Nintendo Disables Swapnote's SpotPass Service Due to Online Safety Concerns

Wow. Well now, that sucks.

WOW THAT'S ABSOLUTELY STUPID....REALLY NINTENDO? Come on, I thought it was because miiverse was going to be released.

Man people sure know how to ruin things for others don't they. Our society is pathetic.

Look at the bright side, We still got great games on the 3DS right?

It's like Nintendo has never used the Internet.

_{Let's not use graphic examples. -Lz}

What are "Special Notes"? Does that mean they are also disabling the notes we'd periodically receive from Nintendo? Geez.

1. Kids are stupid.
2. There is always some sicko out there willing to prey on that stupidity.

Personally, I applaud Nintendo for taking swift action.

So what's the point in this app, now?

This is completely stupid. This is like if some silly person posted a giant penis on Twitter, and they responded by SHUTTING DOWN TWITTER. You don't shut down the entire service, you ban the poopiedoodoheads who do it and move on.
_{Watch the profanity and insults please — TBD}

I love to see someone defend this. No flipnote and now they take away this. I wonder when miiverse is gone to. Only way people will be able to talk on nintendo systems is going to be by going out and sending smoke signals. Unless the smoke makes a unappropriate shape.

I was having a lot of fun corresponding with overseas friends, so I'm pretty bummed to hear about this. Hopefully Nintendo resumes service at a later date.

I never used the service anyway. Waaaaaay too slow. Hope Miiverse is integrated soon.

Have Nintendo never used the internet before? SON OF A puppy.

I am incredibly mad here. My girlfriend JUST ordered a 3DS from their refurbishment center and we were all set to go on Swapnote for me to send her all my stationaries. For the love of pete Nintendo, screw off, this is not the right answer!
_{Watch the profanity please — TBD}

It's crazy that Nintendo wiiu still has video chat ..I'm sure people naughty chat.can they check that ? I don't chat because it's awkward talking to people represented to me as cartoons on my system..

I'm actually saddened by this. Did I draw horrific depictions of the human anatomy and write bad things? Yes. But they were to my friends over SpotPass and it was out of dear affection! I can understand Nintendo's apprehension about this, but... this is the Internet, we're talking about.

Just to chime in and echo the general sentiment here. I understand why Nintendo feel the need to cover themselves, but I think this is a fairly stupid move. It's very much chucking the baby out with the bath water.

This is only further proof that Nintendo need a proper account system for 3DS. That way, they could just ban the offenders.

I'll miss Nikki

This is ridiculous. There is absolutely no point to Swapnote without this. What were they thinking? Kids can look up naughty stuff on the 3DS web browser too. Are they going to get rid of that next?

Some idiot might send something lewd through streetpass anyway. Kids are not the most innocent, they think it's just funny.

Nanny nintendo strikes again. This is why no one can take Nintendo seriously when they try to appeal to even the core market.

@R-L-A-George Yup, it's the parents who are "innocent" (i.e., extremely naïve).

I agree with @Parasky here....with this kind of attitude, they will barely be able to get into the core audience - basically where the huge cash pots are~

Freaking unacceptable, Nintendo. If kids are being dirty, that's THEIR problem, not yours or other people's.

Just like any good parent, Nintendo has took away the toys till you naughty children learn to behave.

Well crap, I now have a useless app. You have to jump though hoops to use connectivity features with Nintendo's polices already, but they shut it down because there are some misusing it? There will always be jerks or stupid kids that don't use their technology right, why must the whole group pay?

I kinda feel sorry for Nintendo here because if some sicko sends a selfy of his privates on Swapnote the media will be all over it due to Nintendos Family Image.

However sending your friend code to people you don't know is the equivalent to talking to strangers outside, so parents should point that out, explain how to delete friend codes of naughty people and monitor their 3DS usage more.

Unfortunately I think Nintendo have done the right thing at the moment, perhaps bring it back at a later date by removing the upload photo feature (sad, but it has to go) and add a report button and god forbid... an age limit?

How ridiculous. Now we can't even send PRIVATE messages to our own friends. Does this mean the ditching of friend codes and Miiverse is coming real soon? If not, I'm going to be pissed.

See, if they had a REAL account system and online infrastructure on the 3DS, they could just ban these idiots instead of ruining it for the rest of us. This shouldn't happen in 2013, but it's Nintendo, so I'm not surprised, just frustrated.

This application was not so useful anyway. 3DS needs a proper e-mail application. Also if there was a proper system they could just ban those that caused this.

I'm glad nintendo has high standards and refuses to cave-in with the moral decay on the interenet. How immature does one have to be to get upset cause they can no longer draw and send private parts on the internet. Fricking grow up people. I'm a "hardcore" gamer and I'm glad nintendo still believes and stands behind something.

lol, launch a picture service - weener in 3, 2, 1...

i bet they will say we are switching swapnote with Miiverse to make it safer for people to exchange designs

I hope it means we are getting MiiVerse soon, Although if Nintendo had a proper online implementation then we wouldn't see such a creative app gone.

If I am correct, this is the second app to be shutdown..

I admire that they are caring but at least they should reconsider a better solution without punishing milliion users that are using the service appropriately

This sort of echoes why Nintendo doesn't do online with integrated chat gaming like Sony/Microsoft do. Nintendo has built a reputation and an entire company on being Family friendly. If this went any further, the media would have a field day tearing Nintendo to pieces about providing sexual predators a way to get at kids.

Nintendo has done the right thing, but I can't help feel a little innocence has been lost.

I don't really use swapnote all that often, but I'm not really sure what this means. Is Nintendo effectively shutting down the whole app? Or are we still able to send swapnotes locally - to someone a few meters away?

How ridiculous, its not nintendos job to police the internet this sort of stuff is going to go on regardless, are they going to disable the internet feature as well because there's access to far worse on there than swapnote.

Im sorry but i feel parents should be educating themselves on what their kids are using rather than leaving it up to companies to protect their kids

Oh and by shutting the service down they are basically admitting liability, which actually makes this more of a story than it would have been, even though theres' enough warnings and parental controls

I hate the fact thar WE are punished by the stupidity of other people. That's what really gets at me. I shouldn't be limited just because some idiot pre-teens out there like sharing puctures of their genetalia to their other ore-punbescent friends.

I'm normally behind Nintendo in everything they do(check my comments history), but wheb I heard about this, I gave them the finger for it. This is bullpoopiedoodoocacapoop.
_{Watch the profanity please — TBD}

They better not limit Miiverse next.

miiverse is more controlled and monitored, I applaud nintendo for this action against pedophiles ., but in the other hand nintendo will make a natural evolution of swap notesss to miiverse for 3DS , this is the ++ side of story!!!

@One-Winged-Pit

Miiverse is a little different as it's not Private Messages which is a lot easier to be moderated.

Are they out of their MINDS?? Why not just ban the doodooheads who abuse the service rather than SHUTTING THE WHOLE loving THING DOWN
_{Please calm down and watch the profanity — TBD}

add me on miiverse CHELEWiiTTE

I am angry. My responses are already on the forum about this topic...

@Morph they are not "policing the internet" just one of THEIR apps that you can only get on 3DS, it's their responsibility to make sure it's not being misused

An absolute shame they even decided to do this, it was one of the only ways I could get in contact with some of my distant friends, now I've only got the Miiverse messages function to do that.

I just wish the Nintendos 3DS online infrastructure had some more thought put into it by now, almost 3 years after its release and I'm hoping for a Miiverse update pretty soon.

And then they'll release Miiverse on 3DS and Letter Box will be obsolete anyway...? This is kinda dumb, the service has been running for a while, you can't seriously tell me this has just become an issue :/

@siavm my console got banned from miiverse for something I didnt even do...so yeah, nintendo are strict to the point of narrowmindedness sometimes

This is sad. I thought Nintendo was over this by now. It's good that they want to protect children but that doesn't have to mean to suspend entire services that adults also use. This way, we will never get a decent online service.

Genuinely gutted. This made writing to friends overseas dead easy, and it was a nice way of leaving little messages for my daughter. Plus, it's done wonders to help her with her handwriting.

Guys, we need to get as many people complain as possible. We need to do something similar to what the xbox crowd did earlier this year. If we don't, they're gonna take away more priviledges, and eventually, we'll be playing GameBoys again by 2020.
I would like to understand Nintendo with this move, and maybe I do a little, but I just can't see it being a good move in the long run. Many commenters pointed out good points here, and I can only agree with them. I'm trying so hard to fully understand them at the moment. I just think this move has consequences for them as well.
It is good being strict and promote discipline and what not, but sometimes it can be too much.

Maybe stop bashing on nintendo for a while and start complaining about the folks who use that service for so much sick stuff, that it got reported to such degree, that nintendo had to cancel the whole service instead of banning single units.
I have yet to understand why people are so up in arms about nintendos take on child safety when on the other hand, everyone is complaining about the behaviour of kids and teens these days. It doesnt come out of the blue. Its because of parents who arent the least interested in what theír childs are doing, its from people smack talking on the internet, teaching them that its totally exceptable when you are under the cover of your online handle.
Nintendo is one of the few companys, who takes that subject matter very seriously and gets nothing but flak for it.
Instead of complaining about the effect, we (as a society) should have cared about the cause from the get go.

I hope that the service will launch again sometime soon with some restrictions maybe.
Again, stop complaining and bashing on nintendo for a moment and try to get the message across that we also dont tolerate such a behaviour.

It's not stupid somebody sent me nude pics once because my 3 ds is registered under my girls name. I blocked them being a grown man it isn't a big deal but I could have been a five year old.

@AhabSpampurse See, that's what I mean people. A young child learned to handwrite with this, so we need to get as many complaints, reasons and positive aspects about the app, such as how it can be a learning tool, out there as possible.
There are other solutions than just make the whole group do push-ups because of one indivual. It's 2013, c'mon.

