DSi equipped with 256MB memory

By Tom Bramwell Published 4 November, 2008

R4 and equivalents blocked.

Nintendo has updated the firmware for its new DSi handheld already, and early hands-on with the new unit reveals that it includes 1,024 "blocks" (around 256MB) of onboard flash memory in addition to SD card support.

However, our very old friend Internet Reports claims that R4 cards and other filthy piracy/pure-hearted homebrew add-ons no longer work (thanks DS Fanboy).

The new DSi with its fancy, Wii-style scrolly menu screen and DSi Shop, will download the 1.1 firmware update once it's configured for internet access via Wi-Fi, but you're not missing out on much if you can't figure out the Japanese menus - the only download for now is the free Opera web-browser, and IGN reckons this is complete cack.

Those of you contemplating an import will also want to bear in mind that all the menus are in Japanese with no English language option this time.

Most of the core stuff is simple (user information, Wi-Fi, brightness, calibration, firmware updates, etc.) once you've figured out what's on each of the system menu's tabs, but you might want to hang around for a step-by-step guide if you plan to play around with the image-manipulation features of the camera suite.

Look out for our hands-on impressions of the Nintendo DSi later this week.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ignatius_Cheese #1 3 years ago

    Arse biscuits...

  • JonFE #2 3 years ago

    It's only natural that Nintendo would try and block non-authorized cards on the DSi. As a matter of fact I'm quite surprised they haven't blocked it on the DS-Lite also...

  • kobashi #3 3 years ago

    it sucks for genuine homebrew players but blame the dirty pirates.

    If they are stopped just for 1 week then hey I am happy. I have seem a woman in her 30's on the train too work using a pirate card on the DS. I was pretty shocked it got to that level.

  • DFawkes #4 3 years ago

    I'm not fussy, I'm not a filthy pirate. Well, on DS anyway.

    I'd still prefer one that I could play Guitar Hero On Tour on, so I could buy on for my sister and Duel.

  • kangarootoo #5 3 years ago

    "I have seem a woman in her 30's on the train too work using a pirate card on the DS. I was pretty shocked it got to that level."

    What level? That a woman is using the card, or that she was in her 30s?

  • el_pollo_diablo #6 3 years ago

    or that it was a woman.

  • Cadence #7 3 years ago

    I think he's perhaps commenting on the normality of it.

  • brokenkey #8 3 years ago

    I'd guess that the fact they aren't rolling this out worldwide immediately and withdrawing the old one from sale means they expect this one to be cracked very quickly too.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #9 3 years ago

    I abhor the act of copying games for use on Nintendo DS cartridges. It is because of this that the new DSi have been made in such a way as to block the use of existing ways of playing homebrew.

    Its all too common an occurence these days to talk to someone about a new DS game, most recently Castlevania/Ecclesia, and to find out that the other person has played lots of games because he 'gets them from the internet'. I cannot help, in these situations, questioning the persons ethics and asking why they do not pay for games they played. Im my mind, if you have enjoyed a game then you should have payed for it.

    My supercard one allows me to do many things that would be impossible on the DS normally, but playing copied games isn't one of them. If I cannot afford to buy a game, I don't get to play it. Simple as that.

  • LazyDan #10 3 years ago

    I'm in a weird place with this, I bought an R4 and played all the games in the world for free, but I always /wanted/ to buy them.

    Now I hear the DSi has the R4 and friends blocked (at least until the pirates get updated,) I'm quite up for buying a DSi and starting a collection of all the AAAs and my favourites - now that I've played through everything and know what's bobbins and what's not.

  • kobashi #11 3 years ago

    @ kangarootoo

    I was suprised that someone who in her 30's had a card which she was using to play pirate games. From looking at her I just guessed she was a casual gamer who never played many games and wouldnt even know what the R4 was but hey she could have every console under the sun for all I know.

  • Tzetrik #12 3 years ago

    how many jiggawatts is that?

  • kangarootoo #13 3 years ago

    @kobashi

    I know several people in their 30s who have a DS plus R4 cart. Maybe 'cos I'm in my 30s myself it doesn't seem odd to me :)

  • Skeletor #14 3 years ago

    @JohnnyWashnGo

    Funny how moralisers like you never tell the WHOLE truth which is that most Europeans are playing Ecclesia as a rom because it's simply not available in Europe yet. Importing the US version is expensive and not everybody has a credit card. Since Konami Europe doesn't seem to give a shit...

