Early this month the rather niche 3DS homebrew scene had a key evolution, moving away from requiring a specific retail game - namely Cubic Ninja - and utilising a free download to trigger the workaround. It's a small-scale scene compared to the DS days, but the homebrew launcher efforts of Smealum have been focused on opening up coding opportunities, region free gaming and emulation, while not supporting direct game piracy; emulation arguably falls under piracy, naturally.
In any case, the homebrew launcher has had an air of benevolence and resistance that some may quietly support, but the use of free-to-play IRONFALL Invasion as a prospective workaround seemed to prompt action from Nintendo. The shooter was taken down from the eShop, with the hacker sharing regret at the turn of events and apologising to developer VD-Dev. When we contacted the developer for comment it did, unsurprisingly, say that it had nothing to share on the issue.
Perhaps as a way to target a bigger fish and to step away from further problems with IRONFALL Invasion, another alternative Homebrew Launcher will utilise the YouTube app on the 3DS, which is another free download. Announced at the start of the weekend, a Vine has been share to show it works.
What's interesting about this latest development in the 'hax' Homebrew Launcher scene is that switching to free downloadable apps has given Nintendo greater power and incentive to get involved. The use of Cubic Ninja in the past meant it was a very niche affair, but utilising free apps increases availability; as we've seen with IRONFALL Invasion, Nintendo may not be happy to allow the homebrew scene to potentially grow courtesy of that increased convenience.
We'll see soon enough whether a YouTube app update arrives to shut down this exploit, or whether Nintendo (and Google) will allow it to pass.
Comments 162
Are many people all that interested in hacking a 3DS in an age of infinite open system portable devices?
Well, I have the YouTube App, and I don't think Nintendo will force me to get rid of it or update it, so once Nintendo's next handheld releases and my 3DS is obsolete, I guess I'd like to try some of this stuff out. If Nintendo does force Google to update the YouTube app though, I hope they also force them to make it actually good. Like, improve the video quality, and the fact it can't play 3D videos in 3D is ridiculous.
Aww, but the app actually works on a New 3DS...
I really hope he stops this crap. He going to force Nintendo to take down everything and many people use that community to post gaming thoughts on Miiverse outside of the normal topics. He needs to just go away and wait for the 3ds to die off.
Can't wait, finally get me some region free gaming.
This is totally getting shut down again.
@Spoony_Tech Agreed.
@Spoony_Tech crap, like doing Nintendo's job and making the 3ds region free? And not requiring people to spend hundreds (devkits) to become an "official" developer just to get some neat stuff like custom themes (they aren't even hard to make)? In the PS hacking community there's a joke about "the game of the week" that gets taken down due to exploits, yet they always come back up when they are fixed. And the miiverse things is one of the silliest reasons ever for him to target another app. And don't even get me started on the fact that Nintendo hasn't made SNES VC for the 3ds a thing but the homebrew scene already has a pretty decent emulator, and the have pretty much every GBA game running natively.
Very sad day.
Why is Nintendolife reporting this? To spread awareness/interests? I've seen people ask similar questions but never seemed to get a response from Thomas or other staff. I would like to know myself.
They will just update the app to stop it.
I'll just download the app and wait to see if I actually care about anything in this exploit...
@HADAA
Because it's news. Just because it is news on (possibly) bad stuff, doesn't mean you can't report it.
@Monado_III He's already screwed over a dev from doing this and if this was as simple as region free then so be it but it's not. This will lead to hundreds and then thousands hacking games and then devs losing money. He doesn't seem to care whom he hurts was long as he does it. If he wants to do this on his own and not announce it then do it and shut up about it. Nintendo is obviously following his Twitter.
And if Nintendo as a company wants to do region lock then so be it.
@Nintendo_Ninja I think what @HADAA is trying to get at is that is you go on the forums for example and try create a thread about these types of thing they'll instantly get locked, but yet NL regularly puts out articles on these exploits (kinda hypocritical really).
@Spoony_Tech, IIRC these exploits rely on buffer overflows (I know for a fact the original did), pesky things that are all to easy to create in C/C++ (see http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6701), they are not hard to patch and companies will hardly loose money from this, nevermind the fact that most of the free stuff on the eShop is made by Nintendo/Google or is a demo. Devs could actually make money if the next exploit was on a paid game, as all of a sudden there would be lots of people buying it.
"And if Nintendo as a company wants to do region lock then so be it." Well, not sure about you but, I'm not paying $300+ to import a Japanese N3DS and FE:if-SE. Just because you obviously don't import games or have enough money to buy two consoles doesn't mean everyone else is like that. Heck, if the Wii U was region free or had a publically released IOSU exploit I'd be playing Xenoblade X right now.
Dammit hacker, if you're going to hack the 3DS wait until Nintendo ends support for it. Right now you're just trying to force Nintendo to take down anything good that are on the 3DS by hacking it.
@ThomasBW84
I'm getting tired of Nintendo Life covering this story. It's like you guys wanted to encourage the use of this exploit. Are you guys in good terms (or best friends) with this guy? Do you hate Nintendo's region-locking policy that you are pushing your own hidden/personal agenda? Or it just generates a lot of clicks? I look around other Nintendo sites and other gaming sites and they barely (or don't even) run a story about the matter. But you guys seem to be the only one who give a lot of Fox about it. Geez!
@kensredemption To be fair Ninjhax 2.0 (the one that works on every firmware) was delayed by over a week because of Iwata's death, much to the disappointment of many people.