"Unfortunately, there appears to have been instances of children posting their Friend Codes to online forums..."
So this has only just started happening has it?
Come on Nintendo, sort yourselves out properly instead of making yourselves look like complete fools.

@Goginho read my post above your most recent one

@faint I read it. I stick with my viewpoint on how there are different solutions (read some of the other comments on here if you haven't already, there are some good suggestions).

OK, granted, kids' safety is first... but why stopping special notes and stationery?

I loved swap note, but we all knew this was bound to happen. Once the 3DS MiiVerse begun, there was no real need for swap note. I'm assuming also that our long wait is almost over for MiiVerse

The first things that came to mind was "holy" followed by a swear word.
Just...what century do Nintendo live in? Anything that involves communication they just have to keep closed. What we need is MORE communication, not less.

Always thought theyd have this problem from when they allowed photos to be sent using it...

I can understand why they did this, but I'm legitimately upset. me and a buddy sent 4-panel comics to each other almost every day through swapnote. I mean really...they probably could have done something else before just shutting out the functionality completely....(disabling photos maybe?)

I'm also unsure what this really means. Is it completely impossible now to send messages to a friend?

Personally, I haven't really used the service, because I don't know anybody with a 3ds, so no "3ds friends". I would have used it otherwise, though.

Children have to be protected of course but we should really ask ourselves if this strict move makes sense. Parents should teach their children how to use something like the internet carefully because at some point or another they have to learn it anyway. Shutting a service down that only makes messaging more comfortable won't help at all.

It would only be consistent to shut down the whole streetpass feature as well. I met somebody through streetpass who used a Hitler mii greeting you know how which was unacceptable, too.

So what, I can only distribute notes via streetpass now?

So what does Swapnote do now? Sit there and look pretty?

for a second there, i thought it was because of the hideous handwriting / drawings that i sent out

This is why we cant have nice things

Nintendo has lost their minds. Just lost their minds! Holy cow can it get any more idiotic with these kinds of decisions. Let's see let's make it already complicated to hookup with friends to play online through friend codes. Then shutdown swapnote because of of a very low percentage of people abusing the service. What's next shutting down the Wii-U shop? BTW there is a game in the Wii-shop called sexy poker did you know kids might see that? Your nuts Nintendo!

I understand the concern to an extent, but they could have given us at least a warning before shutting it down. I'm sure the Miiverse integration though shall come I guess, and hopefully that unified account system.

RIP Swapnote. It was a good run while it lasted.

@Pallefj I'm sorry that this is a bit off topic, but I just need to say that I love your avatar there.

BTW I have about 50 people on my friends list and use the service everyday. I have never received nor sent anything offensive. This is one of my favorite features on 3DS. They probably just don't want to maintain any kind of server that they don't get paid for is why they shut this down. I'm sure the abuse was a very small percentage of people. I'm flaming mad right now and just want to dump all my Nintendo products and just start supporting Microsoft. If they had a handheld I would. This has nothing to do with Wii-U but I'm so glad I haven't wasted my money on that and will not do so in the future. Being a fan of RPG's it just doesn't work for me anyway.

@siavm I like your idea!

Thank you miss Lunapplebloom, it seems like it has been doubled

Wow, punishing the majority for the actions of the few.
Surely barring the individual Nintendo ID's would have been more proportionate.
No point now in having this loaded on the 3DS - delete time.

The only thing ive got say is rip nikki 2011-2013.

I love Nintendo, but they seriously don't understand how the internet works.
There are ALWAYS people who misuse things in EVERY userbase of ANYTHING. Chill out and just let people be people.

This is exactly why Nintendo needs a universal account system. There is simply no acceptable excuse for having to delete an entire service because some people were breaking the terms and conditions. If this was Sony or Microsoft, they would have just banned the use of online services temporarily or permanently depending on the severity of the case. Those companies have had account systems for years, and this just shows how far behind the times Nintendo really is in the video game industry.

Ridiculous.

What next? Miiverse will probably take around another decade to make.

This is one of the dumbest moves of all time on Nintendo's part. Stop trying to be everyone's parents Nintendo! Let parents do their job. If they fail, they have no one to blame but themselves. This is a completely unnecessary course of action over something so dumb & small. I don't see them bringing a unified account system if they are so scared of what we might be doing on swapnote that they shutdown the service. Not even Nintendo can send swapnotes to users now. Very, very stupid.

@Pallefj lol Yes, it very much has been. We must converse later in more a more pony friendly environment when the time comes.

It's not so much as Nintendo not knowing how the internet works, but trying to do damage control to protect it's image as child friendly. Course, I could think of a few other ways to get the job done than shutting down the server, but anyways...

Guess I have to find something new to do this weekend...

The official word said the service has been "stopped" so this gives me hope that Spotpass will return to Swapnote after they modify it. Until then, anyone that already has me as a friend on their 3DS can friend request me on Facebook. Also, please send me a message on Fb telling me where I know you from and your 3DS name.

BeepBop is both my 3DS and forum name.

Well, that is dumb. Hopefully it comes back soon and not with too many changes to the worse.

Also I don't understand why can't the name just be Swapnote also in Europe? It's shorter and better name.

Nooo! My girlfriend and I used this daily

Nintendo, this was a stupid move.
What's next? Disabling the 3DS web browser?
I hope they realize that what they did solves nothing; those kids will just use the internet for that stuff now. >__>

Nintendo did the right thing here - this isn't about censorship, it's about stopping ILLEGAL ABUSE of children, and anyone who allows this abuse to happen deserves to have their company shut down and can go to jail.

@HP_3 You said it. Spotpass was the ONLY sure way to get a note to someone! You might as well stop Swapnote altogether.

@WiiLovePeace Child abusers don't listen to their parents.

Well screw that. I used Swapnote to talk with a friend in Australia quite a bit. Will definitely be sending in some angry emails to Nintendo over this.

@Einherjar Wow, you're a true Nintendo apologist. Stop defending Nintendo's ridiculous "family friendly" policies that push consumers away from their consoles to Sony/Microsoft.

It's not Nintendo's job to be your kids' nanny; Microsoft/Sony don't think they have to protect kids to the detriment of their older fans. Stuff like this is why the media/analysts frown on Nintendo. And see how well their vision of "OMG, online is evil, local multiplayer rulez!" has helped to sell the Wii U.

I can see what you'd be saying if the Wii U failed completely: "Don't blame Nintendo's policies, blame all the consumers who didn't buy Wii U!" Seriously, I'm a big Nintendo fan and have defended them on many occasions, but even I can't defend this dumb move. Please, Einherjar, try to be more objective.

'm going to draw Kyle with a whooping crane on his forehead for the children.

Here's a solution: put a texting app on 3DS. Using letters and numbers will allow you to detect Inappropriate or explicit language.

This is why we can't have good things.

I don't like Nintendo's censorship in general. I caught a Sneasel in X version, and I wanted to name it "Snatcher", but the game wouldn't allow me. Even though "Snatch" is the name of a freakin' dark-type move in the game itself!

All this kind of thing can do is to TEACH young kids bad words!

...Well this just ruined my day. Very stupid move nintendo.

Okay, this is the most stupid Nintendo has ever made. At least about the 3DS anyway.

It's not their job to police the internet and people's communications. And thanks to their stupid 'think of the children' crap, the tool is now completely useless for me and about 80% of 3DS owners outside Japan. Thanks Nintendo, just thanks...

Don't you have phones.....instant messenger.......email....Twitter.....facebook......Skype.....facetime......I've even have an app on my iPod that allows me to make calls and text via WiFi anywhere in the world for free......Nintendo has people abusing THEIR app so they shut it down.....GOOD FOR NINTENDO. One less place for the racists, perverts, and degenerates to hide and spout their nonsense with no fear of retribution.

Staying true to the "kid friendly" role eh? Last I used Swapnote was in 2012 or something, got much better alternatives to text and keep in touch with friends so seeing this go is fine.

Honestly the service was a great concept that was abused by people using it to sending idiotic messages, plus if people really wanted to send messages there's tones of alternative options. I haven't really used the app since around it was released because it was so clunky and slow.

Why are so many people losing their minds over spilled milk? It's just a friggin' note-writing app. It'll be tweaked for better parental controls and eventually up and running again.

It looks like the real children are the full-on adults using SwapNote and bickering about its momentary closure on the internet.

1) Buy a pack of post-its.
2) Write something dumb about what you're gonna eat for dinner.
3) Take a picture of it and post. (Hint: None of your friends care)

@Einherjar this isn't a message, it's really just a bad move.
If people don't blacklist others, or at least remove them from their friend list, they shouldn't complain about mature stuff in their box. People will always be able to do that in some way, and kids barely ever care about such posts.

@BertoFlyingFox that makes no sense at all. Of course it's 'just' a writing app, but it's the only way of direct communication on a 3DS. And you grossly miss the point most of us use it for.

@Zyph
Even though Nikki stopped sending out a lot of notes for ages, I will too, I got 1 a few days ago from her, but before that, nothing for months

So, wait, Swapnote is basically useless now?

There are parental controls to disable Swapnote, so I don't know why this drastic step was necessary. Typical Nintendo.

if they replace this with flipnote ill be happy...

NO! NIKKI!

@siavm Flipnote got taken away for the release of Flipnote 3D.

wth???
i never recieved anything that could harm. all my friends (which i only know through internet) are acting fine.
swapnote is optional anyway.

i am pissed. i loved swapnote. they better make miiverse avaible on 3DS NOW !

Is StreetPass still usable with this?

What the heck is wrong with you people? You are going apedoodoopoopiecacadoggiepoop just because a single feature got disabled? You do realize that there are so many other ways to keep in touch with your friends. I quickly got bored with Swapnote anyway and it will be rendered useless anyway once Miiverse comes to 3DS
_{Watch the profanity please — TBD}

I'm not happy about this either but Nintendo already said we would get Miiverse for the 3DS by the end of the year.

Wait WHAT?!!! So NLB is basically useless for exchanging messages online, its exact purpose. Miiverse for 3DS better be out soon!

