
I like the fact there's an advert for one at the bottom of this very article!
If companies think piracy is bad now, what would they have made of the Amiga generation. I had disk boxes full of hundreds of games - I think I bought about ten games in the god knows how many years I had my Amiga.
It certainly does cheapen the experience a little though.
I like the fact there's an advert for one at the bottom of this very article!
If companies think piracy is bad now, what would they have made of the Amiga generation. I had disk boxes full of hundreds of games - I think I bought about ten games in the god knows how many years I had my Amiga.
It certainly does cheapen the experience a little though.
I don't have so much of a problem with 'piracy' of films, tv series and music, because these industries are raking it in while conning the original producers of the artworks they sell, but games are different. Small developers are having a hard time of it, and while I wouldn't shed a tear for EA or Nintendo's lost revenues, I don't want all these smaller fish to be killed off by people too cheap to fork out Ł25 for a DS game.
Same goes for the retailers. Independent ones are rare enough as it is. And GAME suck.
Just ordered one for Ł23.99 off ConsoleUp.com. Scared in case they get banned. (Chose not to order off Amazon because they seem to be selling a lot of fakes)
Oh dear someones just been robbed of there money you paid Ł23.99!! Nothing wrong with Amazon i got mine from there.. more chance of finding fakes elsewhere... cant believe you paid Ł23.99 gutted!
I'd rather just go through ConsoleUp.com and get the real version first, instead of ordering it cheaply off amazon (its not actually amazon selling it, its companies like Tecknet and flash memory selling through amazon) and getting a fake, and then having to go buy it eventually off consoleup.com anyway and try my luck with a refund through amazon.
I just looked at the reviews on amazon and saw all the negative ones about people receiving fakes and imcomplete products.
Anyway, its only like a tenner more. Its the summer, and ive got loads of money to burn
Any time I've dallied with piracy in the past has led to me getting bored of all the games, it somehow 'devalues' the experience for me.
I could not agree more. I have an R4, and downloaded all the games. What happened next I don't know, but I dont play my DS any more, and it was my favorite console. I cant explain it, but piracy ruins the experience.
I miss my DS so much. I am going to throw my R4 away.
Serious, I know it sounds retarded but it has to be done!
my mate's got one....its been helpful due to poor reviews in the mags/websites for stuff. If its rubbish he deletes it. I think consumers buying rubbish for 25quid are the ones getting ripped off.
I like the fact there's an advert for one at the bottom of this very article!
If companies think piracy is bad now, what would they have made of the Amiga generation. I had disk boxes full of hundreds of games - I think I bought about ten games in the god knows how many years I had my Amiga.
It certainly does cheapen the experience a little though.
you have the worlds best avatar...
Ta. And to think you loved it so much you just had to say so twice!!
Just imagine a double team of Ric Flair and Chuck. Wow.
You know, that article doesn't is so biased, it doesn't even try to stress that the cards can be used for perfectly legal actions, and therefor should NOT be banned. We don't ban cars because they can be used in bank robberies, do we? Also, nice percentage of people who admit they're what kills the small guys in the industry and are the cause such calls for bans of perfectly legal products are made...
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one major drawback with all this of course is you dont play a game the whole way though unless it's a triple A.
