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The FSF's Campaign Against the Nintendo 3DS
Max Hyre writes "The Nintendo 3DS's terms of so-called service, and the even more grotesquely-misnamed privacy policy, make it clear that you are in the service of Nintendo. Specifically, anything you do, write, photograph, or otherwise generate with the 3DS is Nintendo's possession, for them to use however, whenever, and for as long as they want. On the other hand, if you do something they don't like, they're prepared to turn your device into a doorstop — and you gave them permission when you started using it. And if you have a child's best interests at heart, don't give it to anyone too young to know to never use her real name, type in an address or phone number, or take any personally-identifiable photos. They might, at best, end up in a Nintendo ad."
but what does the summary have to do with the Free Software Foundation?
Oh, now I see, the linked website is apparently a campaign of the FSF, and the banners you can add to your site are hosted on fsf.org.
"Brick Nintendo before they brick you". Come on!
The FSF has taken many extreme fundamentalist decisions in the past, how can I trust that they are reasonable today? Because they say that "User Content" is anything you do on your 3DS. Wouldn't that be called user activity?
It would be nice to have another article, with a more balanced approach.
In soviet russia the government regulates the companies.
But not surprising. Sometimes, I think the FSF is a bit too idealistic with calling for every program to be open source and have the "essential freedoms", but in this case, they are totally in the right. I for one, am severely disappointed in my childhood's favorite company.
Is there any way I could interpret this as Sony's fault?
Thats's bad but what did i agree to when i "signed" that xx page agreement for itunes, twitter, gmail, facebook, flybuys, etc
The FSF seems to have given up both advocating and developing free software as their primary field of activity. As of late, they seem to be focusing primarily on negative campaigns, designing would-be witty negative logos, and uselessly protesting. All the talks they give dont focus on the FSF itself but on somebody else. I have a (bitter) feeling that more and more they are evolving into some kind of Westboro Baptist Church of the software world.
Time to burn some karma, I guess...
There's this strange perception around some parts (particularly around here) that Nintendo are somehow "more ethical" or "consumer-friendly" than the other console manufacturers. This overlooks the fact that Nintendo are the people who normalised console region locking (and who are still trying to push and extend it even now, when Sony and MS have decided they're not interested any more), cracked down on homebrew whenever they can and put out consoles which don't even give so much as a tiny whiff of an "OtherOS" or "PS2 Linux kit" walled garden. In fact, going off their track record, they'll even try to sue you if you have a job they don't approve of and make a post on your blog saying you like one of their games (though I seem to remember they did apologise to the young lady in that particular case after it sparked an outcry).
Ok, they've probably got a way to go until they beat the Sony CD-rootkit fiasco (which didn't actually stem from Sony's gaming division anyway). But in pretty much every other respect, it's hard to say that they're any better than Sony - and I'd personally say that they're more anti-consumer than MS's gaming division (who don't seem particularly evil these days, even if they do occasionally do "inept" or "stupid" over something like Games for Windows Live).
I suspect Nintendo get a free pass from many due to a combination of nostalgia and the fact that they were the industry's underdog for two console cycles. One could perhaps draw parallels with Apple, if one really, really wanted to burn karma. It's not always correct to assume that the underdogs are any more ethical than the.. erm... overdogs. Reflexively and uncritically back the underdogs in every case and you may find yourself in a very uncomfortable position when they actually break through (feel free to insert Egypt/Libya comments here as appropriate to your own political persuasion).
It's nothing to get your panties in a bunch about...this is typical legalese jargon that comes standard with pretty much everything electronical these days. Why is this surprising? Oh I get it, nobody reads these things anyways. Apparently in this day and age, nobody knows that if you buy a piece of software, before even unwrapping it you owe your first born to the company who owns the most patents on many standard functions said software implements. Welcome to hell. I thought you were already comfortable. You weren't screaming before. Why start screaming now?
Now I'm definitely not doing it.
I'm actually one of the apparently few people who really likes 3D tech of all kinds, and could have possibly bought it just for that (I don't really play games much anymore). Still I figured it could be fun to play with.
