Nintendo reserves the right to brick your console following "unauthorised use", in bid to prevent piracy (www.eurogamer.net)
from inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world on 10 May 03:01
https://lemmy.world/post/29411962

#games

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Zahille7@lemmy.world on 10 May 03:08 next collapse

Well that’s some fucking bullshit.

jordanlund@lemmy.world on 10 May 03:10 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/2132c69b-548f-491e-8786-95d9ccdfa282.jpeg">

AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee on 10 May 03:13 next collapse

Yeah, definitely gonna stop those pirates who soft/hardmod their systems and never connect to the Internet/run updates in order to dump their games or play pirated copies or whatever they wanna do! That’ll stop them!

/s

Edit:

This seems to be more about their online account services and their updated privacy policy than anything else, but I still think my point stands, just not for this article.

neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 10 May 03:17 collapse

The problem is when a new game is released that requires an update to a later firmware version.

I think I’ve had it before where the updates applied to the system from the game card.

Unless I misunderstood what was happening. We will have to wait for someone to figure that out.

I’m rooting for someone to home brew the switch 2 ASAP

tiramichu@lemm.ee on 10 May 03:42 next collapse

You’ll probably have a while to wait.

The Switch 1 was able to run homebrew due to a hardware exploit in the CPU which allowed injection of arbitrary code. The interesting thing about that vulnerability being that since it was a hardware vulnerability, it couldn’t be patched out even after it was discovered.

Following that incident, I’m sure Nintendo has been working especially hard to ensure there are no similar vulnerabilities existing on the Switch 2.

That said, console hackers are an amazingly creative and talented bunch, so I wouldn’t be surprised by anything.

neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 10 May 03:57 next collapse

I’m pretty sure all Nintendo consoles have had a problem with being hacked. As far back as the Wii, people were able to run hombrew pretty quickly.

I think Nintendo just sucks at console security or maybe they are a bigger target due to their exclusives.

[deleted] on 10 May 03:59 collapse

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ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 10 May 04:04 next collapse

Hard to say. Consoles have certainly gotten more sercure and people finding vulnerabilities are far less likely to just give them out for free these days

But there is incentive to hack any console and nintendo has historically attracted the biggest dorks. Additionally they also seem to historically make pretty huge blunders, though the switch exploit was nvidias fault tbf

catloaf@lemm.ee on 10 May 04:38 collapse

You could have said that about every Nintendo console since the NES, yet here we are.

TORFdot0@lemmy.world on 10 May 03:49 collapse

Firmware is dumped almost immediately as well, not a big deal to update a switch offline.

JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world on 10 May 03:48 next collapse

Ah. So now we’re merely ‘licensing’ physical hardware we paid for and have in our homes. right?

Adalast@lemmy.world on 10 May 06:31 next collapse

You always have with Nintendo products. They have always had very aggressive licensing practices. In the early days they were more flexing them on developers, but it does not surprise me that in the wake of everyone telling them that modding and emulators can be explicitly legal that they would turn that particularly litigious aspect of their family friendly brand on the customers.

Strider@lemmy.world on 10 May 11:10 collapse

Afaik not in Europe. But the details are probably messy.

refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org on 11 May 03:35 collapse

Always has been unless you count modding to remove this kind of shitty DRM.

Nintendo was the company to popularize DRM in home consoles with the US release of the NES. The Famicom had no DRM even though it was identical hardware otherwise (well, that, the RF modulator, and the PCB layout).

shiroininja@lemmy.world on 10 May 04:15 next collapse

I don’t see how this is different from any other company. Xbox has forever done the same. I’m pretty sure Sony has too

Kolanaki@pawb.social on 10 May 04:45 next collapse

Microsoft and Sony don’t brick your console if you hacked it; they’ll ban you from online services and possibly deny any warranty claims if you bricked it yourself by mistake, but they don’t make your device a paper weight.

Einhornyordle@feddit.org on 10 May 06:09 collapse

Sony may not do it, the same way Nintendo might not do it either, but both reserve the right to do so

Edit: If you take a look at the PLAYSTATION®5 SYSTEM SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT under “6. VIOLATION OF AGREEMENT; TERMINATION OF RIGHTS AND SIE INC REMEDIES”, one of the possible actions they may take states:

disabling use of this PS5 system online or offline

simple@lemm.ee on 10 May 07:55 next collapse

Hilarious that this comment is so far down, Lemmy can be such a circlejerk.

Sony and Xbox absolutely reserve the right to brick your console. IIRC Sony bricks stolen Playstation consoles if they ever connect to the internet. This is nothing new.

