Fake Nintendo Switch Game Piracy Software Is Bricking Systems

You get what you pay for

Cruel but effective. Nice.

Good. Fair. Effective.

Good, brick pirates and hackers. Leave the rest of us to enjoy our beloved safe ecosystem...

So basically, you have to pay a pirate, or else use one of the other free methods?

That’s actually pretty hilarious

I'd like to think this fake software was created by someone who is anti-piracy and that they are sitting somewhere having a good old chuckle as they watch sucker after sucker downloading their fake software.

I'm not normally one to say NLife is promoting this act with their articles but this one does seem a little bit pro-piracy by saying "sorry situation" "apparent victims" and actually quoting the fix for those who wish to pirate but are worried about this fake software in their own article...

Edit: I'm a plonker, please see addendum below!
Keeping for historical goof records

I don't get why you would try such a risky situation just a few weeks BEFORE the cloud saving feature.
Enjoy restarting BOTW I guess. Yahaha, you found me

'This acts a reminder that it’s simply not worth the risk when it comes to pirating games on the Nintendo Switch.'
(Yet we write an article or two on it per day giving it lots of publicity and great grammar btw lol)
Good to see NL now doing patronizing public service announcements!
Can I have a job writing on this site? I can read and copy from GBA Temp and Reddit too!

Good.

@AlexOlney sodding is my word of the day. I’m going to use it lots on my 200 mile drive home. Especially on theM62. 😂

Lol! That will teach them a lesson or a empty wallet haha.
learn to buy your stuff or work for it.

But Team Xecuter's SX OS works fine, it's just a fake "cracked leak" what leads to a brick for those impatient & not too wise guys / gals.

"paid-for tool"

Actually, the SX OS software itself is completely free when downloaded from Team Xecuter SX.'s website. They do offer licenses of their software with backup loading for a fee- however, this purchase is not necessary to use the software and install custom firmware. They also sell "SX Pro" dongles, which don't offer any marked benefits over the standard microSD card method of using the software, but it does make getting started with using the software quicker and easier. Also, one can switch between custom and official firmware at boot, so the user is not locked in. I can't link to proof of these details, because of site rules, but anyone can go check it out for themselves on hackinformer and the Team Xecuter website to confirm this.

@oji Exactly. So many people in the comments are getting up in arms about this somehow being a karmic debt paid by pirates (and the sub-headline doesn't help), when in reality, the true takeaway here is just to not download cracked software, due to security risks. The SX OS software itself is reportedly not dangerous if users follow installation and use instructions.

I wouldn't mess with those greedy hackers trying to sell a way into the Switch.

Wait for others to release their own who dont charge you like a chump

@SirAileron No, the software itself is free when downloaded from Team Xecuter SX.'s website. They do offer licenses of their software with backup loading for a fee- however, this purchase is not necessary to operate the base OS software. Liam just didn't adequately elaborate on key details of the software itself. (Meaning he didn't even do basic research on the product before reporting on it. It doesn't take more than 5 minutes to find more info on the product for oneself.) The real lesson here is just to not download cracked software.

Team Xecuter are no serious hackers but business men. No serious hacker would charge money for their "product".
#CodeOfHonor

@Damo lol yea just came back to edit my original post after thinking about it and realising I was being a doof.
Morning head was on!

I think the quoted piece just threw me as usually you guys just link to sources.

Apologies :]

Lol.

you know your piracy is crappy when you have to pay for it. if I'm shelling out money, might as well give it to the developers/publishers

People already called it out long ago; it's the exact repeat of 3DS piracy in its infancy.

👍🏼🤣

@AlexOlney

I love you, have man babies with me.

@AlexOlney you realise the wording was wrong in the quote I highlighted? Surely! Also, what's the obsession with piracy? You must have good inside real Nintendo sources you can use for interesting articles, like you say you have a degree and I assume a journalism qualification. Just feel you can do better than GBA Temp for stories on Nintendo but hey that's just my opinion, obviously I hit a nerve so there must be some truth to what I say.

LMAO

@AlexOlney I heart you with all my keyboard.

@djfuts I think you’re confusing constructive criticism with being confrontational.

Popcorn, anyone ?

(Sit down, eating popcorn while watching the debates here)

Remind me to never install hacks on my Switch.

Oh wait, I never planned to anyway. I'm good. These parasites got what they deserve.

@djfuts Run the quoted sentence through an online grammar checker if you don't believe Alex. It's a valid use of grammar. I tried it on the below site, and it gave the result "no writing errors found."

https://www.grammarcheck.net/editor/

You're picking the wrong hill to die on. This whole grammar thing is a distraction. It would be better to call out the misinformation in the article about the SX OS software only being described as a paid-for tool dedicated to pirating software.

The base software and associated custom firmware itself is free to download and use, although one can purchase a license for a version that includes backup loading, or the SX Pro dongle, but neither are necessary to run the custom firmware. This paid version of the software is what was cracked and rigged with the bricking payload trap.

SX OS isn't simply used for running game backups. It can also load homebrew, like other free custom firmware. What makes it stand out from the others is an auto-recovery mode feature, which obsoletes the use of physical implements employed in other recovery mode booting methods. So if anything, the free version of SX OS indicates that one is not pirating software, and only using it for homebrew.

The article's inadequate detailing is now being reflected in the comments. It's all well and good to combat piracy, but inaccurate reporting is the wrong way to go about it.

Have you seen R4 Cartridge on Nintendo Switch.

Mega. Oof.

Lol! Good, very good.

Where's R4 Cartridge for Nintendo Switch? Have you seen it?

@AlexOlney Regarding comment #40, that was too perfect. I could not let this go with merely a like on your comment.

@Damo That's what we're all here for :]
I think the internet turns me into a moron occasionally. But I hear it's common ^__^

@SirAileron No, I think what they are saying is, each system is unique and if you don't have a backup of your specific system it can never be recovered.

If I am reading that correctly.

It's simple; pay for your games. You want them to keep making games? Keep paying for said games. Same goes for any media. You want Metroid Prime to be the only Metroid game for another ten years?

@AlexOlney I should report you for your savagery in #40. My god sir, have a heart 😂😂😂

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

@AlexOlney
@djfuts

To provide an impartial perspective on this, I believe @djfuts is in fact correct.

To clarify: ‘Acts’ in the context of this sentence means the plural form of the word ‘Act’. The grammar means, undisputedly, more than one act.

What it should say, in the context of the sentence, is:

'This act’s a reminder that it’s simply not worth the risk when it comes to pirating games on the Nintendo Switch.'