But this crap sucks all the enjoyment out of it. If I'm not going to have control over what I buy, then I'm not going to buy it at all.
extreme fundamentalist decisions
I know that we're reached a point in humanity where culture, politics and lifestyle have globalised and we're accelerating toward a totalitarian's wildest dreams on groupthink... but I don't think we're at the point that the FSF should be called "extreme fundamentalists".
Examples of extreme fundamentalism:
- Obey this book or you go to Hell - since you're ignoring the book, let me help you there!
- Science provides the answer to every question - including the unfalsiable ones!
- An eye for an eye - so let me burn out your eyes!
- All property is good - I kill you if you're starving and you take some of my food store!
- All property is bad - I want your hammer to smash stuff up!
etc.
Examples of positions probably founded in some ideal which are not extreme fundamentalism, and which may apply to the FSF:
- Don't grant anyone the right to do anything its wants with any information it can obtain off you.
- Don't grant anyone the privilege to destroy your stuff at will.
- Expose people who try to do either of the above in order to spread awareness and modify behaviour.
- Oh, while you're here - if it doesn't harm you, how about sharing instead of hoarding?
What does Nintendo get from this that the federal government doesn't already have on you (which they may be able to get through a FOIA request)?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
There's a certain social network that owns your soul too. And mankind is 500 million souls too dumb.
It is not specific to Nintendo, Sony, or whatever company. The problem is that they can put whatever in the "terms" (which are only shown after the sale) and that for some incomprehensible reason some "law" systems abide extreme corporate fantasies instead of protect from them.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
There's little data you can create on a 3DS using built-in software and purchasable games. It's mostly just pictures and StreetPass data. StreetPass data is already broadcast promiscuously to every other 3DS you come near, so it's hardly going to be considered 'private information' by the owner (or shouldn't, if they have any sense).
Nintendo collecting this information and using it for anything public and that anyone might object to would be foolhardy, as they'd have to navigate privacy laws. Even aside from COPPA etc., minors are legally unable to sign contracts, and that includes clickwrap EULAs. Nintendo would have to obtain written consent from the (potentially minor) players in order to use their pictures or other personal information. Aggregated game statistics are something that noone is likely to object to being publicly disseminated, even if the legal basis for its collection is murky/invalid.
There is a built-in web browser but I'm skeptical that anyone would do serious web content creation from a 3DS and care that Nintendo could theoretically lay claim to it.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Sure, the person who owns the 3DS might have agreed to the terms, but what if a friend comes along and takes a picture using the device? They haven't agreed to allow Nintendo to use their picture.
Nintendo and makers of games for the DS line lost out on billions of dollars to easier-then-windows flashcarts. This kind of user monitoring is what they came up to combat that, I for one don't care at all if they know how long i use what software on my 3DS. Sure there are thousands of other uses for this hardware brewing out there already and thats all fine and dandy, just expect to loose the ability to use any official software. This is something I can almost agree with, but in the future we could say get debian running on one, I'd buy another one for my non-nintendo use. I see most of the data they record being used for marketing purposes internally at nintendo, and they've been doing it a long time. So I don't really mind my 3DS phoning home unless its going to include what websites I went to on the browser, than I might have to limit its usage.
Virtually all services and products produced which are useful or fun in some way have got dodgy ToS' or EULAs or other disclaimers that screw the user's rights. At this rate if I boycott each and every company who's been or is currently being a dick towards the consumer, there'll be nothing left.
Not that it's a bad thing for the FSF to make such hostile agreements public of course. But having said that, I doubt the FSF would support buying any modern console given they are all from dodgy companies and/or have dodgy terms/EULAs. So what's left? Certainly not the PC - the prime platform is Steam these days, and I find it hard to believe the FSF could support something like Steam for a multitude of reasons.
Might as well just not play any games... except for the FLOSS stuff. If that's the case, I'd get a new hobby. The FSF sure makes life fun. Maybe the solution is to realize things are fucked, and just go with it. Better to not be ignorant of the state of the world, and at least get some enjoyment out of it. It's the only reason why I can stand using Steam - don't want to sound like a bitter old bastard later on in life while every else is enjoying themselves. :)
The whole "send cardboard bricks to Nintendo" thing is pretty silly, but beyond that, they really do have a point. They're not making shit up; it's all spelled out, hidden somewhere in Nintendo's policies.
on the other side the tone that the FSF uses comes across as kind of lunatic
what is lunatic is a company daring to be able to claim the rights to your name, private info.
