3DS Homebrew Channel Reportedly in Final Stages of Development

No thanks. I don't want my 3ds to be bricked in the future.

Please patch this Nintendo, you know this is the first stage towards all online games being ruined!

And Nintendo is going to release another system update within a couple days. I guarantee it.

People should really wait until after the gen of that console is finished to hack them,
It makes their job a lot easier and less likely for their console to be bricked.

Thanks to the author who put in the part about how they don't support piracy with this. I can't stand it when people write lies about how all homebrewers=pirates.

Thought this was a usermode exploit of no use at all to enable piracy. (Other than maybe allowing people to look for another piracy exploit a bit more easily).

I actually like this because I can play games from other countries without region lock problems. I'm also sure that people will reverse engineer this homebrew and use it for piracy.

The second coming of the r4 empire is upon us. Let us have a minute of silence for all the game developers that will go bankrupt to accommodate the new competitor in the market.

How come the mods here always delete comments or forum posts talking about homebrew/emulators (without even posting links), but you guys constantly post articles about the subject?

That said, it would be nice if some NES/SNES/Genesis emulators get created so we can play games on the 3DS that would never be released otherwise.

The stability didn't work Nintendo!!!

I'm too afraid that Nintendo will brick my system.

@Imagamerboi You know what this means? MORE STABILITY!!!

So the smart thing this guy could have done was to go too social media and talk about this? And not wonder nintendo could see this and make an update out of blue?This guy is a freakng genius.

@midnafanboy

He hasn't said how he has done it yet. Nintendo can only guess at this point.

@WaLzgi I've never thought of that!!! WOW.

Can't wait to try this out.

This has to be stopped, as soon as possible!
What possible benefit could there be from homebrew that is worth opening the piracy doors? I dare say not even region-unlocking is a good excuse for going this far, since it will inevitably lead to nearly unplayable online (cheaters), which is even worse in my opinion, since it actively ruins the entire fun in online.

@WIIUExposed I don't like that crude generalization, either. But that doesn't make homebrew any less criminal.

I imagine we are in for several system updates.

On one hand, hacking is wrong... On the other, so is region locking...

Darn it Nintendo, get your stability together!

@Shirma_Akayaku
Like obscure Japanese games concerning cats

Why not...there's NO GAMES TO PLAY DAMNIT!

@Kaze_Memaryu There is nothing whatsoever criminal about homebrew. It is similar to using aftermarket parts on a car they don't want you to do it but it is definitely not illegal.

@Kaze_Memaryu It took a lot of research into the Wii's OS to figure out USB loading. The 3DS isn't nearly as easy as the Wii to hack, and there are legit parts of 3DS save memory that are write-only. These guys would have to force the 3DS to ignore the eShop account status to have any hope of SD card loading, and they're already against that.

Also Nintendo equipped the 3DS to deal with hackers. There were error codes that were bypassed within weeks on the Wii, but Nintendo has a much stronger handle on the 3DS than they could ever hope to have on the Wii.

My point is that 3DS gameplay won't be getting hacked until the system's irrelevant to the point where Nintendo won't care.

Gosh dangit... On the one hand, I can't play the Japanese Smash Bros. on my 3DS because of the stupid dang region locking (change that Nintendo!), but using homebrew could possibly get my system bricked!

What should we do?!

Something good could come of it anyway even for people who never touch it. GBA emulator happens and works really well. Nintendo decides they might as well.

You lot of smug keyboard warriors have nothing good to say about homebrew, but don't slam it because you're defending your beloved Nintendo. The restrictions on our systems are really, well, excessively restrictive. Now I do not support piracy, but the region lock is ridiculous, and only serves to make Nintendo extra cash (as if they don't have enough of that). This tool gives us options. Options. And that is no bad thing. Some people want to play Japanese games without importing an expensive Japanese 3ds.

I'm not one for piracy, but I might try this out if I'm able to download the Japanese smash for 3ds.

hacking is wrong.....

ok please throw away your tv smart phone oh never connect to internet again. To those factious idiots who don't seem to understand ALL of your modern technology is thanks to homebrewers and hackers (go and look the real term hacker).

you won't believe how much of your modern life has is built upon hacker and homebrew movement including the webserver that hosts nintendolife as well as the countless of routers and switches that serve your internet traffic, time guys learnt some respect for the people who enable to you have these nice things who often develop these things in their own spare time.