It seems people on Nintendo Life to be very anti-hacking for no reason, I mean it almost sounds like you people like being lock to a certain region and being unable to play games from others, something everybody but Nintendo don't do. It doesn't even allow the pirating of 3DS for god sake, the only thing you can do is play games from other regions, use emulators that are mostly very early, and play some Homebrew games. You guys are being anti hack for no reason, the only thing remotely bad this hack cause is the Ironfall being remove from the E-Shop.
@Chaoz IKR, it seems like half these people have a personal grudge against hacking.
Paying the iron price ain't cool, neither is this guy. Stop promoting him and his ilk.
If you want your devices to be open, just use Android or Windows. There is no need for all of this.
Why are you guys at Nintendolife always giving these hackers the attention they want?
I just want region free... I'm happy to buy physical games but I shouldn't be locked out of Japanese-only games.
@Chaoz
Especially when the audience for said hacks (myself included) would be all but gone if Nintendo would just remove the region-lock so people could play their imports.
Stop giving smealum attention
@BRAINFOX I agree, stop giving smealum attention.
I really don't see why people are freaking out about this. This is the most harmless hack you can do and I would argue does things that the 3ds should already have with custom themes and region free. There have been worse hacks I have seen that actually allow pircay and in pokemon's case go through the files and make cheat mons. It sucks Ironfall was taken off the eshop but I feel Nintendo will put it back up soon with a new update. The 3ds is four years old now so this was going to happen eventually so we should just be thankful the guy who figured it out is against piracy.
@dadajo I'll have to agree. There is literally no reason to be mad about this, even more since this is very early and you can barely do anything with it. It's not even as bad as the Wii, the thing that got hacked so early (mostly because the Wii's files got leaked and hackers quickly took a look at it) and made it easy to pirate Wii games, people are getting their panties in a tight for nothing.
Wow, this guy won't give up. He's resilient, I'll give him that.
No life and no respect.
I'm kind of curious... For all people commenting things such as: "yeah hacking isn't bad" "Nintenfo shouldn't be region locking games" "I don't have to pay $XX for importing the games I want" ... Do you know what an End User License Agreement is, and that EVERY product you purchase has one of those... don't you?
@ryanator008 "If you want your devices to be open, just use Android or Windows. There is no need for all of this."
->Windows, I lol'd
I agree with everyone else. How can people stand behind and support this hacker. He isn't helping the Nintendo community but quite the opposite. It's not Nintendo's fault they had to pull Ironfall. IT'S HIS!! If you all are so greedy that you have to stoop to this level to play games then you don't deserve to call yourself true Nintendo fans, and be honest no one cares that much about import games the only reason people want this is because it would mean free games, which btw it turn would hurt Nintendo's revenue and hinder all they're efforts to keep delivering premium games to us. Lastly, Nintendo Life should not be promoting this trash.
And hackers wouldn't have to break it IF Nintendo never made region locking and put GBA and SNES games on the E-Shop.
@LuciusHellmonde If they want to take me to court for doing nothing illegal than so be it. http://bgr.com/2014/01/23/nintendo-console-hacking-court-ruling/ http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-12171423
@BoshiBoy "be honest no one cares that much about import games the only reason people want this is because it would mean free games." That's utter crap and you (should) know it. It shows how naive you are when you think that a ARM11 kernel exploit will lead to piracy. Yellows8 (a VERY reputable 3ds hacker who generally just finds stuff out) has even said that 9.3+ will take A LOT of effort to get any deeper than what this is.
@Chaoz ok ok ok... No... It doesn't works like that... at all! SNES and GBA and "X" console you want to mention do belong to their developers and publishers, Nintendo CAN only publish games on the eShop once the original publisher agrees to. That is why Rare can Publish its retro collection on XBOX one despite games being originally developed for Nintendo systems.
Now as for region locking... seriously I'm not going to have an attitude in the lines of "you cannot cry for what you cannot have" but I think this attempts are going to be as long living as many others... "Oh great I can hack my console, but i cannont enter the eShop, I cannont conect to the internet, I cannot play online"... It has happened before and it will keep happening... People don't want to spend $XX on importing a console, but are willing to risk to expend just as much when the console gets bricked? Ok... fair enough i guess?
@Monado_III Ok that's cool for Europe I believe, so... cheers on you?
@BoshiBoy "And no one cares that much about imported games,"
You're either a shill or a really, really close minded person. Do you have any idea how many games never make out of Japan? Iet me tell you a story, their is a series call Taiko, it a series full of rhythm games that are extremely fun and I big fan of him. Guess what though, none of his games after the first one never got released in America because of the poor sales of the first one. This is no problem for most consoles though, as most of them are region free and I can play them on a english console, but I can't do that for the Wii U or 3DS. If I wanted to play those 4 games I would need to buy a Japanese 3DS and Wii U, and nobody made of money so I can buy both of those. Now instead of thinking about just me, think about other fans of series that almost never make it out of Japan (most Dragon Quest for example) that can't play the series games just because so men in business suits won't allow them to play games out of their region even though most consoles let you do that. Plenty of people care about imported games, and you're close minded to think that.
@LuciusHellmonde Yeah because their isn't around 100 games on the GBA that has been published by Nintendo. Also you can play online even if you have a old version of the 3DS with a Gateway or any other current 3DS hack.
Nintendo's probably not going to be happy about this...