    Nintendo is afraid not only of people pirating their games but also of people spending their time with high quality (and legal!) homebrew. I've spent more time with the brilliant Lone Wolf choose-your-own-adventure book than with any other commercial rpg.
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 12:04

  • kobashi #15 3 years ago

    @ Skeletor

    I have seen so many pirates use that excuse. "I only use R4 for games as they are not out in Europe yet" That is pathetic and a cheap Kop out. the MS Zune is not out in Europe, would you go into a shop and steal the US version?? Of course you wouldn't!!

    It was cheaper for me to import Castlevania: Ecclesia then wait for the UK version. I import 95% of my DS games.

    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 12:14

  • crazyhorse174 #16 3 years ago

    I'm a filthy pirate. Since getting my R4, I've bought fewer DS games than before. Strangely though, I've bought just as many good DS games as before.

    kobashi, there's a difference between stealing a product and making a copy of it. It's not stealing if the victim still has all of his goods after you've "stolen" them. Unless you actually go around in a boat, pillaging stock from warehouses and shops, software piracy is not theft.

    Thats the lamest exuse I've ever heard trying to condone piracy.

    I'm not going to lie and say I'm innocent - I'm not. But even I wouldnt try to justify what is theft.

  • kangarootoo #17 3 years ago

    "It's not stealing if the victim still has all of his goods after you've "stolen" them. Unless you actually go around in a boat, pillaging stock from warehouses and shops, software piracy is not theft."

    /sigh

    Oh seriously, who cares about splitting hairs. We all know what we mean.

    Dictionary school begins here.

    Software piracy is not technically theft (the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another).

    Software piracy IS stealing (to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment)

    So what exactly is your point? To pick on a single word used to describe an act and start arguing semantics is just utterly pointless. If you broke into someone's house and they said "stop thief", would you stand there and say "well actually, I haven't removed any property, so your accusation of theft is incorrect. I might be trespassing, but that is completely.... ZZzzzzzzzz". They would just smack you in the head for being a childish tit.

  • IneptPercy #18 3 years ago

    Lets be honest nintendo love the R4 (and others), I know many people who have only got a DS because they could get an R4, in all cases they wouldn't have bothered otherwise, In this case a download isn't a lost sale. I am not saying this is right or wrong but its a case of Nintendo have sold 7 DS's (from my short survey) which they wouldn't have sold otherwise.

    Lets be honest how much of the PS1s success was due to piracy?

  • kangarootoo #19 3 years ago

    "Lets be honest nintendo love the R4 (and others)"

    No they don't.

    "I know many people who have only got a DS because they could get an R4"

    Selling a console is one thing, but the real cash is made from games. Even if you make a profit on each console sold (which the DS may do, I don't know), you don't want that profit to be the last you ever make. That is hardly a long term plan and no basis on which to base a platform.

    I wonder what percentage of DS owners own an R4 cart or similar. I know it is high enough for them to be concerned, but its clearly not the majority. Is it even a percentage in double figures?

  • Gaol #20 3 years ago

    IneptPercy is right, the R4 and equivalents isn't a problem so much for Nintendo - it is however a huge problem for smaller 3rd party devs.

    I think it has a bad overall effect on the quality of DS software. Why should a 3rd part pour heart and soul into making an exceptional DS title when they know that a large portion of users will pirate it. Easier to spend as little time and money as possible and fleece whoever they can.

    @kangarotoo

    You'd be surprised. Virtually every machine sold in Asia is bought with an R4.
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 13:03

  • brooza #21 3 years ago

    "R4 cards and other filthy piracy/pure-hearted homebrew add-ons no longer work"

    For the next couple of weeks

  • kangarootoo #22 3 years ago

    @not_luigi

    "You paid for that stock, and now you don't have use of it. If I make a copy of your stock, you haven't lost out, because you still have use of your goods because I haven't stolen them. What's difficult to understand there?"

    Look dude, there is no difficulty in understanding here whatsoever. You clearly have one meaning for the word "stealing", everybody else, including the oxford dictionary and the legal system, has another meaning. That is pretty clear.

    I ABSOLUTELY agree that comparison with the theft of physical item is weak (which is why those ridiculous FACT adverts about how you wouldn't steal a handbag are so painful to watch), but we aren't living in Victorian england here. Theft of intellectual property is well catered for in modern legal circles and tbh in modern life.

    The thing that has been stolen is revenue. You wrote "You paid for that stock, and now you don't have use of it", but the stock in this case is the manhours that it cost to make the game, and the bills I had to pay to run a studio (figuratively speaking, I don't run my own studio). THAT is what is being stolen.

    I also agree that not every pirated copy is a lost sale, but some of them most definitely are.

    You MUST understand that, right? I kind of feel like you are being obtuse to make a point, but that does you a diservice. To suggest that all that matters is whether your hands are laid on a physical object is frankly tantamount to joining a flat earth society in this modern age.