Well my OG 3DS hasn't been used for ages might as well put homebrew on that to try peoples games.

@ZenTurtle - have to agree with you.

this guy could have gotten a lot of money if he reported the security flaws to Nintendo(maybe, that's how it usually works with other companies)

Expect an update in the next week or so. While i don't mind homebrew i don't like it when there's piracy involved. While the person here has clearly stated that it won't run pirated games, somebody will exploit this code and add it in. I hate region locking too but i guarantee that if this is used when the next update is used, it won't work and could mess up your system. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

@Sionyn - You are talking about crackers not hackers.

Sounds neat and might be useful if the community is active and actually makes content.

What would stop someone from simply writing a program that loads 3DS roms using this Homebrew Channel?

Anyway, I look forward to making homebrew apps. I've been wanting to make a Rhythm-Tengoku GBA style drumming app for some time now!

I'll pass since I don't care to have a system bricked.

Here comes some more stability! I hope no one succeeds, I love my online cheater free.

the only way to end this would be Nintendo making its own official homebrew app, with all security measures to avoid exploits happening on it(something kinda like petit computer but with a little more freedom to the amateur devs)

C'mon nintendo! If you would hurry up and give people what they want this would not be a thing. Get rid of region locking and make games tied to account, people might not be desperate to find a way around it.

This guy should get sued by Nintendo immediately for developing the hack channel.

@bouncer0304 The most someone could do was use it to find a kernel exploit. Thing is the people looking for them want to make money from it so they wouldn't do anything other than make a flashcard based on it. (And there has already been some without it really being a problem - I guess it helps importing one being a pretty bad crime same as selling them - owning one is nothing as far as I know). The problem with the DS ones was when you could buy them from Cex.

Off topic: Is it odd I feel like Nintendo Life is late to post news? Off topic again: Leaked images of returning characters for SSB4. I would've thought they would post that by now....

@drewb0203 Don't tell me snake is returning. He is like the most out of placed character in brawl.

I'm surprised people don't know cheating and piracy are already things for the 3DS. Thankfully, I don't think those cheats even work online (though they can give you stuff to use online, like cheated Pokémon). We'll see if this homebrew paves the way for that.

I actually kinda want one. If I get it, I'll probably use it on my sister's original 3DS, which she hasn't touched since she got an XL.

I would never hack my system. Im one of those people who just isnt to big into doing something like this to my consoles for things such as getting my system bricked in the future. I just find it cool that Iwould be able to play jap games.

@Nibelilt Datel Powersaves ? (I wish I had bought one so I could have started a Link Between Worlds on the Hero Quest).

I'd love to get by that region lock, and just wait until people start making some fan-made character skins for smash bros 3DS. I'm all for this if it still works after the 3DS's lifespan has ended.

@Porky They can't, they have no grounds to sue them. This would be a completely different story if they were digitally distributing 3ds game roms, but right now Nintendo cannot sue the hacker.

This is epic I can't wait for it to eventually be released.

Why do people think it's bad? Homebrew is awesome! Piracy isn't.
We can get things like self made Smash alt skins, but still having to own a legal copy.
Or even mods like Project M... SO HYPED FOR THIS.

"Clearly aware of the moral minefield that channels like this prompt, the creator has emphasized that the channel will not run 3DS game ROMS"...........Yet

And then I will be able to play RF4. And I won't care because it wasn't available in PAL territories (not that I'd care anyway). I would buy it legit if they released it in Europe, but they haven't so I can't. It's a lost sale because it wasn't released in Europe, not because I'll pirate it. Yaar har fiddle-di dee

I like how there's already a witch hunt for this guy when most of those comments came from people who CLEARLY haven't read the article. All they saw was "3DS Homebrew Channel", "hacking" and "piracy". For God's sake, people. Read, interpret, comprehend and THEN respond.