@LuciusHellmonde Canada actually, but our copyright laws aren't all that different, and those Europeans signed the same EULA that I did, if it failed over there it goes to show that EULA's aren't iron-clad contracts that I must abide by or else. I don't know what it is like in the US but here's a good example of our law in Canada
http://list.digital-copyright.ca/pipermail/discuss/2005-June/005343.html
@Chaoz Do you see my point?
@Monado_III like i said... cheers? ammm do you want a parade or something?
@Spoony_Tech Completely agree with you. This guy is a nuisance.
Regarding region lock, to people that has so much problem with it and it is truly a "make or break" topic, why did you buy/own a 3DS/Wii U? Just as a company has the complete freedom to decide something (in this case, region lock), customers are completely free to not adquire the product if it doesn't fulfill their expectations. You had another alternatives (maybe other consoles, maybe importing) Vote with your wallets people! This hacker is the reason behind Ironfall being pulled from the eshop, why don't we stop to think what that means for the developer? If you were a developer, would you like your game being used like that? I certainly wouldn't.
@Chaoz It's not closed minded to think that the end goal of this will be to pirate games. It is closed minded and selfish that you would use this hack to play import games at the expense of a developer's game getting pulled because no company is going to leave an exploit open and he knows that. If you are so desperate to play games unreleased over here then you would find a way to buy an import 3ds or Wii U. It's called determination you're just trying to take the easy way out which in my opinion no true Nintendo fan would do.
@LuciusHellmonde America isn't the entire world you know, you brought up a point about how you've signed a EULA, I showed evidence that in many parts of the world that means zilch.
@BoshiBoy Again, naiveness in thinking that every hack is made for piracy, this couldn't even launch/install games because no ARM9 kernel which is WAAAAAY harder to get at then ARM11 kernel. And like I said before, it should take no more than a few days once the exploit comes out to patch it and submit it to NoA for re-approval.
@BoshiBoy Ironhax doesn't even let you pirate games, smealum wouldn't even allow himself to do that. Smealum even apologizes to the Ironfall devs for getting the game pulled from the E-Shop. The game going to get put back up right after Nintendo patch this anyway, so that barely important. Nobody, and I repeat nobody, is going to buy a new console just for a few games that are in Japan only. Nobody made of money, and I already gave my money to Nintendo for my well earn console. Their is no reason why the 3DS and Wii U to be region locked, and I don't care if I'm not a quote "true Nintendo fan" in your eyes, because at least I'm no Nintendo fanboy.
@Monado_III
What, do you have something against Windows? Just say it, no need to be the Riddler.
lol all this replies that are anti hacking.
Keep em coming, its always a good laugh at some of them
:>
And BTW this youtube app sucks hard. Be glad it's finally getting some use.
Well we will have to agree to disagree if its just a few games that you're missing out on in Japan then you shouldnt make a fuss about it. There are plenty of great games to play in every region on both consoles so be thankful for what you got. And you should be careful assuming things about people and name calling. Some people take that to heart and cyber bullying is a serious issue in today's society. If you respond know I won't because I'm not wasting anymore of my time on you.
@Chaoz Please, refrain from talking about hacking and homebrew in the forums. Supporting it is OK and all, but discussing it is agaisnt the rules of the community.
As for the current discussion, please be respectful. Swearing and name calling will not be tolerated.
@DreamOn if it gives me region free yes. The only reason I'm not playing FE: Fates right now its the damn region lock.
I have been a long time reader of this site and just recently joined. This past week has been a cluster. Seemingly biased articles about employees being let go, and news about how to break the end user agreement. I was actually digging the 30 days of Super Mario too, but I might have to take my surfing elsewhere.
I understand making an article about why a game was removed from the e-store, but this update adds no value other than to encourage the hack.
@DreamOn Yes.
@ryanator008 Well, you implied that it was "open", and then compared it to android in terms of openness. Windows is closed source and owned by MS, the people who are more concerned for the NSA than you (http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/08/22/nsa-windows-8-exploit/), the company that used to hate openness and (stock) android is completely open source and actually "open".
The best and only way to get 3DS region free since Nintendo completely fails in this simple setup.
Everyone should use the amazing openings found by Smealum, Nintendo needs to realize that they need to make a system update that sets the console region free.
Utterly stupid in the year 2015 to have a region locked console especially since they used to have all handhelds region free before DSi.
@Morpheel Already deleted the thread about 2 hours ago, also sorry about the language, I forgot I wasn't anonymous here.
@Kolzig I heard that.
@KodyDawg It won't take long to set up the snes and gba games. You'll probably only have to take out your Micro SD Card one or two times.
Please never add any links or sources when talking about this kind of thing.-Morpheel
@KodyDawg GBA games on a n3ds won't run full speed if there emulated and not installed (it's impossible to install them above 9.2 for now). But most games would run fairly well.
Because this worked SO well previously. Watch Nintendo pull the Youtube app and then everyone complaining how Nintendo is so stuck in the past. This is why we can't have nice things.
Awesome, can't wait to do RAM hacking in Awakening and also using my own custom themes. Can finally use my own wallpapers on my 2DS
@Monado_III I don't know about most games running fairly well. I had a good amount of sound issues with Super Metroid and pretty much every SNES game. No frame buffer or graphical glitches tho. Hopfully the GBA emulator starts improving soon.
I do wonder if they'll cave and unlock the 3DS to play import games. Friend messaging would be nice too.