    Example. If you hacked into a bank and created an account for yourself, into which you added a balance of £1m, would that be ok? You haven't pinched anyone elses money, you have just "made up" some money. Would that be fine with you? Can you not see how the effect of forging money does, in the end, actually result in others losing money? The loss of money is the act of stealing, physicality simply isn't relevant anymore.
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 13:49

  • MoGamer2006 #23 3 years ago

    I think you're being kind - I think he's just a bit tick, innit

  • Skeletor #24 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    Software piracy is neither theft nor stealing technically or LEGALLY. It is however a breach of copyright and therefore illegal. It's absolutely impossible to give correct numbers how much money a dev lost due to piracy. Most numbers the industry gives you are highly exaggerated estimates, nothing more.
    Btw, your second example/definition is poorly ripped out of context - to appropiate someone else's ideas is considered illegal IF you use them to gain something (money, school grade etc.). Otherwise every kind of fan fiction would be piracy/stealing which is simply bullshit.

    The true problem with the R4 are not the freeriders who wouldn't have bought the game or console without the R4 anyway but all the people who feel that buying the cartidges is not worth it anymore because it's much more convenient to have all the games on one cart. The gaming experience an R4 is offering you is simply better than the one Nintendo is charging money for. Part of the reason why Nintendo is offering a channel for downloadable games on the DSi is to compensate for this disadvantage.
    As always, they're not in the hurry when it comes to Europe...
    Edited by 2 at 04/11/08 @ 14:09

  • siro #25 3 years ago

    Gaol: That's nonsense. (Edit: The about every DS being sold with a R4 in Asia thing.)
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 14:51

  • kangarootoo #26 3 years ago

    @Skeletor

    "Software piracy is neither theft nor stealing technically or LEGALLY. It is however a breach of copyright and therefore illegal"

    Holy shit. Have you not read anything I've said? Was it not an hour or so ago I was saying that I don't give a flying fig about the childish semantic excuses. If the act is illegal, does it really matter what its called? If I use the wrong term to describe the illegal act, does that mean it isn't illegal or does it just mean than I need to strengthen my legal vocabulary.

    Jesus wept.


    Interestingly though, from FACT's website, it would appear that buying a pirate DVD is not illegal...

    "While it is not an offence to buy pirated DVDs, the production, distribution and sale of pirated DVDs is a criminal offence and those found guilty can be punished by a maximum 10 years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine in the Crown Court, and a maximum of £5,000 and/or six months imprisonment in the magistrates court."



    "It's absolutely impossible to give correct numbers how much money a dev lost due to piracy. Most numbers the industry gives you are highly exaggerated estimates, nothing more."

    Irrelevant. How difficult it is to calculate damages has nothing to with the legality of the offense in question.


    "to appropiate someone else's ideas is considered illegal IF you use them to gain something (money, school grade etc.). Otherwise every kind of fan fiction would be piracy/stealing which is simply bullshit."

    How is pirating a game not resulting in gain for the pirate? And as for your fan fiction reference, fan fiction almost certainly falls under the title of "fair use". Pirating clearly does not.
    [link url=http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p09_fair_use
    ]http://ww w.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyri...[/link]


    Lets cut through all the crap here. Regardless of what name we might ignorantly use to describe the act of pirating, we all know what we are talking about so lets stop with the smoke screen. Pirating is illegal, and we all know it. I can't give you a firm definition of which law it breaks, or what description the act would be given in court, but seriously who gives a f*ck. We know what we are all talking about, right?


    @not_luigi

    "This is the important bit. I'm willing to bet that the number of lost sales to pirated copies is so small as to be negligible. After all, people already make that value judgement when they decide which games to buy and which to pirate."

    But we don't make that value judgement do we? Not really, if we are honest about it.

    We all know how human nature works, and to suggest that even a slim majority of pirates would still buy exactly the same list of games whether piracy was an option or not, is just nonsense. That old argument keeps coming up, but it has simply never been true. And you know it.

  • kangarootoo #27 3 years ago

    I should point out, just for some balance, I am not particularly vehemently against piracy. I'm not the least bit militant when it comes to piracy, and my history is not spotless in that area either.

    But what I do have an issue with is iversion and excuses and word games. I kind of wish that people would just have the balls big enough to admit they are just human, instead of trying to find a way to do what they do without it being labelled as "wrong".

    I mean, what is the point? Its like they are desperate to get into heaven, or worried that Father Xmas will find out they have been naughty?