Read radical news here
The 3DS is region locked. First handheld ever to be so. Every Nintendo home console since the year dot has been region locked. Sony ditched region locking for games on the PSP and PS3. The 360 has region locking, but while it used to be mandatory for certification, MS leave it up to the publishers these days and most of them don't use it. Earlier handhelds such as the Gameboy, GBA and DS were probably not region locked because it was simply too much hassle to put the extra gumpf needed for it into the handhelds at the time while keeping size etc down. And not only does Nintendo region lock, but they also have a paternalist, authoritarian approach to which games can come out in which regions - witness The Last Story getting locked as Japanese-only, despite the success of previous Mistwalker games in the west.
I have no particular brief for MS. I own 360, a PS3 and a Wii (as well as a PSP, a 3DS and a high-end gaming PC). I like my 360 - and I like my PS3. Admittedly, Sony are in my bad books at the moment because I've just had to change my credit card thanks to them (which does tend to grate a bit). I don't tend to beat-up on them in the long term, though, because there are always plenty of others to do that. While at the same time, Nintendo do a lot of other things that are really, really bad (and if you are in Europe, then region locking is really, really bad) and generally seem to get away unscathed - indeed, with a little halo.
I've also got no idea why on earth you think that I just want games full of space marines. A quick glance at my posting history will show that games I've written nice things about lately include Valkyria Chronicles and Ar Tonelico Qoga, both of which have a distinctly non-space-marine aesthetic. In fact, Halo bores me rigid (though I do have a soft spot for Gears of War, largely because it's just so ridiculously over the top).
The absence of a browser in the 360 is an oddity, I'll admit. I've never really understood why they never put one in, given that the Wii and PS3 both have them (though the Wii's is borderline unusable and the PS3's is only marginally better). But to be honest, a browser is pretty low on the list of things that most people want from their consoles. Decent online multiplayer functionality tends to rank a bit higher on the list - and has yet to appear on any Nintendo console.
Just saying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTs9CC52cA She brings up some pretty interesting points. I was thinking about getting one as well but I'm definitely not anymore, not after this. I've also seen a few sites defending Nintendo because it "protects against piracy". When I asked the girl who covered this on her youtube channel she said she thinks it's not about piracy at all, but that Nintendo is using Piracy as an excuse to radically control its users and profit off of them. Interesting points, even if a bit "extreme".
Nintendo has had more region free gaming across the board than any other company they've competed again. Their portable systems never had any region locking which has allowed me and others to buy Gameboy and DS games from across the world. They did introduce region locking on the DSi download games but that is certainly no worse than MS or Sony.
PSP games weren't region locked and neither are virtually any PS3 games. IIRC one region locked title was a special edition of Stranglehold which had a copy of Hard Boiled the movie on it which had distribution issues. I'd add that you can purchase content from any region on PSN as well.
So it isn't the case they're better than Sony is, they're distinctly worse. Not to say Sony won't do the same thing in time with the NGP of course but I expect they'd create more problems than they'd solve by doing it.
Shill easily spotted defending Nintendo draconian extreme end user license agreement user has no right of cancellation other than to not use a simple toy or give up all copyright rights to personal private content everything goes to Nintendo.
There thats balanced the search engine karma gods happy now?
rgds
Wait for the Hacked Cart's to come out that will bypass all this crap.
Honestly, I dont see all the fuss, I played a 3ds for about 2 hours, the effect is not that impressive and I started to get a headache after a while. I can see 8 year olds whos parents are too busy with their career wanting it, but I cant see anyone else really interested in it.
Honestly it looks like Nintendo reign as king of videogames is at an end. The last 3 iterations of the DS have been meh, and the WiiWii will not gather any attention.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Your second example is my favourite and yes, the human mind is capable of answering any question about reality, even though of course it will only answer a finite number of them in a finite timespan. A false/true question that can't have false as answer has true as an answer, that's Aristotle's law of the excluded third. We know that for thousands of years. Sometimes it's discovered that the question wasn't a false/true question to begin with, as it turned out for the continuum hypothesis. But usually the statement to the contrary is either a thinly veiled attempt of telling me that I'm insane, or a meaningless triviality decoupled from the origianl question's intent. And ususally it's both.
