Nintendo Slams 3DS Homebrew App Which Enables Piracy With Takedown Notice

Weird, they don't seem to bothered about the WiiU version.

So not much different to the emulation debate then¿

Cue the 'piracy is theft' sjws.

So is it
Freeshop
or
freeShop?
Just curious.

Never expected to see articles just as this here. Guess NL has finally sold out to the dark side! *grabs cookie

@gcunit cue the gamergate idiots with their sjw paranoia

I'm guessing this isn't something that Nintendo can patch out with their "stability" updates, hence the DMCA.

@RupeeClock
I think that's the point with the second quote: you could argue that CD ripping tools facilitates music piracy, but it's really intent that is the issue, not the software itself.

I'm not sure I see the point in the app itself from the sound of it (unless it allows faster download speed or something - but with 3DS's sleep mode functionality, it's not a big issue in my experience), but the piracy is being done by third party exploits, not by the author's intention. Perhaps Nintendo lawyer team doesn't see potential ways in which the app could be patched against any such exploits?

@shaneoh pretty much. Before iTunes & Co, there was a whole period in transition from CD players to MP3 players where CD ripping tools were a handy way of managing the music you already own. Then again, I understand that simply appealing to consumer conscience and having faith in it isn't the most reliable business strategy in this field.

Ugh... Nightmare.
Piracy is root of all criminals.

@gcunit piracy isn't theft, piracy is just eternal full trial because I need to try before I buy, then I feel like the game is okay but doesn't deserve the amount of my money they're asking and then again, I already have the game on my HDD anyway and it's not like it disappeared from the developers' and publishers', is it?

Ooooh freeShop sounds interesting. Could I use it to download all my games onto one of my many other 3DS consoles? No way in hell I'm buying 100+ games again! Well, if it hadn't been taken down of course.

@nhSnork
Easy way and legal : Watch first from Youtube before you decide to purchase the games OR Watch from someone or your friends while they are playing the games. If you like the game, buy that title. If you don't like, you can skip, don't buy.

No sympathy for the developer. It doesnt matter what the intention was, he knew full well what the tool can be used for. He broke the user agreement, he gets shut down. Nothing he can do about it.

From the 3DS User Agreement, section 1.3: "You may not use or attempt to use the Nintendo 3DS Services for any commercial or illegal purpose, or in a way that may harm another person or entity, or in an unauthorised or otherwise improper manner."

From section 1.4: "However, if Nintendo becomes aware of possibly unlawful or inappropriate User-Generated Content, Nintendo reserves the right to delete or to block access to such content at its own discretion, in particular, without limitation, by way of the User-Generated Content Restriction System."

We all had to click Agree when we activated our 3DS.

While it doesn't directly violate Nintendo's protection measures, it does provide a huge shortcut to bypass them, so Nintendo is perfectly within their rights to shut it down just as they do against other piracy hacks like that Cubic Ninja thing whether or not they also have legitimate uses.

As for the banking analogy, imagine there was a third party banking app that made it more convenient to access your bank account but did so by cutting corners on your account security, thereby making it easier for another party to hack your account through the app. Would that be allowed to stand?

I don't get what's so great about this freeShop app anyway, seeing as you can already redownload games you already own for free. The only real legitimate use I can see is backing up your physical retail purchases on an SD card in case you ever lose the game card.

Little freeShop of Horrors.
I... really don't have anything to add. I just got "Little Shop of Horrors" stuck in my head as I read "shop" so often. Piracy is bad, mmkay.

Wow I can't believe people actually get mad at stuff like this.

Also amazed by how many of those on the forums admitting that they pirated games and feel the need not to get into trouble for it and hope he fights it and wins.

So we live in a world where we think stealing is ok?

Around where I work they sell 3DS with freeshop included and the tutorial ready to download games. The tool lends itself to piracy.
Plus, why would you want to download a game already own?

Sure it's not for piracy. Sure. I believe you.

I dare the "The Cruel" to take Nintendo to court over this "DMCA Notice". They won't do it, as Nintendo will royally screw them over and the amount of damage in cost will be crazy.

At the end of the day, Nintendo is a massive business and messing with them won't be a good idea. Using this alternative method to download games is a breach to Nintendo's policy, so most likely "The Cruel" will take it down.

I'm not sure I understand this...

After reading this, I looked some videos about it, and I'm amazed...

Guy, this app does absolutely nothing.

Yes yes, you heard me. This app does nothing.
Actually, after doing the "illegal things" outside this app to have access to all game on the FreeShop, you can also have free access to all game in the eShop itself.

But I have to say that it's hard to understand what the freeShop is, then.

@gcunit How is piracy a social justice issue? The word you're looking for is "moralists"

@nhSnork
That is like saying:
"I didn't steal it from Walmart, I just borrowed it without anyone noticing so I can test it out first. I'll pay once I know it's worth the price."

@nhSnork
You're intent to buy a game is decreased if you can access it for free. Your reasoning is just a bunch of bull pirates have been saying for years to free them of guilt.

Look at reviews and watch let's plays like the rest of us, clown.

@LUIGITORNADO that's the fourth or fifth such comment I'm getting instead of the poster I was replying to - enough to wonder which emoticons can convey sarcasm properly. XD But colour me reassured by these responses.

This types of articles never fails. Good on you NL, getting a lot of traffic the easy way.

And here is my contribution

@nhSnork If you pirate a game and have it in your HDD it doesn't disappear from the developer's archive and it doesn't prevent others from using it, that is true with all softwares, does that mean all softwares should be free? I can imagine we won't have a lot of games being release if that becomes a reality.