This just shows how badly Nintendo needs an actual account system. If the only way you can handle inappropriate and offensive behavior is to remove features and entire apps, you've got bigger problems than stupid people.

@Einherjar
Prevention is all well and good but unless you know of a cure for stupitity and lazy parenting theres not much anyone can do about it. You can provide people with the proper tools but thats it, you can't force change. Just because other peoples' stupitity is the cause doesn't make Nintendo's way of handling things right either.

I applaud Nintendo for trying to keep things clean but the reason they get so much flak is they usually go overboard. This is the only company I know of that goes to such lenghts "for the children". The behavior on Xbox live and PSN is practically synonomous with gaming yet you don't see Sony and MS disabling features "for the children". Their reputation as family friendly isn't an excuse here, they can't both coddle their fans and be respected by the core market at the same time. They need a middle ground.

Just leave it to the parents. It's their job to make sure kids are properly using technology, not Nintendo's.

The amount of people who don't fully understand the reasoning is astounding.
The amount of people who understand it but don't care is depressing.

I don't have a problem with Nimtendo, despite their poor decision making.
I have a problem with Nintendo's "fans".

Well this is rediculs and if ppl get offended by ppl thay add its there own falt for adding ppl thay dont know or trust.. i only ever add ppl i know inperson or know well online also thay are awaer thay can delet ppl from there frends list ... thay cant contact you then -_-

Where are those optimistic "mii verse coming to 3ds" people when you need them. The Internet needs you to open a window on a closed door.

It's 0.3 megapixel camera. You can't even make out what the picture's meant to be anyway...

Eh, I don't really care it would've been a little useless onceNintendo finally gets miiverse on the 3DS!

@Zombie_Barioth - so in half the comment you talk about why this is the reason they need a unified account system.....then you go on to talk about how the behavior on Xbox and PSN is synonymous with "gaming". Hate to break it to all your egos but us "core" gamers make up a small % of the gaming population. Nintendo is smart to keep their family friendly reputation. Now if only their PR department would act on this and get a "Nintendo fighting back" story out to all the media outlets.

Implying 14 years old kids are shocked when they see boobs.
Implying teens never search asses on the internet.

No, thank YOU Nintendo!!!!!

pff

@luigifan2000 Flipnote's similar service was terminated at the same time in Japan, so forget that.

Just after their recent financial report, Nintendo prove to investors and their consumers that they are still completely out of touch with modern society. Bravo.
@Goginho There needs to be some kind of petition, or uproar. But there won't be, just like there wasn't when 18-rated content was restricted in Europe until 11pm.
At these uncertain times, there's only one thing we can know for sure; that we can take comfort in. @ThomasBW84 is going to write a 'Talking Point' or 'Reaction' feature.

If pictures are the problem then surely just disable the sharing of photos in the App, don't turn the whole damn thing off. This has kinda spoilt it for everyone now. I fully understand the need to protect young people and applaud that, but this is just plane over-kill in my book. Oh well!

@Maxobiwan - Implying strip clubs should have lots of windows.

Implying Movie Rental Stores should have put their porn sections next to new releases.

WOWZA! Maybe this will pave the way for the 3DS MiiVerse that is still to be released? That'll solve us not having Swapnote/Letterbox. Still though, i'm very upset that they just suddenly stopped the service. I agree with many here that the offenders should've been the ones to get banned, not everyone who uses the service. Even though i didn't reply to most notes, i still checked in everyday to see what Friends would post and pictures they would send. I'll miss Brandon's Nintendo Collectible of the Week. Classic stuff he collected from Nintendo. This is BULL! I'm seriously thinking of trading in my 3DS and thinking of getting a Vita. Firstly, no FPS on 3DS !!!!!! And now services just getting axed! What's next Nintendo?

If people are truly mad about this. Make a petition or mass email Nintendo. We need to make them realize that what they're doing isn't wise and maybe it will encourage them to make accounts where people can be banned or suspensed.

Never used it anyway. It just got cluttered with tons of daily notes from some kid who wouldn't shut up about Yu-Gi-Oh.

really?! how about miiverse then? might as well take that down. there you can be "friends" with anyone, then send them messages and even video chat.

It's not Nintendo's place to become surrogate parents for children whose parents can't do their job properly.

Amusingly, for those parents who do use parental controls, have a look at the new kid-friendly Wii U game called "Wii Karaoke U". It's rated as being suitable for children aged 3 and upwards. Great! Fun for all the family.
Watch as little Tommy picks a fun catchy song, "Because I got high" by Afroman. Must be the radio edit, right?
Listen in amazement as you hear the words "f**k" being sung, coming right out of your family-friendly Nintendo console.
Watch the words "and I woulda ate your pussy too" come up on the screen, and then explain to your children why Afroman wants to eat a little cat.
(After having told them that he was high because he's in a hot air balloon!)
Wonder why Nintendo let this game on the store with an age rating for THREE YEAR OLDS, yet they'll take away function across the board for everyone, even though it was protected by parental controls...

Sense? It makes none.

Good job Nintendo, doing the the right thing.

@TysonOfTime - I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by the reaction......

I love it when companies decide what's offensive for everyone! I'm on board with just deleting Swapnote altogether, given that SpotPass is literally the only way I ever used it.

I wonder if they are going to patch wonder trade in Pokemon Y and remove it because I've gotten several Pokemon with offensive names which is why I'm hesitant to let my nephew use the feature when he gets the game.

Way to throw out the baby with the bath water, Nintendo. Pulling down an entire service due to a minority of troublemakers is asinine. Reminds me of when Sony axed Linux support on the PS3 due to "pirates". Just airheaded.

Honestly, I think this is dumb. I thought there was a way to report people who misuse it and if there isn't, there should be one added so that they can just block the 3DS of the person causing the trouble. That way they'd need to go buy a whole new 3DS just do it again and I doubt people would. A reporting system would have this issue solved.

I understand the concern, but this is too far. Plenty of consumers use the product responsibly, so why should we be punished? This is the kind of stuff that continues to give Nintendo the kiddie company reputation. This is infuriating. Spotpass is the ONLY real way to communicate, as streepass is uneffective for people you don't see on a regular basis.

Yeah, pretty stupid. The app is now worthless. You'd think they could have just gotten rid of the photo part of the app. However I do agree with others that SwapNote to begin with wasn't the greatest app. Would be far nicer to have a more email like system. Oh and the Streetpass part of the app is and always has been completely worthless. Why would I use that when I could just walk up to the person and talk to them.

I hated this app anyway. There isn't a single person on my friends list who I can't simply text or PM on a message board 10 times faster. It took forever to load and whenever I had a message it was either an ad from Nintendo, or some idiot asking me if I'm going to play Legend of Zelda or whatever. Yet I kept the app in case I missed something, which never would have been the case. Good riddance.

@DreaddJester I can draw a dog more easily than I can take a photo of my own with a 3DS.

Well myself, my daughter and her cousin were really enjoying LetterBox, I have 3nephews and a niece all getting their own 2DS/3DS for Christmas and we've been really looking forward to having more people to send letters to, so that snow ruined, I don't blame Nintendo, they're doing what others wouldn't dare, blame the idiotic offenders. Thanks a lot!

@Einherjar Exactly my feeling as well.

Pointless. This isn't saving any children's live's, only punishing those of us not stupid enough to miss-use the software. Nintendo is only doing this to avoid legal issues.

Parents should be responsible and research products before they get them for their kids, the damn console has a parental control setting for a reason. If you're too irresponsible to know what you're buying your kid, don't fork the money out for it.

Now the rest of us are being punished because a group of idiot parents can't be bothered to not let electronics raise their children. News flash though; if they can get-online and go on forums with their computers, they can do all sorts of dirty nasty things without swapnote.

Pointless.

So many people whining. Why are people even complaining about this? Once Miiverse is released, will people even use Swapnote? With Swapnote you never even know if your message will be delivered instantly or in a couple of days. You have so many restrictions on Swapnote, like only sending 5-second sound clips, that the only real thing it's good for is sending phone numbers so that they can just call you.

But without SpotPass, the thing is... of no use again. Really hope they bring it back, though.
In a way, I'm used to this type of stuff. 12+ training in schools, hehheh!
Or they should just ban those offenders! Isn't that the reason they have the EULA installed in their 3DS? However, it's THEIR app, though....

TERRIBLE!! JUST UNFAIR AND TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ryuJDTpEc

Nintendo playing Parent again. tsk, tsk

Drat. Now I need to find a new source for my 3D adult entertainment.

This is an early April Fools day right? Please tell me this is some sort of joke?

@ikki5 Would they? When a system transfer is done I thought they moved the ID across only then the old console got a new one.

Personally the extra square saved by removing this will be more use to me.

@unrandomsam true but they may not. I have 2 3ds's where they are technically two separate accounts. but still, who would go spend $160 just to go get banned by swap note again if they decided not to transfer.

Calm down everyone, I'm sure Miiverse 3DS will be announced soon...

(Actually, I don't know I just hope so...)

I'd like to point out that nobody here knows the background story. If something really bad has happened to a child i for one am very happy that they decided to (temporarily?) pull the plug. "the media" would have a field day if they could link Nintendo to child abuse and it would do irreparable damage to Nintendo's family friendly reputation.

Someone I streetpassed at the Zelda concert told me to suck his pokeballs

Nintendo doing what they do best. .. annoy gamers. No wonder they are losing a huge share of the market.

This is a joke right? I use Swapnote to send messages to my boyfriend when I'm away at university. The app is completely pointless without Spotpass. Why write a message to people you pass by when you could just talk to them? Shut up, Nintendo. There's just as much offensive material that can be passed through Streetpass.

Pokemon X and Y have an area that contains more pokemon for every person on your friends list. I WONDER WHY KIDS WERE SHARING FRIEND CODES OVER THE INTERNET.
I can't say I approve of the cancellation of a service no more abusable than email. On the plus side, now they can dedicate more resources to something I actually use.
I see a lot of censorship in these comments. Can somebody link me to Nintendolife's policy on vulgar language?