Anyway, as far as bypassing the region lock goes, I imagine this guy to be more of an asset than a liability. It'll give gamers in the Western Hemisphere access to so many more quality games that are exclusive in each theater. I, for one, have been DYING to play Time Travelers on my 3DS as well as the chibi Project Diva. That'd be the only reason I'd use this Homebrew. That, and to explore classic Genesis and SNES titles that still have yet to show up on the eShop.

I'm talking about classic Sonic games as well as the Final Fantasy games from I-VI that still remain exclusive to Japan for some reason. I'd gladly pay for the convenience of downloading the title so I can enjoy it on the go, I really would, but if I'm going to be constantly denied my desire to indulge in new gaming experiences, Nintendo is really leaving me no other choice.

Anyway, the way I see it is like this:

Once we buy the hardware, it becomes our property to do with as we will. Whether it be soft-modding it to play games locked in our respective regions, submerging it in the sink filled to the brim with water, or shooting at it with a paintball gun.

Online services, however, are something we SUBSCRIBE to. It's NOT something we OWN. Modding hardware to get an edge on other players online for one's own enjoyment or to get digital downloads for free is the ONLY thing I find reprehensible about modding and hacking hardware. That's it.

tl;dr: Modding hardware to play region locked games and emulating titles we already own is okay. Using to score free games from the eShop and cheating online is not.

Guys, the creator said he didn't want piracy to happen. It does NOT allow kernel access. So if you think your getting free geams, stop. You wont.

Chances are Nintendo will still fix this, so...yeah...not risking my system.

@unrandomsam I assume you didn't read the ToU, then. It clearly states that external access to core functions as well as modifications to bypass restrictions violate the terms of usage, which effectively is a breach of contract - and that's definitely punishable by law. And since Homebrew does just that in order to bypass region locks, it's illegal.

@WIIUExposed I wouldn't be so sure. Cheats (and cheat devices/programs) mostly work on a brute-force base. They throw random codes and numbers into commands until there's a desirable reaction, and from there on it's getting specific. You don't really need access to any specific aspects of a console as long as the cheat can be thrown in. It's mostly trial-and-error, basically.

"It's an interesting development that's clearly been in the works for a number of weeks and months. " haha. I like this part it is clear that the NL authur doesnt understand the huuge amount of work behind this exploit!

I have been waiting for a very looong time for this to get released. And Smea is a real pro! Happy gaming

@Kaze_Memaryu Sony and Apple sued the guy who created jailbreaks for iOS and the PS3. Both companies lost.

Like I said, Nintendo has a much stricter grip on the 3DS online than the Wii's. They can easily force people to update their systems before connecting to online games, which I think already happens. There was even a flash cart manufacturer who straight up said that one 3DS update made all their currently released flash carts obsolete because they said no firmware update to their flash carts could bypass the new wave of security on the 3DS. Nintendo can easily shut these guys down if they feel like it.

@Kaze_Memaryu Sometimes what is homebrewed has nothing to do with gaming at all. Sometimes it turns your portable into an actual computer or, if smart enough, a limited Cellphone. In the end hackers just want to play around and change things as it gets their programming skills to expand. Sometimes even cuting down on development time for work projects.

@WYLD-WOO
No, he had the right term. After all, where do you think 'Life Hacker' or 'Ikea hacker' comes from? They have nothing to do with the modern association of the term "hacker".

Anyone who tinkers with existing things in order to make them better or solve problems and shares those ideas can be called a hacker.

@Kaze_Memaryu EULA's are not enforcable. They can stop you accessing their servers but that is it.

It is changing the terms of a contract afterwards you just cannot do it.

It would only be enforcable if it was signed first. (Like I think happens for getting dev hardware).

meh, i suprisingly have no problem with this

Removes region lock? HECK YES!
Wish that someone could've made a finished one for DSi back in the day (and even now!) with the region-lock removal. Then I could've imported Fire Emblem Heroes of Light and Shadow and play it on a DSi, instead of having to consider buying a DS Lite just to play that game.

@WaLzgi

LOL!

@The_Ninja
Sadly, the problem is many people here have the same mentality as Nintendo where they view hackers, homebrew developers, and pirates as one and the same.

