Latest news with #NintendoAccountServices
Scottish Sun
14-07-2025
- Scottish Sun
Major gaming crackdown blocks millions of console owners from playing top titles for free using dangerous loophole
Users who fall foul of the rules could end up with their console being bricked GAME OVER Major gaming crackdown blocks millions of console owners from playing top titles for free using dangerous loophole Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SEVEN websites used by millions to illegally obtain popular games for free has been shut down in a major crackdown by the FBI. For more than four years, players were able to obtain pirated copies of upcoming titles days or weeks before official release. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Sites including nsw2u have gone offline Credit: Getty 3 FBI warning issued on all seven sites Credit: FBI Between February and May this year, there were 3.2million downloads on the sites alone. It's estimated that the operation resulted a loss of $170million / £126million to the gaming industry. The seven sites specifically made Nintendo Switch ROMs available, which users download and play from a hacked console or PC emulator. A message saying that the website "has been seized" by the FBI now appears on all of them. "This domain has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in accordance with seizure warrant issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C §§ 2323 issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia," it reads. The seven sites that have been shut down are: Nintendo recently beef up its rules threatening to render consoles "unusable" if they're found to be loading illegal software on them. The firm's user agreement states that you must not "bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services" or it may "render the Console and/or Software permanently unusable". Nintendo has also sued illegal ROM-sharing websites too. Last year, Tropic Haze, a popular Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator developer, agreed to pay the the company $2.4million. The Sun tries new Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart before it's out
The Irish Sun
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Major gaming crackdown blocks millions of console owners from playing top titles for free using dangerous loophole
SEVEN websites used by millions to illegally obtain popular games for free has been shut down in a major crackdown by the FBI. For more than four years, players were able to obtain pirated copies of upcoming titles days or weeks before official release. 3 Sites including nsw2u have gone offline Credit: Getty 3 FBI warning issued on all seven sites Credit: FBI Between February and May this year, there were 3.2million downloads on the sites alone. It's estimated that the operation resulted a loss of $170million / £126million to the gaming industry. The seven sites specifically made Nintendo Switch ROMs available, which users download and play from a hacked console or PC emulator. A message saying that the website "has been seized" by the FBI now appears on all of them. Read more about Nintendo "This domain has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in accordance with seizure warrant issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C §§ 2323 issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia," it reads. The seven sites that have been shut down are: Nintendo recently beef up its rules threatening to render consoles "unusable" if they're found to be loading illegal software on them. Most read in Tech The firm's user agreement states that you must not "bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services" or it may "render the Console and/or Software permanently unusable". Nintendo has also sued illegal ROM-sharing websites too. Last year, Tropic Haze, a popular Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator developer , agreed to pay the the company $2.4million. The Sun tries new Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart before it's out 3 Nintendo has cracked down on illegal ROMs Credit: Getty
The Star
15-05-2025
- The Star
Nintendo warns it might brick Switch consoles with pirated games
Violating any of these terms could put a console at risk of being 'bricked', or permanently disabled. — Photo by Alvaro Reyes on Unsplash In an update to its End User License Agreement (EULA), Nintendo now says it may render a console completely unusable if it detects pirated games or unauthorised software modifications. First spotted by online gaming news outlet Game File, it was found that the Japanese gaming giant has made a significant change to its EULA, now stating that failure to comply with Nintendo's restrictions "may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part". Nintendo Account Services is a catch-all term, referring to video games and add-on content. The updated restrictions state that gamers are not allowed to "publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, disassemble, distribute, offer for sale, or create derivative works of any portion of the Nintendo Account Services". They also cannot "bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services, including through the use of any hardware or software." Alongside those restrictions, users are prohibited from installing unauthorised version of Nintendo software, meaning pirated or unlicensed, and using Nintendo Account Services beyond Nintendo's intended or documented use without permission, unless allowed by law. Violating any of these terms could put a console at risk of being "bricked", or permanently disabled. The agreement previously only stated that users are "not allowed to lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law". The updated EULA is also not specific to any one console, meaning it could be applied retroactively to existing devices as well as future releases, which is particularly relevant with the upcoming Switch 2 launch next month. The company has historically taken a strong stance against piracy, most recently winning a case against a Japanese Switch modder who sold modified consoles with pirated software. The modder was subsequently fined 500,000 yen (around RM14,668) and sentenced to two years of suspended jail time. Separately, Nintendo says it "may collect, monitor and record audio and video of your chat sessions with other users to provide a safe and secure environment for certain of our services", which is likely tied to the new Voice Chat feature included with the Switch 2.