Heh, not that I wholeheartely agree with their move on the spotpass swapnote cancellation, I do see where this is coming from.

Now If you excuse me, I'll be keeping swapnote on the eventual day spotpass gets back on or in some cases and be going to be drawing Nikki in my Mii maker upon her memory.

@uel Right over here -> https://www.nintendolife.com/rules

@CasuallyDressed I wonder if they will bring it back once they finally move over to account systems? Though by that time, they might have Miiverse up and running too, so I wonder how necessary Swapnote would be at that point?

I applaud Nintendo for looking out for the well being of others, but at the same time I want to slap them upside the head.

This is pathetic. I understand Nintendo wants to protect their service and users, but this is going too far. I have been cussed out by kids in Call of Duty and other games on my PS3, does that mean Sony should go shutoff voice chat to protect users? The harsh reality of using any online service is that sometimes unpleasant things and people will pop up to cause trouble. Should we shutdown Miiverse, Xbox Live, PSN, Facebook, and other services like that because of that threat?

I know people were abusing the service, but this punishes innocent people who were using the service properly. Swapnote was a good way to inform people about online games or to chat. For some people, it was also the only way to chat with their 3DS friends.

I know Nintendo is trying to protect their image, but this is just going too far. If the issue is people sending illegal or inappropriate images to kids, then find those people and lock them up. Their 3DS still has an ip address. Surely something better could be done than this. Why punish innocent consumers who did nothing wrong?

Also, the way they did this was totally wrong. If they felt the need to take down the service, give us a week's notice before you shut it down. Give people time to exchange e-mail addresses or phone numbers. They had no problem announcing the end of the Wiiconnect 24 services months in advance. But rather than take that simple step, they shut down the service with no warning.

I don't care how much fanboys want to spin this, this was a bad PR move plain and simple.

I think this is the correct first move. Next Nintendo should integrate a reporting system and then simply ban users who abuse the system. I agree that the fault here lies with the kids who posted their informstion on the internet in forums, dumb move on their part.

What I want to know is what kids are being offended anyway? When I was a kid I looked at every porn mag I could get my hands on. Some guy sending me his dong would have made me laugh.

everyone forgets nintendo said its handhelds are made for children, just because you and i are adults with the 2ds does not mean its for everyone, it means we play with kid toys. same bs on why we can't have a console pokemon game

@AddDavey i dont agree that its their responsibility, i believe it the parents responsibility to know what their child is up to. Are we going to close twitter, facebook, and every other form of social interaction that us web based?

I told Nikki to stop sending me nude 3d pictures with pornographic stationary but she wouldn't listen ... Look what you did Nikki!!!

The same can be done with W ii U to Nintendo!! You better fix this cause now I have no way of communicating with my 3DS friends!! I am soooo dissatisfied with how Nintendo has decided to run their online frameworks. There ARE parental controls so really, it's just a matter of getting the word out there guys.

...Maybe this means that Miiverse for 3DS is just around the corner?

At least that's what the positive side of me wants to think anyway...

Does wiiu chat still work? When they first mentioned it my first thought was someone sending me a video chat request of themselves beating it. I hope they don't change wiiu because I thought the target audience was for adults and trying to get back the core gamers.

given the wording of the press release, I have to think this is something worse than kids drawing genitalia. If Nintendo has knowledge of instances of adults getting Friend Codes of minors and using them to send inappropriate photos to children, or worse yet, convincing children to send inappropriate photos of themselves, they have to act. Unfortunately, due to the structure of the system and lack of accounts, banning just the offenders may not be feasable. Hopefully Nintendo will use this opportunity to fix the underlying problem, accounts, and bring back to the service. Personally I'm glad to see that Nintendo would rather act before their online communities sink to the cesspool levels of some other communities

And if you're upset because SwapNote is your main means of communication with your friends... well, i guess we can't fix stupid
_{Watch the profanity please — TBD}

EDIT: lol... I thought i was watching the profanity. Thats, like, MiiVerse levels of moderation! Good job, Sir.

Well, never used swap note since it was kinda new... Was pretty tired of getting fifty messages every time I opened it... So it really isn't important to me. However, I feel what they are doing to be perfectly reasonable. I mean, has it ever been okay for an adult to send pictures of their nether regions to minors? No, that's never been okay. So I applaud them for taking action against it. Would you guys want some stranger sending your twelve year-old pictures of his junk?? I mean, yeah, it sucks for those who use it legitimately, but apparently it's been a big enough problem that they had to take action...

Just switch it with Miiverse or integrate the features swapnote had to Miiverse. Swapnote was underutilized.

Yeah, and I agree, it would be incredibly awesome if they finally implemented miiverse and our Nintendo accounts to the 3ds.

@eza

You're right, its not Nintedo's place to act as surogate parents. It is, however, their responsibility to ensure their services are used within the boundries of the law. If Nintendo has info that swap not is being used to, say, distribute child pornography, they have to act. It's unfortunate that the lack of account system requires the whole service to be suspended, but they've done the right thing. hopefully they will implement accounts and get it back up soon.

Typical Nintendo, lol.

@BJQ1972 Wow. Way to be a condescending to a large group of people and look like a donkey.
_{Watch the profanity please — TBD}

@Gerbwmu
I never said they were, but then thats why I said there needs to be a middle ground. Being family friendly is a good thing, but Nintendo often takes things too far.

The behavior through XBL and PSN is pretty much synonomous with gaming in general as far as the media and mainstream are concerned, that includes kids screaming insults and profanites. You don't see anyone up in arms over that now do you?

Whats the difference between online on through those consoles and Nintendo's? Nothing, not a thing, just that people expect the company to be their nanny. This isn't the kind of reputation Nintendo needs, it just means when things do go wrong people will hold them even more accountable than normal, as if they were actual child care providers. They need to make it clear that using a family friendly device doesn't exempt kids from the dangers of the internet.

If they had an actual account system things like this wouldn't even be an issue. They wouldn't need to remove entire features and could better control who can access what content.

why didnt they just disable the photo sharing ?

@2Hayabusa - That probably will be the end result of this, but that kind of update will take at least a little time to produce. In the meantime, you suspend the service. If the cause of this is a worst case scenario (ie. out and out child porn), then this is the appropriate response.

I wish they had a warning before they shut down, you know? I had a friend in which the only way I knew to contact her was through Swapnote. Thankfully, I added her to PSN a few weeks back... But still.

Eugh. Imagine what kind of stuff Nintendo had to see run through their pipelines. That's a scary thought.

Nintendo can just *** today. They are friggin PEEING in their pants doing something as drastic as this. Iwata scared? baby.

F this. I'm sorry but you have to shut the WHOLE thing down?! It's unnecessary. Let the parents take the responsibilty, its the internet. This won't save those same kids from getting drunk in high and High School cause their parents let them leave the house the 3 days straight on weekends. Most kids today are absolute scum, that's their parents fault, not Nintendo's. This is coming from an 18 year old. I'm sorry Nintendo, but this is garbage.

@BeepBop I would like to echo what BeepBop has said.
Swapnote was a great feature and I am quite saddened that I can no longer share stuff with my favorite 3DS friends. I hope that they search for me on FB. I have posted my name on my friend card message.

@Maxobiwan nope implying 8 year olds and 40 year old predators have 3ds

This is stupid. I sometimes draw stuff in Art Academy or take photos of my stuff (and outside) to show my friends on Swapnote, but I can't do that anymore. I never once used it to draw 'naughty things.' What is the use of the app now? It's worthless!!

@daveh30 I agree it's a shame nobody here cares.

Anyone who think this is adsurd or "Nintendo needs to get with the times because its the Internet" is what is wrong with this world. You need to realize that Nintendo has always been like this, not to mention, do you have any idea how stupid and immature you sound by blaming Nintendo? Its not their fault, its all those sickos out there. You all need to grow up and realize that that the excuse "but le internetz is just as bad XDDD" means nothin because it is Nintendo's platform they are doing it on and they can do whatever they want. Cmon grow up. People and get your head out of your rears.

Today I learned that a large number of people use the swapnote app. I honestly had no idea.

@Zombie_Barioth - actually I see tons of media reports about the abuse, profanity, and racism of the online gaming community and specifically XBox Live and PSN. People are now being sued because of suicides from online bullying and parents are being charged as well as their children for the abuse. Nintendo is being smart in protecting it's brand. Whether we want to admit it or not video games are toys and Nintendo has always marketed its product accordingly. Thus the reason why I seen a lot of Mario and Luigi costumes last night. Is this a drastic step....maybe....is there a middle ground....absolutely, but when you're a World Company that makes billions of dollars off of children it is better to be safe.

The most likely reason it was shut down was because they either can't fix the problem in a timely manner, or cannot at all. The problem being is one can truly be anonymous when sending the messages to a child, there is nothing AFAIK tying that 3DS to you. So imagine a child gets abducted, and the police realize the messages were sent from a source they cannot trace, AND its the DEFAULT for all 3DS?

Seriously. What the heck is up with kids today? Whatever happened to
"Don't Talk To Strangers"? Bad parenting if you ask me but kids still lack common sense and have grown more vulgar and disrespectful over the years, they dont care who they have on their list unless they have a game to play or spam them to high hell. If you ask me, it's both age groups faults.. Kids drawing genitalia and saying curse words like they have a mix of ADHD and tourettes, you'd be surprised at what kids even talk about these days..nonetheless could you tell if they are a minor or not, but Yeah. like its not easy to delete a Friend Card... I wish people would make use of the parental controls and stop getting pissed over stuff that happens to your kid because you fail to listen to Nintendo. then everyone suffers from it
_{Please watch the profanity — TBD}

Sorry for the profanity.

@The_Fox Same here...

I agree it's slightly overkill to kill off swapnote although I never used it so it doesn't really effect me.