@Monado_III
Personally I think that Nintendo should make region-free systems. You said that if the Wii U was region free, you would be playing XCX right now. Now my question for you is would you buy the translated version or would you not support it? I'm all for region free so that people can import japan exclusive games, games so Japanese that they will never see the day of light in the west. BUT I personally don't support the idea of making a system region free just so people can import Japanese games earlier and not bother to support the translated versions. When a game like XCX is announced for the west from the beginning, I personally think fans of these genres should wait OR purchase both versions, because if large numbers of people (for a niche game) import only and never support the translated version, NoA and NoE will never bring these games over to the west, because their is no money in that. My belief is that fans should buy the western release IF there is one and not import it, to show Nintendo that these niche games have a dedicated fan base that will buy it if it's brought over.
It's niche titles that need the support in the west, if they don't get it, they won't come. Popular games don't really matter.
@TsukiDeity I would've probably bought the localized Limited Edition (if I was actually able to without waiting for a one minute period of availability) after if I had the JPN game. I don't speak Japanese but I am pretty good when it comes to figuring stuff out the hard way. But since it isn't region free I'll just have to hope and pray the LE doesn't sell out in minutes otherwise I'm downloading it.
Not hacking my beautiful Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate XL. Nope. IronFall is a great game. It really is. The voices drive me nuts and the story is corny. There are times I have trouble moving about the terrain. But it plays and I like it, and its the closest thing I'll ever get to having a Conduit 3 in my life. And this gremlin ruined it for new players. Issues an apology to a hard working indie company, then attacks another app. Meaning he isn't sorry. I want games on my 3DS from other countries too. I want SNES games like Secret of Mana on it. I want Super Gameboy graphics. Look at my name. Know how many Club Nintendo surveys I completed that begged for all this and even Virtual Boy stuff? If it isn't happening, sure I could complain, have complained at times as a loyal customer... but at some point I have to move on. I'm an adult, and instead of ruining somebody else's hard work or ruining my hard earned New 3DS' warranty... I just find another game. Hundreds on a devkit? Its business. You have to spend money to make money. Its how things are done. I've saved and spent thousands on computers, Wacoms, and other things that pertained to my career. Legit Adobe products are costly. Somebody said on another thread that I knew nothing of the homebrew industry. Its an industry? You can have a reputable career in it? People hack and do things. Its a hobby. I get it. I hate DRM and not "owning" but being licensed things I BUY, but when I see GOOD indie games being taken down, I start to understand. Then somebody says its the developer's fault for leaving a hole in their code for that made a hack accessible. What? So you think they were worried about somebody messing with their game during development for homebrew and piracy... I'm sure they just wanted it to play as they intended and not crash! They now have to go back to work on a finished game, just because of some glitch gremlin. They probably want to work on something new, but now they gotta back track on their resources. Thats my guess.
Heck maybe I'm wrong. Who am I kidding? Maybe Nintendo owes me every game in existence. I might have 30 more years to live to 100% them all. I'll learn Japanese so I can hack my 3DS into being region freeand spend hundreds on import Dragon Quest. I'm hard core like that. I was thinking about using my GI Bill to further my education and possibly get into game development, something that would go great with my art. I could invest in a dev kit and release a real Nintendo game! But then I learned about the homebrew industry. I'm gonna look into that instead. Heard the benefits were great and that was the way of the future.
For anyone interested, the exploit is now public.
Enjoy your cup of homebrew :>
These guys are doing fantastic work, good on them. Not opening it to piracy, but just allowing emulation and region-free gaming. Nintendo is the only one who is still so far back in the past that they region lock, and with how terrible NoA is at releasing things I'll GLADLY hack my 3DS to play import titles.
After I buy those import titles used, of course. If Nintendo wanted the money they'd have region free systems and get with the twenty-first century.
This is news, which is why there's a news article about. I be worried if editors were making moral decisions on what is and isn't news.
It won't be nice to see increased piracy, but I like things that removes the region lock. One of my favourite games, 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, never made it to Europe, but thankfully most DS games were region free.
@Gridatttack I know I am
Got a spare 3DS that will now have use!
@Gridatttack Will do! Cheers mate!
While I respect a persons desire to want Nintendo to make the 3DS not be region locked, I'm appalled the lengths that people try to justify getting it done. Nintendo is doing business as they see fit. Heaven forbid one of you all own a business and have a person, or groups of people, not only tell you how it should be done, but also find nefarious ways to make it their way.
Its the justification that sickens me, not the root cause of wanting a region free system.
@zionich But there's a catch-22, like with the oft-used "every pirated game is a lost sale" fallacy.
How many people would buy Japanese games if you needed to buy a Japanese 3DS first? Less than there would be if the 3DS was region-free.
I started importing 3DS games only when the region hack became available, and I'm sure Banpresto appreciates the extra sales, and will continue releasing Super Robot Wars for 3DS, and not moving to Vita entirely. I'm sure Arc System Works will be glad there's demand for more Kunio Kun games (as if there ever was any doubt) and will keep making them now that is has bought out the IP fully.
I would not have imported without the hack, I would have bought a Vita and imported for that, and Banpresto would go "oooh, more gaijins buy our games for Vita than 3DS, abandon Nintendo for a second time!"
Always look at the bigger picture, kids. It's never only the negative.
@SanderEvers Sorry if I don't consider emulating twenty year-old plus games without new physical releases 'piracy.' I highly doubt Nintendo makes much from the Virtual Console, seeing as they put so little effort into putting titles onto the service.