The Verge
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Nintendo might brick your Switch if you break the rules
Console modding enthusiasts beware, Nintendo might take away your system. According to a recently updated account services user agreement and privacy policy, Nintendo reserves the right to, 'render the Nintendo Account Services and / or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part.' The change, first reported by Game File, came with a May 7th update and centers on Nintendo's policy regarding how players use their consoles and Nintendo accounts. Previously, the agreement called out the usual suspects of prohibited activities with users not allowed to, 'lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services.' The new agreement has been expanded to include two additional subclauses of proscribed behaviors: 'Without limitation, you agree that you may not (a) publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, disassemble, distribute, offer for sale, or create derivative works of any portion of the Nintendo Account Services; (b) bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services, including through the use of any hardware or software that would cause the Nintendo Account Services to operate other than in accordance with its documentation and intended use; (c) obtain, install or use any unauthorized copies of Nintendo Account Services; or (d) exploit the Nintendo Account Services in any manner other than to use them in accordance with the applicable documentation and intended use, in each case, without Nintendo's written consent or express authorization, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law.' In Nintendo's announcement of the changes to its privacy policy, the company also said it would, 'collect, monitor, and record audio and video of your chat sessions,' in preparation for the Switch 2's new chat functionality. With the Switch 2 launch less than a month away and with these further defined prohibitions, it's clear that Nintendo is refining its approach to console modders and emulator developers. Nintendo is involved in several lawsuits against those the company has claimed violated its intellectual property rights including one suit that resulted in the total destruction of the most popular Switch emulation program, Yuzu.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
PC gaming remains undefeated: Nintendo now says it has the right to brick your Switch if it thinks you're pirating games or modifying the console
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. First spotted by Game File (readers may encounter a paywall), Nintendo has recently changed its online user agreement in multiple consumer-unfriendly ways just before the launch of the Switch 2. Chief among them: Nintendo asserts the right to render your console "permanently unusable" if it determines you're in violation of the agreement. Nintendo's specific new phrasing, distinct from its prior EULA from 2021, is that "You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with the foregoing restrictions Nintendo may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device [emphasis mine] permanently unusable in whole or in part." The restrictions in question are that you may not: "Publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, disassemble, distribute, offer for sale, or create derivative works of any portion of the Nintendo Account Services." "Bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services, including through the use of any hardware or software that would cause the Nintendo Account Services to operate other than in accordance with its documentation and intended use." "Obtain, install or use any unauthorized copies of Nintendo Account Services." "Exploit the Nintendo Account Services in any manner other than to use them in accordance with the applicable documentation and intended use, in each case, without Nintendo's written consent or express authorization, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law." For context, the same section of the EULA used to read: "You are not allowed to lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law." The sections I most take issue with are the prohibitions on copying, modifying, or decompiling software—particularly as it no longer accounts for it being "expressly permitted by applicable law"—as well as hardware/software modifications "that would cause the Nintendo Account Services to operate other than in accordance with its documentation and intended use." No game or hardware modding, no extracting ROMs—something Nintendo continuously asserts we cannot do, even though it is a legally protected consumer right—and no dual booting to another OS. There's also the very legitimate concern of the notoriously heavy-handed, litigious company acting on false positives. I don't know what means Nintendo has to detect such activity and kill a console, but I'm getting a clear message: You spent $450 on this hardware, but Nintendo does not think you own it. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to jailbreak or modify a console, or extract a ROM from a game you own: Many original Switch games run better via PC emulation than on the original console, and Nintendo is only just catching up to that capability with the Switch 2's potentially compromised backwards-compatibility. Even more pressing is the inevitable discontinuation of proprietary online services, like we saw recently with the 3DS and Wii U. Just before that was finalized, Nintendo pushed an update to 3DS consoles which made them harder to jailbreak. This is also something that makes Nintendo's subscription-based access to its classic games library all the more galling to me, and in Nintendo's new EULA update, it now explicitly warns that it may discontinue its online services. In the face of such unreliability, user modification of a device to ensure it remains fully functional is a perfectly reasonable solution. Going beyond legitimate hardware modifications, I'm a firm believer that piracy is as much a question of service and convenience as finance, and Nintendo's moves to consolidate its own control of products people legitimately purchase are inconvenient, annoying impositions that will annoy fans and drive away customers. Best of the best 2025 games: Upcoming releasesBest PC games: All-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together Amid an ongoing campaign against emulation, Nintendo continues to throw its muscle around, emboldened by the generation-defining sales success of the original Switch, but also clearly threatened by the rise of PC handhelds, emulators which run its own games better than the original hardware, and rumblings of future Xbox and PlayStation portables. I feel vindicated in my assessment that the Switch 2 is all stick and no carrot: Lacking truly exciting industrial design innovations (except the Joy Con mouse, which I actually quite like) or tech/hardware improvements to set the console apart from a more crowded handheld market, the Switch 2 can only rely on name recognition, customer inertia, and console-exclusive games to move units, much like its living room-bound rival, the PlayStation 5. All three console manufacturers have well and truly left behind the plug-and-play "it just works" convenience that used to set them apart from PCs. And there's even more in the EULA that's worth flagging, as pointed out by Game File. A change in the wording of the EULA for minors that places responsibility on their legal guardians seems designed to further head off embarrassing lawsuits like the infamous Joy Con drift ones, ensuring such cases are forced into arbitration. Nintendo also joins in an unfortunate trend we can't even escape on PC: Explicitly spelling out that we do not own our games, and instead only "license" them. That last embarrassment aside, these odious impositions are a big part of why I'm largely a desktop and Steam Deck-exclusive gamer at this point. I want to understand, modify, and be able to use the hardware I purchase for as long as I see fit, not be beholden to the proprietary services of a notoriously consumer-unfriendly company. Sure, Microsoft keeps trying to push a new version of Clippy that lies and screenshots your credit card information, but Linux gaming only keeps getting better thanks to SteamOS—if things get bad enough in the house that Bill built, I'll make the move. I still love the original Nintendo Switch, but everything I've learned about its follow-up makes me think the 2017 hybrid console was lightning in a bottle.