That's... Really too bad. I really liked that app. Hoping this doesn't affect MiiVerse releasing on 3DS.

@uel: it's in the first paragraph of our Community Rules, a convenient link to which is located beneath the 'reply' box, right next to the button.

well.... at least it's a good excuse for people who want miiverse on 3DS to pressure Nintendo...
and now I'll delete it to free space in my SD card, goodbye SwapNote, it was fun while it lasted! hope(as in I want but do not expect nor ask for) Nintendo thinks a way to make it safer even if it means taking down the photo and sound features. but yeah it was the right decision not only for kids' safety but for everyone's. it would be problematic if a dumb kid started sending inapropriate photos to adults and saying it was their fault!(believe me it happens. some kids want to be "bad" and mess up with their own lives for no reason at all)

Someone tells me Nintendo is for little kids...with stuff like this...I have a hard time defending N

It makes sense anyway...Miiverse is coming before 2014 anyway. That's only 2 months.

I was very very disappointed in hearing this, but hopefully MiiVerse will be on 3DS within the next two months. SwapNote still works, but only with street passing, not spotpassing. I used this feature almost every day and collected 60-70 Stationaries. Still sucks, as my four year old son loved to draw and send me and my wife messages.

And besides, on MiiVerse, you still send the same messages to friends, either hand-written or text-based and can run into the SAME issue there as well, on WiiU, MiiVerse 3DS, etc.... maybe they just want it behind the MiiVerse's strong policy to protect Nintendo — since I heard SwapNote did not have a true policy.

Aww man....

Thanks, everybody who's been misusing the app! You guys suck.

Whoa, this many people even used it?!

That is pretty stupid though. I mean now friends can't even exchange messages anymore.

How is this any different than the Video Chat in Pokémon Black and White...? This is less...interactive.

Seems completely idiotic to remove the online feature... I'll miss conversing with my Japanese friends from Animal Crossing through it... =(

BTW - Gotta love the moderating of the comments. GG TBD.

Goodbye Nikki

deletes Swapnote because it's useless now

I think people need to realize that while it's disappointing to lose SwapNote, I'm pretty sure Nintendo didn't want to risk a child pornography lawsuit which - based on what I've been reading - they might have been slapped with since kids were passing around photos of themselves.

I don't think it was about drawing inappropriate pictures. I'm pretty sure it was about the photos.

Wait so are they discontinuing "SwapNote"?

Why can't they do what they did for the internet browser photo sharing and only let you send photos if it's from supported softeare (Which would exclude the 3DS camera app.)

I know not many used this App, but I did. And I am very disappointed in this decision for a couple of reasons. First of all, you can still send messages to your friends on Miiverse for WiiU. Sooo....WHY wouldn't they just take the option to attach pictures away from Swapnote?!

More importantly, this little App was what many thought of as a small step in the right direction of making Nintendo consoles more social and connected. In fact it is one of the few exclusive ideas Nintendo has had in this regard. To take it away, and for such a silly reason, is a HUGE step backward in my book.

@GrandSparkster well, now you can just swapno-thing Get it? Heh heh...sigh. Oh well.

wow, Nintendo. Welcome to 2001! The world of the future!
Seriously time for fresh blood at the top, ahem Iwata.

I'm really saddened by this news but I understand and see how many can misuse the service. Swapnote/Letterbox was a great service for me! I'd share silly pics and send little notes to other relatives and friends! I did post my FC here on this site but only exchanged codes with cool people on this site! I'm going to miss receiving random notes from friends and from the Nintendo staff.

It was a great service. Hopefully they can bring it back, or something similar, with better parental tools to prevent risk to children and adolescents.

This truly is another low blow from Nintendo, as with sharing codes across forums. We might as well not share codes, period. I believe this discontinuation has more to do with leaking internet photos than offensive 1s, because all someone really has to do is remove that person from their list and problem solved; They could send you notes but you won't receive them. If that really is the case, 1st and foremost that's the parents' responsibility to monitor what their kids do online, and to handle/filter/block any inappropriate content/contacts, not for them to complain and inevitably tear the service away from everybody else.

Also, let me just add that this very telling in regard to which consumers Nintendo values the most right now. It's the children and families. I think they are still blinded by the Wii and DS phenomenon they had to see that there are potentially MILLIONS of fans out there who want to like Nintendo and their games, but for reasons like this they can't. Their games lately have catered more and more to the younger demographic. .

This is why kids shouldn't be allowed on the internet, period.

The sun still rises and the continents continue to drift...

@JudgeMethos That was so awful it was good.

That's extremely lame. Swapnote is one of my favorite features on my 3DS. How else am I going to exchange offensive material with my adult friends?

Annoying. Although, Nintendo feels they have to wear kid gloves because they maintain that innocent family image, the reality is kids will never stop abusing any kind of privilege because thats what kids do. At some point they need to find the right level of ignorance so as to not ruin EVERYONE's experience on the account of some kid. I plugged my band on my miiverse profile and Nintendo shut down my account until i changed it and waited for their approval. COME ON NINTENDO. I love the company but even i think this is ridiculous.

I understand Nintendo shut it down because kids has perverted friends. Maybe Nintendo might put it back as soon this problem is solved.

Nintendo idiot.

I am really sad and angered by this... I purchased my 3DS a few months ago and used the SpotPass feature a lot because I have family who all live in different states. I send notes, drawings, and fun pictures.... I really liked this feature. For once, I am very disappointed in Nintendo...

@DarkEdi Stop talking to yourself! >.>

Well, There's Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc. Seriously? Is 90% of Nintendolife User so young that they can even use acomputer?
Besides, whats the big deal? Everybody complained about Swapnote existing now They say it's wrong for Nintendo to make a move next to removing it completely. You guys can still use streetpass!
_{Watch the insults please — TBD}

Well it pretty much sets Nintendo firmly in the Kiddy Company corner and there is no way to get them out of there for a few years.
People that were thinking about going back to Nintendo will not come back now because their old views got proven once more.

You could not recieve any messages unless both parties agreed to add their FCs. At that point it becomes the perents responsibility. Or do you think FB will shut down because some idiots send bad pictures around.
There are way easier ways to get those pics than SwapNote.

Have to agree that Nintendo made a move here that makes it very hard for someone to fight the Kiddy image. Was just a knee jerk reaction from them.
Have to call them idiots as well.

@Sinister Idiots? Why? Do you worship Swapnote? there is a camera. Any other option like Facebook would've been a better alternative..

Nintendo needs to say they are not responsable about the use other people give to the swapnote, that is why I call idiot to Nintendo. For a few people they quit a good aplication. I was collecting all papers.

....Are parents really so incapable of using parental controls?

@DarkEdi If you had a possibility to Be sued by Angry Parent that could kill you fiancially, Would you A:Close up General or Online shop or B:Stop the problem at the core.
If Nintendo was a parent most People would see it as Idiotic child abuse, but it's a Good meathod. That should stop all the Swapnote trolls..some people are so ungrateful to Smart moves sometimes..it just makes me think you guys are not really Nintendo fans...

Darn it. I actually really liked Swapnote. I loved seeing all the things that my friends would write.

I get why they did it, but jeez, couldn't they have been a bit less drastic and just get rid of the ability to not send pictures and audio clips? It's not exactly easy to draw a detailed picture of inappropriate body parts on Swapnote. Most wouldn't be as obvious as the stuff Georgia O'Keefe made, and she was able to get away with calling them flowers.

I mean, I get the other things, like sending in phone numbers and such, but seriously, did you honestly think that some people wouldn't abuse this, Nintendo?

Actually, now that I think about it, Pokémon is probably the reason why they did this. In the meta game, the Friend Safari can't be used unless if you have friends, so kids who may not traditionally go on message boards due to their age may go on to get friends for that purpose. Nintendo must have been afraid of people that young using Nintendo's online features and being exposed to risk.

Hopefully Nintendo is reading these complaints, either here or elsewhere.

Just can't believe it

One step back, good job Nintendo!

@SuperCharlie78
Sadly, this is right after Pokémon X and Y marked an ENORMOUS step forward for Nintendo's online play.

Thanks to the stupid people, Swapnote is basically useless. I mean, come on!

How is this a smart move. If they are afraid of legal consequences they should have never released such a app. Nintendo has no idea how the internet works and proves it day in and day out.
From what i read in the announcement it seems they were surprised that people would share their FC online in forums. Come on how blind of the world do you have to be to be surprised about that.
And if people want to trade such offensive materials they will do it either way. No matter if Swap Note is active or not. Now they will just use email or facebook or whatever else.
And you can access most of that from the 3DS browser. So the should discontinue the browser as well right? Would be such a smart move.

I don't see why anyone cares about this stupid app, We live in 2013 ppeople, Facebook and Youtube are not myths!
seriously, the Reason why it was released was for Time for Flipnote 3D! What else will i see in thses comments? Someone sayone Dingo Studios is better than Madhouse?

But, but, today is November 1st not April 1st.

A unifed Nintendo account all be need, so kids account set up by "parents" could have blocked Internet receive letter box from Nintendo only,

This pisses the poopiedoodoocacapoop out of me! PARENTAL CONTROLS MORONS! Yea, I draw "offensive" stuff, but only send it to my friends that are 18+ and are not offended by that poopsiedoggiepoopledumplings.
_{Watch the profanity please — TBD}

Good thing I don't care about Swapnote.

GREAT NEWS. WELL DONE NINTENDO. I say all the people that have been sending rude pictures or offensive material to anyone, should be banned from all on-line services for life. Then their information recorded and sent to the police. Who really cares that much about swapnote/letter box over protecting our children?

@BenTheDemon That's what 6 year olds do, not ''Men'' who are , for no reason, pissed about Virtual Mailbox..

This does seem a massive over-reaction. Not seen a mention of disabling streetpass which seems a bit inconsistent.
Haven't seen any mainstream media coverage of this yet - I'm sure some of our English dirt rags will drag up some horror stories.