As for it being illegal, it varies depending on location, not that I overly give a toss. And as for importing being illegal as well, if you seriously think I'm going to import other systems just to play games from that region, I honestly think you need to take a reality check. Some of us just want to play games, and if we bought the system (Which is expensive enough already!) we should be able to without having to worry about one single line of code that says "For Japan Only" or some nonsense. After all, Xbox doesn't do it. PC doesn't do it. PlayStation doesn't do it. If Nintendo were smart they wouldn't do it either.
I'm sorry you feel the way you do about emulation, but you're really missing out. As for all of this being illegal, again it depends on jurisdiction. America isn't the world. And I for one am not afraid of someone knocking on my door at four in the morning to arrest me for playing Contra III on my 3DS.
@Spoony_Tech: I agree, this guy is a doochebag.
Well, time to finally import all currently released DQ 3DS games.
This is just irritating and forces Nintendo to divert resources to preventing this ongoing nonsense.
Maybe if Smea diverted his resources to creating some hardware to suit his needs for writing software on. . . like a raspberry pi with 2 screens or something.. or maybe he should get a job with nintendo developing software. .
Like Gridatttack mentioned, the YouTube 3DS exploit is out in the wild now.
Using the exploit also lets you set up the IronFall Invasion exploit, which is a one-time and permanent offline solution to launching homebrew.
But you can also use the YouTube exploit to launch homebrew, but it appears to require online every time.
@SanderEvers
It's not. Emulation is only a means of playing the game.
It's entirely possible to emulate things which are not pirated games, such as homebrew games, or personally ripped game images.
Saying that circumventing region lock is illegal however is just downright daft.
The guy doesn't support piracy, but he likes to be able to get into a system and work it to activate homebrew. People say he's doing a bad thing by exposing the system like this. IMO, it's a good thing because it lets developers know that they need to secure their products more carefully, and actually keep it up-to-date.
I mean, just how old is the Youtube app on the 3DS? When was the last time it was updated? From what I understand, it's basically an older version of the internet browser, as people have been able to use it to browse through some trickery. Using an old browser means far more vulnerabilities.
I look at the Netflix app on the Wii U, and I am just sad, because Netflix figures it's not worth updating anymore (oddly enough, the Wii app has profiles which the Wii U version lacks), yet what would it take for them to update it? Someone using the current version to hack into the Wii U?
With all the variations he's done, I'd imagine that he could get a job at Nintendo to help do the opposite of what he's doing now, since he seem to have the knack for finding holes.
I am too lazy to try that, but I would enjoy having original GBA games from eShop on my N3DS Particularly the "Advanced wars"
I'd say how stupid it is, but everyone else has already said everything. People who are excited about it may have not taken into account the consequences to the eshop that this will cause.
They may have, but they may have not.
Get the FBI involved. Get the kid, throw him in jail and let him get hacked in a whole new way with Bubba in a jail cell. Hackers are worthless, and no matter what people state (that they're doing a good thing), it's just showing that these losers need to get a life...step outside into the real world...get away from the stupid computers for a while. These will be the same jokers that will be broke and on welfare for life.
Next, nintendo will take off the YouTube app off of the 3DS, and the hacker will then move onto the Wii U. Nintendo needs to start filing charges.
OK, NX just has to be region free.
@JLPick
Don't forget to throw Nintendo to that jail too for making a region locked system, lol.
@KomrathDE
Yes, the most locical system to place portable games would be on a portable system. A appreciate that those are available on Wii U but why not 3DS?
@Chaotic_Eevee @Undead_terror Cheers too!
Just installed the IronHax offline version.
Now if you excuse me, I need to go lose myself in custom themes <3
Just to point out to everybody who thinks that Smealum did a bad thing in announcing Ironhax. Before, VdDev announced that they passed 300,000 downloads. Many being paid. Smealum himself told people to buy the full version. Now, after the announcement, "several hundred thousands of downloads" possibly doubling their existing user base. Many of them buying the game. Yes, Smealum obviously did a bad thing by making a game more widespread than it ever was and increasing their profits massively. VdDev, and so Nintendo, has made money from this.
Sorry, but can someone please explain to me what homebrew actually does?
@Miles_Edgeworth It allows running fan-made and unofficial applications, such as emulators or tools. It's a very nice thing and can be a very healthy thing. After all, Project M is a result of Homebrew.
@Miles_Edgeworth Homebrew is the term for a program not made by an official entity.
Well this ought to be easy to solve for Nintendo, considering YouTube needs the internet to function. A forced update seems likely.
@CB85 Apart from that wouldn't work. Tubehax involves a DNS server which blocks Nintendo's update server along with the EShop. So no forced updates.
@CB85
Nah, it won't be easy.
The YouTube app has already been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of 3DS systems, and I doubt anybody was sincerely using it for video playback, it was bad at its own job.
New 3DS users are much better off using the improved web browser than this dreck of an app.
Nintendo would be better off altogether removing the app, as it was probably a cobbled-together solution by Google who never gave it much care or support.
On the other hand though, it would be a PR issue to remove such a crucial feature for the device.
"Nintendo removes support for YouTube on 3DS", can you imagine the ire that would arouse?
@Chaotic_Eevee @yodamerlin Thanks! It shouldn't damage my 3DS should it?
@Chaotic_Eevee Ok cheers! It shouldn't damage my 3DS should it?
@yodamerlin
You can't even access the eShop? Well doesn't seem like much of an issue then. I can't imagine many people would want to use such a hack if it means they lose access to the eShop. Well apart from zealous nerds, anyway.
