Nintendo Is Suing A Reported "Leader" Of The Notorious Piracy Group Team Xecuter

I'm seriously hoping that it's Lionel Hutz representing Nintendo.

Bowser sues Bowser!

@Arckadius Family Feuds.

Hope this reduces the amount of hackers playing on Switch and other platforms, it's no fun to play against a cheater.

@Tourtus im okay with hacking, just not in the multiplayer component of a game where you play against each other.

You get what you get and you don't get upset. (If your a hacker, but if your a nintendo fan. Uh EEEEEEE???)

Yeah, hacking is fine, I've done it with my Switch already. But pirating and cheating...hellz no. It's those people that are ruining it for the rest of us that just wanna have fun. -.-

Suing him for selling hacking devices?

Wait but those literally have been sold from third party companies for years lol.. Action replay, Gameshark, powersaves, and you can do it yourself pretty easily without those either through homebrew or some other method.

Hacking online for unfair advantages, sure you can ban him for it and I fully support punishing people who ruin other's experiences with their hacks, but you can't sue them for that either.

EDIT: I think i misinterpreted it. So he hacked consoles, and sold the hacked consoles off? I mean, I guess? idk depends cause thats like saying if you sell your used console on ebay with sticker on it that its copyright infringement. I'm far from being a lawyer, but I assumed selling modified material isn't really illegal unless he's rebranding it as his own.

EDIT 2: ah i think I know now. He illegally downloaded a copy of the switch's OS, which is copyrighted code, and ported the same code into other switches which means he's selling copyrighted material. Its part of why its hard for us to emulate PS2 games cause unlike dolphin which has its own code, PS2 emulators need you to dump the bios and that's copyrighted code you cannot duplicate, even if its your own console since you're still duplicating the code of the system.

A hacked Vita is all you need. Fits nice in the pocket, play a few old games and PSP games. Play some Sonic 3. Life’s all good.

@Araquanid Yeah, I don't get it. So, they sell a device that lets you alter hardware you purchased? I don't think this is much different from VCRs or burnable CDs back in the day. It's not the hardware, it's people distributing the copyrighted IP you should go after. Not to mention, the fact your company released a device with such an easily altered operating system that people have used paperclips and their computer to do the same thing these devices do. I think you're going after the wrong people, but given their resources, they'll probably win. Justice isn't blind, it definitely sees the color green.

I love his excuse of "we're just trying to preserve old games". Preserving olds mean you sell hacked consoles for profit?

Does it come loaded with anything that makes downloading anything from the Eshop free?

Microsoft and Sony didn"t ever tried "hunting" hackers. Instead for example Microsoft, launched fw updates that detected the hacks used and permanently banned hacked consoles,rendering the banned consoles unable to connect online. Also I remember introducing some smart write techniques on disks, that made pirating games a bigger challenge.
Nintendo does not do anything to counter and close the doorways opened by the hackers, instead they call they're army of lawyers.

@Dant3Sama
Doesn't Nintendo do the same thing with their "stability" firmware updates?

@NinChocolate hacked 3ds > hacked vita

can play many old gb,gbc,gba,nes,snes, and n64 games as well as some good psp games all on just the 3ds

@CodyMKW I’m playing Image Fight NES on my 3DS right now

As you might recall, Bowser - a 51-year-old Canadian international

.....as opposed to a British international or an American international?

I think just saying "a 51 year old Canadian" would have sufficed

While it is dishonest to pirate games, when Nintendo sell old Wii and GameCube games for $60, I can see why they do it. I know Nintendo can charge what they want but it is easier to justify stealing heavily overpriced things.

Tell you what Nintendo will be busy suing everyone on eBay then, there are always plenty of hacked consoles ready to purchase!

As soon as you start turning a profit off something like this, you forfeit any defense really. Stealing is stealing.

The preservation defence is really weak. I stole the Ferrari because there was no way to buy it new, doesn't tend to hold up in court.

I have 2 Switches at home. One hacked (I use it only as a retro emulation machine and Linux desktop) and one that I haven’t hacked (this is the one I actually use for Switch gaming)
Oh and my girlfriend also have a Switch, so I guess we have 3 Switches at home

I agree, piracy is wrong and online cheating is ruining the fun for others. But running emulators and homebrew games or alternate operating systems like Linux or Android doesn’t hurt anyone.

@liljmoore lol, nobody on team Xecuter was claiming to preserve old games. I think you are getting your wires crossed a little.

@Milenko

Thank you for this Information.
Would be nice to have this deeper Information in the News itself to have a proper overview.

@NinChocolate I’m gonna be grabbing a Vita just for that purpose. Can’t wait to tool around with it, are they easy to modify?