I'm not "pissed" about it, it just seems like a major over-reaction.

This was the 'Nintendo letter box' thing right? I thought it was a pretty neat feature, but what I take from the story and the comments is that with an absence of an account system, Nintendo left themselves open to this type of situation, with no effective method of identifying and banning offending users.
Therefore, they have to abandon the entire service to protect themselves, evidently offending many of their own customers in the process. I really think they need an accounts system.

@cmk8 it is on engadget already and i bet frome there it will spread to other websites as well. will perhaps not reach main stream media but internet media will all cover it.

@BenTheDemon
"poopiedoodoocacapoop", Haha. That`s a new one?

Wooow.. Nice smh

I used it quite frequently, and it's my main means of communication with some people (especially AC:NL players met during online play). I'm pretty pissed off by this decision...

@Drop-Dead-Fred that's probaly theblackdragon's flawless profanity substitute! it's like a "Ninja" technique the mods and admins have

@Ristar42 Nintendo IS considering An Account system in Very Early 2014, All we have to do is survive 2 short months.
Nintendo Fans resemble JCPenny's Consumers, they may be grown, but Cry like Babies when Nintendo makes a tuny Mistake.
I bet when SSB4 comes out, People will brag about how Nintendo is Flawless with Online use and if Sony/Microsoft do the same thing Nintendo did Fans wouldn't be angry.

Great. Another instance of "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!111!" They're kids. They're stupid. They're going to do stupid things. The parents are obviously equally stupid by letting their kid do it. So now this app is pretty much pointless. Thank god it didn't cost money.

Bring Back Swapnote, Nintendo! I need to keep in touch with my East Coast friends! I live too far away from them...

@Aryon Then Use Streetpass on it, or Make more Friends you can actually talk to, or Use Facebook or Twitter.
This is a pretty sad thing to be mad at, it just makes you look a Lonely gamer and strengthens the Negative Gamer Stereotype

@jecca_1215, Please friend me on facebook! Tell me your full name, and I'll friend you!
I don't want our friendship to go away in the wake of the Spotpass shutdown in Swapnote!

@Memeboy3
I wish to give a example of Phantasy Star Online 2 by SEGA.
That was to be 'Early 2013'. They recently admitted they cancelled it due to their market research declaring it wouldn't work in America and Europe.

Nintendo just cut off the one guaranteed way for someone to 'chat' with their friends outside of having a game like POKeMON X/Y which has Game Chat, with both of you owning it.
Swapnote was free, to send a note was free, and now... It's as good as dead. Thanks, Nintendo, but no thanks.
I'm glad I use my PS3 mostly now.

@Memeboy3, Are you serious? Streetpass is utterly useless. I'm talking about people in other countries, here. I have friends I can actually talk to, thanks.

@ValentineMeikin Then be social and use Streetpass, it's not hard to do. Just get a 3DS and go outside..

@GuSilverFlame
Haha, that ninja is funny.

@Aryon That weird considering Nintendo encouraged us to be social and fit but People like you are reasons why Other countries make fun of the US.

It's just pathetic that Nintendo has to pander to irresponsible parents and just shut down the whole service. They could have had so many other options to fix this.

Also, why are they disabling the special developer notes they send out? What's the point of that?

@Memeboy3, I don't get what you're trying to say. Is meeting players in online game something to make fun of?

Well now... this is just plain stupid. Theres going to be people, who do those things. You don't shut down the entire thing, you get rid of those who does those inappropriate stuff. Way to ruin things for others nintendo... Theres lots of ways to controll the issue then shutting down the entire site.

@iN3RD It's not as stupid as SHUTTING DOWN THE US GOVERNMENT!

@Aryon It's the fact that People are not supporting the Streetpass feature even though it's made for countries who need to be outside and yet they would rather Support the stereotype that the citizens are fat and hate the outside.

@Memeboy3 The current situation was foreseeable, create a forum and some anoymity and its only a matter of time before someone will be puposely offensive I'm afraid. Perhaps it would have been better for them to prioritise an accounts system over this service.
Then they would not be in the position of having to withdraw it and upset those that enjoy using it. I didn't use the letter box feature myself anymore, but I thought it had a quaint charm, almost like posting a letter these days...

@Memeboy3

All you're doing is coming off as condescending you know that right?

@Memeboy3, I said Streetpass for Swapnote is completely useless. It only works for people in your friend list (that kind of make sense, considering the issue at hand would be even worse if that wasn't the case). And you can only send one note at a time (to an unspecified person).

No more Swapnote for me, I guess. Between this and the complete disappearance of Flipnote, the Youtube app and every other empty promise made by Nintendo, it's no wonder they're falling by the wayside as the next generation of gaming approaches.

Some people have a right to censor..it's better to go Sue-free and avoid contreversy sometimes...

I still love playing their games, don't get me wrong. It is a little unfair how they controlled the issue. I'm still playing their games, but who knows... Down the road they may figure out, how to control the issues?

@Memeboy3

I went out, for a entire week, daily due to owning Nintendogs, and got ZERO Streetpass hits, and have only got a dozen in the six months plus that I've owned the console.
Yes, I'd love to try using Streetpass for Swapnotes, but you'd need to first know who you're sending to, and then be able to find them in the area.

As it is, Swapnote is useless for people who don't have their friends just up the road like me.

Btw, I do plenty of walking without streetpass. Accept it: Nintendo is being unfair to the 3DS userbase.

What? Oh, please… They just killed my day.

@Memeboy3 The action of doing this has caused more controversy. If someone sued then nothing would happen at all. (Same as if you tried to sue Youtube for the action of one of its users or Ebay).

Be like suing Microsoft for a terrorist using Hotmail. If they know about something and the assist the police if asked in the proper way that is all they have to do.

Almost lost for words as Nintendo's continued stupidity at continued censorship. I am a strong believer in free speech this is ridiculous. Neither Sony or Microsoft has had issue with their online communities despite not having a ridiculous friend code system to begin with, why does Nintendo insist on keeping theirs? If you use online, on a Nintendo system or anywhere else, you should expect the possibility of seeing something you don't want to see, it is ridiculous to expect the world to be censored to your personal tastes at the cost of others.

Every system nowadays has parental controls. IT'S THE FAULT OF PARENTS FOR NOT USING THEM. To say nobody can use a service because some parents refuse to spend 10 minutes to read instructions before giving their children an electronic device with access to the internet is ludicrous.

The 3DS also has an internet browser. You can see much, much more explicit things on the internet than anyone could raw for you on swapnote.

They are hypocrites in the 1st place, what did they think was going to happen with the Friend Safari in Pokemon X/Y? It literally rewards and encourages you to trade friend codes with strangers in mass, which is exactly what happened, if you don't you are at a disadvantage in the game!

@BJQ1972 Swift? It took them almost 2 years to realize that "hey, someone could draw or send something offensive with this."

So long have I wished there was an option saying "I am over 18. Kindly leave my services alone."

They have parental controls. Parents are too stupid to use them. It's not catering to the kids anymore, it's catering to the clueless parents. I don't care how offensive I am to these people; if you cannot read English enough to go to Settings, tap PARENTAL controls, and then disable things for your kids, then you need to have your ears and eyes opened to the truth that maybe you aren't up to the task of being a parent, and probably shouldn't be buying these systems in the first place.

Even if you don't have a manual, there is a BUTTON that brings up the manual for settings right on the system.

No. Excuse. At. All.

ESRB has been around for ages, and parents are even too clueless to read that.

Nintendo wants to be everybody's parent. This is hardly a new service, as it's just an advanced version of Pictochat from the NDS.

Nintendo makes it really hard to like them. Love their games, but their business decisions aren't that good sometimes.

how dare i be part of the majority of people who didn't "abuse" the software. i should be punished. spank me harder nintendo! i deserve to be beaten. go ahead and take my toys away for an indefinite amount of time too, i'm such a jerk.

What?! No, I hope they don't permanently close it... I have a best friend who lives in Melbourne while I live in Sydney, and the only way we talk to each other is through Nintendo Letterbox! She doesn't have a phone so everyday when I wake up and when im about to go to bed i always send letters to her and I always read her reply's... I really hope they don't permanently stop it

@Kerolamo It's not going away, you'll Just have to tell the game to look for notes now...

@Kerolamo Well... let's hope Miiverse's release isn't long enough DDD because Miiverse would have ended swapnote anyway.
Now you should only use Swapnote to send streetpass note, in other words, a more complete way to say Hi to someone that you will probably never see again

Best thing to do is write Nintendo. It's how they learned about the crap in the first place.

Just remove the picture sharing feature! Give it back! That's all! This nuclear option hurts everyone.

@Deathspawn

That's an excellent point as well. We all shouldn't be punished because parents don't know how to use the service.

Exactly I used it to message my friends. @GrandSparkster

This is the stupidest thing ever. They took the point out of the app. This is just how the Internet is. With out this function I'm deleting this stupid app. I never use the street pass!!! I hardly find people by street pass in the first place.

But there might be a problem remaining, such as child porn, that Nintendo can not address, should they resume Swapnote. Who knows? A unified account system would help, but even that method could still not stop a dedicated troublmaker. This is b/c the systems are not registered to people, except by those who do so via Club Nintendo. & even then, there's always a way for trouble makers to get through, if they are dedicated enough. Parents need to be parents, & not only need to teach their child/children internet safety, but also need to, depending on age, monitor their child's/children's online activities, meaning also when they are online.

what is this? nintenchurch?

The petition is here,

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/372/861/473/swapnotenintendo-letter-box-unban/

Sign it, Demand it, Bring it back.

People make lots of inappropriate videos on YouTube.You see them shutting it down?But seriously,I thing kids see worse things in television and movies than on Swapnote.Heck,they probably see worse at school.