You are very right in giving this as an example of fundamentalism, as that's exactly what's wrong with the world: There's nothing wrong with Islam, it's extremism. There's nothing wrong with communism, it's just the extremists. There's a lot to capitalism, but some people's stance is just too extreme.
And you know why? "All property is bad" isn't good for you: You want to keep yours. "All property is good" isn't good for you: You want to steal theirs.
So you are wise: You are above all those rigorous ideas and principles and see that everything is relative, there are always many things to consider, two sides of the coin. You are sophisticated, educated, much unlike those simple-minded fundamentalists for which there's only good and evil.
But know that a member of a robber gang is evil *even if* he moves within the ideological center of the gang's irrational superstitions.
They're going to ban and brick users who have taken 3d pictures of their junk? Yeah, i'd like to see the embarrassment on faces of Nintendo execs when that lawsuit hits. Fils-Aime will have a tough time explaining that one.
IANAL but a lot of that sounds like it'd might fall foul of the EU-wide Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations. The bricking definitely.
If I wanted a 3DS I'd still get one regardless. If they bricked my device I'd see them in small claims. Call me overconfident if you want, but living the lifestyle where you're worried about terms that don't look like they'll stand up is quite boring and sometimes expensive.
I recently bought my first Steam game and didn't care about the ToS for the same reason - nothing that looked threatening seemed valid. Yeah they're a US company, but I'm sure they'll have enough presence/assets in the UK to hold accountable (notably there are quite a few terms say things like "May not be valid if you're an EU customer", so it seems they do feel threatened to comply with EU laws at least somewhat).
All hail the glorious CentiPod!
Thats's bad but what did i agree to when i "signed" that xx page agreement for itunes...
Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
The general direction of travel with Sony is away from region locking. The PS1 and PS2 were fully locked, the PSP and PS3 are not locked for games (besides that one example you name, which I believe was accidental). Sony's preferred HD video physical medium (Blu-Ray) supports region locking and some studios use it, but the proportion of region-free BDs out there is far higher than the proportion of region-free DVDs ever was. I would be very surprised (and cross) if NGP games were region locked.
The rationale for region locking is not strong. The "different languages" issue is just FUD - there's been an international trade in books for centuries and in music for decades and in those cases, buyers have proven perfectly capable of making sure that they buy stuff in the right language. Regional pricing issues within the developed world are also a silly justification; after all, if it costs you more to sell a title in a particular region due to distribution costs, taxes or whatever, then those costs should also apply to consumers importing a product from another region. So, for example, if I import a game from the US to the UK, the price I pay in shipping costs tends to outweigh the marginally lower RRP of the game (depending on where the currencies are) in the US.
For years now, the real justification for region locking has been the hope on the part of the entertainment companies that if they can find the right price point (far lower than in the developed world), people in the big emerging markets like China and India will actually buy their products rather than pirating them. This obviously involves the kind of huge price differentials where reverse-importing really could become a serious problem (why do you think Japan was put in the same DVD region as Europe, rather than the rest of Asia?).
Most companies, particularly Sony, have, I think, now realised that this is a pipe-dream. No matter the price-point, they are not going to get mass-sales in those markets. In China in particular, you're up against consumers who would rather be "patriotic" and support a domestic pirate-merchant than a foreign corporation. Once this pipe-dream has evaporated, there's relatively little point in not doing away with a system that drives up your manufacture costs and annoys consumers for no other useful purpose.
Nintendo, I suspect, cling to region locking because it is something that fits well with their corporate ethos. They like control. They like to be able to say "Japan can have this, but we don't think those nasty Americans or Europeans are clever enough for it". And that really, really winds me up.
Just a few for starters:
I don't have one of these things (and have little interest in gaming), but I suspect that the Terms of Service are only readable after has bought the thing and taken it home. What needs to happen is many to buy one and to return it asking for a full refund because the ToS is not acceptable.