The correct form is ‘act’s’, meaning
‘act is’.

Sorry @AlexOlney, but you are wrong about that one.

Did you perhaps read the sentence wrong, as:

‘This acts as a reminder....’

as in the verb, ‘to act’?

@Anti-Matter Nothing to debate. Piracy is illegal and tampering with hardware carries a risk of damaging it.

@Anti-Matter You always bring the best popcorn!!

@Ooyah You're such a sodding sodder!

Do some research before writing an article.

There are pirates who absolutely do not want to pay for anything, including SXOS that enables piracy. This malware was a nasty prank to brick the Switch of those people. It was simultaneously posted at different sites with fake replies of users claiming that it works. This was a coordinated social-engineered prank.

Ha ha ha ha ha! 😅😅😅😅😅

@AlexOlney in regards to comment #40, Unreal Tournament's announcer would consider that a M-m-m-m-m-monster Kill.

@Coxula Technically, Team Xecuter also has a free version of their SX OS available, which allows homebrew loading while locking out the use of backup loading (which can enable piracy) behind a license paywall. I agree with you that they're really businessmen and not true hackers who follow the philosophy of "free as in freedom," yet there is a distinction to be drawn which the article does not make.

whoever paid for this, made a bad decision. and also, a likely thief.

@PlywoodStick
So: Free for homebrew use, piracy behind a paywall?
Seems to be a "fair" deal while I still think it's a strange behaviour tbh. "If you want to break the law you have to pay for it!"
There's really some irony of fate behind the story that makes me smile.

It's amazing how many ppl out there fail to cross check stuff before DL'ing software online. If you get bricked or banned, it becomes your own fault. Nintendo won't help you. No company will. Thanks for the post. Maybe ppl will learn to be more diligent. Just because something g says free, doesn't mean it's free. Also glad you linked GBATEMP. Now let's hope that more unsuspecting ppl will do some research on that site before downloading stuff randomly

@Nincompoop The fake claims of functionality do use malicious social engineering, but I would say the payload trap is more like a Trojan attack than a prank. Unless they happened to have backup NAND files for their system, anyone hapless enough to use the cracked download software, rigged with the payload trap, will lose the functionality of their Switch.

That said, how do you know this was a coordinated attack, and not one only concocted by an individual with multiple accounts? Do you have any ideas who might be responsible? I do think it would have been more useful if Liam had investigated that a little, instead of writing the article in a way that encourages victim blaming. (Which is exactly what many of these comments have gravitated towards.)

Lol classic...

So is it 60 fps

Edit wrong article

Well, this is no different than the time Nintendo bricked everyone’s 3DS’ if they had a pirated version of Pokemon S/M. Do the crime and have your console bricked for a lifetime

That’s just brilliant and hilarious, no sympathy from me lol.

@DABYX Rather than having a pro-piracy stance, it's more like the article has a profusely anti-piracy stance. That isn't wrong by itself, but the article unfortunately goes as far as victim blaming to make it's point. This is exemplified by the highlighted terms in these passages:

"A poster at GBATemp describes the details of the sorry situation, and how to extract yourself from it should you be silly enough to download:"

"In short, it's a bit of a mess - and a perfectly avoidable one at that."

"This acts a reminder that it’s simply not worth the risk when it comes to pirating games on the Nintendo Switch."

The highlighted terms are all examples of encouraging victim blaming, which is exactly what much of the comment section has gravitated towards. The highlighted terms could have avoided this if they had instead used, for example:

"the sorry situation" > "how the malicious payload attack works"
"silly enough" > "unfortunate enough"
"and a perfectly avoidable one at that." > "which everyone should be careful to avoid."
"This acts as a reminder" > "Hopefully, this will serve as a cautionary tale"
"simply not" > "probably not"
"pirating games on the Nintendo Switch." > "downloading cracked software of any kind from the Internet, no matter what purpose one may have for it."

Now read and compare to the article how these would sound if used instead:

"A poster at GBATemp describes the details of how the malicious payload attack works, and how to potentially extract yourself from it, should you be unfortunate enough to download it:"

"In short, it's a bit of a mess, which everyone should be careful to avoid."

"Hopefully, this will serve as a cautionary tale that it’s probably not worth the risk when it comes to downloading cracked software of any kind from the Internet, no matter what purpose one may have for it."

See how the superior and apathetic attitude has disappeared? It's important in this sort of situation to write with a helpful, rather than accusatory demeanor.

@AlexOlney you forgot the "see me after class"

@Devi what? Nintendo can't brick your system. That's illegal. They DID ban you from accessing online, but bricking your system would have gotten them in a ton of legal trouble. They have also banned switch users for hacking they're system. Also, Nintendo didn't ban people for pirating SUMO, they banned people for playing the game online before it was released, and honestly, if your stupid enough to play a game online before it releases, you deserver to get banned IMO

@AlexOlney Your sparring over grammar is pure comedy gold, however, that shouldn't overshadow the valid debate as to if the hacking coverage is something that really belongs on NL. Hacking overall, is more of a PC-oriented field, and is a parallel existence to a console, appealing to a whole other demographic. While there's some of the commentariat here that value it for their desire to pirate, or "preserve otherwise lost art", and other members of the commentariat value it due to being pure Machiavellian anarchists, such as @PlywoodStick ( ), it's not invalid to debate whether a relatively disassociated, as well as controversial, niche ought to be covered here. This is particularly true at a time when @antdickens is explicitly looking for feedback on the future of NL.

I'm certain from a clicks/revenue perspective it has value to NL, but it's also a PC-centric sideshow of content irrelevant to most Switch owners, relevant for all the wrong reasons for a portion of readers, and perennially divisive, at best. There are plenty of resources out there fore people looking for such things, from NeoGAF to more piracy oriented sites. There are few resources out there for the kinds of content NL uniquely provides, such as the CDi story, the Treehouse interview, etc.

Let's not let grammar wars stand in the way of actual debate.

@AlexOlney 37is my favorite number and I was your 37th heart. Today will be a good day.

Countdown starts to seeing "SWITCH MOD" signs on the windows of all the shady electronics stores that line midtown up 9th

They were soldering chips into the PSP back in the day. Selling a software hack will be a no-brainer. Nintendo needs to change the hardware before this gets out of hand.

The real kicker would be that nintendo leaked this file secretly

@Rika_Yoshitake I was thinking the same thing. It reminds me of the time when Nintendo sent out a system update for the Wii that reliably bricked any system with the infamous "Homebrew Channel" installed, and Nintendo generously offered to repair for free any system that was bricked by mistake. To my knowledge, nobody took them up on the offer because no legitimate systems were bricked.