Additionally,parents need to not be dumb and put parental controls on.If you are a smart parent,you would see if a console has parental controls so your child DOESN'T chat with people they don't know.It's not Nintendo's fault people are using their service to send bad content.They have no control over their consumers,and no matter what,there is going to be something bad that is sent on the internet.Don't want kids seeing bad stuff?Don't let them.

As much as I love Nintendo, defending them nowadays is getting harder and harder. Iwata, you aren't my father. So stop pretending to be.

@Gerbwmu
I had no idea people were so aware of that stuff, on the gaming front at least. The only stuff I usually catch wind of are the more extreme stories, like the guy that was asked to turn his TV down. I wouldn't consider video games, or at least all of them, toys. They still have this reputation as childrens' play things though despite being just as versatile as movies and books. Its that "childrens' toys" mentality that causes some of these problems with mature content.

I don't really blame Nintendo for being carful when they suspect potential legal trouble, but they do have a habit of getting a bit carried away sometimes. Funny thing is they seem to have gotten better in some ways but worse in others. At least were not in the days of green and purple blood.

@Deathspawn
Its not just about being clueless, some parents just don't care about the ESRB. I've heard plenty of stories about customers being told about inappropriate content only to shrug it off because "thats the one he/she wants" and the like. Parents even bring their kids to midnight launches of games like GTA. Its not as big a deal for kids middle school age or older, but it amazes me just how lazy and hypacritical some parents can be.

my god look at all the people complaining. if you want to contact your friends, how about you pick up the phone and call them, message them, send an email, write a letter or contact them in one of the other thousand ways there are in todays society. good on nintendo for sticking up on what they believe. cause you just know at some point the wrong parent would catch on to what was going on, kick up a fuss the the media would be all over nintendo. besides, miiverse shouldn't be to far away if you all HAVE to contact people by your 3DS rolls eyes
_{The insult was not necessary — TBD}

It's ironic Nintendo is out to protect children...from my view, children are abandoning Nintendo in droves for iPads and iPhones. I was at a Starbucks all day 2 weeks ago (Eastlake, California). Nearly every little kid playing with a gadget was toying with an iPhone or an iPad. There's an entire generation out there that's going to skip Nintendo.

So much for awesome Zelda special notes...
At least there's no more notes from Nikki!

I have a feeling Nintendo will bring something like this back. But you wont write your note..You type it so Moderators can see it.

@Shadowluigi2 you mean something like the Miiverse?

Ya know, I understand where Nintendo's coming from. They want to maintain a kid-friendly and kid-safe reputation... I get that. However, you can't run a pseudo-nanny state business and expect customers to be happy. There has to be some kind of balance between the two.

The fact is, kids are going to be kids. There's nothing you can do. If it's not Swapnote, it's these kids' cellphones. One way or another, you can't stop it. So why curtail an entire feature from paying customers? In this case, Nintendo's reputation would not be tarnished by a few foolish children. All they'd have to say is, "The parents should have been doing a better job parenting" and washed their hands of it.

I loved 3DS Letter box.

me and my mates sending insults to each other...
making funny pictures and comics...
getting annoyed about Nikki sending me random crap I didn't want...

*Sigh...

Can't you have parental controls to limit kids, anyway?

Goodbye, Nikki.. 😢

What the hell? The 3DS effectively has no way to message your friends now because Nintendo wants to play nanny?
Taking away basic OS features like this because some people use it inappropriately is really infuriating
At least give the 3DS Miiverse functionality before taking it away.

That boring garbage is still around? I thought it got canned completely last year... Oh well, useless 3DS app is still useless I guess.

@GuSilverFlame Yep, you're correct.

Hmm, surely if the issue is due to people sending inappropriate pictures they should simply remove the photo sharing option & restore the rest. At least then if someone to tries to send a picture of their lower half they'd have to be Leonardo DaVinci himself to make it offensive.

Also, why not add a "panic" button like many social media sites do? As soon as a young person or parent gets worried... the person sending it gets flagged.

Personally I'm surprised Swapnote lasted for this long since it's completely unmoderated. I'd think that 3DS Miiverse would be able to replace it, and since Miiverse is moderated, they won't have any problems with potential child porn or lewd and lascivious behavior toward/with a minor.

This is quite stupid, especially since x and y is all about playing with strangers and advertised that way.

For those asking what's next, I can tell you that it will be the Wonder Trade feature in Pokemon X/Y. Hackers have managed to hack into the games and are sending out hacked Pokemon over Wonder Trade. Problem is, the receiver will receive the dreaded Bad Egg instead of the hacked Pokemon. The egg now multiplies inside your boxes and will replace any Pokemon that are in your boxes.

Remember kids, if someone sends you a Swapnote that makes you feel uncomfortable... DATSNOGOOD

@BJQ1972 that's a joke

So I WAS NOT supposed to take nakey 3D pics of my girlfriend with the 3DS camera? My bad.

@IceClimbers Oh man, a Pokemon virus. I'd be terrified and cautious if I wasn't so giddy at the thought.

@RawkHawk013 It is quite likely that the reason that this service is being closed is more insidious than most of the people commenting on this thread believe, so how can any attempt at supporting the protection of children be a joke?

These kids might think they are swapping photos with a child of similar age but it is just as likely to be a middle aged deviant, or alternatively it could be a kid of the same age who just wants to display their pictures to everybody else at school. Either way lives are ruined because the natural curiosity of that age is violated.

I can't believe how not understanding people are. Think of how Nintendo must feel. They wouldn't have created this feature if they didn't want its success. They wanted it to work but the big N realized how it was being misused and shut it down for the good of the cause. What if they got sued by a bunch of angry parents? You guys (Or at least some of you) know how the US's justice system works. In the end they'd get screwed over. Then the scandals. It'd be all over the news. Parents wouldn't want to buy N's systems if they knew what could happen if their kid connects with some pedophile. I'd rather them shut it down instead of losing money it could use on new games.

...Well, there goes me being able to communicate and set up online matches with half of the people on my friend list that I added at conventions, at school before they graduated and left town, and on Nintendo Life, and the like. Unless the 3DS Miiverse System Update comes soon. Which I really hope happens soon.

I'm disappointed. I would have loved a warning like @Lunapplebloom and I'm sure others mentioned, even 24 hours would have been nice.
I'm going to miss this excellent app, and using it to keep up with friends.
Now my Streetpass group will need to look into new communication methods as this one is gone and since Mii verse is one on one messaging and not multi person like swapnote can do or I should say could. I hope Nintendo replaces this properly, not Flipnote 3D, not just Mii Verse as is but an actually Swapnote either by bringing it back with restrictions or making a sequel.

this is just an embarrassment for Nintendo. Not that people were misusing the service, but how Nintendo decided to handle it. They have no idea how to do anything correctly with their online services.

Now there is no means of communicating with friends via the 3DS. Kinda pathetic.

I struggle to imagine what the purpose of the app is now.

This is ridiculous, why punish everyone for stupid acts a select group did? How am I going to talk to my 3DS friends now?

They should just shut down Miiverse as well, the administrators haven't been doing all that well lately. I've stumped upon VERY inappropriate pictures over the past months that never get flagged or reported until I do. I don't get the double standards that are going on here.

If the best they do is just ban them, then rules need to be stricter and enforced even more so.

Children shouldn't be using swapnote anyways

The problem seems to be sending inappropriate message of children. This is a HUGE issue for Nintendo and that's most likely why they desperately stopped the services. If they knew that the images were being sent and did nothing about it, they can be charged and be held liable.

srsly Nintendo, it's THEIR problem for putting their friend code to everyone and adding anyone.

Why Nintendo, why....
I liked sending messages to my friends.
Now seems like i won't be able to

i'm praying there was a miscommunication at nintendo and the order was "turn off streetpass" and when it got down the nintendo pipeline it got understood as "turn off spotpass", because otherwise they have it completely backwards. as other people have said, streetpass is the dangerous one, you can remove spotpass "friends" that send you dirty things

This is quite pathetic and stupid. For someone like me living in a town with no more than 5 people who owns a 3DS, StreetPass is pretty much out of the question. What's the point of Swapnote now? Ugh.

This stinks. We better be seeing Miiverse on 3DS asap now! I will miss my friends I mostly interacted with on Swapnote.

I actually never liked swapnote . Still waiting for miiverse for 3DS.

@Senario pokemon need to be traded...

Wow, lots of replies.

Personally, I don't care, never used it.

Meh... The reason for closing it down is quite dumb, but I don't care. Swapnote is pointless since we have Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Cell Phones, and e-mails. PLUS we're getting Miiverse on the 3DS soon, which would make Swapnote even more worthless...

@Windy So...you're not going to support Nintendo (or buy a Wii U) just because they got rid of a pointless app? if you REALLY want to contact your friends, contact them via Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Cell Phones, e-mails, or Miiverse (which is coming to the 3DS VERY soon..). You say Nintendo is insane, but you're just as insane as they are.

This really bums me out. I stopped using Spotpass with friends, thought it was fun when I did - but it was still really special to get letters from people like Miyamoto, Tanabe and Reggie. It felt personal - I had experienced nothing like that through any other way someone from the industry could communicate to me. Swapnote showed me exactly how the man who created Mario and Zelda wrote me a letter! Where else am I gonna find that?

hopefully, Nintendo doesn't work as an Internet Provider !
Imagine :
"Our email service is misused, we're shutting it down !
Sorry for all of our customers including companies, you'll have hard time to continue your business !"

Nintendo are a company that prides itself on its genuine safe online interactions. If you want to abuse programs such as these this is what you have to expect.

Wanna send a picture of your wang to someone? There's about a million other devices that can do that.

@kereke12 That is far from stupid. Nintendo have to uphold their status as family friendly, so why would they allow this to go on for longer than it should? Suspending Letterbox is obviously to allow them to find out how to tackle the problem. It is not a big deal and they are doing what is right.

@Chunky_Droid Well said. Nintendo are at the core of friendly gaming, i'm glad they do all they can to keep it that way.