@Miles_Edgeworth At this point it is very early on, but from the looks of it nothing can really damage it at this point. It is just essentially tricking the 3DS into running unofficial software developed for the system.
@CB85 Its not permanent.
You can change the DNS back to normal to access the eshop again
@Gridatttack
Yes that sounds very convenient. XD
@CB85 Because changing a DNS server is such hard work... I mean, it's a whole 4 taps.
@CB85 Well, true.
I suppose every time someone wanting to use homebrew, changing the DNS every time would be tedious.
However if one downloaded IronFall, you only need to run the youtube exploit once to install the offline version IronFall, :v
@Gridatttack "If there is enough demand, we may consider setting up another DNS server for tubehax which does not block traffic to Nintendo's servers."
@Gridatttack
Now that we have the YouTube exploit though, arguably this can be used for the purpose of installing exploited save games for any 3DS title.
If it can be done for IronFall Invasion, I'd argue it can be done for retail cards like Ocarina of Time 3D.
@yodamerlin
Oh but I didn't say it was hard work at all, right? Did I? Merely very inconvenient, especially considering the 3DS' sluggish interface. Like I said, just a very specific set of people would enjoy it.
I think Nintendo could start selling turds in boxes and killing kittens and you'd still have people defending them with an almost religious fury.
@Chaotic_Eevee Got it. Thanks!
@JLPick
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jordan-rabet/43/a90/ba1
This is the "kid" you're talking about. Works as an intern at Microsoft, first in his class for some Math class AND pursuing a career in software engineering.. Kinda ironic how you think he'll be the one ending up on welfare when he'll be the one most likely making the games you'll play that you'll be blowing money from your Mcdonalds job to pay for.
This situation is starting to get a little ridiculous. Nintendo blocks one route of homebrew so he takes another one? I don't know. It just doesn't register to me. I'd never want to lose access to certain features on the Nintendo 3DS such as the eShop over a hack like this. It just isn't worth the investment in my eyes, but then again I've never been a fan of hacking in the first place.
its amazing how ignorant people are about the hombrew community and hacking culture in general as well as its noble origins dirtied by clueless journalists and lame stream media.
if wasn't for the homebrew community you would have a firkin 3DS, its cpu was built in Cambridge by a hombrew computer club are they evil ?
let alone the hombrewers who built software this website uses as well as most of the infrastructure that makes up the net. prehapse you guys should take a look and see how the homebrew culture made the world you have to day possible instead of spreading FUD about a community and culture you nothing about.
@KTT Colors 3D is indeed one of the best pieces of software on the 3ds....
I would be much more supportive of this if it didn't allow emulation. That would make it much less controversial, and less of a problem for Nintendo.
Obviously they're not going to want people to have free access to GBA and SNES games when they're still making money selling them with the Virtual Console. That's basically stealing, especially if you've never owned the original game cartridges.
@Dave_Shay They call them Nintendrones for a reason. I don't often see them out in the wild, so I come here and boy do they crawl out of the woodwork.
I grew up with Nintendo systems, I love their games and franchises. But when the company is being arrogant and stupid, making terrible business decisions and just have the wrong of things, I'm going to call them out on it. I'm not going to blindly defend them. After all, if you really care about something you punish it as well as defend it.
@Nintendood How is it stealing if the person whom it was "stolen" from still has possession of it?
Home brewers are the true indie developers, they don't charged money and paved the way for open source since the 70s. While both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates attended Home Brew meetings in the beginning, they were capitalist and felt that knowledge shouldn't be share openly but should be sold for profit. Now the digital politics changed a bit, both OS X and Windows are free (somewhat).
@Noelemahc
Im not saying its a good business decision, just that it is Nintendo's to make. If developers felt there is profit to be made and gamers want to play more import games, ban together and keep the pressure on.
@Xeonhawk In the same way that people consider having a digital copy of a game owning the game. Not in a literal way. Using another method to play Nintendo's games without paying for them eliminates the incentive to spend money on Virtual Console games. Technically, whether you think it's like stealing or not, having ROMs for games you don't already own is illegal.
@Sionyn
All advances in science, math, art, and technology have been done by people from various walks of life.
Its almost as if you would have people thank a person for hacking their bank accounts. Yes, they might have exposed a security flaw but their intentions are still to rob a person.
I get that is an extreme case. I see alot of hackers as being no more different that a scientist dissecting an animal or bug just to see how things work.
The thing is alot of people view hacking the 3ds, even if only to play imports and homebrews, and a gateway to piracy.
@Nintendood
How do you steal a 25 year old NES game that can no longer be bought in a store or through a legal downloading service?
If not for emulation, 95% of the NES/SNES/GBA/GB library would be unplayable unless you owned the physical cart.
If Nintendo were to start releasing GBA games on the 3DS via the Virtual Console, I and loads of others would jump at the chance. They've shown it is possible, yet they haven't put any on the actual store front for people to buy.
Think Sega have the right idea, the 3DS versions of classic games are truly amazing conversions. If Nintendo did something like that, minds would be blown.
This wouldn't be happening if nintendo would just give us snes and gba games on the 3ds virtual console.
@RupeeClock Google will probably take down the YT app and never bother to fix it.
@HollywoodHogan How do you steal one? Easily, by downloading the ROM.
You can find the physical cart for almost any game you want on eBay or Amazon marketplace, not to mention pawn shops plus specialty gaming shops and online stores. Even with shipping, the vast majority of older games sell for less than 25% of the original retail price.