Dreaming_Novaling@lemmy.zip on 10 May 17:20 collapse

Yeah the Nintendo vitriol for the past month has been funny. I get it, companies are not our friends, and Nintendo has done a lot of shit to be mad at. The game keycards are dogwater, but this concept of buy cartridge and download the rest is not new. Sony and Xbox have literally done the same shit for years, and Nintendo did this with some large games on Switch 1.

Another comment showed Sony will brick hacked consoles that get on the internet. Switch 1 also does this.

The price sucks, but it’s definitely tariffs, since the console is like a whole hundred dollars cheaper in Japan.

If you wanna pirate/emulate, pirate/emulate. I just don’t like pirating current gen consoles, and it’s a hassle to do so on Switch 1 if you got a newer one. Plus switch emulation on steam deck seems to be iffy for some games… I pirate/emulate old consoles cause they’re dead and they’re not making money on them anyway. Sometimes you just want to buy a game and enjoy them, especially for online ones like Splatoon.

I’ll just wait for the price to be reasonable one day.

faythofdragons@slrpnk.net on 10 May 19:43 collapse

I don’t see why I should be okay with that either.

Kolanaki@pawb.social on 10 May 04:40 next collapse

Can the Switch itself even be hacked to run pirated stuff? I honestly never looked since emulation of it came fairly quick. Bricking the Switch won’t stop anyone emulating on a PC lol

Davel23@fedia.io on 10 May 05:21 collapse

The very first model of the Switch can be soft-modded. Later revisions require a modchip.

catloaf@lemm.ee on 10 May 04:42 next collapse

I don’t seem how threatening to brick a device is intended to help you sell more of them. Like I was seriously considering buying a Switch 2 even recently, but this is really the nail in the coffin. Why should I pay money for something that could stop working on their whims? Because it’s not like these measures have been 100% accurate in the past.

MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net on 10 May 06:06 next collapse

Because it’s not like these measures have been 100% accurate in the past.

This is the part that really frustrates me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of the wording here. Account ban? Sure, against TOS, etc. But affecting the device is a whole other story. Especially when prior account bans have come under dubious circumstances.

arakhis_@feddit.org on 10 May 07:35 collapse

youre not the exploitable target audience.

like legit 100% evil intent, cant even argue against that

Yermaw@lemm.ee on 10 May 08:23 collapse

The target audience still goes online. Generally Facebook and mumsnet. Wait til it happens to one of them and the stories go round like wildfire.

With that market, especially at big luxury prices like a console, you exist solely on good faith.

arakhis_@feddit.org on 10 May 10:09 collapse

you dont see the whole “children of rich western parents really dont care” audience?

Yermaw@lemm.ee on 10 May 10:37 collapse

They won’t give the first shit about piracy policies or anything like that, but they’ll care that MummyD123s DH bought their DD an electric brick that won’t keep them quiet any more.

arakhis_@feddit.org on 10 May 11:30 collapse

why would it brick

Yermaw@lemm.ee on 10 May 12:06 next collapse

As part of a severe response to unauthorised use

arakhis_@feddit.org on 10 May 17:03 collapse

same comment of mine here: what nintendo child will do that is my question

CileTheSane@lemmy.ca on 11 May 07:17 collapse

Right, children are known for being well behaved and following the rules…

I remember as a child playing 2 player Tetris on the original Gameboy, which required a cable connecting the two devices. I figured out if I watched my opponent’s height indicator on my screen and saw it drop suddenly I could unplug the cable from my device and not get sent the extra lines. It was a cheat and an exploit that I stumbled upon because I was curious what would happen. That “I wonder what would happen” attitude can now apparently cause Nintendo to purposely brick the device.

arakhis_@feddit.org on 11 May 13:15 collapse

I still dont see how pre teen children would be able to pirate a game xd

CileTheSane@lemmy.ca on 11 May 20:11 collapse

You haven’t met a pre teen. You’re also ignoring the problem of false positives.

“It doesn’t matter how strict the punishment is, only criminals will be punished” only works if only criminals are punished. There’s plenty of stories of accounts being banned when no rules were broken.

arakhis_@feddit.org on 12 May 07:38 collapse

thats a good argument at the end

the first paragraph: not so much… I think the opposite of you haha

Zahille7@lemmy.world on 10 May 15:25 collapse

Do you not realize what thread you’re commenting in?

arakhis_@feddit.org on 10 May 17:02 collapse

what nintendo child will do that is my question, the third time.

idk if im missing something or you all repeat the same bit in hopes of something…

Yermaw@lemm.ee on 10 May 17:35 collapse

It only takes one, and they’re not going to admit to their mum that they tried taking it apart or installing some dodgy stuff on it. Once word gets out they can be “randomly” bricked they’ll stop selling so well.