@blaze8937
Only reason it would brick would be if you make a horrible mistake on your end or try to flash an image file that isn't confirmed to be fully stable.
Or if Nintendo decides to exercise their tyrannical powers to remotely brick your 3DS while having everyone at Nintendo headquarters put on a Bowser mask.

Sure, this may not be intended for piracy, but it will definitely lead to it, as well as hacking games and ruining online. I don't have a problem with the guys behind the Mario Kart 8 hacks because they're not realeasing it, but when you do release something like this - even with good intention - it gets in the hands of people who abuse it. Besides, if people want homebrew, just use Petit Computer. (I know it's not exactly the same, but still.)

No region locking is literally the only thing that interests me.

I think this would be pretty cool, we could finally get the things on our 3DS that Nintendo isn't willing to do. Namely: get more GBA VC titles (instead of just stopping at the 10 ambassador titles only for ambassadors), (and yes, VC titles, not a GBA emulator (though I'm sure we'd see that as well), modders have already injected the GBA pokemon games into the official GBA VC games and they have been shown working). As well as get all our old favorite titles revamped as 3D classics. I'm sure this wouldn't be an overnight thing, but if something one of the guys at SEGA said was true, creating the Genesis 3D classics on the 3DS was fairly easy after they overhauled the Genesis emulation hardware and changed some settings, they found that they could put any Genesis rom into the newly modified Genesis emulator, and they would properly output into 3D, and thus you see the Genesis 3D classics on the 3DS. Imagine being able to do that for all of your favorite old NES, SNES, Genesis, Master System, GB/GBC, GBA, and TurboGrafx 16 games. And finally imagine a properly working Virtual Boy emulator. As someone who never owned a Virtual Boy, I really would love to see the VB Wario Land running in the proper 3D perspective it was designed to be played in.

you know what this means, PROJECT M ON SSB4 3DS

@mystman12 Piracy on the 3DS already exists thanks to flashcards (lookup gateway 3DS if you're interested). The developer of this probably isn't a fool and knows that other coders will look at his work, and find the protection and remove it. Still, as I said piracy already exists, so he's certainly knows he can't stop it from happening, so he's just going to put in protection to wash his hands of the situation while still putting out a product that he can happily stand behind.

As a developer myself, I'm interested in this as I've always had an interest in seeing what can be done when a system security device has been circumvented, and in all honesty I'm not interested in piracy,but with the shady exception of emulating Games i legally own for the SNES for example, that would interest me greatly seeing as Nintendo, currently appears to have no intention of allowing SNES games to run on the 3DS, I'd welcome SNES virtual consoles games on the 3DS though, but as the expression goes, if needs must....i don't condone piracy or hacking to disrupt game services, shame on those who do

@WiiUExposed I agree. Every time an article about system hacking comes up on this site there's a crapload of people screaming "OMG CHEATERS AND PIRACY," even when the creator(s) of the mod state that they are against such things and state that the software doesn't have the capacity to load ROMs. It really annoys me.

That said, the worries aren't unfounded. After the exploit is release it is likely only a matter of time before some guy codes a ROM launcher and another guy codes a game patcher that could be used for (among all of the cool and awesome things patchers can do) cheating online. If the modders can keep up with Nintendo's updates, finding another exploit after the system is patched to kill another alike the iOS jailbreak scene (then again, Apple almost always only fixes an exploit when they have something else to fix or improve upon iirc, while Nintendo usually rigorously issues system updates every time they find something, thus all the stability). I'm going to wait a while after the release of the hack to see what happens after the next system update. Will the 3DS Homebrew Channel rise again after being defeated once? Will Nintendo actually brick systems that have been modded? Stay tuned for the next very special episode of "Peeple Modding Nintendo Systems Show."

Hey, Nintendo Life actually got something right about homebrew. Now I don't have to send them a message with the correct information that they will ignore because they don't want to admit they made a mistake.

By the way, for people who suggest that this will "open up piracy", it's too late for that. Flash carts for the 3DS have been around for quite some time.

GIVE ME! Region locking has been nothing but an annoyance to me.

I will finally be able to play those Japan-only games without having to buy a Japanese 3DS.

I guess the 3DS wasn't stable enough.

I don't mind hombrew just as long it's not gonna affect my online experience.