It seems like emulation has made the younger generation feel like they're entitled to play any older game they want for free.
@GenoBeatsMallaow
WHEN YOU BUY AN OLD GAME ON AMAZON OR EBAY, NINTENDO (OR THE DEVELOPERS) DO NOT GET ANY MONEY FROM THE PURCHASE
Whether you spend $20 buying Jaws for the NES on eBay or download the ROM, nobody involved in the creation of the game is seeing a dime either way. Can you really not understand this??
@Monado_III
I meant by "open" that anyone can make apps for it and Microsoft doesn't have to approve them. That's really all you should want unless you're a Marxist or something.
Nobody seems to realize that he isn't hacking it to the point to allow kernel access. This WILL NOT allow pirated 3DS games to be played. This only allows people to write apps or their own games. You can't even create an app to run 3DS games as that still needs kernel access which, again, this DOES NOT allow
@HollywoodHogan That's totally beside the point. Game creators have never profited from the sale of pre-owned games, because that would be silly. Whoever bought it initially deserves the money they get if they decide to sell it to someone else. Someone dowloading a ROM without already owning the game hasn't actually earned the right to play it, so it makes sense that it's illegal. Can you really not understand this??
I've never understood why people are so against hacking. Yes, Nintendo made the console, but you bought it, you paid for the device, why aren't you allowed to tinker with it and run your own code? I get that most of you probably only play games, and don't really look at things from the perspective of a developer or hacker, but once you've coded a bit in your life, you'd understand why people like Smealum exist. Also, hacking is not a bad thing. So many people use the media definition of hacking, but hacking does not equal criminal activity. It's just playing around with things and making them work differently than designed. Quit making this guy out to be some terrible person when he just wants to have fun with his (not Nintendo's) 3DS.
I hate piracy as much as the next guy, but since this hack only removes the region lock, which doesn't have a genuine reason for existing in the first place, I'm all for it.
Even though I already own a Japanese n3DSLL and two European ones, I'm glad people keep this issue alive as region locking any hardware should be something left in the dark ages of the 8-bit days when this kinda thing was somehow passable.
Loving it, made a neat Zatch Bell theme. Highly considering buying Taiko no Tatsujin now.
If only this would allow playing from AGB firm... Truly disgusting that every 3DS has it yet Nintendo's not using it. Then again it's probably better this way, since most of the titles I'm interested in are third party so seeing them on VC is an impossibility.
@GenoBeatsMallow
Hahaha WOW.
Your thought process is so bizarre I can't see any point in continuing this debate.
Have fun paying some guy $20,000 for his copy of Stadium Events while I play the rom for free!!
sigh can't people just leave well enough alone? This is why we can't have nice things.
@LuciusHellmonde OMG thank you. Someone who gets it.
I guess people tends to forget that when you buy a hardware, then you own only the hardware, but not the software. The software is owned by Nintendo and you only have the license to use it. Which obviously, any unintended use of the software is illegal. That's just speaking in EULA point of view, I'm not sure if it's law binding or not, and maybe depends to your region.
I'm all for region free system, I wanted GBA and SNES in Virtual Console, but I'm not interested if I had to use hack to satisfy this desire of mine. The best I can do is to make voice, try to reach Nintendo, and if many peoples make enough voices, maybe Nintendo would listen. Operation Rainfall is a proof that Nintendo would listen if fans make enough voice.
The software is owned by the person who purchased it - the EULA changes nothing.
@GenoBeatsMallow You're wrong.
Piracy is not stealing.
You all have forgotten about it. I recall all of you. Its little offtop but its about youtube. Youtube application on 3ds have been released in Novemeber (?) 2013 if i remember correctly. It was bugged. I remeber it hangs/freeze 5 times in 5 minutes for me (and obviously for all). In Novemeber (?) 2014 came patch. From that time i see no bugs. But youtube for 3ds still cant play playlist automatically. (not to mention about writing comments but with 3ds ram it could probaly take ages ) Is this tubehax work on patched or/and unpatched youtube app?
@CrazyMetroid I'm not jealous of his attention, who's acting like SJW, I'm just tired of this guy finding exploits in games so Nintendo takes them off the eshop.
@HeroOfCybertron
I don't really understand comments like this. If software has bugs, they should be fixed. You'd rather have a bunch of insecure software running on your device? This guy is being pretty open about his findings, and game developers shouldn't be upset about this. It happens, exploits are found in everything, even Google code. In every other industry, the developers usually apologize and issue a fix as quickly as they can. However, everyone here is getting all pissy and blaming Smealum for ruining things. Besides, the Youtube app needs to be fixed. I've known for a long time about how to get out of the youtube sandbox and use the app as a regular web browser. After getting that far, plenty of things cause the app to crash, which is likely how he sneaks his code in. The fact that it got this far is a fault of the developers, they should have fixed this long ago.
I remember in the 80s when Nintendo were putting other companies out of business by threatening retailers that if they stocked rival systems then they would limit the stock that said store received from them. The point is, they are a business, they aren't your friend. Enabling playing of region locked games is very much a good thing.
I don't see why people are opposed to this at all. Ran the mod today, made myself a custom theme, and now I have a SNES and GBC in my pocket with actual controls. Even learned a few things about the 3DS and photoshop today, so eh. Honestly, the theming alone was worth it. Does anyone know if custom themes get removed after the homebrew gets patched away?
@Trotterwatch "Enabling playing of region locked games is very much a good thing."