NINJA APPROVED

@Dant3Sama No, that's false.
1. Going online with any sort of modifications to your console will get the device permabanned.
2. There's regular firmware updates
3. They released a Switch V2 - yes, also for longer battery life but it also fixed the main exploit that was used to hack the console.

The legalities of journalism are so strange to me. I understand why it's important to protect people from slander and lible; "innocent until proven guilty" and all that. But I think it's weird Nintendo is within their legal right to go as far as to sue this person, but the article still has to specify they are a "reported" and "assumed" and "supposed" leader of piracy. I guess Mr. Bowser could counter-sue Nintendo if there wasn't a substantial amount of evidence to charge him, but the man has already been convicted of the crime and is serving out his sentence right now. At what point are we allowed to drop the specification they are only "alleged" of a crime?

If @Liam_Doolan or one of the other site editors would like to educate me on this, I would be very appreciative. I can't imagine how stressful your job must be to navigate all the legal hoops like this.

@Not_Soos Alleged means they have been arrested for a crime, but still not fully processed. If the guy has 11 felony charges against him, that’s probably the alleged part. If he is in jail serving a sentence, then he has been subject to a criminal penalty. If he is being sued for the crime, he is now being punished for civil liability. It’s a mess, to be sure, and I’m heavily simplifying it. To add, suing someone doesn’t mean they are guilty of the crime. It means it is believed they should pay damages for a crime, and it has to be proven in court. Sometimes if there are criminal charges, the civil charges might be separately handled. Crazy stuff!

NINJA APPROVED

There aren't going too be many software purchases from someone owning a hacked console lol.

@Araquanid He sells a usb device via third-party sellers (random websites)

These devices basically contain a piece of software ‘the hack’ that removed signature checks. This then allows the installation of a custom firmware ‘CFO’ Once the CFO is Installed you can install home-brews (i.e playstation 2 emulator etc). Or a launcher which allows you to launch nintendo switch roms (pirate games)

@liljmoore "Preserveration" is the latest trendy excuse to take someone's work for free without admitting its out of greed.

If Nintendo announced they've preserved multiple physical and digital copies of every single game they've ever made and the source code. These "preservers" would still be pirating them.

@Wargoose preservation is not a defensive to actually use pirated software, its just a positive outcome from piracy!

Basically it’s just the silver lining.

@CodyMKW N64 and PSP? What are some examples? My 3DS is hacked, and I wasn't aware of this...

SXOS sell - or sold - licenses to enable your Switch to run backups of Switch games. The software to hack your Switch was freely available on their site and USB dongles - that plugged into the USB C port on the Switch - could be purchased from many places, and still can be, for just a few pounds on the internet. They made their money from selling the licenses, which would fully unlock your already 'hacked' Switch and allow you to play pirated games, without the license you couldn't really do anything.

If only Bungie was this frugal with Destiny 2 hackers

See what the court says eh...

(Never really been into "hacking" consoled personally! Or getting someone to do it for me!)

@Dr_Lugae The problem is even if nintendo did keep every game and source code unless they release them to be sold in a digital or physical format then I see them as abandoned ware (abandoned ware is piracy but is only called that when there is no way to buy a game new or digitally).

Example the Super mario 3d all stars. While that has been pulled from digital stores and eventually all the physical versions will start to go higher then RRP then in a few years that game will be classed as abandoned ware unless they re-release it again or release the games separately.

I have downloaded many abandoned ware games over the years because companies don't offer a way for me to buy either the game physically new or digitally.

What kind of felonies are we talking about? Perhaps I’m too simple but if I own a device I should be able to do with it whatever I want, or not?

So many people blindly defending a company that doesn't care about them in this thread, it's pretty hilarious.

@koekiemonster It’s good to be simple. Being simple means you have more room for the important things in your life.

Anyway, I don’t believe it’s a felony to modify your own console. That’s impossible to even enforce. I think the felony is due to the guy creating and distributing ways to be able to circumvent whatever protections Nintendo had on their system.

At least be smart and sell hacked older consoles. People aren't dumb enough to want to get a modded Switch this early, when full support from Nintendo is given.

Should have picked a less threatening team name. Switches 4 Orphans or something, makes it much harder to sound like they're bad people. Seems to work for a lot of organizations.

Some comments about this confuse me again.
This guy allegedly did something illegal which causes damages for someone else.
Him getting sued for this is just the obvious thing that would and should happen?

Even if there are others to go after or you think it is not that bad or something, the facts just remain.
If I personally lose money because of the illegal action of someone else, I would sue as well, who wouldn't?

@Josh2396
I don't care whether the company cares about me or not, just as I don't care about people I have never met before in that sense.
However, if someone gets damaged through someone else breaking the law than none of this matters to me, they have the right to sue, period.

@Dant3Sama Nintendo's OS has been cracked wide open by hackers.

