R4i: New carts needed to bypass 1.4 update
The R4i Gold’s developers, the first team to demonstrate a workaround for the Nintendo DSi’s new anti-flashcart measures, revealed that current R4i owners will not be able to patch their carts with a simple update.
They’ll need to purchase a modified device to load pirated or homebrew software on any DSi with the 1.4 firmware installed. The updated R4i releases next Monday.
Will this be the case with other flashcarts like the Acekard 2i and DSTTi? I can’t say for sure, but considering that the R4i is a clone of the former, Acekard will need to come up with a different bypass solution if it wants to avoid forcing current owners into buying new carts.
The M3i Zero and Supercard DSONEi, both designed with external firmware updates via USB dongles in mind, are better suited to provide patches that circumvent the new protections, but even that isn’t guaranteed.
I wonder what flashcart resellers think of all this, as they now have boxes of useless stock that’s incompatible with current DSi systems. Will the instability and limited shelf life of these devices drive some shops to close up their flashcart operations, or is this business as usual?
See also: DSONEi not a complete solution, Flashcarts defeating anti-piracy measures with anti-anti-piracy feature
tags / piracy / flashcart / r4i / homebrew / ec