There’s also the risk that it’ll actually get randomly triggered.

arakhis_@feddit.org on 11 May 13:25 collapse

idk I dont see that issue specifically, I see the issue of them choosing the vulnerable customers (families with pre-teen children) over the conscious ones (gaming etusiasts who are less likely to choose nintendo first and if so then better be a diehard cultist)

but a lil kid who cant even control mario in mario kart without the auto drive assists…? idk how this little guy would install or screw open a console xd

Varyk@sh.itjust.works on 10 May 05:27 next collapse

I know it should have been earlier, but that really is the last straw for buying Nintendo products for me.

what a shame.

njm1314@lemmy.world on 10 May 05:27 next collapse

They’re going to start breaking them as soon as the switch 3 is released I guarantee it.

Also this seems like I don’t know not theft Maybe, but some crime.

mrfriki@lemmy.world on 10 May 06:38 next collapse

Can’t wait for Yuzu 2 to come out.

drmoose@lemmy.world on 10 May 08:39 collapse

Apparently Torzo exists already!

Also knowing how butthurt Nintendo is rn it probably means Switch 2 is vulnerable to emulation so not that long probably.

arakhis_@feddit.org on 10 May 07:37 next collapse

or alternatively communicated: “You will own nothing and you will be happy”

taiyang@lemmy.world on 10 May 08:44 next collapse

At this point I want Switch 2 to flop so hard they go the way of the Sega and start licensing their IPs on other platforms, giving up on consoles. A shame, too, since their tech is little kid hand friendly and the PC market doesn’t seem keen on tiny screen handhelds.

FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world on 10 May 13:07 next collapse

It’s a nice thought, at least.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world on 10 May 17:17 next collapse

i kind of want the steam deck to eat the switch and i really don’t have a dog in the fight

taiyang@lemmy.world on 10 May 17:38 collapse

A steam deck lite would probably dominate, lol

TwinTitans@lemmy.world on 11 May 03:15 collapse

With the price of software it will be interesting to see how it goes. I think they jumped the gun a bit hard on that one and will have to backpedal.

[deleted] on 10 May 08:55 next collapse

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[deleted] on 10 May 08:55 next collapse

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mriswith@lemmy.world on 10 May 08:55 next collapse

Wait, it doesn’t appear to be the same within the EU.

Both the French and German EULA seems to say that if you alter a digital product, the digital product might be rendered unusable. Although my French and German is bad, so someone please double check.

ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world on 10 May 10:02 next collapse

At this point I’m surprised Nintendo still allows people to play their games at their own homes, and not exclusively in official Nintendo-branded Play Rooms that only exist in like 6 places outside Tokyo and costs $20/hr to rent.

thessnake03@lemmy.world on 10 May 16:01 collapse

Don’t give them any ideas

mrodri89@lemmy.zip on 10 May 13:16 next collapse

Damn, first they get shady patents and now this. They’re really on a roll for being a pretty unethical company.

Quexotic@infosec.pub on 10 May 15:15 collapse

They’re the Disney of gaming, really.

Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works on 10 May 23:27 collapse

So true. And what’s sad is that so many people love these two companies😨

bread@feddit.nl on 10 May 13:46 next collapse

I’ve been pretty consistently buying Nintendo consoles, but I’m not buying this one. Not just because of this, but I challenge these assholes to brick the device I end up playing their games on.

jaschen@lemm.ee on 10 May 13:52 next collapse

So a few years ago I wanted to play a Japanese version of a rhythm game that isn’t available to purchase in the USA and decided to try my hand at modding my switch for this one game.

After(poorly) doing it, I wasn’t able to play that game AND Nintendo bricked me. All my games on my switch that I purchased were unable to download or play anymore.

So I went and set out to mod my switch correctly.

Now if I actually wanted to give Nintendo money, they won’t allow me to. So my only option from then on is to pirate.

They basically turned a potentially paying customer to a non paying customer.

Quexotic@infosec.pub on 10 May 15:14 next collapse

So, this is a basic security principle. If the system of access is too “secure” or too inconvenient, people will create workarounds.

Need keys for all the doors every second of every day? You’ll find duct tape on all the latches.

Password is 15 characters and changes every 60 days? You’re going to find post-its under keyboards.

Spread all digital content across 8 streaming providers that cost about $180/y? Torrent time.

Nintendo wants to brick users for trying to play an out of region game they paid for? They’ll never pay again and will reverse engineering your shit out of spite.