I used emulators and pirated games for quite some time, I didn't have money to buy them so that was my only way to enjoy them. Including some nintendo titles (My parents couldn't afford a console) I didn't have enough information to know that was wrong. But now that I have my own money I'm more than happy paying for my games. Sometimes I like what I buy and sometimes I don't. That's how it work.

I'm pretty sure the only people who defends piracy had never created anything in their life. Because otherwise they will understand how piracy affects creators.

Ok I think i understand the gist of it now...

The question is if owning a physical copy of a game actually entitles you to a digital download of said game? In Nintendo's eyes they are two separate objects. It's not like you are copying the data on your game card (which is the publisher's property anyways) but acquiring an entirely new set of data direct from the eShop.

So yeah, I find myself siding with Nintendo, cos it almost sounds like believing you are entitled to a second edition print of a book because you happen to own the first edition print.

Besides, it's almost a case of wanting it all; we have the choice of a digital and physical copy. If you want it all then pay up! I have on a few occasions. If not then live with the fact that each format has its pros and cons and live with your preferred option and all it's niggles.

@Billsama exactly. I was on a Jolly Roger voyage for quite a while myself - even in my student years, in fact, since the scholarship was only so big and Pipe Mania and Lumines were pretty much all you could get in local retail for the handhelds back then. And don't get me started on my childhood marked with Atari 2600, NES, Mega Drive... YEAH RIGHT, marked with "Rambo", "Subor" and "Mega Drive 4" to be exact - post-Soviet 1990s invented clone wars before George Lucas did. XD Besides, I owe it to emulators that I was able to play many a game not even released or translated in the west, or that I was able to hear the original voicework via undubs - but even there I've also already made use of what PSN and Virtual Console offer in terms of legal emulation, me and my wallet hopeful for the further expansion of those services. Nowadays I have a job and some income to spare, I have consoles that allow to get games digitally instead of the ever sparse retail, and I can attest from both experiences that actually owning games and giving one's bit of support to the people who made them is ultimately where it's at.

Obtaining games from the eShop without paying for them (outside of gifts or free prizes), is illegal on all accounts. Nintendo has every right to sue or take down the freeShop.

LOL they deserved the takedown notice and they had best hope Nintendo doesn't send the Ninja Lawyers after them too.

If this was meant just for games already owned I feel it wouldn't be called "Freeshop" but whatever this is already over the guy will give in.

Setting aside the "moths to a flame" discussion of piracy for a moment, the legally gray purpose of freeShop is basically to ensure that you can easily continue to be able to redownload games directly from Nintendo for backup/copying purposes, or to play the games you've bought across multiple devices, instead of it just being stuck on one device. In other words, it enables a DRM-free measure that is normally available on PC gaming services like GOG.com. Otherwise, there's not much difference from using a CFW 3DS with a modded SysNAND to access the normal eShop.

Other than the above stated purpose, the freeShop is already a bit outdated in the homebrew scene if you're only using it in a legally gray way. It's been around for about 7 months now. (Nintendo was strangely slow to act on it, compared to things like Pokémon Prism, although their Australian division was responsible for taking that down, and the US/NA division is responsible for taking freeShop down.) It used to be more useful for earlier CFW users who relied on EmuNAND to spoof their system version and safely access the normal eShop. Nowadays, the newer types of CFW have become much more common, of which mostly obsoleted the need for EmuNAND based version spoofing on a CFW system.

So for new legal gray users, this basically amounts to a loss of DRM-free capabilities with this program. There are still other more involved ways to replicate this function, so it's annoying, but not a huge loss overall. DMCA doesn't stop torrenting, of course... It's a pretty heavy handed, outdated US law made by baby boomer era neoliberals who don't really know what they're doing when it comes to technology. So I agree that the content of the law itself is pretty laughable, although Nintendo has certainly been flexing it to their great pleasure.

Coming back to the "obviously obvious" bonfire this comment section is roasting in, this action by Nintendo does indeed stop direct piracy from the eShop (for now). Meanwhile, copy card users who are willing to pay a premium continue to pirate physical game copies at their leisure... And now that the eShop .CIA's are out there, Pandora's Box has already been opened. No matter what Nintendo does, they cannot put the contents back in, even if they can close the lid.

Nintendo would have been much better served by taking aggressive action against companies that profit from making copy cards. By contrast, there's no profit to be had in the making or use of freeShop. Most people aren't going to go through the effort of modding their system, so taking down freeShop should have been a lower priority on Nintendo's list than copy cards.

The technical barriers to accessing and using freeShop prevent it from seriously hurting Nintendo's own profit margins, whereas the propagation of copy cards creates a serious violation, since it completely circumvents Nintendo's services. There's definitely a difference between the two- freeShop can be used in a benign way, whereas the use of copy cards is inherently malignant. Failure to recognize this, by conflating the two, can only be drawn from a lack of nuanced comprehension.

They can shut it down, but it still won't stop the people who have it from using it. ¯(ツ)/¯

@ZurapiiYohane64 So you're a selective pirate?

@Luna_110 I can think of one reason to download games you already own. If you have physical copies of a lot of games, and recently got a larger SD card, you might be interested in converting all your physical titles to digital if at all possible. Nintendo doesn't have any kind of option for that, so for that situation, a person may use this app to download the games they own physically so they can store them digitally, thus reducing the amount of things you have to carry with you or worry about losing. Nintendo even has an official app in the eshop that lets you transfer your physical game saves to be used in your digital titles.

Why would anyone need an app to download your purchased games if you can already do that through the eShop?

That said, this is an interesting case, because obviously Nintendo has the right to defend their property, but the developer is not entirely wrong either, I can buy the analogy of the banking website.

