Nintendo sue suppliers of R4DS chip

by Steven Williamson on 30 July 2008, 10:02

Tags: Nintendo DS, Nintendo (TYO:7974), DS

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Nintendo is flexing its muscles in the courtroom a bid to dissuade sellers of the notorious R4 chip, which currently allows DS owners to download and play full Nintendo DS titles free of charge.

At Tokyo District Court, Nintendo and 53 software companies, including Capcom and Square Enix, have filed a lawsuit against 5 companies that are alleged to have imported and sold the chip to consumers.

The R4 chip fits into the gamecard slot on the Nintendo DS and has a small slot in it where you can insert a Micro SD card. Game data can then be downloaded from a number of websites onto the card in a matter of minutes, allowing gamers to play full versions of the latest DS games.

ELSPA say that the R4 chip has devastating consequences on the gaming industry.

John Hillier, Manager of ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit recently told that Sunday Post that the offence for selling these chips could lead to up to two years in jail or an unlimited fine.

Nintendo's tactics appear to be working because, according to reports, those companies in the firing line have removed the R4 chip from their websites.

Nintendo still has its work cut out though as the chip is still widely available on the net, even from sources such as eBay and Amazon.


HEXUS Forums :: 11 Comments

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creating a monoply, which is belived to be illegal
I heard this suit was actually boosting R4 sales. :D

I have an R4, and as much as I love it (Monkey Island 2!), I'd have to recommend one of the similar devices which includes support for SDHC cards, so you're not capped at 2GB.
I have bought and payed for more DS games because of my TopToy cart than I would have without it.

Got fed up taking all my games with me while traveling so there wasn't as much insentive to buy more. Worms and Rainbow Islands ftw!
DS sales are massive and I think one of the reasons is because of devices like this.

I hope Nintendo loses but I can't see it happening.
Steven.Michael;1485415
creating a monoply, which is belived to be illegal
A monopoly for what? There are lots of developers of DS games. There are lots of shops selling DS games.

Triplea4UK
DS sales are massive and I think one of the reasons is because of devices like this.
I doubt it very much - these kind of things are usually used by a very small minority. The majority of DS sales will be to children and families.