@NEStalgia On the viability of mod/hack-related developments being a regular topic for articles... I say that as long as those articles are intelligently and carefully constructed, why not? I personally don't feel that this article is a good example of that, and indeed, it's tone leans more towards victim blaming rather than of being helpful. However, I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water just due to some duds. Certainly, mods/hacks apply far more to PC than consoles, but I wouldn't say they scarcely affect consoles to the point of being irrelevant.

I'm not sure if you recall, but I'm possibly the most (or close to being the most) consistent person on NL about advocating for the preservation of otherwise lost games. I have long espoused that position, even if it sometimes requires unofficial online repositories. The reason for this is due to major companies like Nintendo eventually (perhaps inevitably) closing public access to repositories linked to their storefront when no longer profitable. In particular, the impending closure of the Wii VC in just over 5 months from now is currently the most pressing matter on the subject.

And... "Machiavellian Anarchist"? Is that even a thing? I thought Machiavelli was so extremely dedicated to citizen's rights, classical republicanism, and his particular form of "virtues" that he advocated dying for them and the citizenry if that's what it took to maintain those social constructs? He even made the remark, "not everyone born in the same State as you is your fellow citizen." That sounds less like "do as you will, and so will I" and more like "fall in line, and be critical of those who do not." I prefer to align towards the former of those two.

@Mountain_Man That is NOT what happened. The update itself was badly made and had the potential to brick ANY Wii whether it was hacked or not, and many of the people hit by it didn't have a hacked Wii. The reason Nintendo fixed all of them for free hacked or not is because THEY screwed up and released an update that could brick systems. Whether you had hacks installed or not made no difference.

Serves them right.

Ugh! This guy probably hates the Switch! So that's why he is doing it!

@Cyber_Akuma is correct. You remembered incorrectly, @Mountain_Man .

https://web.archive.org/web/20091005173621/http://www.edge-online.com/news/nintendo-acknowledges-wii-update-problems

(October 2, 2009)
"According to numerous reports on the Nintendo Of America support forums, users have seen their consoles freeze during the process of installing system update 4.2. A number of users have then been unable to reboot their consoles.

While some of the problems can be attributed to modified systems, a number of consumers are reporting issues with newly bought units...

These problems aren’t only occurring in America, with Nintendo UK telling us that it is “aware of a very small number of reported problems with Wii consoles after updating to the Wii System Menu 4.2”.

The company said that it too will offer free repairs to unmodified systems damaged via the update process. It said that consoles should not be returned to its customer service department without contacting the division first for advice."

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/Nintendo-Wii-Console-Bricking-Firmware,news-4779.html

"Yesterday we reported that the latest firmware update (4.2) for the Nintendo Wii addressed an issue that prevents hackers from installing and launching a special "channel" for unauthorized applications. Although the company accomplished its mission, an unintended side effect apparently "bricked" legitimate consoles. Gamers who began the process of downloading and installing the update were thus locked in a frozen state that cannot be corrected by rebooting.

Today (October 2, 2009) Nintendo has announced that it is aware of the situation, but noted that the reported symptoms usually occur with modified consoles. However, the company also acknowledged that consumers with unmodified consoles are also having the same problem. Unfortunately, it's not a simple fix, and forces Wii owners to call the support hot-line to schedule a repair.

"If you're experiencing problems with your Wii console after downloading Wii System Menu 4.2, and you believe your system has not been modified, please give us a call," the company said. "If we find that you have a normal system and the update caused your system to not work, we'll repair it at no charge." Hopefully that means for every affected Wii console, and not just the ones still under warranty."

@PlywoodStick Heh, I love how Nintendo was trying to downplay it by claiming "that the reported symptoms usually occur with modified consoles". The flaw had ZERO to do with if your system was hacked or not for anyone that read up on how it works and what causes it.

@Cyber_Akuma Nintendo explicitly said that they would fix without cost any Wii system that was bricked by the update so long as those systems did not contain any unauthorized software. As far as I recall, there were zero people who took advantage of the offer because the "bug" did not affect legitimate systems. Oh, sure, there were lots of people on various forums insisting that their systems were 100% legit and they were still bricked, but when you told them to contact Nintendo and get their console fixed for free, they would suddenly disappear from the thread. It's like developers who put "gotchas" in their games that only appear in pirated copies, so that anybody complaining about a particular "bug" will inadvertently out himself as a pirate.

@PlywoodStick "...a number of consumers are reporting issues with newly bought units..."

Uh-huh, sure. Like anyone would have openly admitted that he had installed unauthorized software on his Wii. It's like when Blizzard issues a mass banning in World of WarCraft because of cheating, and the forums are suddenly flooded with banned gamers protesting their innocence. I've never seen anyone say, "Ha ha ha! You got me. I totally deserved it."

@Mountain_Man Nintendo THEMSELVES said that the update bricked unmodified systems. If you are going to make a claim as ridiculus as "Nobody took advantage of this because all of them were hacked", then you better post proof of this wild claim. So far, all you have done is insist it happened... which flies in the face of both how the update worked for anyone who actually understood it, as well as Nintendo's own statements.

Do you have any actual PROOF that nobody took them up on their offer and EVERY bricked system was a hacked one?

Tell me.... how did the update work? How did it brick hacked systems only? I know EXACTLY how the update worked as I studied it, but please, I would love to hear your explanation since you seem to be so knowledgeable about the subject. And no, no "it just saw if you had homebrew channel and bricked you" excuse, I want actual technical details on how it worked, because I definitely have technical details on how it did NOT work and had the potential to brick ANY system hacked or not.

@Cyber_Akuma "Nintendo THEMSELVES said that the update bricked unmodified systems."

Read it again. They were simply stating what was being reported by some users. As far as I know, Nintendo never confirmed that it actually affected legitimate systems.

@Mountain_Man No, Nintendo themselves said it, they didn't just parrot what others said, they themselves admitted it. You also failed to provide both the proof and the technical specs I asked for. We both know why you failed to provide those though, don't we?

@Mountain_Man It is true that forum posts cannot necessarily be verified as to their authenticity. However, would multiple widely frequented news sites have reported on the same issue affecting users in both the USA and UK, with Nintendo acknowledging the issue, if the cases were not legitimate? And surely, some of those reports were received by Nintendo's technical support line, since one of their tech support members responded to the reports.

This reporting all happened within the same timeframe, too. System Update 4.2 released on September 28, 2009. The reports started coming in within less than a week after the update hit, with most outlets covering the issue by either October 1st or 2nd. The issue specifically aligned with the release of system update 4.2.

