Nintendo DS game copier cards made illegal

THE BRITISH HIGH COURT has ruled that a copying device that allows people to play illegally copied games on the Nintendo DS is illegal to sell and market in the UK.

The R4 cards, or game copying chips, were storage devices that fit into the DS cartridge slot, getting past security systems and allowing gamers to play games that had been downloaded from copyright infringing warez or filesharing sources.

Advertised as 'backup' devices, owners could also save their own legitimately purchased copies of DS games, with a community has springing up providing its own homemade software which included media functionality such as email and web browsing

But the High Court agreed with Nintendo that the primary purpose for the cards was copyright infringement, after it filed the complaint against makers of the technology.

It said that to get the non-infringing homemade software to work, it had to bypass the Nintendo security systems, which in itself is illegal.

Earlier this year Nintendo blamed a sharp fall in Nintendo DS software purchases on so-called 'piracy', nothing to do with the popularity of Iphone games or the fact you can buy them at a fraction of the price of Nintendo games.

This follows a Dutch ruling that said online retailers acted illegally by importing R4 cards as well as Wii modification chips. µ