Nintendo Banned Switch 2 Owner For Playing a Used Switch 1 Game They Bought Online (tomshardware.com)
- Reference: 0178366328
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/07/13/0437254/nintendo-banned-switch-2-owner-for-playing-a-used-switch-1-game-they-bought-online
- Source link: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/handheld-gaming/nintendo-bans-switch-2-owner-after-they-played-used-switch-1-games-decision-eventually-reversed-after-proving-innocence
> [2]According to Reddit user dmanthey , they purchased four used titles off the Facebook marketplace, inserted them into the Switch 2, and had them all updated. When they turned on their handhelds the following day, they received a message saying that they were restricted from Nintendo's online services and that they couldn't even download the games they had already bought...
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> [T]hey were able to prove their innocence by pulling up the Facebook Marketplace listing for their games and sending the photos of their purchased cartridges. According to the Redditor, the process was painless and fast, and it was "so much easier than getting support from Microsoft or Sony...." Other users warned, though, that this isn't always a guaranteed resolution.
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> Nintendo is known for being protective of its intellectual property and delivers harsh penalties to anyone caught violating it. We've already had several reports of users getting [3]banned for using Mig Flash , even on their own ROMs. And while it's not true that getting banned turns your Switch 2 into a brick, it will still prevent you from accessing the company's online services, which severely restricts its features and usability.
"Nintendo attaches unique codes to its Switch game cartridges to prevent piracy," [4]notes Engadget . "However, bad actors can copy games onto a third-party device, like the MIG Flash, and then resell the physical game card. Once Nintendo detects two instances of its unique code being online at the same time, it will ban any accounts using it..."
> This anti-piracy policy isn't new — Nintendo has long had a reputation for fiercely combating any type of piracy — but it has become relevant again thanks to the [5]recently released Switch 2 , which offers backwards compatibility with original Switch titles. The company even recently [6]amended its user agreement to allow itself the power to brick a Nintendo Switch that's caught running pirated games or mods.
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/handheld-gaming/nintendo-bans-switch-2-owner-after-they-played-used-switch-1-games-decision-eventually-reversed-after-proving-innocence
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Switch/comments/1lut61s/switch_2_users_be_careful_buying_used_switch_1/
[3] https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/nintendo/after-just-12-days-nintendo-is-already-nuking-switch-2-consoles-for-players-caught-using-mig-flash-popular-cartridge-allows-switch-1-games-on-the-new-console-but-users-say-theyre-only-using-their-own-roms
[4] https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-reportedly-bans-switch-2-user-playing-preowned-game-cards-192452163.html
[5] https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-review-more-of-what-you-love-120048430.html
[6] https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-grants-itself-the-power-to-brick-switches-with-pirated-games-162129077.html
Creating FUD (Score:5, Insightful)
This practice of punish-until-proven-innocent also creates fear about buying used games. Its a totally legitimate and legal practice that Nintendo wants to discourage, because they want you to buy new copies at full price, where Nintendo gets all the money, instead of a used copy, where Nintendo gets none of the money.
So now, any time you buy a used copy, you risk the ban-hammer. Better buy a new copy instead. You know, like all honest people should.
Re: (Score:2)
When two copies of the same game are running at the same time, that's proof of guilt. You may have been unknowingly complicit, but you are still guilty of participation in a crime. The temporary lockout seems to me to be equivalent to arrest on probable cause. If you can show legitimacy, they restore your account.
Re: (Score:2)
> When two copies of the same game are running at the same time, that's proof of guilt. You may have been unknowingly complicit, but you are still guilty of participation in a crime. The temporary lockout seems to me to be equivalent to arrest on probable cause. If you can show legitimacy, they restore your account.
IANAL, but as I understand it a person who unknowingly purchase a counterfeit game isn't guilty of a crime; although the seller is if they know or should know it's counterfeit. The purchaser can, however, lose the item such as Nintendo did in this case; although what they did was, IMHO, a bit excessive. A better solution would be to be able to block individual games or serial numbers. I do not know how the Switch checks for legitimate serial numbers; but I suspect it is a phone home setup, based on TFA,
Re: (Score:2)
Except for the difference between a law enforcement organisation and a private company, the difference between investigating whether someone has committed a crime and punishment without trial, theft of things someone has legitimately purchased not being a legal punishment for copyright infringement, (and in this case, unlike copyright infringement, it is theft, at least morally, because they are losing access to their property)...