This comment is all kinds of stupid.
No, it's a fairly common viewpoint among rational Nintendo customers. But it does omit Nintendo's battle with pirates. I think the DS and its latest incarnations is a neat little device and so I purchased a certain cartridge for it recently for $5 from some Chinese site. Unfortunately upon visiting the site to retrieve the latest firmware for their cart, I noticed that they were also hosting movies and roms for the latest games (of all regions) in their file directory tree. This is reality. You might not see it here but you can walk down the street in some Asian nations and pick up every game for the DS on a tiny little cart for very little money ($50?). On the other hand, I want to tinker with what I paid for! My device? Then I'll run what I want to run on it.
Nintendo does well because their business model is sensible. They make money on their hardware.
So that's interesting because if they make money on their hardware, why do they care what I do with it after I buy it? Why don't they market it as a gaming/development platform? Why don't they just release all their tool chains for everyone to use to develop on their systems if they already make money on the hardware? I mean, you'd probably sell more platforms that way, right? Why do I need to pay some absurd amount of money for a developer's license and a kit to play with them? Perhaps because their business model also relies on a walled garden and though they may make money on the console, the real money comes from sales of games for that console. I think if you had the numbers, you'd see that their profit model is not a whole lot different than Sony or MS. Everyone plays that game.
They also offer things that everyone wants. MS fanboys need to realise that not everyone wants to play as a big fat space marine or some other "extreme" character doing the same damn thing in every sequel while spurting out god awful dialog that sounds like it was written by the 13 year olds play the game.
Having just played through Beautiful Katamari and Rapala Bass Pro Fishing on my 360 last night, I have to question this statement (not that fishing games don't exist for the Wii). I think your statement works well generically. Observe: (MS|Nintendo|Sony) fanboys need to realise that not everyone wants to play as a (big fat space marine|big fat Italian plumber) or some other ("extreme"|"cute") character doing the same damn thing in every sequel while spurting out (god awful dialog|It's a me, a Mario|PikaPikachu) that sounds like it was written by the (13 year olds|racists) play the game.
So I'm not seeing how you feel Nintendo is worse than the competition. Your comment is uneducated fanboy verbal masturbation at best and not surprisingly all the other little uneducated xbots gave you a +5 interesting for spouting crap.
I think the key here is that the three big names have their ups and downs. Why on earth do you act like there are no "downs" with Nintendo? If price is important to you, go with Nintendo. The Wii was the first of the three I bought. If graphics are important to you, go with the PS3. If online FPS is important to you, go with the XBox 360. If offline multiplayer is important to you, go with the Wii. Etc, etc. I own all three. And I play all three. Your post ironically makes you look like the fan boy and RogueyWon look like a well tempered gamer. Some of your acclamations for Nintendo are more than questionable ...
My work here is dung.
My kids have got a Nintendo DS each... wonder if they have the same terms (come on, as if im actually going to read the conditions!)
My kids use them mainly for recording silly noises and taking random photos, sometimes of themselves naked... i wonder if Nintendo are the proud owners of a huge pile of photos of naked children. Perhaps time to call the Department of Homeland Security and let them know that Nintendo collect "CP".
As for Blu Ray region locking, that is a function of the studios & distributors demanding it. Movie rights are hideously complex and some distributors use locking to stop movies from leaking outside the region they have rights to distribute into. This seems more prevalent on European / Art house movies than mainstream productions. Where issues don't exist, the movie is usually region free. The one exception is Disney and I suspect their reasoning for region locking has more to do with how they stagger releases. For example Tangled has been out in the US for a while but won't appear in Europe on DVD / BD until the end of May. As it happens virtually all Sony discs (with the exception of distribution issue ones) are region free.
Everyone buy a 3DS and take pictures of your Bowel Movements.. Should make for an interesting ad campaign for Nintendo.
Its an extension of my TweetPoop campaign to Tweet the Conservastive Party of Canada everyone I sit on the can.
I think you misread my first line. I said the general direction of travel with sony is *away* from region locking. So we're actually in agreement.