@Hyperstar96 "Nintendo doesn't have the legal right to brick anyone's system, nor have they ever bricked a system in the past. " That's not true actually. The Wii's 4.2 update introduced a SEEPROM check to see if the Wii was a region-changed Korean Wii. If it was, you'd get a brick.

Korean Wii's were cheaper because they didn't have GC functionality (no Korean Gamecube Games, so no region code for them to match), despite the hardware being there. People would buy them, region-change them to EUR/USA/JAP, then resell them at a higher price.

This will be good after nintendo comes out with a new portable so I can transfer my 70 games

But by then the updates will get me.

Only bad things will come from this sadly. People will use it wrongly. So no thanks and please patch it Nintendo!

Lol at all the idiots that have no idea how this works or what has already been out there for months now. Hate to tell you guys, but its already too late for Nintendo to do much.

If Smash hacks are possible, then it's a maybe. If not, nope.

@ShiningGreninja U JUST READ MY MIND!!!

@mystman12 Knives and Guns also get into the hands of people who abuse them. (And pets and all sorts of other stuff). Just because something can be abused doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.

@ModernMARVEL You just made me realize how messy the smash hacking community is about to become. For so long now, 98.9% of all Smash hacks were for Brawl, so looking through them all through the BrawlVault and the like, was relatively painless and easy. Sure there are some Melee and even 64 hacks, but most interest and resources were put into Brawl.

Now with 2 new different Smash games coming out, and the fact that the 3DS is already hacked (this exploit is not the only way to hack your 3DS, right now there are working 3DS mode flashcarts), and Wii U homebrew just budding its ugly little head too thanks to a known exploit in the Wii U internet browser. It seems incredibly likely that in time, we're going to see the Smash Hack community tackling both these new games, while there will still be Brawl hackers as well. Meaning that sorting through all the hacks for that community is going to be a major headache eventually..

Great. Good thing I wasn't too hyped to play Super Smash Bros. online, because this has high potential to ruin it. I hope Nintendo patches the crap out of the 3DS just to prevent these idiots from running this.

@unrandomsam ...You just made a very good point... I personally still don't like it though, but I guess Nintendo has gotten a lot better at preventing cheaters online.

Here comes the system update that requires an install before we can get on the eShop.

Yep, this is definitely something I am going to install at the end of the generation on a 2DS. Considering the homebrew scene for Nintendo handhelds last for a while after release, this is exciting stuff.

Finally! I'm really looking forward to buying out of region games. I wonder if this will work for eshop as well — give us access to the Japanese eshop.

Other than that, I don't really care. Homebrew stuff is cute. Like tablet games or a lot of dsiware-shovelware. It still doesn't replicate a real retail game.

@ZeroZX_Dev I totally agree.

@JoostinOnline Thanks for sharing.

"For those that object to region locking, it is planned for the channel to allow 3DS carts from other regions to be playable on any system."

If that would really happen then the creator of this program would be made the the best person on game business ever and should be given a medal or something.

Never have supported region locking and never will. If Nintendo is dumb at something then it's the region locking. They went in handheld business from freedom to jailed environment for no good reason.

There would be no need for a program like this if Nintendo would get their head out of their *** and release an official software update that removes the region locking.

This would be awesome, as long as it's not doing anything illegal.

I would consider using this just for the region unlock if they do manage to implement that...the only issue is I have just one 3DS, and I wouldn't want to deal with any potential risks that carries with it. There would also need to be a way to keep it safe from being deleted in system updates, perhaps being loaded from an SD Card? Not sure how feasible that would be though.

The app is incapable of loading roms because it cannot gain the proper access to do it. That was the author's intent all along, to allow running of unsigned code for homebrewers while keeping piracy at bay.

I have the Wii version, but I do not believe I will be getting this. (and I use the Wii version very seldomly, only for Project M.)

Bring it on. Nintendo clearly doesn't give a crap about making the Virtual Console any better so emulators it be!

I would be against this if it wasn't for the region unlocking.
I'd love to develop for the 3DS sometime, too.

Interesting.... Very interesting. I wonder what games I'll buy if it enables region-free.