@3MonthBeef @BulbasaurusRex @nab1 I think the analogy hurts their reasoning. He should have expressed in no uncertain terms that the primary benefit of using his program was to enable DRM-free capabilities that are already normally available on PC gaming services such as GOG and Humble Bundle. He also should have elaborated on how the DMCA is an outdated and draconian law that has historically been harmful much more often than it has been helpful. I don't know why people like using analogies so much, it's difficult to create a truly apt one...

@Moon That could be heaven for me. I have like 200 games scatter around 6 different 3DSes (don't ask). I'll love to have them in my new 3DS. Is the only reason why I haven'y download many of the NES games from VC as they require a new 3DS and I'm not gonna fragment my collection any further.

@duffmmann That could be so cool. I have like 120 physical games that I could want on a single micro SD card, without having to buy them again.

EDIT: if only Nintendo could come up with some kind of software that checks (periodically) for the cart you have in your 3DS and allows you to download it to the system. I say periodically (like every 2-4 weeks), since it could allow to piracy their tittles even further.

@maceng Well, freeShop allows you to put all those games into one system, if you so desire, even if they were bought across multiple systems. That's the DRM-free way. It's not easy in this case, though, it takes some work.

Did this guy have permission directly from NIntendo to go ahead with this "problem-solver"? If yes, then it's totally not illegal and Nintendo has indeed made a mistake in shutting it down. However, if the answer is no, then they had this coming. Simple as that really. Doesn't matter if it was created with good intentions or not - unless they were explicitly told by Nintendo that something like this wouldn't be a problem, then Nintendo finding out about it and shutting it down was only a matter of when. Not how.

@Syrek24 Aren't SJW's those who endlessly rant about and dictate what other people should and should not do, according to their own personal sense of morality?

The name kind of gives the author's intentions away, doesn't it? I mean, it's called *Free*shop...

@GeminiSaint "Free" can also mean "Free as in Freedom." That does apply to the free software movement, but also to DRM-free PC concepts, of which have managed to wriggle into proprietary systems as well.

@MarcelRguez A moralist is just someone who strives to live according to good morals, mixed with their own personal sense of morality. They disagree with questionable morals, but their own good morals prevent them from attacking other people unless it's in immediate self defense. An SJW is someone who takes that to an extreme and goes out on a crusade to convince the world that everyone who doesn't agree with them to the tee is evil, no nuance or individuality allowed. (Unless, of course, it fits in with their particular vision.)

@boatie Not that I necessarily agree with them, but last I checked, no one in Gamergate has attended an international United Nations conference. Meanwhile, people like Kim Kardashian have actually attended UN conferences and acted as envoys for SJW's, polluting events that are supposed to be about improving the conditions of the worldwide populace with her propaganda. Now, you can actually be imprisoned for several months by insulting someone in a certain way in Canada. There's a reason why so many people are paranoid or even afraid of SJW's: they have power backers to bring about about their vision.

@Syrek24 lmao do you buy everything u own? u buy episodes of game of thrones, all the music, TV shows etc? because if you don't that's still piracy. Gaming is no different and these corporations are all filthy rich anyway, feels bad for small indie developers but not Nintendo/ea/Activision.

Afaic they're not re selling games under different names and taking profit (if only by ads from download pages , but even that u can block) , they're just distributing a file. Personally homebrew on phones and handhelds is a must these things are portable and powerful you want to be flexible af with them. You'd be amazed what you're missing out on, region free, N3Ds overclock, mods for games (ie different sprites for ORAS etc) much more

Don't know, don't care, lol

@PlywoodStick Trump got elected on a "kicking all the brown people out of the country" platform, so I think worrying about the "SJWs" potentially maybe putting someone in jail in a possible future is still more like paranoia

@PlywoodStick The way I see it, SJW is one of those terms that says more about the person employing it than about the one on the receiving end. And piracy has next to nothing to do with social justice issues, so I'm not seeing the connection.

To me, it sounds like I could use freeshop to facilitate a system transfer to my new 3ds from my old one to combine the games from both since my old one's hinge broke. The only issue is the transferring of save files to a system with a different linked account.

@boatie He epitomizes the opposite extreme. Both extremes can be pretty scary. And both are a reality.

@Syrek24 It's common sense that piracy is wrong, no matter how much someone tries to say otherwise.
That's not my point, but whatever.

@Mopati If you configure it with a single file from elsewhere, the download client will grab the e-shop ticket (what you normally receive through e-shop after a purchase) and install any game present in the freeshop games list (not sure how it is called) who is regularly updated with titles added on a certain website.

What is funny is that "freeshop" is not the first amateur download client. There is another one notably who does the exact same things without the nice interface.

The problem comes first from the persons who bought a game (legally) then "ripped" a certain code and uploaded it on the 3DS titles database website.

@ollietaro If you have access to freeshop, then you have access to the various save extractors/managers. Simply extract the saves on the first device, then copy the resulting files on the other console SD card and import again.
The main legality problem is still here however: the games you (re-)installed on the second 3DS are illegally downloaded and owned.

Oh boo hoo this guy should have known well what he was getting into. He broke user agreement and he paid the price for it. I can't believe people are actually defending this guy. It doesn't matter what his intentions were this basically could have easily opened a door to hackers and exploits. Nintendo had good reaosn to shut this down

@Syrek24 For the majority of human history, I would absolutely agree. However, with the advent of the information/digital age, the details have become muddied and far less clear. The very law used here by Nintendo is in fact one that was created not much more than 10 years ago. (Actually 16, almost 17 years ago.) And there is indeed a precedent in concept for the contents of this law: the laws of Draco, a legislator of 7th century B.C. Athens. The most significant difference to his work in this case is that the punishment is not the death of a person, but rather the (sort of) death of something virtual. The lineage of a heavy hand remains, though.

@3MonthBeef Hey, you actually made a good analogy there! Kudos to you.