Isn't this the same boilerplate text that's in just about every agreement these days related to technology, content, and the interwebs? It sounds like the same legalese that was recently seen in Twitpic's TOS that everyone freaked out about, until it was pointed out that they weren't just being evil bastards?
As far as I know companies use this text to make sure you can't sue them if they use footage or screenshots for marketing that happen to include something you could otherwise claim an exclusive right to. It seems unlikely to me that Nintendo is going to start trolling through people's handhelds for photos that are better than what their pricey marketing firms could come up with.
This doesn't need to be a story, if you want to go defeat it. It is a device intended to be sold to children (though not exclusively). Children cannot enter into legally binding contracts. Nintendo therefore has no reason to expect the EULA to be in force on any given unit, so exercising the EULA rights they have granted themselves is not something they can do in good faith. So catch them doing it and sue. There fixed. [I am not a lawyer, but I think in just about every EULA case where the question of enforcing the EULA with out proof of agreement is the good faith expectation that it probably is. Remove that expectation, and then that hurdle comes back]
Though this is just another case of the open hardware foundation, demonstrating that that's what they are and not the FSF, as they have named themselves. This isn't a free software issue, it's an open hardware issue. I believe in free software, open software, and open hardware, but I am tired of the open hardware guys at FSF, trying to hijack the software causes to promote open hardware, without being open about it, and stating that as their goal.
can give your piece of mind to Nintendo, all you need to do is purchase this 25 cent cardboard box with a brick like print for the low low cost of 10dollars each!!!!
And we even promise to mail it off for you!
horse shit you cheap money whores
I can't believe no-one has mentioned the "Human CENTiPAD" episode yet. Does nobody watch South Park anymore? It is streamed online for free, so I dunno what your excuse is.
It's one again a group of obese hippies babbling like naturalists about shit nobody cares about.
If offline multiplayer is important to you, go with the Wii.
Both offline multiplayer and the ability to play indie games are important to me. What should I choose?
They did introduce region locking on the DSi download games
DSi game cards are region-locked too.
Nintendo hasn't really ever been that hard on the homebrew scene.
Other than lawsuits against companies like Lik Sang and the companies making R4-style cards? What about system updates specifically to uninstall The Homebrew Channel on Wii? And given the phrasing in Nintendo's developer qualifications, I don't see Nintendo making anything like Microsoft's App Hub or the iPhone developer program any time soon.
In fact the guy doing the no$gb emulator has even been selling his tools for gameboy development to anyone and Nintendo hasn't bothered him. He now even supports the DS.
I tried to buy a copy of the NO$GBA debugger, but "This recipient is currently unable to receive money."
It's a common practice when you mod your console to play homebrew/backups NEVER to accept another update again.
Obviously something could break (accidentally due to the mod, or on purpose by the company). In other words: DON'T UPDATE IF YOU MOD YOUR HARDWARE.
Everyone gives Nintendo crap about how easily hacked their systems are and how they DIDN'T take many steps to prevent it. Now they're trying to make sure that the 3DS doesn't have the same piracy issues as the other DSes and people are surprised/outraged?
Damnit! I am going to have to start building devices. You people can't make single "free as in freedom" device.
Sorry you're right, I should have read it more carefully.
Maybe the solution is to realize things are fucked, and just go with it.
No. the real solution is to change the fact that these stupid things are lawful. FSF has a nice example, but the wrong target. They should target the law and politics for making these absurd situations possible. The law should protect you from these situations, not encourage them. Nintendo is only guilty of using the possibilities they were given. Target the people responsible for giving Nintendo these possibilities.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
If you purchase a device second hand then you have not agreed to anything. Does their terms of service deny you the right to sell the device? Does their terms of service require you to inform the purchaser of any agreements?
And if those are not the case, an they take your data and use it, then THEY have broken the law. Right?
Most (if not all) online games with custom content demand that the game publishers retain all rights to custom-made content. That's how it works - Nintendo may have made a mistake by not differentiating between this content and pictures you take with your DS, but I'm pretty sure they're not interested in stealing your photos. If you're that bothered, just use the console as, oh, I dunno, a games console? And use a camera to take all your dodgy photos with..
Now I'm definitely not doing it.
