Under 24 hours after its Japanese launch, the Nintendo 3DS has been hacked to play pirated games. This obviously isn’t a surprise, as the general rule seems to state that if piracy is possible, then piracy will happen.
The unit was hacked to accept R4 cards, a popular way to pirate games on the original Nintendo DS, combined with a modification of a “whitelist,” found within the 3DS’ firmware, which basically dictates which software the unit can run. Thus, the hack doesn’t actually play pirated 3DS games yet, and only applies to DS and Game Boy Color games at the moment, which, considering the current 3DS launch titles, is still a pretty significant step toward having something to do on your new 3DS.
The following text, which describes the workings of the hack, appears in the above video:
Let me just clear things up. This is not a 3DS flashcart. It is the R4 used on Dsi. It is not possible to play 3DS games from it. You can’t use your current DS flashcart (no matter what brand) on it. The R4 team has managed to hack the 3DS in order to make it run. Nintendo has made a “whitelist,” built into the 3DS. It’s a lit that contains the names of all games that can be played on the 3DS. These guys have modified this list, making it possible to run their flashcart. There, you can not do this unless you hack the system yourself. Expect Nintendo to release a firmware update to block the R4 cards once again.
(via PC Magazine)