Same thing we saw with the music industry utterly failing to embrace internet distribution. Limewire and bearshare are their fucking lunch.

When will they learn to just make access easy? People, generally, would rather pay than pirate but when you start making shit difficult, nobody wants to play your games anymore and you see massive losses.

Meet your customers where they’re at!

Zahille7@lemmy.world on 10 May 15:22 next collapse

Doesn’t Xbox let you change your console’s region in the settings?

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world on 10 May 17:14 next collapse

i have an account on my ps4 (and ps5) that i log into and suddenly i’m in a different region. the ps5 says i only get so many region changes, but i can log into the accounts as many times as i want

Quexotic@infosec.pub on 11 May 15:03 collapse

Never tried. I’m a ps guy now, but the point is that there shouldn’t be region codes to begin with.

Anywhere I’ve ever seen a region code to be changeable you only get to change it a certain number of times before you get stuck in a region. This is why you’ll find TBD players that have been firmware flashed to be regionless.

Katana314@lemmy.world on 10 May 20:32 next collapse

The most secure device ever made is a Rock.

You cannot have your bank account stolen from a Rock. People will never get your personal files or medical info from a Rock. People will never spy on you through the Rock.

But you also can’t do much with a Rock.

a_wild_mimic_appears@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 10 May 20:56 next collapse

I disagree on the premise that a rock cannot be used for much. I mean, the available actions for a rock ARE pretty limited, but it can be used in a variety of ways!

dumblederp@aussie.zone on 11 May 01:20 collapse

Good in a revolution.

Quexotic@infosec.pub on 11 May 15:00 collapse

Uh, we kinda tricked rocks into thinking using lightening and learned to use rocks to make AI…

jaschen@lemm.ee on 11 May 01:22 collapse

Basically what Gabe said.

Psythik@lemm.ee on 10 May 20:14 next collapse

Next time just use a Switch emulator. Sudachi is a good one.

You can even download Fitgirl Repacks of Switch titles that include the emulator already set up and ready to go. Literally just a one click install and you’re playing.

jaschen@lemm.ee on 10 May 23:26 next collapse

This was before emulators were a thing. It was super early days of modding.

carrion0409@lemm.ee on 11 May 03:28 collapse

Fitgirl Repacks my beloved

thermal_shock@lemmy.world on 10 May 23:02 next collapse

Similar here. Bricked my kids switch, so we modded it. Now we have ALL the games.

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 11 May 04:46 collapse

How’d you mod it after you bricked it?

thermal_shock@lemmy.world on 11 May 07:28 collapse

It won’t access the Nintendo network, can’t use store, etc. not 100% bricked. Sorry

JackbyDev@programming.dev on 11 May 13:55 collapse

Ah okay, thanks. I’m too scared to mess with most hardware so not always up to date on the terminology. My tinkering is exclusively desktop/laptop stuff.

thermal_shock@lemmy.world on 12 May 02:46 collapse

It’s 100% worth the mod OR put that money toward a steam deck/Linux handheld. Im actually looking to sell this switch to put towards another steam deck. Sooo many more options and better support, not locked into Nintendo bullshit. Put whatever you want on it (like 95% of games right now, I’ve had very few issues) but did have to learn a bit. Beats the hell out of a locked down ecosystem 100000%.

Lumiluz@slrpnk.net on 11 May 07:45 collapse

Soooo, just curious but, instead of modding, why didn’t you just set your console region to Japan? That’s what I did. Just seems a lot easier.

jaschen@lemm.ee on 11 May 09:31 collapse

I didn’t know you could do that. I’m in Taiwan and I know Steam doesn’t let you make a purchase without a local credit card. So I imagine that’s the case for Japan.

Nima@leminal.space on 10 May 14:02 next collapse

i can’t wait to pirate their new switch 2 games 🥰 its gonna be awesome.

VirgilMastercard@reddthat.com on 10 May 14:11 next collapse

I’m gonna pirate some Nintendo games just out of spite, really.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 10 May 14:17 next collapse

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[deleted] on 10 May 15:19 next collapse

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HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world on 10 May 17:12 next collapse

i mean if i had a specific nintendo console for pirated games, i wouldn’t connect it to the internet

chemicalprophet@slrpnk.net on 10 May 17:18 next collapse

Fuck tinendo.

midori_matcha@lemmy.world on 10 May 18:33 next collapse

I’d like to say their legalese is written in a way that covers more ground in the US, the most litigious country in the world. I would imagine if this was taken to court, their lawyers would argue that “permanently unusable in whole or in part” includes a console serial ban from NSO, or argue that it’s the user’s fault for bricking the console when they attempted to mod it, and Nintendo is therefore not liable or obligated to fix it.