I'm actually one of the apparently few people who really likes 3D tech of all kinds, and could have possibly bought it just for that (I don't really play games much anymore). Still I figured it could be fun to play with.
But this crap sucks all the enjoyment out of it. If I'm not going to have control over what I buy, then I'm not going to buy it at all.
I take it that you only use Free Software then? According to the EULA You don't own Windows, the XBox, the Playstation, any of their respective games, and add to the list nearly all proprietary software. Next time, before you click "accept", scroll through and see exactly what rights you're giving up. (At work, I recently clicked "accept" and agreed to waive my company's rights to a jury trial, and allow the software developer to choose the arbitrator.)
Even with the GPL you are giving up some right -- Specifically: The right to use the source code to make a closed source product, and the right to contribute to the software while keeping a non-permissive patent on the contribution. To me, this is an acceptable trade for being able to distribute the Free Software, and I know my competitors will have to make the same concession WRT our contributions.
The rights to benefits trade is often much less agreeable for many, if not all, proprietary software products or software that can be made into proprietary software eg: BSD/MIT licensed code -- My company recently had to stop distributing a product because it contained patent encumbered BSD licensed code.
If the original authors had used the GPL, their later contributors would likely not have been able to prevent the software's use. In this case, the more permissive license enabled the software to be used in a patent troll trap and its "permissive" rights yanked away after becoming dependent on the software's functionality.
I recently discovered that several of our large printers will not have drivers released for Windows Vista / 7. The manufacturer has End of Life'd the products several years ago -- Our warranties remain valid for another 4 years, and we may purchase another extension; Thus, mechanically they are fit and will continue to be fit for use.
However, the XP OS that spools for these printers will be EOL'd in just 1056 days. Without the source code to the printer drivers we have given up our right to use the printers with any other OS than the MFG supports -- We don't truly own the printer, we don't have "control over what we bought" since we do not have the control to make it work with Windows 7 or Linux.
Note: We didn't buy the hardware because it had great drivers, we bought it because it was good hardware. The proprietary software has allowed us to be subjected to artificial obsolescence, and expressly forbids reverse engineering to enforce this -- Lesson learned.
Even with the GPL you are giving up some right -- Specifically: The right to use the source code to distribute a closed source product, and in GPL 3 the right to contribute to the software while keeping a non-permissive patent on the contribution.
FTFY.
Ironically, just yesterday I just gave my 10 yr old son a 3DS for his birthday, he's been wanting one for months.
As I was helping him set it up, I came across the Terms button, and almost clicked it to check; but then I realized that the reality was, there was no way I was going to tell this excited happy child, after his drooling for this thing the past 3 months, that his main birthday present, already in his hands, was suddenly going back to the store, -tough luck kid. I figured there'd be some of this kind of nonsense in it, but OTOH, it's not that different from a lot of the boilerplate EULA type stuff. There will also be no modding.
BTW, the cameras on these (there are 2 of them, for 3D) suck compared to the DSi; they're smaller and yield a grainy picture, apparently very light hungry, probably because of the smaller aperture. I can't see Nintendo wanting to use any pictures or videos from these for ad purposes, it wouldn't exactly paint it in a flattering light. Maybe in bright sunlight it looks better, we haven't test that yet.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
The 3DS is region locked. First handheld ever to be so
DSi was region-locked, too.
Bow-ties are cool.
Target the people responsible for giving Nintendo these possibilities.
Ideally, if everybody voted with their wallets against companies that use these possibilities, there wouldn't be a market for products that incorporate these possibilities. Then these possibilities would become impossibilities because companies would avoid them for fear of having no customers.
I did not buy a DSi. And without substantial changes in policy, I will not buy a 3DS or whatever Nintendo will call its successor to the Wii.
buying a new console from country B
Unlike some other console makers, who have been seen to introduce new hardware at a break-even price, Nintendo makes money on the hardware from day one. This means Nintendo makes more money when a customer buys three Nintendo 3DS units, one for each region.
or doing without the games they want
Video games are a luxury, not a necessity.
Simplest implementation is an if test. What extra gumpf?
That's entirely correct.