You seem to be under the impression that such a mistake by Nintendo was highly improbable, if not impossible. You won't believe it unless you've seen it with your own eyes. That itself is an impossible standard to meet at this point, though. All that most can do is point to the wave of reports at the time, and Nintendo's own acknowledgement of them. They certainly weren't going to publish numbers on how many legit systems were bricked.

Are you suggesting that multitudes of news sites all erroneously reported on this issue at the same time? And if so, why would your limited assessment hold water over the wave of concurring reports?

@PlywoodStick Indeed, but you're far from the majority mindset on the matter. In fact you may stand primarily alone in this crowd.

How further into that rabbit hole, I straddle a fence. I do believe something needs to change in terms of digital rights, the idea that companies control the way you use your products by in fact not selling products but rather licenses, in particular, does not work, at all in the consumer economy. That may have been fine in the 80's for business software, but today software is sold to consumers as a retail product, is measured in retail sales volumes, yet is protected as a "license" leading to the problems you discuss. I agree that's a serious problem in need of solution.

OTOH I'm also against what most of the anarchists and "data Marxists" seem to think of as "freedom" where property ownership belongs all to the proletariat and is wrested from the hands of those useless bourgeoisie. "Unofficial sources" "hacks for freedom" etc, etc, follows from a "the ends justify the means" philosophy, usually fueled by such self-righteousness and arrogance that any and all values and ethics can be brushed aside in pursuit of their noble, sacred goal. That is the slipperiest slope of them all, and the one upon which every travesty of human history was built. Both sides are in the wrong, and neither offers a solution. The current process needs to change, but it needs to change legislatively, not by using "unofficial sources" to move keeping the things you buy to the black market for those a nod and a wink in the know.

Edit: Machiavelli is often interperpreted as the ultimate statist, crafting the notions of using the power of authority to it's fullest to maintain and expand authority. Yet I still see that "ends justify the means" core at the heart of his rantings. An anarchy of anything being acceptable to arrive at the desired outcome. You can debate whether you are Machiavellian or not, but you're no doubt an anarchist.

@NEStalgia I would say that one flaw in that argument is that you label all of the hackers under the same banner. Many of them are anti-piracy, in fact, some of then during the Wii era implemented further anti-piracy checks in their hacks or would refuse to let their homebrew run if they detected anything that could be used for piracy on your system. One of the most prolific ones stopped short of adding essentially DRM in their application and closing it's sourcecode because they realized then they were turning into what they were originally against. To think that all of them just want to blow the system open and pave the way for piracy is inaccurate.

@Cyber_Akuma I'm well aware of the difference. But there's the catch 22, that the science minded often forget. "Because I can" does not always equate to "Thus I should." Beyond hackers and consoles it goes all the way to the hard and biological sciences. Too often the science-minded are so blinded by curiosity and simply proving the ability they don't think of, or simply don't care about, the negative side effects of their actions. And for every individual interested in hacking it "because they can" and "to preserve the past", there are 3000 waiting for them to do it "because they want free things." Any of the former group not understanding that are naive fools, and any that understand it and do it anyway are callous fools. Talented, intelligent, and fools all the same.

Perhaps it could be easily ignored, if still of dubious ethical fiber, if they were all working on antiquated relics, as the SNES was when ROMS started coming out, or a Wii today. But the ones jumping on current commercial systems as fast as they can either very well know precisely what they're doing and who will have interest in it, or are too ill informed in their bubbles of self to be entrusted with nearly anything in the public sphere.

In your own example, you cite one that was ignorant to the reality and closed the source when they realized that reality, proving that not all fools are callous advocates of theft, but are so blinded by their own narrow field of view they miss the entire reality around them. While that mindset is reasonably innocuous when talking about video game theft, it's a prevailing mentality among those who would research a field, that it must always be considered.

@antdickens That's good to hear! Indeed, while it shouldn't be a taboo, I'm not certain all instances have been "important topic for Nintendo" over the years either. Incidents that have reaching implications to the platform as a whole (sales) or to consumers as a whole (introduction of online cheaters) etc have very broad appeal and interest. I don't have any collected links to cite, but there have been quite a good many articles with a very thick "here's a cool thing hackers are doing, you might be interested in (for totally legit reasons, nudge, nudge wink, wink)" vibe. Again, not attributed to any one author, or editor's tenure, but that sort of story has appeared enough to make many, I think, gird themselves when they see another hacking article.

In this specific case, I get that the purpose was maybe tongue in cheek, highlighting "pirates getting their comeuppance", but against that backdrop, it's easy to view the article as "another NL article helping pirates be informed to stay safe in dangerous waters!"

Perhaps there's a little more thought put into them now than there once was (And I and others will be glad to hear that it's not traffic-oriented!) and that might be the source of continued friction. A string of more questionably intended articles in the past may have soured the topic for people familiar with that period of time. Maybe if a tighter focus is put on including it when it's something of large scale platform-affecting interest, over time, backlash will settle down once errors of the past become more distant.

In any case, it's great to see you taking feedback so seriously!

@NEStalgia Yes, it can open the ways, but if you take that conservative approach that they never should since it could pave the way for abuse then we would have never gotten anywhere. Just about every invention ever made can be misused, even the very tools people use to storage pirated media are not made for pirating in mind such as harddrives and MicroSD cards. It's up to the individual to not misuse something, not up to everyone to never advance just because someone MIGHT misuse it. There are limits of course where something clearly only has the potential for being misused, such as devices clearly intended specifically for piracy, but this is like saying that copying machines/scanners should have never been invented because people can pirate books with them, or that disk burners should have never been invented because people can pirate software, music, and movies with them.

There are many legitimate uses to wanting to be able to run your own software on a powerful portable device as well, not just piracy ones, and many of those can transform into official implementations. The only reason the iPhone got an appstore originally was because people Jailbroke it to add their own apps to it, originally it had none and Steve Jobs was against the idea of people installing their own apps on it.

That's a shame.

Pirates will eventually sink their own ships.

I imagine there is still a number of ridiculously entitled fans of piracy who are going to pretend like hacking your Switch is a great idea.

Really good! I hace no pitty for anyone who tries to pirate games and tries to get them running...

Even if it helps that more people are afraid of these hacks - nice.

@NEStalgia I believe people have the right to modify their systems however they see fit, but Nintendo also has the right to take measures to limit and control how people use their products. These are unfortunately mutually exclusive goals.

@PlywoodStick "Are you suggesting that multitudes of news sites all erroneously reported on this issue at the same time?"