Yeah, it does seem like there will always be contention in this topic when it comes to proprietary hardware. Nintendo isn't going to budge. Some will continue to struggle, but it's becoming increasingly comfortable to buy software DRM-free on PC.

So the software is infringing upon the use of the eShop banner and logo? Well I guess it makes sense in that regard, but it seems like it doesn't apply to actually using title keys to download games, is that correct? Or am I missing something?

@MarcelRguez That is true, yes. The term is a warped and mangled shadow of it's origins to begin with, anyways. I usually hesitate to use it myself, since it's so loaded, but I use it here to describe the extreme knee jerk reactions that are so common on this subject. It indeed doesn't have anything to do with the actual subject matter.

@Shirma_Akayaku Well, Nintendo didn't actually use common copyright law for this particular takedown, which would have been the case if it were simply infringement of the logo. These pages have more details on how the DMCA is used:

https://www.eff.org/issues/dmca

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/07/section-1201-dmca-cannot-pass-constitutional-scrutiny

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/07/eff-sues-us-government-saying-copyright-rules-on-drm-are-unconstitutional/

I'm with Nintendo on this. It's all fair and good creating an app which lets you download games you own, given that it's on legal terms. But for it to be easily exploitable leaves the gate open for piracy... don't be so surprised they want to stop it.

@PlywoodStick preach it. I think people are missing the whole point.

@123akis I often try games before purchasing them. If there's no demo around, how else I can know if it is worth my time? If I don't like it, I just delete it. If it is good, I buy it.
I think most of the entertainment have some kind of preview - music, movies and books... and games should have them especially (as demos). Buying something blindly because a review said it is good, often ended in regret.
I keep only obscure or old games which you cannot buy anymore. They aren't sold anymore, you may not even find them at second hand shops/pawn shops.

But I understand the controversy around the topic. I do not approve piracy, personaly.

@KTT I'm puzzled, how are you 'trying' these games without pirating them?

Wow, surprised nintendo took notice.

It's ridicoulous easy to use that app. However, another one is still on the loose. I wonder if nintento will take action.

Surprised they haven't updated the wii u though. Piracy there is laughably easy. Perhaps they don't care anymore.

Who knows...

@gcunit Piracy doesn't have to be theft for it to be wrong you know?

@Syrek24
People can consider piracy morally wrong, but the death of entire libraries of games is worse. I'll take the lesser of two evils.

@Syrek24
"They know they're in the wrong, thus why they fight so fiercly to prove that their is a grey moral area, when one truly does not exist"

I agree that stealing is wrong. Period. End of discussion. The question isn't whether stealing is wrong, but whether piracy is always necessarily stealing.

Piracy isn't in and of itself wrong as far as I'm concerned. Like pretty much everything else in this world, it boils down to individual intention to determine whether it's actually an act of theft, and that will vary person to person.

If your intentions are to steal and circumvent paying, then yes that's theft. Plain and simple. No getting around that fact. But I f your intentions are convenience by putting games you've purchased physically all on your device digitally (because it would be criminal to have to pay twice for the same game on the same platform) then no, that's not wrong, even if it's not legal (it is in some cases though). Now, if you then turn around and sell your physical copy and keep the digital... ya that's wrong. Could someone abuse this and use it as an excuse to actually steal? Sure. But you would have to know a person's inner thoughts and heart's intentions to make that determination.

As for trying before you buy... no I wouldn't say that's wrong even though it's not legal. However, I would argue that many who claim that is all they are doing... are lying, even to themselves. It is up to each individual to act responsibly, and no one else can know your heart's intentions. So I can't definitively accuse someone of doing wrong (unless they outright admit to wrongful intentions)... only they know whether they were hiding behind the excuse of demo-ing a game to play it free, or if they actually were legitimately curious to see if it was worth buying. But we will all stand before God one day, and people will be held accountable then. But until that day comes, people can attempt to police morals all they want but it will never work. It's up to each individual to act responsibly.

It's like saying "killing is wrong". Nooooo... murder is wrong. Killing happens all the time, and often with innocent intentions. Pedestrian jumps out in front of a car and you kill them. Was it wrong? No, just an unfortunate accident. But if you swerved out of your way with the intention of hitting them, then it becomes murder and that is wrong.

Same idea here. In fact I agree with what you said: "there is no gray area". Your intentions are either to circumvent payment for a given product (or fascilitate such actions for others), or they aren't. And there are many instances- for example putting all your physical games on a console digitally for convenience, that is not in the interest of stealing. It can certainly be abused or hidden behind as an excuse, yes, but only each person knows in their heart whether they would have been willing to shell out another $5000 to own every game they've already purchased... a second time for the sake of convenience. And I, for one, am most certainly not willing to spend that much money to own all my games a second time for convenience. So when I put my games that I own and bought with my hard-earned money on my device digitally as a back up copy, or when I play games I own on a PC to enjoy higher resolution or virtual saves, I do so with a clear conscience knowing that I am not cheating them out of any profit or money. Because I know if I couldn't back them up digitally, I wouldn't bother at all.

And I know that how I enjoy products I've purchased (such as playing a GameCube game I own on PC where I can have 4K and restore points) is my business. Is someone really going to point the finger at me and tell me I can't enjoy a game I bought in better resolution? It's not like there's a remastered version for sale somewhere that I'm skipping out on buying- if they sold a remastered version in HD I would be the first one in line coughing up even more cash. But I've paid them to the fullest extent I can pay them for this game and now I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest extent. Prohibiting me from enjoying my own products how I choose to enjoy them... that is wrong.

@Syrek24

Things like DRM and region-protection are anti-consumer, and I find anti-consumer practices to be morally wrong. Section 1201 of the DMCA may make it illegal to circumvent these practices, but I, along with many others, feel this law is unjust. (As PlywoodStick pointed out, the EFF is suing the US government over it.) So trying to deny the existence of a moral or even a legal grey area is an oversimplification of a complex issue.