Most people agree with that, and if that's all that this was used for, I don't think there'd be much debate.
The whole issue about regional releases wouldn't matter that much if there was more developers releasing games digitally. like SMT IV and Rune Factory 4 didn't seem that it'd have that high of a chance of going outside of the US, but eventually they were added as Digital-only titles for EU. just imagine if larger companies such as Square-Enix did this, where they have quite a few games that they literally left untranslated for a few years now; mostly 2 or so Dragon Quest monster games and Rocket Slime 3. but they'd rather go to the iOS crowd for releases just to make a quick buck whilst kicking away android users.
Provided that the prices are fair to justify being Digital of course, a main thing about a digital market is that it allows people to get games out there fast whilst removing most of the physical costs involved in producing cartridges, but this mostly boils down for Indy developers.
As for the Youtube app itself, kind of a shame that chances are Google is going to be indifferent about releasing an update at all, they'll probably update the backend of the servers to state that the app is no longer supported then just outright delete it. or Nintendo will forcibly remove the app with an update. not the idea of YT being removed is bad, but that they've released low resource-intensive apps for the Wii, 3DS and Vita; the Vita's of which is one of the most perfect handheld players I've seen.
Then they discontinued support, just because people could bypass ads on it, where even conventional ad blockers on PC doesn't affect videos themselves.
Good work, Smealum, the region free crowd is indebted to you. . Also, the enormous mistake Nintendo made by failing to pad out the Virtual Console has now been rectified.
So the youtube-app will be the next thing removed. Good job, mister hacker!
Region-free is not bad though. Region-locking a device is just not acceptable anymore in this time and age.
@Henmii I agree, Nintendo brought this on themselves by region-locking the 3DS, i live in Europe and some games just don't come out here ("Story of seasons", for one), or come out months later than the US, but i can't import it from the US because of the region-lock.
For many people (I know, not all) the interest in hacking the 3DS stems from frustration with region-lock, so Nintendo could save themselves a few dozen "Stability-updates" by not trying region-locking in whatever comes after the 3DS...
Some people have mentioned they think Nintendo should remove region-locking with a system update. Is that even possible?
Guys, if, for example, I wanted to play Miles Edgeworth 2, but I can't read Japanese, is there any way to change the text to English? Also, what sort of things can you do with homebrew? Thanks!
Emulation doesn't equal piracy. The homebrew scene is thriving on several consoles, particularly on 1970's and 80's American produced consoles from Atari, Mattel, and Coleco.
And having moved onto the comments to see if anyone else corrected the author of this article, a real nonsense of a post has appears. There is absolutely nothing illegal about emulating a console like the NES.
All patent protection has expired and there is no system bios necessary for operation that remains protected by a copyright. It's free and clear to replicate the functionality of the hardware via simulating it in software; i.e., emulation.
And there's plenty of perfectly legal software that can be freely downloaded. Homebrews are the biggest area, but even developers/publishers make stuff freely available. The Out of this World guys for instance have released their unreleased GBA port of this early 90's classic as a free download.
Would be nothing illegal with downloading a GBA emulator and pairing it with this rom.
@GenoBeatsMallow Technically? Yes, as Smealum has demonstrated with his Region unlocking software. That said, I don't see it happening. Nintendo would face legal issues if they just did that, so they'd essentially have to contact every single company and person who has published software for the 3DS.
Smealum released a new version of the Homebrew Launcher. The initial one for IronHax and TubeHax had issues.
@GoneFishin Maybe I missed something, but I don't think anyone said that emulation of those consoles is illegal, just the ROMs that they're used to play. Yes, there's some perfectly legal software, but I don't know if I'd call it "plenty" ...certainly not when it comes to games that were actually released for the original systems.
I can see how this is good, only for region unlocking for me that is, wouldn't mind actually getting some jp games that havent released over here (Inazuma, Dragonball Heroes: Ultimate Mission, Corpes Party: Blood Covered Repeated Fear... and the list goes on) Just saying, region lock has held me back from some titles I doubt we will ever see come to any other region.
I doubt I'll pick up on this exploit but this should show nintendo how serious we are about this region lock issue.
region free, custom themes, and snes may be cool, but do you know what's REALLY cool? following all the rules, especially end user agreements! think about that you despicable hackers.
People have been attacking smea with fire on these comments but I'm honestly all over this. I like the idea of cracking Nintendo tech to become more multi-puropse.
@JLPick So hackers with good computer skills will be living on benefits as opposed to having IT jobs?
@Nintendood You missed something, but the idiot has since retracted his comment which is why you didn't see it.
I freaking think this is pretty much awesome thing and good news to those who really want it and wished it. But I hate that it was taken down ! Shot by Nintendo which freaking sucks o n o but than again they have a different one. i will be checking it out C:!
@GenoBeatsMallow
Yes it is possible, all the region locks in Wii, Wii U, DSi and 3DS are software based. The problem that Nintendo seems to have is the eShop since it's regional.
@Miles_Edgeworth
Yes, an unofficial translation was done by fans. Not going to mention more since it's against site rules.
Going to buy now Rhythm Tengoku The Best+ and finally enjoy it on my older 3DS XL as I have doubts that Nintendo will not release it in the west.
Will keep my N3DS XL unhacked for now.
@Kolzig Ok, thanks for the info! Didn't know it was against site rules, I'm new!
Hacked and waiting for that elusive virtual boy emulator.
@BoshiBoy You are one close minded
ignorant person
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