Nintendo should worry more of developing good games than closing their already too-tight console. If you ask me, piracy isn't a game changer. People will pay what they're willing to pay for a game.

Sorry, but if Nintendo were to get rid of region locking, you can kiss localization of many games goodbye. Region locking is forcing Nintendo to localize games. Without it, I can guarantee you that many games would not be localized. I know, it's bad logic, but you all know that would be Nintendo's logic.

@Zombie_Barioth - Ok... Thanks for clearing that one up. I do think peoples idea, perception and definition of the term hacker seem to differ and can be lost in translation. One thing, I would say on thinking about this subject. The person(s) enabling people to play region locked games would bring nothing but happiness to lots of people.

HELL.

YES.

This is what you get with your stupid 90's region lock crap, Nintendo--cannot freaking wait to play the uncensored JPN version of Bravely Default, in English, on my US 3DS. Thank you, homebrewers!

Oh god please i am so done with region lock. How am i supposed to play un-localized games? huh huh, region lock is so stupid, oh and @Technosphile Uncensored Bravely Default haven't heard about this? please educate me what was censored?
@IceClimbers how the heck is region lock saving game localization's almost no one is willing to import a game unless they are A) a die hard fan or B) have no other choice (wasn't localized in there country) Further more it doesn't force them to do anything, if it did magically force Nintendo to localize games on there systems where is my copy of Digimon World Re: Digitize Decode?

Well, Newer Super Mario Bros. 2...
No, forget that.

I see a new stability level for the 3DS

This sounds like a terrible idea no matter how positive of a light you try to look at it in. If they got rid of the whole homebrew thing and made it do nothing other than un-region lock my 3DS, I'd gladly support it.

A 3DS home brew channel? Well la-di-frickin-da, lol

It doesn't matter the intentions unfortunately, if he plan to make that homebrew public then there are lots of greedy companies that would love to learn more about the 3DS from his work so that they can make "easy piracy and cheating" devices to sell.

I only hope this guy hacking method has no way to teach those people such things or that the 3DS will became too stable for his homebrew to run before he even released it ^_^;

Personally i'm happy about this. Region locking in this day and age is ridiculous. Also it would be nice to have a gba emulator. since nintendo refuses to put gba games on the 3ds for whatever reason.

Indeed. I hope we can kill region locking. The excuse ninty is giving is ridiculous.

Im personally hoping for a N64 emu, but I doubt it

I remember on the DS I had the cheap Games and Music flashcart. The data transfer was too slow to stream data. That means games had to fit inside the systems RAM. This had the side effect of meaning retail ROMs would not run. I assume this exploit has a similar limitation imposed on it.

@JoostinOnline There were gamecube games in Korea. It was English games in Japanese style packaging (packaging has Korean text). At least that is what the one play-asia was selling a few years ago was described to be (came with wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine). However the games were Japanese region coded so it might well be that these were made specifically for people who imported Japanese Gamecubes but wanted to play English games and it is correct that their Wiis do not support Gamecube.

@Nibelilt @unrandomsam Powersaves has DRM where you need to connect to their servers and all the cheats are stored on their servers. This protects the livlihgood of Datel and allows the Pokemon Company to issue cease and desit orders (which they have done ). You also have no way to edit saves yourself using that (this is something I miss from the N64 days of action replay when you could make codes yourslef). Problem is a Japanese company came up with their own tool which just dumps the saves and someone made a Pokemon editor for that. Obvious hacks are barred from online.

As much as I don't like the region locking, I hope Nintendo will be able to crush this, as it WILL be used for pirating games.

@Starwolf_UK Sorry, I fixed my mistake. What I meant was there weren't region-specific Korean games. Anyway, that's beside the point. Nintendo can and has bricked modified consoles before.

@ShiningGreninja Hell yeah high fives
I might get the japanese version of Smash now.

time for a new "stability" update again!

BTW, GBATemp acknowledged you guys.
http://gbatemp.net/threads/smealums-homebrew-channel-sneak-peek.370302/page-5

Just because the creators of such mods say they're against online mods, cheats and piracy doesn't mean that others won't take the core of their work and use it for just that. We all know how this goes in reality. I think Nintendo will hammer it to death, so risk it at your peril, especially in its early days.