Well Nintendo protects her endangered profits not "the security of its platform". I would like 3ds open for emulation and such.

@Tsurii
Why not explain why he's a moron using your in depth knowledge of law and how freeShop works?

@PlywoodStick Well, the DRM-free nature of the PC scene doesn't provide shortcuts to pirate other games on the service.

Also, due to the need to install the games directly from your account on the services and the various PC background modifications that prevent a direct transfer of installed game data, you can't just sell a copy of the game to a random outside party without giving up access to your account, which would just be stupid. This kind of protection doesn't currently exist in the video game market except by DRM.

@BulbasaurusRex That applies to Steam, Origin, Uplay, and others of the like. That does not apply to GOG, Humble Bundle/Store, Desura, Gamer's Gate, (sometimes) Amazon, and others of the like. And of course, sales by direct download don't need an account or DRM.

It's interesting to note that some people are using the "Nintendo shouldn't do this, they should be going after bigger targets" argument as if that's how life works. Being pecked to death by a hundred crows & being hit in the head with a mallet both result in the same thing... death. No business can afford to work in such a "bottom-backward" way.

In regard to the legality of the app in general, even if there was a genuine need for the app outside of piracy, which I doubt as the BEST description I've heard for it's use is effectively for "people breaching their terms of service to more efficiently breach their terms of service & allowing large scale piracy is just a byproduct of breaching their terms of service", MOST illegal enterprises that allow piracy always find a "legitimate" use to hide behind.

I seem to remember that PSP game cloners used the "backup" excuse to legitimize game sharing. The scale was so big Sony were effectively forced into making their storage proprietary for the Vita to try and circumvent the cloning... effectively killing the Vita.

@Trikeboy EULAs are not legally binding, though.

Basically, Freeshop downloaded content straight from the eShop servers using a file that contains the decryption keys for said content. This file is never included in the release at all. One can dump their own file from their 3DS, however it is less complete than the "crowd sourced" version of the file as it will only contain keys from titles you bought (duh). This is not the only app that does this, there are many others that do the exact same thing, the only reason this one in particular got DMCAed is because it actually entered the public spotlight, unlike the other copycat tools. If it hadn't, you wouldn't be reading this article.

@Mopati You can't use it without having full ARM9 kernel access to the console anyway, and 99.9% of people with a 3DS on >11.X certainly do not have that. And please note that is is not something you can run from Homebrew Launcher- it's an installable app only.

@dimi Homebrew Launcher allows the running of emulators. Please note that homebrew "apps" (in .cia format) are much different from homebrew "applications" in (.3dsx format). Stuff like Freeshop are in .cia format only, meaning you need A9LH/CFW sysNAND/stock 9.0-9.2 to install it. .3dsx homebrew can be run from Homebrew Launcher without A9LH/CFW/stock 9.0-9.2, including emulators, although performance is much better on New3DS compared to old3DS.

I wonder how about unfortunate peoples who never knew what it called a piracy ?

Let's say, there is a newbie want to buy a video games but with low budget. And then he/she buy from seller who offers him/her a modded video games and pirated games. The newbie gamer doesn't even know what is modded, pirated things and they never know or see the original things, but they keep buy that pirated things due to cheap price.

From this case, some people buy the pirated things because they have NO Idea what it called Pirated, Modded, and such of things like that. If they know the original way is more expensive than pirated, most of them will show shocked reactions and then followed by rejection to buy pricey stuffs like that. But perhaps some of them will realized that was a wrong way to buy things and followed by regret feeling, promise to buy the original. This situation I believe occured in most place in the world, the consumer that never knew about gaming industry, try to buy video games but unfortunately there are some black market that sells modded video games and pirated copies, those unfortunate consumer fallen into trap of piracy once they got addicted into easy peasy way to play video games even in illegal way. Also, I noticed for some people who grown up in NO gaming culture will more like easily to be fooled by pirated video games.

@zip This is probably because of the 33c3 Nintendo Hacking 2016 talk- Nintendo had to prove it's not "game over" for them even though someone has dumped both the ARM9 and ARM11 3DS protected bootroms.

@Anti-Matter Yeah I think it's more common in certain places to actually have sellers and availability of physically pirated games+consoles, not where I live but elsewhere.

@Gridatttack They're not making any money on Wii U games, people who wanted the console this holiday season couldn't even find it on store shelves for crying out loud

@KTT Yeah some games (4 Swords, Fieldrunners) you can't actually redownload from the actual eShop anymore at all, and others (like the Tetris games on the 3DS) you can't actually legitimately purchase on the eShop anymore, so you would have to use something like this to get access to those games.

Even if these direct download apps get DMCAed, the pirate sites won't and they'll probably host binaries of them soon...

@BulbasaurusRex Did you know that Gamestop INTENTIONALLY ordered a reprint of Cubic Ninja from Nintendo and they accepted? Nintendo is all ARRGHGHGHGH against homebrew/hacks until they make bank from it.

Also, Soundhax is completely FREE and allows the same hacks as Cubic Ninja does on current firmware http://soundhax.com/

@RadioShadow It won't matter, the latest binary is probably already in a torrent by now...

@jaxrogers2 EULAs are legally binding & enforceable, while some EULAs have been found to be invalid in the past, this was mostly because they were poorly written or overreaching what was legal. In this specific case I think "reverse engineering for interoperability" may be relevent... in which case following Davidson & Associates v. Jung, license agreements which restrict reverse engineering are definitely enforceable.

