DSi rejects current homebrew flashcarts

by Alisha Karabinus { Oct 31st 2008 at 5:30PM }

Another reason to keep your current DS if you want a DSi: word is that ten homebrew slot-1 carts have been tested by a member of the Chinese gaming community Hacken.cc on the DSi, and all ten failed. Looks like DSi owners who want to dangle their toes in the homebrew community may be back to the more complicated solutions of old, at least for a while, and it will be some time before we even see FlashMe or other workarounds.

The following carts were tested:

R4DS
EZ Flash V
CycloDS
G6 DS Real
M3 DS Real
Supercard DS One
iTouch DS
FCard
NCard
M3 DS Simply
U2DS

The DSi's official release is tomorrow, so we're crossing our fingers and hoping that, as soon as the system is more widely available, we'll start to see people working toward opening up the new handheld. As for today, we're saddened, but not wholly surprised.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Tags: dsi, flashcart, nintendo-dsi

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Oct 31st 2008 6:19PM

I'd opine that it is a good thing.

DSi obviously needs something new - e.g. new homebrew-compatible firmware.

Main reason for the cards was an external memory/memory card. Since DSi has already microSD slot, about 75% of reasons to use the cards is gone.

Big George @ Oct 31st 2008 6:27PM

Um... that's what the SD card slot is for! How long will it be before hackers make individual apps/emulators/ROMz work through it? I give them a week.

Roto13 @ Oct 31st 2008 6:29PM

There needs to be a way to get the good homebrew apps on DSiWare/WiiWare.

RupeeClock @ Oct 31st 2008 6:37PM

To clarify, auto-booting cards like the R4 simply don't appear in the menu.
Cards that appear like regular cards with an icon and text can be loaded but will crash.

Personally I think it's just because the cards were designed to work on the DS/Lite, changes in code on the DSi just stop the cards from working, rather than an intentional block.

SecretAgentHam @ Oct 31st 2008 6:40PM

if the DSi supports System updates then the homebrewers are going to have a tough time... sucks for the honest ones that want to use things like DS paint but it has to be done! ... even though Nintendo is making butt loads of money lol.

Peter R. @ Oct 31st 2008 11:04PM

So true, I really wanted to load up colors ds on the DSi's wider screens, but now that hope is almost gone. Its kinda surprising that there hasn't been more professional attempts to bring a paint app to the ds. Now that the DSi supports SDHC it would the perfect time to do so. Now I'm probably gonna end up buying a ds lite, as a upgrade to my broken ds phat, to get my colors ds fix. Although not all hope for DSi homebrew is lost, for everything made by man is breakable: they will hack it.

leonus11 @ Oct 31st 2008 6:52PM

well, now other people (such as my friend who is sitting next to me) will NOT buy a DSi and just keep their DSlites. well.....maybe. homebrew may be a big thing in the us, but thats homebrew in total. not just homebrew on the DS. also, what makes you think that if DS card slot 1 (the slot you insert the R4DS into) rejects the R4DS that the SD card slot won't have some sort of way to stop APPS or other SOFTWARE on the SD card? i personally think that it MIGHT have a way to stop it. why? because ninty MUST HAVE seen the potential that the SD card slot offers to homebrew DEVS.

JRM @ Oct 31st 2008 9:03PM

I'm sure that had to be one of the requirements (if not the #1 requirement) when the designers made the new firmware and chipset.

hijinx @ Oct 31st 2008 6:54PM

No surprise here at all. These cards are really bad for N, given the number of games that get pirated. Sadly, the DS isn't worth much to me without homebrew (though DSiWare might make up for that... it all depends.)

FlashMe is certainly *not* going to be the first solution, since it depends on another attack vector to begin with. It's probably going to be an overlay segment or a DSiWare title that opens the door. But there are ways to make even these impossible for all practical purposes.

atastysammich @ Oct 31st 2008 7:40PM

Between this and the PSP 3000 undoing all the progress made with its predecessor, looks like they're finally on the offensive. But, nothing's perfect!... or is it?

ZPE @ Oct 31st 2008 8:33PM

I really hope there are no flashcarts for the DS. Why? Simply because the vast majority of users are not homebrew users, sure there are some but when you see with your own eyes how many people pirate games these days, it's a sacrifice worth making.

Sadly piracy will never die.

Jamar @ Nov 1st 2008 2:52PM

Your last sentence is exactly why this *shouldn't* be happening. Why stop the homebrewers if the pirates are going to get through anyhow?

Phil @ Oct 31st 2008 9:08PM

Makes sense. Probably on Nintendo's radar for reasons to make a new DS.

