With England's national football team securing a rather impressive win in the World Cup yesterday, and with a strangely bright and sunny start to the day this morning, spirits are certainly high and bubbly across the nation at the moment. It seems that Nintendo UK has gone a bit overboard with its celebrations, however, accidentally changing its online game pages to display in Russian.
As you can see below, visiting any game page on the website currently looks considerably different to usual. What was once an easy-to-read, English-language database of game information - a fitting language choice for the website's audience, we're sure you'll agree - has now turned into a complete mix up of English artwork and Russian text.
Don't believe us? Check it out for yourself.
Of course, in reality, this is likely just a technical mix up. It appears that the site is accidentally using a Russian language file, with the site's settings likely in a bit of bother. Still, it's much more fun to believe that there are some pesky Rabbids hiding in the coding somewhere, changing all of the data in a new bid to prank Mario and friends.
Who knows what shenanigans will ensue if England goes on to win this year!
Comments 28
Bldy eck. I thought my browser was corrupted or infected until I saw this article. I actually searched online to start troubleshooting - glad to know it's not just me...
They're obviously not Russian to fix it!
I went nuts thinking my phone had been hacked, I almost reset it! My wife took the phone off me and turned it off and said don’t go on it. (I’m like a naughty child). Anyway not been on the site since
Actually the description says "Nintendo now belongs to mother Russia and so does the world. All comrades will come to bow to the supremacy of Vladimir Jong PUntin." Just in case, THIS IS A JOKE! I don't speak Russian
But seriously this looks like a bug, a hack or an easter egg gone wrong.
@OorWullie they’re all Putin their keyboards down.
@Rhaoulos People will take you serioulsy, I'm sure of it, so to be sure, this description is not what's written, it's a joke.
@HobbitGamer Well, they should quit Stalin and get to it already!
LOL at all these people who think "OMG! Russian language! My PC/phone has been HACKED!"
@MrMac It isn't hacked, nor is it infected. The Nintendo site has a technical issue that is showing Russian language instead of English.
Weirdly, the NintendoLife guys know a few things about websites.
Wow, now I'm hearing about football here too... I remember when I went to the store a few days ago and the whole staff was wearing Swedish football uniforms. Then I watched the news and the only thing they reported about was football (there's a lot more examples).
@G-Boy That's because it's the biggest event on the planet. When you have your own team taking part and doing well you should enjoy it. It's great for the country and moral,gives a feel good factor nationwide.Boosts the economy too.
@MrMac Yeah, I have heard of the expression. I imagine the NL crew wouldn't have run the story if their browsers and virus scanners threw up massive warnings when they visited the Nintendo site to get the screenshot, is all I'm saying.
But hey. Enjoy that tinfoil hat.
@SmaggTheSmug They tried shedding light on the situation, but couldn’t open the curtains.
@MrMac did you watch a Red October and Red Dawn marathon?
@Mopati
Fixed. I think you are right.
I went to Russia once. It looks like someone's hacked the entire country. All these funny symbols everywhere. People must have to carry around decoders with them 24/7.
I heard Nintendo's head offices were hacked recently too, and now everything looks like this: 任天堂株式会社
Ha this confused me when it happened!
Why do people like watching these grown men chasing after a ball?
@Nincompoop It's fun, it's magical. You shall be indoctrinated. Do not resist.
@MrMac "And I don't like that you're saying I'm wearing a tinfoil hat. That's very rude."
Almost as rude as accusing a professional writer of not thinking before publishing? As rude as suggesting that writer is so stupid that they would write an article where the whole purpose is to direct you to a hacked site so that you can pick up a virus, perhaps?
"I expect an apology and that you remove that rude comment."
Enjoy the wait. I hope you brought something to read.
Those darned Russian hackers strike again! That must mean the darned Reds are on the move! Get ready everyone!
Lol. It's kinda amusing to see people react to Russian anything with alarm and caution.
If it's anything like the websites where I used to work they have one database that every countries website comes from. Wouldn't be that tricky to accidentally click to have content intended for one language show on another.
@SmaggTheSmug they’ve probably been Lenin on the same old security measures for too long, so they’re not safe now 😉
@MrMac "Linking to a site that looks nothing like it should, yes, that's certainly not thinking before publishing because it could very well mean that that site is hacked"
Select pieces of Russian text in some places instead of English is not "looking nothing like it should" and the writer clearly knows that. And so does his virus scanner. And his browser.
If Nintendo's site had been truly hacked and was dangerous, there's no way this would have been published. And yes, there are ways that you can tell, outside of the browser alerts and a virus scanner. Rather, Nintendo Life would have been on the phone to Nintendo to tell them their site had been hacked. Your assumption that the writer just went "LOL LOOK! RUSSIAN!" and dove straight into publishing this is offensive to the writer. Why even consider that a games journalist could actually be professional in his work, right?
Either way, I'm out. You aren't going to reconsider your statements, so there's no point to this.
@MrMac What I'm saying is that it's pretty freakin' obvious when a site has been hacked to anyone with technical knowledge (people that run websites...people that work on websites, etc.) it's not hard to tell in pretty short order if a site is dangerous or not. That's even before the browser warnings and antivirus software that according to your logic, are useless.
All I'm asking is simply this: Could you not give a writer on a site that you frequent the benefit of the doubt, before polishing up that tinfoil hat, rolling out the creases, putting it on, and leaping to "YOU ARE PUTTING US IN JEOPARDY HOW DARE YOU!"?
Could you not just assume that your intelligence has led you to frequent a GOOD website where the people know their jobs and know what they're doing? Why just assume that the writer hasn't done his due diligence?
If Nintendo had been hacked - and no, I'm not saying it's impossible - this story wouldn't have run. I already covered that. Lift the hat up a bit, it's blocking your vision.
I miss the "In Soviet Russia..." memes...
@MrMac "Why don't you blame the author for jumping to conclusions "LOL! RUSSIAN CHARACTERS! THEY ARE CELEBRATING ENGLAND!" - Because the headline literally has the word "maybe" in it. It's clearly meant to be humourous.
You've ignored the "It appears that the site is accidentally using a Russian language file" part of the article and based solely on "MrMac says so" you've declared that the author of this article definitely did not check any facts and put the computers/phones of readers of this site at a high risk of being infected with a virus.
If that's how you wanna live, MrMac, go ahead. I just don't think it's right to throw accusations based solely on your own paranoia, with absolutely no proof.
@MrMac "looking for a job at NL, are you?" - Well, after voluntarily leaving my post as editor of their Xbox site after 4 years and being very happy as a freelancer, I can't say that I am.
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