@3MonthBeef You need CFW to run installable apps like freeshop though. To install any kind of CFW, we must first upgrade or downgrade to system version 9.0, 9.1, or 9.2 (depending on console region). This is easily accomplished via the Homebrew Launcher on 9.3-10.7. 11.X makes it much harder to downgrade, you need NAND access (via a hacked DSiWare game+save or a hardmod) to downgrade 11.X consoles to 9.2.

The best method to run CFW is called arm9loaderhax, or A9LH. A9LH allows you to keep ARM9 access on current firmware, including the latest system version (11.2). Updating, formatting, system transferring, etc does NOT remove A9LH from your system. In order to install A9LH, you need to visit system version 2.1.0-4. Instead of downgrading like we did with 9.0-9.2, we used a premade ctrtransfer image. This image is in the same format as a NAND backup but it does not contain any console unique data. Using the same program we used to make a NAND backup, we transfer the ctrtransfer data to our console. When we boot up, we are now on 2.1.0-4, even if you have a New3DS, this will work. From there, we go to a certain page in the browser that gets ARM9 access and launches the A9LH installer. The reason we have to be on 2.1.0-4 for this is because we can only dump the OTP, a requirement to install A9LH, on system versions <3.0, and we can only dump the OTP through the browser on 2.1.0-4. But basically, once the exploit works, you just hit select to install A9LH to your console. Then, you power your console off. From there, we can now hold certain buttons on power on to boot applications that need ARM9 access, like the program used to make and restore NAND backups. We then use A9LH to boot this program and restore our backup we made on 9.2. Then, we can then update our console since we have A9LH installed to the latest version. I have A9LH installed on both an old3DS and a New3DS. They are both on system version 11.2, but remember, because I have A9LH installed, I can always have ARM9 access on boot no matter what system version I'm on.

@nhSnork I've used it before (not for piracy I swear) and it's extremely slow.

I think it would be used best for downloading a copy of a digital game you own in case the data gets corrupted and it gets taken down. They also have free games there. I don't see much use for it but I did end up getting more save files for certain games which is always nice . I could have easily used it for piracy though and I think taking down a key download website would have been a much better decision since it would make it much easier to pirate games.
TL;DR: nothing wrong with it but very limited use cases

@PlywoodStick At least copy cards (with the notable exception of that one card that works on current firmware) are obsolete when it comes to CFW. Open source CFW is so much better...

@Braok It's about the same rate as the eShop itself, I bet if you did a time comparison between the two it would be about the same...

I think it's also important to note that Freeshop was also used by some users (not me) who used .cia format DLC or official themes since entering the official eShop deletes such content, so people used Freeshop instead.

@DanteSolablood It's difficult to argue that this would fall under reverse engineering though, as it's a problem with how Nintendo chose to store eShop content claim data on the console itself (client-side) without doing a server side check (basically, the eShop doesn't ask, can you actually redownload X content? etc).

@jaxrogers2 To quote "You can't use it without having full ARM9 kernel access to the console anyway" I understand the basis of how the exploit works... but can it & could it have been achieved without reverse engineering (i.e. accessing & decrypting the 3DS' hardware/firmware itself)? Plus if you are using it for a 3DS with CFW... how many Customer Firmware versions can you find built 100% from the ground up using no Nintendo code?

Edit: Just to add, the reverse engineering aspect was just one part of EULAs being enforceable.. it just happens to be the most prominent/easiest to explain example of EULAs being enforced.

@DanteSolablood It may be easier to attack those little crows and their pinky sized beaks, but the sledgehammer mallet to the head is far more immediately threatening, isn't it? If both of those were coming at you simultaneously, I bet you'd prioritize avoiding that huge chunk of metal first, and if possible, stop it from continuing to threaten you. If the leader falls, the followers fall with them. Make an example of the big fish, and the small fries will scatter. Those are ancient concepts stemming from common sense.

It's rather ironic too, isn't it? The law being utilized in this case, by which the term "illegality" is derived from those who defy it, is itself unconstitutional. Therefore, it is also illegal (or at least it should be) according to the Constitution of the United States, the highest law of the land. The DMCA is law because power hungry men drafted it and quickly passed it through without consideration for it's consequences, deftly avoiding any challenge to it for years to come. Illegality derived from illegality... Such a spiral of futility, what a world...

@PlywoodStick The mallet to the head is not only the hardest to stop, but left unchecked the crows will kill you faster.

The problem with applying ancient concepts is that they don't always apply to the current day, little fish no longer scatter, they thrive in the debris.

@PlywoodStick I don't know about the others, but I do know that GOG requires an account to buy and directly install their games. If those other services are stupid enough to sell account free direct downloads, then it's they're own fault if their customers share or sell the games to other people on the side and potentially cost themselves sales.

Nintendo merely uses DRM as the only measure possible to keep it from happening to them, just as it was for DRM using computer games back when the current protections weren't available. It's not that DRM protection is an archaic law, just that it's become obsolete for personal computers but not for dedicated video game systems.

@jaxrogers2 Nintendo was probably already planning on closing that hack. They're not going to turn down money like that just because the other party is making a foolish business decision. GameStop really should've known better than to think that hack would stay available on the latest firmware for long.

If that's true, then you can expect the exploit involved to patced in a firmware update before too long or maybe even another takedown order.

We can start legal gaming by simple ways:
1. Always buy original games.
2. Not temptated with kind of piracy despite looks so promising. Just wear your "Horse glasses" and close your ears against those temptations, guys.
3. Update your knowledge of gaming so you can differ which is original, which is pirated, which is right or wrong way to have video games.
4. Buy the games that you need. Don't be so greedy (Want to get many games without paying).
5. If you have no choices but have to play pirated games (Due to certain places that doesn't provide original games to buy) don't be so excited, considering your games just ONLY pirated version. Try to save some money and buy the original.
6. If you can manage buy the original, remove all those pirated things so you'll not get temptated again with such of that piracy.