Re: (Score:2)
When two copies of the same game are running at the same time, that's proof of guilt.
False. It is evidence that one or both running instance of the game might be illegal copies.
A party without intent or knowledge is by definition an innocent party.
The temporary lockout seems to me to be equivalent to arrest on probable cause.
There is no probable cause for arrest. Even if the physical cartridge was found out to be stolen in the buyer's possession the cartridge is not enough to show probable cause. The onl
Re: (Score:2)
I'm surprised they even sell physical games for Switch 2. I'm expecting the next generation of consoles to be digital only, no second hand sales at all.
Re: (Score:2)
> This practice of punish-until-proven-innocent also creates fear about buying used games. Its a totally legitimate and legal practice that Nintendo wants to discourage, because they want you to buy new copies at full price, where Nintendo gets all the money, instead of a used copy, where Nintendo gets none of the money.
> So now, any time you buy a used copy, you risk the ban-hammer. Better buy a new copy instead. You know, like all honest people should.
How does this look from Nintendos perspective? Is the problem of piracy worth this anti-piracy effort? Sounds like they assist victims better than most mega-corps do.
What is the cost of doing nothing? Depends. If the MIG flash theft process is about as complex as ripping and burning a CD, then I guess you can expect a fair amount of loss. Enough to take action. Being a doormat in this world, comes with predictable results. Don’t be a fucking doormat.
Re: (Score:2)
It is so weird and creepy watching so many people lately defending mega corporations.
I'm assuming it's because our economy and civilization is collapsing so if you are conservative and you want to keep defending what you perceive as the good old days you kind of have to go all in on corporate oligarchy. Otherwise you got to admit the emperor has no clothes.
Either way it creeps me.
Re: (Score:2)
The punishment is way too severe, given that guilt has not been established. Especially since someone might not be able to provide the requested screenshots after the fact.
At most, Nintendo should block just that game, not the person's entire account.
The right of first sale is also important, and if this enforcement approach winds up making an end-run around that right, then that is a spirit-of-the-law violation (though I am not a lawyer and have no ideal how that would hold up legally).
So, I really don't
Re: (Score:2)
Just ends up to the situation that you shouldn't buy Nintendo.
Not a chance. (Score:3)
> The company even recently amended its user agreement to allow itself the power to brick a Nintendo Switch that's caught running pirated games or mods.
There is approximately zero chance of me buying any electronic device with that "feature". Company that has so little respect for their customers should die in a fire.
Nintendo is evil (Score:2)
and should be avoided
So the seller copied? (Score:2)
So is this a case of the seller copying the game, keeping the copy, and selling the original?
Re: (Score:2)
It may not even be the seller doing the copying. The seller could be a reseller with the seller being innocent as some people make money by reselling things. The premise is the physical copy was a counterfeit, and there were no indications to the buyer that it was an obvious counterfeit like the game was titled "SUper MArio Bros THREE"
Re: (Score:2)
What the actual fuck? You could have read the SECOND FUCKING PARAGRAPH of the summary:
"[T]hey were able to prove their innocence by pulling up the Facebook Marketplace listing for their games and sending the photos of their purchased cartridges. According to the Redditor, the process was painless and fast, and it was "so much easier than getting support from Microsoft or Sony...."
Legit cartridges, quickly and easily reversed, nothing to see here.
Re: (Score:2)
> Legit cartridges, quickly and easily reversed, nothing to see here.
You're reading more detail into the situation than the article goes into. Nintendo would only brick the switch because it has seen this cartridge's serial number on other consoles AT THE SAME TIME. This means it is most likely that someone duplicated the cartridge and sold it at some point. It may be that this user got the original one, but copies are out there somewhere or Nintendo wouldn't have bricked them in the first place.