But between the UK-ToS and US-ToS, Nintendo just straight up tells Americans that they themselves are going to break your damn console if you do a thing they don’t like. That is absolutely dystopian.

kadup@lemmy.world on 10 May 18:57 next collapse

They can “reserve the right” all they want, that’s illegal where I live, and they sell their devices officially here. I’d love to see them trying to hold this stance in court - even Apple lost here over a similar issue, so go right ahead and try.

Tattorack@lemmy.world on 10 May 19:09 next collapse

Pretty sure that’s illegal in most parts of Europe. Checking the article it says that the policy has only been updated in the UK and the US.

Sucks to be a country without adequate consumer protection, I guess.

echodot@feddit.uk on 12 May 08:48 collapse

I’m pretty sure it’ll turn out to be illegal in the UK too, it’s just that the UK isn’t in Europe anymore so these things always end up having to get hashed out in the courts and then it always turns out that the UK basically just follows the EU standard anyway.

lechekaflan@lemmy.world on 10 May 23:34 next collapse

That corporation is still stuck in 1985 or 1989 (otherwise stuck in the Showa Era), trying to keep absolute control of anything it made.

iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com on 11 May 08:38 collapse

The 1980s were before the DMCA. In those days if you bought an expensive piece of electronics both seller and buyer expected that you owned it.

Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works on 10 May 23:34 next collapse

I’ve recently decided to complete all the games we’ve bought on our family Switch before allowing myself to get a Steam Deck alongside my Ps5.

While Nintendo has some very good games, I think I’ll never buy again from them.

Lumiluz@slrpnk.net on 11 May 07:39 collapse

Just fyi, I believe Sony has stated the same right as well.

The reason this is in legalese is because of the possibility of online cheating.

I don’t agree with it, I’m just saying the excuse reasoning console corporations give.

Anyway, it’s illegal to do that in the EU anyway.

Taleya@aussie.zone on 11 May 07:43 next collapse

Rverything is about “online cheating” it’s the think of the children!! of the gaming world

Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works on 11 May 07:58 collapse

It’s not fair, but I give a pass to Sony as their games are more my type and I’ve always used Sony consoles a lot.

Sony ain’t probably better than Nintendo as a conpany, that’s also why I’m extendibg my reach with Steam Deck gaming in the future.

PeterisBacon@lemm.ee on 11 May 01:57 next collapse

Cool! Time to go to the sea for more nintendo stuff! Good think you cant brick a device you dont have control over 😘

BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world on 11 May 02:47 next collapse

Oh, you thought you owned that thing you bought? No. This is 2025. You own nothing. It doesn’t matter how much money you gave them. Yeah, gave them. Because you didn’t buy that stuff. You’re just borrowing it.

carrion0409@lemm.ee on 11 May 03:27 next collapse

Well I also reserve the right to not buy their underpowered shit.

SoloCritical@lemm.ee on 11 May 05:05 next collapse

Nintendo emailed me today saying something like they changed their EULA and if I didn’t do anything then it counts as accepting the new EULA unless I close my account. Haven’t had a switch in years, didn’t even like it and gave it away. Anyway I closed my Nintendo account immediately.

echodot@feddit.uk on 12 May 08:46 collapse

It was such an underwhelming product at least from my point of view. I mostly just kept it docked but really other than Zelda games there wasn’t anything worth playing.

I still own it, but for the life of me I couldn’t tell you where it is.

umbraroze@slrpnk.net on 11 May 06:55 next collapse

That’s it, I’m going to skip Switch 2 and get a Steam Deck next. And I’ll stick to stuff that can run Dolphin.

(Learns that Xbox Series can also run Dolphin without modding) Well shit, I’m set for life, now just need to sort out the portable console situation

Saleh@feddit.org on 11 May 09:01 collapse

If corporate enshittification is the reason for you to skip on the switch, giving any more money to Microsoft doesn’t make sense either.

samus12345@lemm.ee on 11 May 13:47 collapse

I assume they already gave them money for it years ago.

anarchyrabbit@lemmy.world on 11 May 08:24 next collapse

That’s cool. I’ll install Torzu on my ROG ally and play all the fucking switch games I want to.

ConstantPain@lemmy.world on 11 May 13:32 collapse

Sony tried that in Brazil, but it didn’t go as planned. The court ordered them to unbrick it, but they had to provide a new console because they couldn’t unbrick it. And they paid damages.