You seem to think that it's impossible for "multitudes of news sites" to all report an incorrect story. It actually happens more often than you apparently think, especially when they all reference the same source. But that's beside the point. Look at what was actually claimed, and look at what Nintendo actually said. It was reported by users but never officially confirmed that one single legitimate Wii was bricked by that particular update. A lot of stories would say something like "The Wii in our office updated without issue, but a lot of users are saying that..."

Anyway, it's all ancient history at this point.

@Cyber_Akuma There's merit to what you say, and it sounds all ideologically wonderful (as does every ideological musing), but if we distill what's actually happening in the reasons, we get ?

Switch is a closed platform. A gaming tablet/handheld, with security in place for a variety of reasons, to protect their investment, to prevent theft, the prevent abuse of services (cheating, etc.)

Now, why hack it. Curiosity and "because I can", to learn how it works, etc. That's self indulgent. There's no real utility in it.

Why else? Piracy, of course, but we're talking about instances other than piracy.

To preserve art that will be lost? It's a current commercial product. Nothing is being lost at this time. Should the people taking shakeycam footage of movies and archiving them from the theater be praised for preventing art from loss as well? We're not talking about arcane tools required to lift prints of Betamax films that are long out of print out of archives and into usable Youtube vidoes before they're unreadable. We're talking about products on shelves today.

Then we get to "homebrew"....but dev kits are still for sale. IF you want to make Switch software, you can make Switch software. Nintendo won't license that software if you don't meet their qualifications....which is the whole point of their platform. But if you're not making software that meets their qualifications, why are you making Switch software at all?

Which brings us to:

It's nice portable hardware: But there are lots of other pieces of portable hardware that are designed for general purpose computing and doing exactly that with it. Why hack a closed machine to use for something other than it's core purpose, when other machines for the purpose you need already exist by the dozen?

And then that takes us back to 1: Because I can, curiosity, self-indulgence. You hack a switch either because you're an advocate of pircacy, or simply to demonstrate you can. A form of vanity, self-promotion, or both.

What can you accomplish by hacking a Switch for homebrew (today, not 20 years from now, but today) that you could not have done on any number of other pieces of hardware with less effort, (and less criminal conduct - breaching the security is a criminal offense in some countries such as the US), or done on Switch as an actual licensed game, with more effort?

What other than showmanship for the "benign" hackers, (and warez, for the pirates) is to be gained from this that isn't already possible by legal, ethical, cheaper, easier means? If the form factor of Switch is the driving force behind the project that must be a game that is so well tailored to Switch it just won't do on the multitutes of general purpose hardware that exist.....then why not put that effort into getting a dev kit and making an actual licensed Switch game? And actually make money from it as a business instead of a crusade to "free the information" that's currently bound by international copyright law?

I'll go one step ahead and say that the pirates doing it on "free the information" principle are harming more than helping if that's what they're really interested in (hint, many are not.) All the effort they spend on hacking hardware and illicity distribution does nothing to solve the actual problems that would make the situation actually better and agreeable to all parties. And as things move to the digital systems, "freeing the informaton" won't be possible by mere hacks, it will be come invasions of datacenters to still be possible (now there is some jail time....) All the effort spent on hacks to get things out the back door help little to solve the actual legal problems that digital media faces while permissible as "licenses." If they'd poured their effort into that, maybe we'd be in a better place not just for "hackers in the know" but everyone not in the know as well.

Of course every debate ends up circular. Everyone pulls the related ideology that suits the current challenge best. It's about preserving the past, it's about hacking your own hardware because you have a right to use it how you want, it's about homebrew, it's about proving it can be done! It's not all of these things all at once. Noble as each of them sounds, what is the immediate benefit of such a hack? The actual reason to do it (beyond because it can be done?) What value (other than piracy/cheating) is it adding for anyone that didn't already exist?

There's always "adding features", but inherently once one hacks it to add "features" the machine can't be trusted online, so it also loses features, and must lose those features. That's probably the most realistically valuable result around though.

@Mountain_Man indeed, I can't disagree with that premise. And taken on a truly individual level it makes more sense. But these things are rarely about typical individual modifying their purchase and is usually organizations or groups of highly skilled individuals producing modifications for either sale or public distribution to an insufficiently skilled public who tends to use it for whatever purposes they do. Similarly said groups seem to elicit publicity for their actions.

@NEStalgia Just to be clear, I am staunchly opposed to piracy. Just because one has the right to do something doesn't mean that one should necessarily do it.

@NEStalgia The Switch that you purchased is also your property however. You are not Nintendo, it's only in Nintendo's best interests that you are locked out of your own property, not yours. In fact, that goes against your best interests.

I also heavily disagree that there is no utility in learning how it works, nearly all of modern computing and technology was spearheaded due to people figuring out how tech works and messing with it. And I especially disagree that the only utility would be piracy. Again, most hackers are against piracy, and they learned by hacking their property. I repeat, the Switch you own is your property, you have every right to do whatever you want to it, just like you have every right to dfo whatever you want with your cd burner or your scanner. Now, if you were to use your cd burner to pirate a DVD, that's copyright infringement and illegal, but that doesn't mean that there is no utility outside of piracy to using your DVD burner.

But on top of that, again, the Switch is a very powerful portable device with a large multitouch screen, USB, MicroSD, detachable physical inputs, and internal storage. It is a perfect device for all sorts of uses that homebrew software would allow for, as well as a good price for that whole package.

Also, you are wrong about preserving art that can be lost. Software, especially digital, does not remain up forever. And this doesn't even account for betas, unreleased software, revisions, and other such issues outside of just commercially released software. Nintendo only gives those devkits out to specific people, and even then they are only allowed to do specific things with them. Again, the Switch is YOUR property according to any and all laws about ownership in just about every major country, you are not in any way, shape, or form required to adhere by Nintendo's guidelines that you may only develop software on their devkits and by their rules if you don't want to.

Also, you falliciously seem to think hacking a Switch is illegal, it is not. And show me what is essentially a X1 powered tablet with detachable physical bluetooth controllers that have IR cameras and all the other features the Switch itself and the joycons have for the same pricepoint. Don't forget you will need to include ac adapters, cables, and a dock as well.

Your entire post is littered with yet again attempting to act like pirates and hackers are one and the same, so your very fundamental argument is flawed because you refuse to see any other viewpoint other than your own that hacking=piracy, I am starting to think you can't even see it from any other viewpoint than your own that you clearly don't seem to have any intent on acknowledging is flawed or changing.

@Cyber_Akuma Actually my conclusion was that, piracy aside, the utility would be vanity/self-indulgence/self-promotion.

