3 DS Models

At over two years old, the 3DS has to date avoided the issue of flashcards that was prominent for the DS family of consoles. R4 cards enabled DS owners to download ROMS of games and boot them up from an external device, and now a company has released a video showing a flashcard loading three 3DS titles via a custom game card with micro-SD cards plugged in.

After some thoroughly unconvincing claims from various groups to have 'hacked' the 3DS in the past, this appears to be the first definitive demonstration, with the company in question claiming that the product is in the final stages of design. By going public, however, it opens up the likelihood of Nintendo taking whatever action it can to prevent the device spreading like the R4 cards. For its part, Nintendo has made clear that it will utilise system updates and the far more advanced online infrastructure of the 3DS — in comparison to the DS family of systems — to prevent the use of flashcards and brick offending systems.

Naturally ROMS are a tough topic, as advocates will defend their use as a means of backing up legally owned content, while it's widely acknowledged that many flashcard owners with a DS actually used the devices to download dozens or even hundreds of games they had not bought and, therefore, did not legally own.

The video is included below, but it's not our intention to directly link to the company's website in this article — though naturally the video in question advertises the web address. Should this device perform as it seems to in this video, then it's clearly an important issue for Nintendo and the 3DS. We encourage discussion around the topic and content of this article, but please observe our Community Rules, and refrain from straying from this specific topic or posting any links "to any download sites, torrents or other resources that allow users to gain access to illegal content or related activities". Thank you.

[source nintendo-insider.com, via neogaf.com]