Well, hopefully these tips can help someone.

@Anti-Matter wow. Thanks for the tips. They will help us all

They just closed the main repository, there are countless mirrors right now.

@BulbasaurusRex GOG and others like it require an account connection to download, but not to install. All game copies can be transferred, copied, installed, and reinstalled indefinitely and infinitely to any computer without ever being connected to their service for authentication. (With a few online game exceptions every once in a while.) Things like GOG Galaxy are entirely optional.

I've been using GOG since 2012, and not needing an account connection to install games has always been available with them. It's a hallmark of any true DRM-free platform. If anything, their business model has helped spearhead the growth of the DRM-free platform. They realize that there will always be sales lost to pirates and sharing, so instead of acting like a barbarian over it, they improve their service and trust in their customer base. They've even gone back on making a major change to their business model after resistance from their customer base. And they've been working out just fine for it, thank you very much.

@DanteSolablood The DMCA is still unconstitutional, though.

@Anti-Matter Sorry, but things like the Retron 5 are really hard to find. I have no other way to play games like Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Seiken Densetsu 3, then translation patching them (and a hard mode mod for SD3, too!), other than downloading them. Newer games, I would agree with you, but there are exceptions to be had.

@PlywoodStick To be fair, if you look it up, copyright law in it's entirety is in conflict with the first amendment. However, the "unconstitutional" part of the DMCA is the notice-&-takedown part which allows the immediate shutdown of sites, videos etc. without first going through the courts & gaining first amendment scrutiny.

On one hand, as a content creator who's seen his videos and artwork stolen by other parties & used to make money entirely in their name, I can say that if the DMCA did have to go through court before a video is temporarily taken down... most creators (like I eventually did), would stop creating the content at all. In the digital age, someone takes your work,, makes money from it & your own channel dies withing weeks, not years.

On the other hand, DMCAs have been abused by companies trying to claim things that do not belong to them & ISPs do not have money or staff to give each DMCA the correct scrutiny.

What would you replace the DMCA with?

@PlywoodStick
Sorry. I have NO interest with those titles that you had mentioned before. My gaming taste is different.

@Skunkfish Piracy is sharing a copy for a game. I do not share any copy of any game I own.

@jaxrogers2 I own GB Tetris on VC, but it would be a bummer if my 3DS kicked the bucked before the system transfer. This is my favourite version of the game, as I dislike the colors (same goes with Dr Mario, haha) on other versions and releases.

I do have a game that I purchased and cannot download it since the introduction of NNID, Link's Awakening, German version. I know it is available in eShop, but NNID locked me in just one country, a country which doesn't even get any localisation so all the games are in English anyway... Sigh. Money wasted.
But I don't think I would have a need to use any exploits to re-download or re-purchase those games. I have Zelda in English on 3DS and... Brick Games for BW Tetris xD The rest don't interest me and... I think I may have 4 swords on DSi?

Edit: Oh, and by obscure and old games I meant something like Crazy Frog Collectables: Art School or Bölz!.

@jaxrogers2 /shrug

I just remember it being slow. I did use an old 3DS instead of my updated New 3DS though, and I hear the o3DS has an inferior wifi card, so that might be it.

@Braok Yeah the New 3DS processor is optimized for CDN downloads, old3DS not so much

@DanteSolablood Under Sega v Accolade reverse engineering of hardware is protected under fair use. There's nothing Nintendo can do about reverse engineering really. They can only make it more difficult for people to utilize (which is exactly what 11.X has accomplished).

For example, derrek dumped the 2 main 3DS bootroms (ARM9 and ARM11) over a year ago. He hinted at his method and showed SHA-1s of the dump files in a talk at 33c3 (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZzS-qK6OOk). That reverse engineering is completely legal. What would be illegal would be releasing it to the public, which is why derrek never releases anything.

While someone is (inevitably) going to try to reproduce derrek's method for dumping the protected bootroms, and yes, those dump files are technically going to be illegal, it will be just like all of the other technically illegal files already needed to hack the 3DS. 9.2 downgrade firmware packs? Technically illegal. Does that stop their distribution or use? Not really. But Nintendo isn't going to try to sue based on the Sony v Connectix precedent (copying of a copyrighted BIOS software during the development of an emulator or other software does not constitute copyright infringement, but is covered by fair use).

@BulbasaurusRex Nintendo tried to block the exploit by taking away http (internet) services to the game, but Smealum just made an offline version where you scan a lot more QR codes but it works on current firmware (11.0 and above).

@DanteSolablood

I do feel for creators who get their work stolen. I understand the difficulty of using courts for these items. I do wish there was a board to at least appeal to though. It seems as if "fair use" isn't a thing anymore because challenging a claim would be far too costly and time consuming.

I'm not going to weigh too much into this debate. But I did want to add my 2 cents on copyrights. The original copyright law in the US was for protection of a 14 year period which could then be renewed for another 14 year period. So 28 years total. If this was still in effect today, it would be legal to emulate most of the NES library and starting on the SNES library. That seems somewhat fair to me. I mean if you waited 28 years to get something for free kudos to you and you weren't really part of the market anyway. Unfortunately money rules and very strong businesses have changed that to over 100 years in many cases today which I believe is a bit harsh. However, I think the whole rule needs to be looked at. I think copying a game bit for bit is a little different than derivative rights and I would want derivative rights to be much longer and stronger. Just my 2 cents that copying is not always illegal and as a society, I hope we are able to look and this and come up with a more reasonable law in the future.