Indeed you have the right to modify your property. You can turn your Switch into a garden planter if you want. But in the US it is illegal to break encryption, or duplicate the copyrighted ROM. Of course many of the hackers are outside the US jurisdiction, and it doesn't apply in their locales, but it's one thing to keep in mind.
"But on top of that, again, the Switch is a very powerful portable device with a large multitouch screen, USB, MicroSD, detachable physical inputs, and internal storage. It is a perfect device for all sorts of uses that homebrew software would allow for, as well as a good price for that whole package."

Many other devices exist that meet that profile, and none of them need to be hacked for homebrew. What value does specifically hacking the Switch add to the equation?

". And this doesn't even account for betas, unreleased software, revisions, and other such issues outside of just commercially released software"

Wait so now we're hacking to preserve software we were never authorized to possess. And that is not theft, how? I already addressed digital and the need, not for hacking, but for legislative change to correct that problem and how spending all this effort on hacking instead of enacting that change is aiding the problem rather than solving it. But fighting to preserve software one was never in rightful possession of to begin with is a whole other thing, heading back to that piracy realm.

"bluetooth controllers that have IR cameras and all the other features the Switch itself and the joycons have for the same pricepoint. Don't forget you will need to include ac adapters, cables, and a dock as well."

Nintendo uses mostly off-the-shelf components in a custom design. You could obtain most of these features in custom hardware builds. So now we're advocating copyright violation (in the US) and DMCA violation (in the US) in order to save money? (I'm not fond of DMCA and remain against it, but it is what it is. The US is a rule of law nation. We don't just ignore laws we dislike. We either change them or are stuck with them. Ignoring them means simply leaving bad laws in place forever and only the unliked shall be punished, defeating a core feature of not only the US but all nations utilizing Justinian and Common law. That is how banana republics function.)

All that said, your summary that I was equating pirates with hackers indicates you did not clearly read the post. In fact your response here links hacking and pirating together more than anything I said. My crux was if we separate those with pirate intent, we're left with those with vain intent.

Let's also not forget, what you do with your own hardware with your own skillset is more or less nobody else's concern. Hack away, homebrew away. Not even Nintendo really cares. But the people in these discussions are not making their own modifications for their own possessions, they're making public a wholesale simplification of the process to allow widespread adoption, in exchange, largely for credit (and sometimes money.) There's a large jump from modifying your own products because you want to versus an organized effort to publicize and distribute tools to simplify doing so on a large scale.

Since we all love metaphors and examples: it's not illegal to make a device that can be used to pick locks. I can make one if I want. It's handy if I lock myself out, forget my keys, etc. If I'm not picking locks or breaking and entering, I'm certainly not a thief, and it would be wrong to accuse me of such. On the other hand if I start mass producing lockpicks and distributing them in large quantity down the street from a halfway house with instructions that say it's not to be used for picking locks for trespassing, am I still an innocent metalworking hobbyist?

Not all hackers are intent on enabling piracy. And not everybody modifying their own purchase has criminal intent. But when a hacker publicizes their work as loud as they can through every channel they find, and distributes their tools en masse so those without the skill to do what they did can easily use their work, is anybody fooled about how the majority of interested parties are intending to use it? Of all the downloads/purchases of their tools what percentage to they feel are just interested in exploring their hardware's potential without skill to do it, versus the percentage looking to abuse it? One does not need to lump all hackers in with pirates to take notice of those announcing their work as loud as they can. Perhaps they are the minority of such hackers. But they're the ones we're usually discussing when related to news, not the individuals who did it privately to their own equipment. Those don't make the news.

@AlexOlney I've seen plenty of articles that demonstrate that this site is in dire need of a copy editor, and the line that @djfuts quoted is, in fact, another one. Furthermore, your counter-trolling, while decently done, makes emendations to constructions that aren't grammatically incorrect. They may not be stylistically appropriate for a news article, but they're perfectly appropriate for Internet comments. Which you would know if NintendoLife would just hire a sodding copy editor.

@NEStalgia Sorry, but I disagree. It's not only both educational and worthwhile for future experience, but also useful in utility as well.

And no, you are misinformed about the legality in the US as well. Breaking the encryption with the intention of illegal acts such as piracy is illegal, and making a backup of your own data is explicitly a right granted by US copyright law. Moreover, nobody here said anything about even playing ROMs, just running homebrew. Believe it or not, many people have interests other than just pirating games when it comes to hacking their Switch.

Do you know what the most common praise I heard was when they announced the Switch was hacked? Not "When can I pirate", even on sites that don't care if you pirate, it was "Now I can finally backup my saves!". And no, before you bring up their online service, we are talking about a LOCAL backup, not to mention that it's ridiculous to be required to pay to backup your data.

And again, if such devices exist, LIST them. It's easy to claim something exists, far harder to prove it.

Also, art is art, allowed to possess or not is irrelevant, many of those would be lost forever if not preserved. There is a mountain of software that still exists today purely because people preserved it when they could, since the originals are gone. Preservation is preservation, period.

Many of these components are NOT available for consumers, and even then, at a significant markup. At the end of it all, it's your property, your property that you have the RIGHT in every single sense of the word to do whatever you want with.

Also, your argument about distributing them is flawed. First of all, NO, many hackers don't do it for "recognition", most hackers because they want people to be able to fully use their hardware, and also because they are not generally solo efforts. Many hacks are built on the shoulders of other hacks. It's the very essence of open source and the FOSS mentality. You seem to have a hard time grasping they could possibly EVER do it for anything other than personal gain or other selfish reasons.

As for your lock pick example. In most of the US, it is not illegal to sell or own lock picks. Thing is, it is also not illegal to sell or own knives.... but if you sold a knife to someone that you know was intending to stab people with it, you would be prosecuted for it. There is a difference between selling something that CAN be misused, and selling it when you KNOW the person will criminally misuse it. In fact, the majority of sites and circles centered around hacking consoles operates on this principle as well. If you ever admit or say that you will use it for piracy, bye bye, insta-pemaban. Knife manufacturers advertise everywhere as well after all, they are no different than hackers putting their hacks out there. In fact, they advertise LESS. Outside of possibly a forum post on their site of choice, what's all the "advertising" they do. Other sites..... like this one... might pick up on it and report it, but they aren't putting up digital billboards everywhere.