Even if you're willing to take the small risk of bricking your system when using this the question would be if it has any effect on your digital purchases.
Could you be sure that you can download all of them on a new 3DS?

Yay! now we'll get even more system stability updates!

@ZeroZX_Dev Its still an illegal act whether the gen is old or not. Granted getting old games or running them is very difficult for games like BUG!

Nintendo should instead steal the emulators. Recode it so that it works on the consoles and all the roms the pirates made so that Nintendo will have all the games ready for us to buy.

I would use this just to bypass Nintendo's stupid region-lock. Then I'd finally be able to play Rune Factory 4.

@IceClimbers
No, it doesn't, no more so than any other company. It doesn't force them to localize anything, otherwise Project Rainfall never would have happened. I doubt even Nintendo would think such logic is reasonable, not that they ever give actual explanations for it anyway.

At least without region-locking the option to import and play them still exists, and doesn't require modifications or importing consoles. The latter would be another reason not to remove region locking though.

@IceClimbers
I would guess so.

SMT4 will soon be released in Europe. Just assume everyone who wanted it has imported it and no one will be going to buy the European version. Why even bother translating anymore? Localisation takes work and costs money, so you don't want to localise for nothing.

@BlackHearted1
Like the people who can't wait like two weeks for Smash to be released in their territory?

And isn't Digimon a Bamco game anyway? Could it perhaps have something to do with licensing issues?

@Zombie_Barioth
Sorry, but no one can say if the games wouldn't have been released without Project Rainfall. I think it's quite likely that they would have been released eventually, even without it.

If some people collect consoles and buy different models of the same console just because of a different image on it, then I would think importing a foreign console shouldn't be that much of an issue. Especially when someone wants like 10+ games. Just wait until the console drops in price or look out for used ones. Or you can wait for the next console and if there's backwards compatibility you could basically get two consoles for the price of one.

I've never had homebrew on any of my consoles, but I might get this just to be rid of region locking. One of the stupidest things Nintendo has ever done for a handheld. I won't be buying their next handheld if it is region locked.

Also, region locking doesn't make a difference if games get localised. We still have to pretty much beg for games if Nintendo or the developer doesn't want to attempt to market them. Some developers make their games download only in some regions even when they do localise them when people would like a physical copy.

@Hy8ogen Turns out there all fake. It had Duck Hunt, Ness, Lucas, Ganondorf, and Dr. Mario.

@Rin-go
The fact that other companies had to intervene even with Project Rainfall says otherwise, that and Reggie came right out and said they didn't think theres much interest in those kind of games. Even then they only localized Xenoblade, and only after Gamestop offered to handle manufacturing and distribution. At any rate, the fact that people question their intent is a problem in and of itself.

As for importing, you have to keep import costs and the like in mind too, and its not a question of what people can or can't afford. Why should people have to import another console? There is no reason, except Nintendo wants that extra console sale, and that certainly isn't a good one.

And as for your response to IceClimber's post, if that were true that would make every Sony consoles since the PS2 a major anomaly. In cases where that would be an actual concern they could just region-lock the disk.

I can see a Stability Patch coming the next day the release

@Hyperstar96 Well that escalated quickly. Since you haven't read the EULA that you sign when you buy your Nintendo 3DS, I'll quote it:

"You may not publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, or disassemble any portion of the Software, or bypass, modify, defeat, tamper with, or circumvent any of the functions or protections of your Nintendo 3DS, unless otherwise permitted by law... After your Nintendo 3DS System is updated or changed, any existing or future unauthorized modification of the hardware or software of your Nintendo 3DS System, or the use of an unauthorized device in connection with your Nintendo 3DS System, will render the system permanently unplayable."

Maybe before you go around insulting others, you should get your facts straight.

I'm glad some people here already know about 3DS piracy. I'm only going to mention it because someone else did in another comment- it's called Gateway and I've heard it's pretty faulty (bricked a bunch of systems), and don't know the status of it now, but it still exists so if piracy comes out of the homebrew channel, It won't really be new. Actually, wasn't there an article about it here? Oh yeah, I remember they put in those bricking measures because they didn't want people copying their work.

