Citizens Of Earth Pulled From 3DS eShop Following Exploit Discovery

bummer, I wanted to play this game but never got around buying it. Ah well...

Oh I opted for the WiiU version when I purchased the HB!

I was going to grab this for WiiU sometime. I assume it's still available there?

I've downloaded my copy from the HB to my 3DS and I will be playing it and not using the exploit which no doubt will be stopped by rock solid stability soon.

And another reason I kinda wish I sucked it up on the jittery performance and just got the 3DS version. Here's hoping that patching it for resale carries further performance enhancements!

@Lizuka it isn't caused by a vulnerability in the hardware's security, it is down to vulnerabilities in the code of the games, usually in the loading of saved games and not handling unexpected (deliberately modified) bad values.

Basically, not Nintendo's fault.

So, I can still redeem the code and download the game if I haven't already.

I cracked (no pun intended) a joke about the Citizens Of Earth being deported (pun intended) in the "humblehax" (a vomit-inducing name if you ask me) article. But you know the irony?

Both deportation and piracy involve ships.

Kind of a pity. It was like one of the very last games on my wishlist to buy. Just waited until I finish the other games. Still, they may patch it and re-publish just in time when I'm done with the other games.

Wait, wasn't this that game I got with the Humble Bundle?

Huh...strange coincidence.

And I opted for the Wii U version in the Humble Bundle. Blast.

I chose the 3DS version in my HB.

I already happened to get a copy before it was pulled! I doubt I'll be playing it any time soon though.

3DS or Wii U version? Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm glad I picked it up on sale a while ago. Havent really played it, but its a charming game. This is good publicity, though...

I'm never ever ever deleting this game off my sd card then.

@Lizuka Getting "better security", as you say, is precisely what they are doing. And it is the exploit-abusers who are screwing everyone, not the other way around.

Good news to me. Another exploit opportunity taken down.

Better redeem it before they stop having codes function!

Well, that sucks. Hopefully it gets patched and put back on there. I got it thanks to the bundle, and it's pretty good.

Sigh now thanks to some hacker with too much free time on his hands gamers are denied a game and developers are denied money.

I got the Wii U version through Humble Bundle anyways so this doesn't bother me at all

The Humblehax article alerted me to this. I still hadn't decided whether to go for the Wii U or 3DS version.

Funnily enough I opted for the 3DS version as a result

I bought the WiiU version instead. Tried the demo of the 3DS port, I'm sorry but it just isn't any good. They needed to zoom in, or do a proper down-res on the art, because it all just looks smudged and blurry.

@pa261639 If you already paid for the bundle and are offered the choice, I would go for the 3DS version; in my humble opinion it is more suited for handheld, so I also selected that version.

If you haven't bought it yet, then you won't be able to anymore, so then the point would be moot.

@pa261639 Come to think of it, even if you have already bought it, but haven't downloaded it yet, you probably also won't be able to anymore either, since they removed it from the eShop.

I wonder how many people would actually take advantage of the exploit. How much damage would it do for Nintendo I wonder.

@Asaki I have no idea what you're moaning about. Never tried the demo, so maybe that was worse, but the game is just fine. Sure, it's obviously no hi-res version, but the graphics are fine and the in-game text is perfectly readable.

and I got the wii u version. Oh well, there are plenty of usable games now.

I got the 3DS version.

I got the Wii U version.

Glad I opted for the Wii U version

3DS version here was looking for portability and now I got exclusivity along with it. (For now anyways.)

I didn't like the demo much but the bundle forced the game on me, but if it is even half as good as Earthbound...

The graphics on the demo were totally fine BTW for anyone else wondering after that guys comment.

Got mine on Wii U as I prefer the big screen. Hopefully they will patch up the 3DS one; I'd hate to see people miss out on this game because of some exploit.

I got the WiiU version but I wonder if we wouldn't have found out about this or maybe not as soon without it being in the HB

@ThanosReXXX http://images.nintendolife.com/screenshots/65450/large.jpg

@Asaki Yeah the 3DS version of this game is awful.Way too small, the graphics are blurry and it has framerate problems as well. Sucks

Still need to redeem my codes, this is one of the games I am most looking forward to playing. I hope they patch the game and get back on the eshop so people can buy it again. Same with the other games.

So because of an exploit there's a chance the bugs on this game may be fixed? Sounds like a win to me if that's the case I got the 3ds one in both the humble bundles I got for my 2 3ds'

@ThanosReXXX Ugh...why does everyone think that RPG's are more suited to handhelds?! I prefer lengthy games on my home consoles because I don't want to go blind playing on a tiny screen for too long...

@Asaki Right... as if a stamp-sized screenshot is going to persuade me to change my personal opinion based on my own experience with the game. And screenshots never do a real screen justice anyways...

I have a 3DS XL, so the picture is large enough, the graphics are fine like I said before and I can also clearly read the text, so there are no issues for me with the 3DS version, sorry to disappoint you.

@Neko_Ichigofan Not because it's an RPG, but because the 16-bit aesthetics seem more fitting for a handheld to me, it is just my personal opinion, nothing more. No need to make a "I'm so disgusted by all these people that... " debate out of it.

And nothing will happen to your eyes: I'm 46 and I can use the "tiny screen" just fine, so that seems to be a bit over the top, there.

@ThanosReXXX Except I have very poor eyesight. My vision is 20/50 so the small screen is hard on my eyes...

@Neko_Ichigofan Ah okay, my bad. Didn't know that. I have contacts myself, but they're not that strong.