@Cyber_Akuma "Breaking the encryption with the intention of illegal acts such as piracy is illegal, and making a backup of your own data is explicitly a right granted by US copyright law. "

Reproduction of copyrighted materials has always been gray, but allowed to slide under USCA, however, encryption breaking is unlawful under DMCA explicitly. "Intent" is not part of the bargain. Perhaps it should be, but is not. That's why disc playback software (not even copying) of PS1 games is OK, but PS2 games is illegal. PS1 discs are unencrypted, PS2 discs are encrypted (badly), so encryption breaking software is required to read them.

"Moreover, nobody here said anything about even playing ROMs, "

Sorry, clarification required: I didn't mean game ROMs, I mean the system ROM.

Local backups, I can fully appreciate the desire for that, I share it. It's absurd that that is lacking considering Nintendo itself offered it in the last 3 systems. OTOH, what has allowing local backups enabled? Save cheating. Which was inevitable. Switch should have a means of saving backups locally. They're doing the cloud thing due to save scumming in Splatoon being a disaster on WiiU, however the simple solution to that was to store online character data server-side, and offline doesn't matter. Yes, that's their stupidity. But the moment that got out, what's the first thing that happened? Splatoon save hacks. That goes back to: If the hackers have faith in humanity, they're even larger fools that I considered them 3 posts ago I don't deny the utility the save backups would have, but you also can't deny the very reason that allowing them through hacks was a very poor, self-serving, for benefit or adulation, objective from those that enabled it.

"And again, if such devices exist, LIST them. It's easy to claim something exists, far harder to prove it."
From smartphones to tablets (excluding Apple), to laptops, to obscure devices like the GPD Win2 plenty of general purpose computing devices with the same or better feature set exist. Do some cost more? Sure. Hacking to save money isn't quite the vaunted ideal as preserving art though.

"Also, art is art, allowed to possess or not is irrelevant, many of those would be lost forever if not preserved. "

This, frankly starts crossing waaaay past the line of defending justifiable reasons. "What's yours is mine for the good of mankind" doesn't fly. You can't defend property rights in one sentence by establishing your right to modify your hardware, and then throw away property rights in another sentence by establishing "It's mine to liberate whether it's mine or not because I've decided it's best for everyone because it's art!" We're well into moral relativism based on your own interests rather than any firmly fixed defense of rights now. If your Switch is yours to do as you please, Nintendo's art is theirs to deny as they please. If you can tell them how their art is to be distributed, Nintendo can surely tell you how to use your Switch. Property rights don't change depending on how special you deem the property. You're either for or against rights of property ownership, not different policies based on your classification of the property. Most of the rest of what we're debating, I can appreciate the shades of difference of point of views we're debating, but this one flies boldy into a pure theft territory.

"Many of these components are NOT available for consumers, and even then, at a significant markup."

All the components are available. Not the shells, you'd have to build your own shell of course. But the Tegras, memory modules, gyros, rumble packs, fans, etc, etc. are available (maybe not the exact demensions of parts) but the point is a skilled individual could build the same feature set. Not at the same price point, but we're hacking for education, value, features, and homebrew, not for money, and leveraging the savings of someone's closed platform, right?

" At the end of it all, it's your property, your property that you have the RIGHT in every single sense of the word to do whatever you want with."

Unless you decide my Switch is art, then it must be liberated for the benefit of Earth and I have no right to deny it.

"Open source" Open source is one big recognition back patting club. I've spent enough time in that world (not the hacking side) to know all too well the ol' boys club it is. Yes, they're gaining recognition, demonstrating skill sets, opening job opportunities, academic opportunities, and rarely miss a chance to climb. Nobody's pretending they're not receiving a benefit from it, even if it's a meritocratic one.

As for the knife/lockpick example, indeed, however when a knife company sells knives, they do so knowing there may be 1% of that purchase group at risk of stabbing someone, and 99% of the purchase group using them for utility/defense. Same for lockpicks. (My example had me knowingly, but innocently distributing them (free!) near a halfway house....) However when these groups post their hacks, let's not pretend they're not very well aware of what ballpark percentages of interested parties intend piracy/cheating. They're not giving it to someone "to" cheat/pirate, but if they tell you they don't expect a very large percentage of users will use it to cheat/pirate, they're lying to you. Imagine if the knife manufacturer, or to raise the controversey, gun manufacturer knew a good half, or even a quarter of the people buying were planning murder? They'd be in a whole other mess than the 0.01% of customers they have that currently do.

Every tool will have outliers that abuse it for wrong uses. Everyone with every product or tool knows that. But there's a responsibility when you know a significant part of people buying/downloading your product/tool intends nefarious purpose, to not generate that opportunity. If the hackers in these news articles had any sense of that, they would not be promoting their work. Which comes back to they either don't know, don't care, or feels the end justifies the means, not unlike the art paragraph where the theft of another's property is justified because the benefit of it is deemed greater.

@HappyMaskedGuy @djfuts @AlexOlney
As HappyMaskedGuy pointed out, it should indeed be either “This acts as a reminder[...]” or
“This act’s [act is] a reminder[...]”

In any case, this brushes a little too close to vigilantism for my liking.

Lol 'victims' of piracy...

@AlexOlney Stop promoting hacking and thievery (or even in this case, warning potential thieves how to be careful). This is not the NintendoLife I used to admire. AND FIX THIS PALEOLITHIC SYSTEM OF COMMENTING where post #367 answers to the post # 34.

@NEStalgia No, there have been numerous exceptions made over the year to to how over-reaching the original version of the DMCA was. By our argument Jailbreaking my phone would be illegal because it's encrypted, but they specifically allow for that.

And save-cheating is a complete and total non-issue. Modern systems encrypt their saves to a local seed/account, so unless your system is ALREADY hacked you aren't going to be modifying those saves anyway. And even if you do somehow, the games are sandboxed as well, so even if you did manage to gain control of a game through a hacked save, you would not gain full system level control with it, which you would need for piracy. All of this, of course, is a moot point since "People MIGHT find a way to use it for piracy" does not matter in the face of locking a consumer out of their own data. That's like if a CD Burner required online authentication every time you burned a disk to make sure you weren't pirating something with it.

Making a backup of your own firmware is not illegal either.

You still failed to list specific devices, you yet again listed generics. The closest you came to was the GPD, but that thing is more than twice the price of the Switch and lacks some of the Switch's functionality. This is also a moot point because property is property, of someone wants to hack his property, that is fully within their rights.

And again, it's still preservation. You might not like it, but it would be gone forever if it wasn't preserved. And no, for consumer purchase many of them are not, and the ones that are cost significantly more to assemble than the Switch does. And again, moot point, because it's still your property do do as you want.

Seriously, your whole post is "But why would you want to?" I gave multiple reasons, and the fact that it's their property to do as they wish trumps all of your and my reasons. Why would anyone want to paint their front yard purple? I sure as hell would never want to, but if someone wants to, it's their right.