@unrandomsam Yeah. I don't want one, though I've read about it.

@Starwolf_UK I actually forgot about that! I remember seeing topics on GameFAQs about the Japanese save editor when it came out, but I never heard anything about it afterwards.

@SkywardLink98 You don't sign anything prior to buying a 3DS. Hence it is totally unenforceable. It is sold as a good.

The law is like it is for good reason.

Time to document myself about all the small details on how the 3DS works.

I have a 3ds and a 3ds xl so I will use my old 3ds for homebrew

I don't know how to feel. If it can be turned into something that can pirate games, then bad right? But then, If it allows us to get rid of region lock and stuff (which I don't really care about, but people do) then its good right? I don't know, I'll just wait to see how this turns out.

I will get this if it's real purely so I can play usa and jap games that dont come out over here. If nintendo didnt region lock, I would have no use for this whatsoever

Of course the person who coded this is saying "this won't be used for Piracy"... because it's illegal & he doesn't want to face criminal action! Every single console chipper & hacker that's ever released an illegal rom has said "it's not to be used for Piracy", because they're not stupid.

As for the person who said that the internet & phones wouldn't exist without "hackers" has watched too much Matrix - I'm 33 & grew up while the internet was being developed... I did my A-Level Computing pre-broadband & my dad was a professional programmer for a large software company... & you know what contribution "hackers" made to the internet? Thousands of hours that could have gone into making things faster, cheaper & more fun wasted in LAYERS of security.

Being an coder who works on Open Source systems like Android (which I do) does not make you a 'Hacker', unless you're a 12 year old whose idea of hacking is from dodgy movies.

@DanteSolablood Yes it does and Eric Raymond's opinion is more valid than yours - especially due to his instrumental contribution to open source in the first place. http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

"There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you're a hacker."

That is where it came from.

Now I'm interested in looking into homebrewing in more detail, since I know very little about it.

I hope this doesn't lead to an increase in piracy, but the removal of the region lock sounds great

Who even needs this thing...?

The only reason i can see this being useful would be to play games not released in your country. But, just one system update will ruin this whole thing.

can anybody say gba

Wouldn't Nintendo make money from this, since people will be buying more japanese games?

crying out loud this is a stupid idea

i'll pass and just stick to my wii with homebrew!

also is the wine strong today?

@Rin-go Like i said die hard fans if someone can't wait two weeks for a game to come to there region they are definitely a die hard fan, Especially when they are importing a game for a Region locked console so they would have to import a console as well. And yes Digimon is Bandai-Namco property i was just using it as an example as it is the first unlocalized game that comes to my mind. There are many other Japan exclusive games I assure you that will never be brought over.

Man, some of you guys are ignorant as all hell. The very nature of this exploit IS TOO LOW LEVEL TO ALLOW ANY PIRACY. Besides that, there are already piracy exploits by the means of flashcart, and those guys definitely don't want to stop monetization of piracy. This guy wants nothing to do with piracy, and maybe if you READ anything at all about the exploit you'd stop jumping to conclusions.

The vast majority of you should never get jobs in law or politics because your comprehension skills are either blatantly below par, or you're too damn lazy to read.

I'm not going to read every bodies comments to see if this has been said but i don't see how anybody would think this is a bad thing, People who buy games for pc usually always mod them or create their own games on it. Heck Id software even encourages modders and hires them if their mod is good enough, The only thing that could be bad is if someone makes a hack to disrupt online gameplay, and or a way to play 3ds games for free, What i think should be done is instead of nintendo blocking homebrew, they should work along side it, and monitor the programs and mods for games and the system, if somebody breaks the rules, brick'em.

I just wonder if this will affect Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's Multiplayer Online Quests. If it becomes an issue, I can and will solo the game as I have done with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I will solo all the quests first before I do them online with others. Playing online also lowers the difficulty by nature since you have 3 people helping you.

Why would people want to buy Japanese games if they can't read 'em? What games are EU-exclusive? I find plenty enough to play that's available, thank-you.

@Kaze_Memaryu Homebrew is criminal? Seriously? lol Wow.

You d u m b a s s es get a 3ds emulator no charge no region lock simple!