Thankfully, I already have this game from an earlier sale. It's a pretty fun game (even though I haven't beaten it yet)

Oh well I got the wii u version

I did, in fact, get a copy before it was pulled, as soon as I heard of the exploit.

I was worried I lost out on a game from the bundle, but I just put in the code for it and it miraculously still redeemed and downloaded.

@ThanosReXXX It's not the size of the screen, it's the resolution, and the resampling algorithm used. I just find it way too squished and blurry on the 3DS, whereas on the WiiU the resolution is almost five times higher, and I think the art is one of the best parts about the game. But I'm not disappointed. If one enjoys the 3DS version, and/or doesn't have anything else to play it on, I guess that's cool.

Although it seems to be pretty buggy no matter what platform you choose.

@khululy It'll be back (sooner than later, I'd imagine). Nintendo pulled - pun intended - the same exact thing with Ironfall Invasion for a similar exploit. Then, it popped back onto the eShop again when it was patched. I tried the Citizens of Earth demo and didn't care for it at all. While it takes the same approach of using modern settings (opposed to fantasy ones) as the Mother series does, I found it to be rather dull and honestly kind of boring. Give the demo a try, though: you might like it; I just didn't.

@Asaki Obviously it is never going to look as good as on a big screen and in HD, but I was never debating that. Just saying that in my opinion, it looks just fine for a 3DS game and the text is perfectly readable.

I'm not that far into the game yet, so I still have to find out about any bugs. I hope they aren't game-breaking, then...

Picked it up when I upgraded to an XL back in 2014, but I'm still not too far into the game (still have a habit of collecting, and booting up games a lot, but I can't play as much as I used to - my life and hard work would be over lol), but I loved what I DID play. Should be back real soon at least, unlike gb tetris, which was pulled when Ultimate Tetris launched (so it didn't undermine its sales imo). Man, I miss that version of Tetris. Really wanting to beat my personal line record from when I was 10 yrs old (267 lines) but ...Nintendo pulled it. Hoping "VVVVVV" gets Atlus' treatment as well, as it was yanked for this exact reason earlier in the month. Its on my list, but no word yet if its ever coming back.

Edit - just scored a gb copy of Tetris on cart. Wow its tough to hit the 200 line mark consistently.

Citizens of Earth apparently can't be a citizen of the 3DS's own earth. What's stupid about all of these shutdowns of electronic games with secondary exploits is that the action of pulling a game from the eShop only affects people who want to legitimately purchase the game and Nintendo content. It does not affect the people that can download anything from the eShop directly from CDN and can therefore download delisted games such as this anyway for free (aka piracy). Plus, any electronic only game that has an exploit is a secondary exploit by definition. The only homebrew enabling exploits that really matter are primary exploits (Ninjhax, Smashbroshax, and formerly Browserhax andTubehax) and secondary cartridge game exploits such as PSMDhax and OoT3Dhax. But I don't see any of those games being pulled. PSMD and Smash are both breadwinners for the 3DS at this point and are still being sold on the eShop in an exploitable state, and Ocarina of Time 3D is still on the eShop and remains exploitable too. And for goodness sake, even though Cubic Ninja was never on the eShop in North America or Europe, Nintendo let Gamestop order a reprint of the game so they could sell "used" copies (read: these were freshly printed carts with used stickers on them) of the game for $35.00 a piece.
What this all comes down to is Nintendo is perfectly okay with exploiting the needs of users who want homebrew to make more money. After all, Ninjhax is patched in 11.0 for now, and guess when Gamestop got the reprint for the game? A couple of weeks before 11.0's release. That's not a coincidence, Nintendo knows when firmware updates will be released, so this move was clearly exploitation of demand for homebrew to get sales and publicity, and so they could get a bunch of people to buy a $5 game for $35 that doesn't even work for homebrew on the current system version of 11.0 (It works perfectly on 4.0-10.7 still, but you get my point). The other point this shows is that Nintendo is perfectly willing to take down other people's games with homebrew exploits, including indie devs who have really done no wrong and have just been getting cozy in Nintendo's business model, but not their own, heavily profitable 3DS games with exploits. That's lame, and it shows how on the outside indie devs still are, even in Nintendo's "welcoming" environment. Plus, since there's no real actual problem that pulling the game actually solves, I would consider all of these game takedowns to be a GTA style "all press is good press" publicity hoard. Even though Nintendo is getting attention for all this, it's not a good thing. Pulling any game for the eShop reduces sales of the game (obviously), but it also reduces the trust the devs have for the company. Even worse, and the last point I want to mention, is that pulling games from the eShop encourages even more homebrewing and piracy to take place. People will work harder to find another exploit, possibly on another eshop only title, or better yet cartridge game exploit, and people who will want the game after it was pulled will be willing to go through the full process in order to be able to pirate/download any game and play it on their 3DS including this game and VVVVVV. So, good job, Nintendo. You've managed to piss off a huge indie studio by pulling their game for an exploit not-already-haxxed people can't even utilize, making them have reduced sales, and encouraging piracy of the game itself and the entire library of 3DS games along with it. Oh, and this is the second time you have done this in a month. So, this is officially the worst way to hit 2 birds (games) with 1 stone (pulling the game off of the eshop) I have ever seen.

@AlexSora89 I knew a guy who said he ate a devil's fruit. He ate the boat boat fruit, giving him the ability to turn into a boat but costing him the ability to touch water.

Then he cried.

@all commenters: Got this game in the humble bundle. Started a whirl on it today, happy I did, absolutely love it. Get it on wii u.