Great. Just great. Now its going to be harder to contact my friend who moved to Japan. Thanks alot Nintendo. Thanks a lot.

You know what would have fixed this?
An Actual Account System.

@LegatoSkyheart
Agreed.
Surely Miiverse is next!!

Well, it is hard for me to care, I never used it anymore. Did a little but when it first came out but it was too fiddly. Really, though, did they not think that letting people draw in 3d is just encouraging them to draw a big 3d penis?

Stupid reasoning to destroy a decent free app. If everything that was offensive was to be removed from society, we'd have nothing left, not even our own skin.

The reasoning makes sense, but I don't feel that their solution does. Why not just remove the ability to send photos? I mean I'm sure they could think of something better than removing the app completely. It's unfair to the rest of us.

What a joke.

Might as well delete this off my 3DS. I have no other use for it other than receiving stuff from my friends online.

This is ridiculous. We should just get the option to block people. Or we could delete the offensive people from our friend lists. Or Nintendo could delete Nintendo Letterbox from their 3DS and/or their mii. Most of us on Nintendo Letterbox are nice. It's not fair on us.

@elle They could do all of this....with Dedicated Online Accounts.

(i've made this post twice already, but it is relevant here as well, so i think it appropriate to put it up here as well. if its against the rules, and i'm not sure if it is, feel free to take it down )

Mark Zuckerburg - "people are using facebook chat to send sexy pics to each other. better just get rid of facebook chat all the way."

someone else - "but mark, don't we have an account system? we can just ban the people abusing our service!"

Mark Zuckerburg - "great idea!"

_________________________

i hope that got my point across. believe me, it is great that nintendo is doing the morally right thing, it really is. if they knew people were creating child pornography and did nothing about it, they'd be in legal hot water. hell, i dont support the idea of child pornography, and if i knew nintendo let it slide, i'd stop buying nintendo products all together. why? because it's just morally wrong to do that.

they have the right idea, and as far as they know, it's the right thing to do. but they're making everyone suffer for the fault of the minority, and that is not right. all of the hate and anger directed at nintendo right now is because they dont have an account system. if they did, SN and Flipnote Friends wouldnt be taken away. if they had an account system, they could punish the culprits and be done with it. MAKE AN ACCOUNT SYSTEM, NINTENDO.

Perhaps this is their way of closing down the service to make room for newer features.

COME ON MIIVERSE UPDATE!!!

@BJQ1972 I do not disagree with you on that at all, it's sick they way SOME are using it. But why should it be discontinued because of some horrible people, while there are an overwhelming majority of those who use it for fun.

I hope SpotPass in SwapNote makes a comeback. I found it a fun way (if a little tacky and limiting) to communicate with 3DS friends. I always enjoyed the surprise of receiving them, especially the Special Notes. I plan on keeping it around in case that day comes, not to mention I have 400 SwapNotes I'd like to hang on to.

@SockoMario Nope I would be as insane if I bought a Wii-U. Common the system is a dud. They can't get any good third party devs to develope on it. They will end up having few good games while PS3 and soon to be PS4 start to knock in the dirt. I'm skipping wii-u for sure and may dump my 3DS after what was done. They sure don't care about the 1,000 or so I spend a year on them. They definitely don't want any gamers input cause they don't listen anyway

@Windy Really? Dumping your system off just because they took away a watered down version of Facebook/Twitter ? Yeah, who cares about the games, it's ALL about a pointless app! Well, not my problem. Have fun at Sony/Microsoft!

P.S

I'm pretty sure your opinion on the Wii U will change once it gets good 3rd party support, and lots of excellent 1st party software!

This is stupid.
Not the fact they're shutting it down,the people who made it happen!

@CaptainSquid "Offensive" pictures could be a drawing of a cheeseburger, or a photo nail polish on a popsicle stick, or a drawing of a barbarian wearing furs, or a photo of a sweet looking car, or a photo of pretty much any movie poster. Not to mention that the vast majority of sexually explicit photos of kids are taken by those kids themselves more often than not, there have been a ton such cases in the US where the kids are now registered sex offenders and many for something as innocuous as a nipple. It's a stupid reason, and a stupid method of giving the parents some phony "sense of control." Society needs to adapt, that's all, taking away things like this doesn't help society adapt to new things, it keeps us back in the Dark Ages.

@SockoMario Seriously it wasn't pointless for the Over Millions of people who used it and had to pay for someones sick picture or text which caused Everyone else who used the program to suffer. Not cool on Nintendos part. Not cool on the sicko who caused it. But 1 percent of society is sick and the rest of us are made to either do without or have a rule change because of small portion of people. It's unfair is all. I wont dump my 3DS im just really mad right now. I appologize if im coming off as steaming mad about this. Fact of the matter is, I am.

I'm ok with this to be honest i don't use swapnote as much as i use to infact i removed it from my 3DS it was useless to me since i use miiverse anyways.

Swapnote was my only form of communication with the outside world now I'll never finish my GED or order Chinese food.

Last words from Windy after a cool down lol. RIP swapnote. I wish I could say it was a good run but it was short lived. Hopefully MiiVerse on 3DS will be good. Let's all hope so. I will Miss all the Daily Swapnotes from @Tech , @Brendon , @joni , @zain, @Cookie3z, @Babs @Root, @Knuckles and everyone else who was on my list. Joni really used to make my day after a long day of work with all her 3 page swapnotes on her adventures in gaming. So much fun will be missed. Thanks Nintendo for Punishing the masses because of the Few! The abuse was probably less than 1%

@Reynoldszahl
Problem is that there is a big abusement. Some pokemon forums have people demanding nudes for pokemon trades. It's just creepy.

@Elvenmonk
What the hell??
If this is true I understand why Nintendo shut it down. Poor us that used the service in a normal way.

@Reynoldszahl
Yeah. I miss the service but apparently there was a lot of nudes (some CP) being sent since pokemon's release.

@Zyph i got nikki im my street pass for some reason so i can keep her mii

@Jellitoe no, no thay are not

@cheleuitte wow, this is why it got banned, your NOT ment to add strangers

@EdJericho someone on the smash bros. community said to add nikki as a chara that will be ace

Know I can only sent messages trough streetpass and talk to my fiends with Animal Crossing New Leaf =(

While I may have never used 'Swapnote' (I got the 3DS for the games with improved graphics and games like 'angry birds' that just aren't made for the basic DS), I understand how people feel. I agree there MUST be a better way to solve an issue opposed to punishing millions for the actions of a few. I hope Nintendo will figure something out so not everyone who used/uses Noteswap will have to pay the price for something they did not in fact do themselves.

@siavm the "Unless the smoke makes a unappropriate shape" comment really got me, too funny-- to me.

You know what's ironic? The comments here are actually providing evidence in favor of removing Swapnote rather than keeping it. Just look at all the moderated posts due to things like profanity! If it's this bad on a site like NIntendolife, imagine what people are doing with Swapnote on the 3DS. I'm not saying I agree with Nintendo for removing it, I'm just laughing at how this discussion works in Nintendos favor and proves why they had to remove it. Within 2 minutes of skimming through comments I saw at least 3 moderated posts. Nice work guys.

Also just to give fair warning, judging by things I've heard from friends on Miiverse, the Wii U Chat is pretty heavily abused too, so don't freak out if they remove that at some point as well.

@ReshiramZekrom Yes, it is.

@OnionOverlord lol omg dude i knew when swapnote came out this going to happen in some form....and yeah wii chat needs to be turned off

Can you imagine if Nintendo left it & a news site broke the news - it would kill 3DS sales for many months and they would never completely repair the damage done to the Nintendo brand.

@Benjamin me too! im super mad at you, nintendo guys! i just bought a 3ds xl yesterday to play and send notes to my boyfriend we both draw a lot...
this is so stupid!!!! there's a lot of mature people who bought a 3ds :/ its not only for kids AND YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT....

and yet they allow instant chat from within Animal Crossing New Leaf as long as you have them flagged as a best friend or something like that... ins't this somewhat similar? I realise there is some differences but my goodness.. The Nintendo Patrol is out in full force!

@Windy most people would say you are overreacting, but I totally agree with you. There are a couple of 3ds friends that I will now probably never talk to again

Nintendo are you guys idiots? you could simply turn off the pictures feature xD

Over a picture? Over a message? Come on! BE SMART! I COULD RUN NINTENDO BETTER THAN YOU! Why dont you make some Spotpass accounts and passwords, and make a report button, allow them to screenshot what they reported. Then The Its Done. But you can make a crappy Remake of a Instagram sorta with MIIVERSE? Really. Swapnote was a way for people to communicate. Mainly something to be entertained by... Like sending drawings to your friends or music or pictures. If someone sends something inappropriate. Ban them! You can take away swapnote for that crap, But if someone does something nasty on miiverse, its only a admin warning or a ban. I dont see you taking away miiverse thats some Bull crap. Why not delete the whole Swapnote then. No point of it anyway -.-

As I am reading the comments I am dying from laughter. The words you replace for the people who curse, xD

But yeah, this is REALLY MEOWING STUPID NINTENDO.

damn .,., this sucks ,,. used this to tell my friends(after struggling to even get their damn friend codes) to meet up for online matches.,..,,, miiverse can't replace this ... it already is pretty much useless .,., ninety behaves like annoying know it all old person .,.,
my two cents.,

wish someone would start a petition about this overkill of a decision

wish someone would start a petition about this overkill of a decision

wish someone would start a petition about this overkill of a decision

wish someone would start a petition about this overkill of a decision

wish someone would start a petition about this overkill of a decision

wish someone would start a petition about this overkill of a decision

This is ultrastupid. Because of a couple of kids other people cannot use it? What the hell? Why can't I send a letter to a friend using Letter Box? Ddddamn, I'm so angry!

This still functions and messages and art can be sent to people on your friend list if you both have the application.

I'm more into the ART side of it so if anybody wants to swap codes mine is 4141-8948-4277

Damn, after 7 years, this still hurts