And we again fall into your fallacious "all hackers are pirates!" mentality. As I stated, some hackers added ADDITIONAL anti-piracy to their homebrew or made it not work if piracy software was detected, don't act like they are intentionally allowing it, that's like claiming people who manufactured CD burners planned for them to be used for piracy.

All this nonsense you argued is exactly why laws exist and why people who break them, not the suppliers unless the supplied product itself is illegal, are the ones the laws go after. You want to argue that people should have their RIGHTS to modify hardware they OWN however they chose taken away because a minority, and yes people who pirate on a system are always a minority, might mis-use it.

Your entire argument is flawed from the start.

@JayJ
I'm playing Xenoblade 2 & countless other games for free. It was a great idea to hack my switch. You seem salty 😂

@PlywoodStick "victim-blaming" is usually a term reserved for when the victim is not guilty of anything nefarious, though.
In this case, i argue that it's perfectly acceptable to blame the victims, because the so-called "victims"were trying to download piracy software.XD

@NEStalgia Well said!

LOL
Already more than 100 posts.

Too many people who try to crack their consoles don't know what they are doing. You can tell them to back stuff up and follow the guide, but they never will. Its a test of intelligence.

They got what they deserve. I have no sympathy for these people that have bricked their system. It's people like this that have helped shape the current industry by not paying for games.

I'm sure Nintendo will help them, for a fee...

@Adamapple Yeah, I agree. I felt that the backlash was disproportionate, and unprofessional on the part of Nintendo Life. It looked a lot to me like online bullying, which I can’t imagine is good for the site’s public image as a family friendly site. Yeah, the guy criticised the writing—cry me a river. It’s called a thick skin, and it’s a well known prerequisite in journalism.

I honestly think NLife should apologise for this poor conduct. It leaves a very poor impression.

@AlexOlney and what an expert and cunning linguist you are sir

It's a trap!

@Liam_Doolan Well, if the language I highlighted in an above comment was not your handiwork, then I apologize to you. It does open the question in my mind, however, if many of the articles on Nintendo Life are "colored" in a certain way by those editorial revisions. I know that each article must be run through editorial review, but I did not realize that they're not necessarily released with the basic intent of the original writer intact.

@smashbrolink I don't believe that's an excuse to waste the victim person's time, money, and energy getting the Switch, and certainly not worth the destruction of the innocent Switch console itself (if there is no NAND backup for it). If anything, it comes off as spiteful and petty behavior to gang up and attack others for it, and even advocating for the destruction of their hardware, which may no longer be available for circulation in the future.

The hardware essentially becomes electronic waste if affected by this with no NAND backup. That's a horrible outcome, and it's really quite shameful behavior for people to be callously jeering on the destruction of the hardware just because of the choices of their owners.

@HappyMaskedGuy Take a look at the revisions I proposed in my above comment to DABYX, and compare them to the original text. After Liam's comment to me, it makes me wonder if perhaps the article had been colored by editorial revision, with the editor's intent of reflecting an accusatory use of tone into the comments.

djfuts correctly picked up on something being wrong with the way the article was conveyed, but they didn't express it well. Alex opportunistically jumped on that weakness and redirected the criticism towards focusing on the grammar aspect, which is a complete distraction from what's really wrong with this article. I originally liked Alex's snarky comment too, until I realized what was happening there.

I wouldn't say this influence is quite at the level of being insidious, but it seems like other people in the comments are susceptible to being drawn towards exhibiting sycophantic comments and behavior, rallying behind the more defensive staff comments. Not once did someone else in the comments say that they felt sorry for the innocent Switch consoles which are victim to the bricking trap payload. They mostly spoke in righteous indignation of punishing an ostensible enemy, which certain words in the article itself subtly encouraged.

Those affected Switch consoles without NAND backups may never reenter back into the market, into someone else's hands. They may become electronic waste. Regardless of their owners' actions, that is a terrible outcome. It really is shameful that the comment section didn't focus on this, and instead focused on conducting a "witch hunt" style of behavior towards the victim consoles' owners.

RIP affected Switch consoles with no NAND backup...

Lololololololol

Oh I can’t breathe....can’t...stop....laughing...

@Ryu_Niiyama Are you okay?

Yep died laughing and came back to life. Thanks for asking!

Again...WHY would you ever pay for piracy tools?! That's just dumb! Remember Gateway 3DS, and how unnecessary it is these days? Pepperidge Farm remembers...

There are three important things to remember:
1) Hacking is not, was not and did not start as a way to MODIFY, DAMAGE, DESTROY or otherwise alter a digital record, file or hardware. That would be something entirely different. Hacking just sounds cooler than Piracy, Modding or corrupting for profit and pleasure.
2) When you purchase a Nintendo Switch and or physical game you own it 100% outright. You can modify it, skateboard it, give it away, destroy it or whatever.
3) Nintendo has every right to refuse warranty and or further accommodations to your equipment or software if it is deemed damaging, potentially damaging or malicious in intent to protect their financial interests, reputation and welfare of their customers and their equipment.

It really is this simple. The act of creating fluff filled, Wikipedia themed posts about the ethical ravages and political implications of what some people decide to do with their legally purchased property is meaningless drivel designed to puff somebody's ego up.

And what is going on with @AlexOlney? Smackdown or editorial meltdown? That was funny either way.

@PlywoodStick I see nothing shameful about people being happy that pirates aren't able to safely take what they please.
What I'm seeing here, with the people upset in the stead of the "victims", is just glorification of an issue that deserves the outcome it is experiencing.

There is no moral soapbox sturdy enough for those types to stand on, on this issue.

Pirates being subjected to some karma is not something people should feel ashamed over celebrating.

Nintendo is run by criminals. How can Nintendo take the moral high ground? When you exploit children, you charge them £50 for a game that cost 30 pence to produce. And all the retro games people are copying belong to us not Nintendo. We have paid for them 10 times over. Nintendo have took the law into their own hands by sabotaging people's hardware that no longer belongs to them. This constitutes as a cyber attack ,which is classified as terrorism. Who made Nintendo judge jury and executioner. You are not really in a position to be talking about moral decency, or ethics ,when you come from a criminal organisation, the Nintendo trading card company that used to run brothels and organised crime, and that's how Nintendo started. and just for the record Nintendo is currently being sued for stealing somebody's patent and pirating. Well now Nintendo is fair game they essentially put a rope around their own neck, and I'm going to make it my lifetime ambition to discredit these disgusting people.