I use Linux on my laptop, desktop, server, wifi AP and cell phone (N900). It's not 100% perfect (firmware, BIOS, closed parts on N900), but I'm getting there.
I've not really used Windows since Win2K.
I do not own any consoles, and most of the games I play are open sourced.
I write GPL licensed software. I much prefer it to the BSD really. I consider the limits the GPL imposes to ensure my benefit. You can either pay me for a license if you really want to do closed source work, or you can pay me with your contributions.
Heh, the whole reason for the GPL's existence is Stallman's trouble with a printer.
If it's not listed as supported by CUPS, I don't buy it. I prefer things with network connections and PostScript support, but that can be overkill for home use.
Funny you should ask that. When I first submitted the story, I had typed ``Sony'' at one point, instead of ``Nintendo''.
I refuse to believe corporations are people until Texas executes one. -- desert rain on http://www.dailykos.com/user/
Don't worry, someday your mom will buy you that 360 you've been begging for, and then you'll be able to admit that you like Microsoft.
You may have agreed to be Bill Gates' towel boy, for one.
I believe I would spend my money on sex toys for my cats before buying a system that is so closed and built around bilking money out of me.
The 3DS has the option for region locking and is no different to the Xbox 360 where the publisher gets to decide. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/283940/news/nintendo-3ds-region-lock-a-possibility-for-some-software/
Of course Nintendo's home systems were region locked like all others up until this generation. Sony opted not to do it as an advantage and the MS changed their policy to keep up with Sony. Nintendo is doing the same thing. So again I'm not entirely sure how Nintendo is being so bad in comparison for doing the same thing as MS in regards to region locking while at the same time offering much more open internet options and uses standard storage where as MS uses over priced proprietary storage. To me it sounds like MS has the 'paternalist, authoritarian' approach.
I believe internet isn't an issue to come up because aside from one console they all give you internet access. It's a non-issue for the majority of gamers. I would totally agree that the Wii and DS' multiplayer options are dreadful at best. It's much more improved on the 3DS and more control is given to publishers so like, for example, I can get online and play anyone with SFIV and I don't have to dick around with stupid friend codes.
It is a shame that with region locking it will almost certainly crop up more often at least for the time being but it will be more of a decision that the publisher has taken rather than Nintendo forcing it on people. I do think it will be very common though considering the rampant piracy on the DS. I think publishers will take any option they can to help hinder people from pirating games even if the region locking won't stop the persistent.
Nintendo says that region locking on the 3DS is optional.
Let me be frank...
They are almost certainly lying.
We know for a fact that locking on the 360 is optional. Historically, "home" consoles have been region locked. In the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation, all three consoles were region locked. Ok, there were a couple of end-of-cycle Xbox games that weren't, but those were very much the exception. Despite this, when publishers are given the choice, around 75% of 360 games are released without region locking.
Historically, handhelds have never been region locked. As people tend to take handhelds on international trips with them, there is actually a bit of a business rationale for this. And yet, despite this, on the "allegedly" optional-locking 3DS, absolutely every game released to date and every known forthcoming release - including those from publishers that do not lock on the 360 - is region locked.
If region locking on the 3DS is not currently required for certification, I will eat my hat. Nintendo has a track record of lying through its teeth when it suits its purposes and I think this is just another case of that.
A game would have to be DSi only in order for that to happen and afaik there is no such game
System Flaw
as it would be silly to lock out the vast majority of the DS market
No sillier than it would have been to lock out the vast majority of the GBA market when the DS came out.
well thanks to geohot we now have a president that hardware software manufactures have cart blanch (sorry for the spelling) with our wallets and privacy and rights to own something we pay for.
well done all who did not shout from the roof tops how this type of right infringement is not ok.
I live in China, we use the damn things however we choose, with R4 cards and whatever software we choose to DL. Come and get us Nintendo! They won't, they fear the Chinese government and people and the marketing power of umpty-grunch Chinese people buying their devices, ignoring the TOS but growing the user base figures to make them look big and powerful. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
What proof do you have that they're lying? It's complete guess work at this point. Though Konami did feel the need to iterate that PES for the 3DS would have region locking and if it were not optional why would the question even come up?