  • chrisjm #28 3 years ago

    so how do you buy an R4 if you are using the excuse of cant buy from US with no credit card.
    there are no high street shops selling R4 for cash.
    really flawed excuse

  • kangarootoo #29 3 years ago

    @not_luigi

    "So in my experience, that old argument pretty much is true"

    Juuuust a minute.

    Your experience as described by yourself includes a test subject list of you, and your girlfriend... and your girlfriend's behaviour bears out my point (which you cunningly dismiss by pointing out she is a girl).

    How does that show the old argument to be true. Thus far your limited test has found a 50% return each way. I call shennanigans on your pseudo science sir :)

  • Skeletor #30 3 years ago

    @chrisjm

    In Spain you can buy your R4 at most newsstands, in Germany you can buy them from several small dealers via Amazon. Still a flawed excuse?

    @kangarootoo

    "If the act is illegal, does it really matter what its called?"

    Yes, it does. Many people in the industry still call it "theft" which is simply a lie that needs to be pointed out.

    "Irrelevant. How difficult it is to calculate damages has nothing to with the legality of the offense in question."

    I never said that the lack of reliable numbers means piracy is legal! However, in many cases this lack of numbers poses the question whether all the bitching and whining about "lost sales" can be solely blamed on piracy.

    "How is pirating a game not resulting in gain for the pirate? And as for your fan fiction reference, fan fiction almost certainly falls under the title of "fair use". Pirating clearly does not."

    I meant commercial gain of course. Copying ideas/concepts/characters and using them to write a Harry Potter clone is not a crime. Selling such a work without permission is. The gain for the pirate is rather dubious here and comparable to photocopying pages of a book from the library. Unless you sell the roms, all that is left here is a simple copyright infringement by a private person with no monetary interest. That might not be legal but it is certainly miles away from theft.


  • kangarootoo #31 3 years ago

    @Skeletor

    "Yes, it does. Many people in the industry still call it "theft" which is simply a lie that needs to be pointed out."

    But its too often wheeled out as a strawman. By exposing the "lie" (its not a bloody lie, its a lack of specific legal knowledge leading to people using the wrong term) people try to suggest that the crime is somehow less of a crime. It isn't, it is simply missing its proper name.

    "I never said that the lack of reliable numbers means piracy is legal!"

    Then why bring it into the discussion? Its just another strawman tactic to try and undermine the true point. Whether or not the numbers tally up has NOTHING whatsoever to do with determining whether piracy in itself is illegal.


    "I meant commercial gain of course. Copying ideas/concepts/characters and using them to write a Harry Potter clone is not a crime."

    But writing a Harry Potter close for your own use is not the same as pirating software.

    Look. If we were writing the lawbooks from scratch their might be a point in all of this discussion. But we aren't. We don't need to define what is or isn't illegal, as existing legislation already makes it quite clear. Endless discussions taking place on the internet about whether piracy is or isn't illegal are UTTERLY pointless, because the law determines what is and isn't illegal. And it has already determined exactly that when it comes to software piracy. It IS illegal, because the law says it is.

    So we always end up coming back to people saying things like "software piracy isn't theft", which of course the response should be. "Right, but piracy is illegal, so what exactly is your point?".

    As I said, people try to make it a moral argument. Yet such an argument is so obviously hollow to all involved. Its like a child hoping that if they just keeping on lying they will get away with being naughty, no matter how much they are told they are not believed.

    I have NEVER met someone who pleaded the moral high ground for piracy, who wasn't also either under 20 years old (or acted like it in their general conduct). Its just childish stubborness, always trying to change the focus of the argument to somehow "win".

    I saw a good quote a while back. Something like "the only thing an argument proves is that at least two people are present". That said, I rather like debate and it it doesn't really matter whether it is has a purpose or not. This has all been very polite and interesting (except perhaps for my own thinly veiled accusations of childishness), so kudos to all (except me, obviously).


    "The gain for the pirate is rather dubious here and comparable to photocopying pages of a book from the library."

    Err, which is actually copyright infringement, which is why books such as RPG manuals give specific permission at the bottom of pages containing things that might reasonably be expected to be copied (such as character sheets and so on) :D
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/08 @ 17:20

  • sneetch #32 3 years ago

    And the winner of the thread is.... hehe, I'm having a little trouble with the envelope... kangarootoo! For his wonderful points, his ability to push through the "arguing semantics" stage of the conversation and to cut to the fundamental truth of the matter regardless of the terms being used to describe or obfuscate it.

    Come on down here, kangarootoo! Lets give him a round of applause, folks! :)

    (Cash value of this award is 1p and must be collected in person.)

  • Totoriko #33 3 years ago

    They've already hacked the DSi
    Now, that was quick .... :|