@jaxrogers2 Sega v Accolade only applies to unlicensed hardware/software. In the case of the Nintendo 3DS and it's software, you are using it under a legal & enforceable EULA. In this case Davidson & Associates v. Jung which post-dates Sega v Accolade is the applicable law.

Edit: Just to note, again the finding of Sony v Connectix actually states that an important part of the fair use finding was that Sony would still receive money from game sales. Is this the same case with the use of the app in question? Either way the Sega v Accolade precedent is moot as neither the 3DS or it's firmware are unlicensed.

@cleveland124 I believe the origin of the 14 year renewable period in copyright law actually relates to the much shorter lifespan of people when the law was first being drafted. This was at least the case for musical royalties which were updated due to many musicians outliving their entire library & being cut-off.

@DanteSolablood

I think it had more to deal with an industrialized society which didn't envision a place where the arts could be so big. The original period was 14 years, and then 14 years if the creator was still alive. No 3rd 14 year period if the author was still alive. But again, just my personal belief that this is where music and gaming is differentiated. Today you can go on Amazon and buy 50's, 60's music. The creators are still publishing those. Almost all the games from the 80's and 90's have been out of print and not sold for 2 decades by now.

@cleveland124 I believe that to a certain degree, the reason that older games from the 80s & 90s are less available commercially is actually in part to the huge emulation scene. While Nintendo is slowly making progress releasing a considerable back catalog, I can't imagine them being overly confident about making profit from games that are freely available to most people free & in a much more convenient format than locked to proprietary hardware. Mayhaps this is a chicken & egg situation?

@DanteSolablood

There's alot of reasons. Sales were bell curved so no one thought of back catalog as a huge profit margin. Then there was proprietary hardware which made porting those games difficult without a few generations between to build up the power. Then there are the licensed games that won't be relicensed, bankrupt companies where IPs are in limbo, games that frankly sucked the first time around and didnt sell the first time. So there is alot of reasons many games will never be rereleased. Then because of proprietary hardware, the barrier to entry is high for someone just looking for retro gaming. You want a few VC games? Just buy our $300 Wii U. That's why the NES classic is so popular. The large barrier to entry has been removed. Emulation never really got big until late 90s as internet was limited and home pc power was pretty lacking. So I don't really think emulation is the reason companies don't use their backcatalogs more often. I think it's $. A hit game can move more than $1 billion in revenue. How much profit can a rerelease of a popular game like Mario 3 drive?

That's another difference between music and games. A one hit wonder can probably make a career touring and selling that hit. Nintendo has hundreds of millions in expense each year. They need to develop new products that generate consumer excitement and generate big revenue. So while VC and the nes mini are nice addons, they can't support a company like Nintendo.

@Dr_Lugae Copying is not theft...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4

And technically nobody is illegally distributing the games, only a tool that modifies the keys on your 3DS. All games are still distributed directly from the server, so Nintendo is responsible for it's own infringement since it's the only server distributing the games...

@PlywoodStick I checked, and you're right that you can just download the install files from GOG. The fact remains that such a method is pretty stupid of them, since installing directly from the account would help prevent piracy without any inconvenience whatsoever to their legitimate customers. They may be doing just fine, but they'd be doing even better with the other method.

If only nintendo link my games on my nnid account, i wouldnt use freeshop. Alas your purchase is only valid on that console, heck you cant even collect all your purchase on several game console unita into one console. If your sol, your games is gone as your 3ds dies.

I wish they learn things what steam or psn do with game purchases.

This app still works 'cause I have it on my 3DS. I was downloading games off of it I had on my wish list but not all the games are listed there but most of them are. It's like sharing, people shared music but companies also see that as stealing so they have cracked down on the websites too that had such a program. Basically we are just sharing games and Nintendo sees it as stealing. Also the games download pretty quickly unless it's a big file. But we have high speed internet because watch youtube and Netflix a lot. Also what I think is good about this app is I don't have to worry about wasting money anymore and I can just delete the game if I don't like it and no money is wasted. There have been a few games that didn't work and then they did when I downloaded a different version. My game system is EU so sometimes I have to download the EURO version for the game to work.

I also don't get how this app was meant to download games you already have if you can do it in the eshop. But if you lost your cartridge game, I suppose you can just download it than rebuying it but Nintendo will still see it as stealing because it's like me walking into a Walmart and taking something I had already owned but it had broke and just walk out with it. As for downloading just to see if you like it, yeah that is like sneaking into a movie and watching the film to see if you like it or walking into a game rental place and taking a video game without paying just to see if you like it.

I can understand why Nintendo would crack down on this app and shut the site down where it was promoting it. But the app is still out there somewhere because people still have found a way to still access it and put it on the gaming system. Also you can still get the games from the eshop for free without using the freeshop. You just need another program for it that will allow you to do it. I think it tricks the system into thinking you had already purchased it so it says "to redownload screen."

This is dumb and he should just change the EShop logo and that's it. The other stuff is bull. If they want to file a lawsuit then go ahead. Because he definitely has a case like he said.

Its the same as this and let me explain.

I download chrome browser. By itself it doesn't directly allow piracy but after downloing I could go to sites that aren't legal and promote piracy. So why hasnt Google been sued saying their browser or any other companies browser allows piracy?
They don't because they aren't responsible for what a user does after they have installed it.

It shouldn't be on the owner that created this FreeShop app. It should be on the people that aren't legally using their own tickets.

This analogy could go all the way to the route I things and say all hey this desktop computer or this laptop or Microsoft Windows allows piracy we're going to sue them. No that does not work because just by default and the same for freeshop it's not allowing piracy its ultimaly on the end user not the creator of the app.

@Anti-Matter so you saying that people who comit piracy it's like a gateway drug and that if I pirate a game that I'm going to go out and rob a bank 😂

You wouldn't still purse...

You wouldn't still a car...

😂