Sad Day for UK Gamers: R4 Cards Declared Illegal

The British High Court has banned a popular copying device used by many gamers to play illegally copied games on the Nintendo DS

Now illegal to sell and market in the UK, the R4 cards, are storage devices that fit into the DS cartridge slot, circumvent security systems and allow people to play pirated games that had grabbed using file-sharing sites.

While the cards were advertised as 'backup' devices, Nintendo’s claims that they were mainly used in copyright infringement acts have been seen by the High Court as justified and the legal uses of the devices labeled as secondary and irrelevant.

Some months ago the game producer pointed to piracy as the main culprit for the loss in sales of the company saying that the increasing popularity (and low prices) of Iphone games is not at all accountable for the decline of Nintendo DS software purchases.

The precedent was created by a Dutch ruling according to which online retailers are legally liable for importing R4 cards as well as Wii modification chips.The popular devices favored by pirates everywhere were also banned in Japan last year.