Microsoft has a solid OS that they can implement hacking detection tools and ban accounts accordingly.

For whatever reason Nintendo doesn't have the ability to do that, i actually remember reading about it in 2018 when there were tons of articles about how easy it is to hack a Switch.

At the beginning Nintendo tried to ban the hackers but it kept spiralling out of control, they couldn't really detect them very well.

So eventually they took it one step further, went after the websites that promoted it and legally started attacking the hacking community.

Ultimately Nintendo made a weak operating system that they couldn't protect so instead of implementing security measures on their OS (Which they tried to do but kept failing), they legally attacked the hackers.

"...Bowser's wares put more than 79 million Switch consoles "at risk" from piracy."

Man, I sure do hope Nintendo's legal team can save me from free games!

@Moistnado so basically u support thievery if u cant afford something expensive... sounds like a common theif to me.

@RetiredR nintendo is dead to u because they want to protect their properties. Hope when u get robbed u dont retailiate.

Nintendo needs to tackle piracy in China. That country is a piracy hotspot.

Was really hoping I could softmod my switch because Nintendo exclusives are expensive & barely ever go on sale

I'm glad hackers and thieves need to be dealt with

@RetiredR ruin wat franchises you need to lay off the magic 8 ball.

@Tourtus It won't. If anything, hacking in console games is about to get even worse. Devices like the Cronus Zen make cheating and scripting in console multiplayer super easy, plug n' play and largely undetectable.

I get why they do this, but it's a hopeless battle they'll never win nor ever stop this happening.
The age old adage cut off it's head and 10 more take it's place.

@RiasGremory Paper Mario comes to mind...

@BloodNinja Actually they have used something close to that excuse already, their reasoning is preserving old code so newer devs can crack open old games and educate themselves in game development or learn methods of developing through them.

For example, if you were stuck on or couldn't figure out how to code something similar to F.L.U.D.D or the goop from sunshine, you can crack open the game and see how professionals approached it. They said that was their primary purpose and that it isn't their problem if the device that enables educational use get twisted for piracy uses instead, which is lets be real they probably did it for the later.

The Nintendo Switch already playable on PC, whatever nintendo do its already too late.

Aww, poor Nintendo, losing so much money from piracy that they're on the cusp of shutting down /s

@Araquanid Team Xecuter specifically said that? Where?

@andjahiam I didn't say I supported it. I said it was understandable. If you know the value proposition is way off, you feel robbed when buying these overpriced games. Knowing Nintendo is happy to overcharge wherever possible, hardly inspires loyalty.

What happened to the drift lawsuit?

@Moistnado It's NEVER okay to steal something, even if you can't pay for it.

If you don't like the price of a product, the don't buy the product. Stealing is always wrong.

@Dant3Sama MS also did the right thing and allowed homebrew on xbox one and series s/x. Because of this hackers didnt have to hack the system to use homebrew on them, cause thats almost always why they hack it. Not to pirate but to run their own code. Pirates usually steal hackers code so they can run copys and with out the hackers the pirates cant do *****, mostly anyways

@sanderev I didn't say it wasn't wrong. As for videogame piracy, with digital content, there is no physical product to take. Nobody is deprived of property, so this does not match the legal definition of theft. This is copyright infringement. In my opinion, the best way to combat copyright infringement is to ensure that you provide a conveniently accessible and reasonably priced product, with a fair and transparent refund policy. Just good service. I believe that people will be much less likely to pirate if they think the product is being sold in a virtuous and admirable way. Imagine if Nintendo announced that people who owned Mario 3D World on Wii U could also download it on switch, with no extra cost... say they just don't get the fury part, or they do, it doesn't matter. Imagine the good will, brand loyalty and culture of generosity this would create. Most people don't own a Wii U , and a download costs nothing. It would cost zero dollars but create so much loyalty. Those Wii U people, and others will feel much less likely to pirate games. If they feel cheated however, and it is rather easy to do. Imagine if Nintendo allowed old virtual console purchases to work on switch, instead of creating a subscription model. People would be willing to buy more. Just an opinion.

Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

The subtitle of this article 😂😂

To be fair, yes, cheating in games is bad but hacking your console should never be a punishable offense.

One thing i hate about current gaming is that when i buy a physical game, i can't install it on my console and leave the cartridge at home when i go somewhere. This is where i welcome "backups". If i already own the game, gimme options.

So many white knight protecting the company who can give 2 ***** about them and only cares about your money.

@BloodNinja

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-04-17-nintendo-suing-switch-hacker-gary-bowser

"The Department of Justice noted Team Xecuter at times "cloaked its illegal activity with a purported desire to support gaming enthusiasts who wanted to design their own video games for noncommercial use", but it insisted the overwhelming demand and use for its devices was to play pirated video games."

@Araquanid Perfect, thanks for at least citing something!