BlackDS @ Oct 31st 2008 9:40PM

Bwa ahahahahahaha

:)

Pirates are sunk.

Props to Nintendo for dealing with the flash carts.

Now if they would only disable Action Replay ... then my world would be complete.

hijinx @ Oct 31st 2008 9:50PM

I agree on AR. Cheating just kind of ruins the fun of games.

But unless you own shares in Nintendo or their licensees, why would you want to be rid of flashcarts? There's some seriously elegant homebrew out there.

scissors125 @ Nov 1st 2008 12:17AM

@ hijinx

I would have to disagree on the AR thing.

It's the choice of the gamer if they want to screw up their experiences. If they are dumb enough to, let's let them have it. And sometimes it can really help, especially if you had 100% completion on a game, and your save file was deleted, and you don't want to put up with the hard work of getting to that 100% mark again. Even though I would only do this if my save file was corrupted more than twice.

hijinx @ Nov 1st 2008 1:50AM

@ scissors125
Yeah, there's the whole freedom thing. Freedom to cheat at games isn't something I really care about much... it's hard to explain. Don't get me wrong--I'm not passionate about this.

Part of it is the fact that I've had some of the most fun when faced with games where I was tempted to cheat, but couldn't. I no longer feel the temptation--mostly because of those experiences.

Bowser the Baptist @ Nov 1st 2008 7:22AM

I agree with the OP.

Hopefully this will curtail you pirate scumbags for awhile.

Niz @ Nov 1st 2008 6:12PM

AR is awesome if only they put the cheat codes into the damn games themselves. a good example (PS2) FF8 with cheat codes sure im missed out on 500hours of gameplay but i just want the main story and im happy having not spent the time doing everything. Its an individual thing, i don't see why you should care about how others play games, do you feel that you have wasted your time when someone else cheated themselves to the finish?

Some games i do play without cheats, JAK & D series, ratchet and clank series every game. Gears of war (INSANE MODE) COD4 etc. Things that dont make me waste too much time.

GTA series i cheated the hell out of, it would suck if they diddnt have cheat entering options.

BlackDS @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:46PM

Niz,

I DO care ... because you scumbags cheat on Nintendo Wifi and ruin it for everyone. No one wants to play Mario Kart against someone who has infinite blue shells, invulnerable and/or max speed cheats on (or whatever else AR cheats use).

****ing cheaters, DIE ...

FantomRedux @ Oct 31st 2008 10:04PM

I don't see what the big deal is. A BIOS update for the cards would sort it out. Well, maybe not a BIOS update, but whatever makes it load up automatically.
Either way, I'm keeping my nice shiny lime green DS, if only because I only got it in August. That and I gets my homebrews. There really is some excellent stuff out there. I just hope Nintendo lets people release stuff on the free section of DSi Ware, kinda like XNA for the 360's Marketplace

Abscissa @ Nov 1st 2008 12:09AM

As if I didn't already have enough reasons not to care about the DSi...

tacoman @ Nov 1st 2008 12:10AM

Picked up a black DSi today, I really like it from what little time I've spent with it. Looking forward to checking out the shop later.

milan @ Nov 1st 2008 4:01AM

Haha! I bought a flashcart right after i heard about the DSi, for fear of this very reason.
There will be replacement cards though, for sure.

tekdroid @ Nov 1st 2008 6:27AM

I long to stroke the matte surface of the new one next year. Plus it's my duty to support the anti-gloss movement.

ChaoticTails @ Nov 1st 2008 9:24PM

I actually hope this flares up in to a Point/Counterpoint War like the Wii Homebrew did. Hehe.

Steven @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:15AM

Anyone that doesn't buy a DSi because of this is probably someone that depends on their flash card for commercial software. Tough luck...

Sally @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:14AM

I dunno...I spend 75% of my DS time reading manga. Another 10% fiddling around on Colors! and the rest of the time on either animal crossing or the kanji dictionary.

right now, the DSi isn't looking very attractive. There should be a way to accept homebrew programs that are not "dumps" of commercial software, but I doubt the market for people who would get a DS for homebrew is so slim that Nintendo just wouldn't care. They'll probably lose less money by preventing piracy.

bl @ Nov 24th 2008 10:18AM

Yea, it'll be a couple of months, but all the current carts will no doubt be made to work with the new DSi. If not, they'll pump out new ones. I depend on the carts honestly, there's so many crummy games for the DS, being able to test drive them is vital. Companys just jump on the bandwagon and make total crap games, knowing they will sell anyway. And shame on Nintendo - that "Seal of Approval" used to mean something, and now they'll license to any company it seems like, with no quality check on the actual game.