[HN Gopher] Nintendo Switch 2 account bans continue: warning aft...
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Nintendo Switch 2 account bans continue: warning after buying old
copy of Bayo 3
Author : freedomben
Score : 49 points
Date : 2025-07-17 19:30 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.tomshardware.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.tomshardware.com)
| DrillShopper wrote:
| Switch 2 is a hard pass for me if Nintendo can brick on a whim
| surgical_fire wrote:
| I'll handle it like I handled all other Nintendo consoles. I
| have one for legit use and one that I open up for, er,
| "alternative" content.
| taraindara wrote:
| I'll just give up on them altogether, and patiently wait for
| simulators I can use instead.
| surgical_fire wrote:
| Eh, I tend to like them. The Switch was the console I liked
| the most since my SNES days.
|
| I am far from heing against piracy, but I can pay, ao I do.
| giancarlostoro wrote:
| At that point just emulate it on a Steam Deck...
| heavyset_go wrote:
| Yeah, I can wait for emulators instead of spending $500 on
| something I won't own.
| thesuitonym wrote:
| I don't like this practice, and it's one of the primary reasons
| I'm not buying a Switch 2, but his console wasn't bricked, it
| was just banned from playing online. And don't trot out that
| tired old "effectively bricked" line, words have meanings, and
| the words you said do not mean what happened.
| viraptor wrote:
| If someone bought it for online play specifically, then there
| is no difference between being banned from playing online and
| the console not turning on. You're just nitpicking on the
| meaning, but we know what happened.
| nonchalantsui wrote:
| Just to be clear, this isn't brick on a whim, this is disabling
| access to online services on a whim.
|
| Seems a lot of commenters are getting that confused due to not
| opening the link.
| Someone1234 wrote:
| Online Services, including any digital purchases which could
| be into the hundreds of dollars in value.
| nonchalantsui wrote:
| Yes, although if one is buying used, then you're likely
| already avoiding digital purchases through this online
| service.
|
| So just keep buying used. Pretty easy workaround.
| gs17 wrote:
| Do we know if it blocks you from downloading "game key"
| cards? In that case you're effectively stuck with Switch
| 1 titles. Not that you should need a "workaround" for
| being punished because someone else did something.
| skwirl wrote:
| So not being able to download any of the games you have
| purchased ever again?
| nonchalantsui wrote:
| Article says you can still play those, just not re-download
| on the same system it seems.
| 0_gravitas wrote:
| ah, very reasonable...
| RandomBacon wrote:
| Agreed, and you shouldn't be downvoted for it, oh well.
| chmod775 wrote:
| "Another man who adopted face-eating bird has his face eaten."
|
| I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| You know how like some men have those fetishes where they pay a
| dominatrix to kick them in the balls for pleasure, and it's all
| legal and consensual?
|
| Well similarly, some _consoomers_ like to pay Nintendo to get
| kicked in the balls, figuratively, instead of paying for a
| device that respects you, like a Steam Deck for example.
|
| Just stop giving money to companies that disrespect you, it is
| that simple, you DON't NEED Nintendo's latest slop in your
| life. But no, they like it more when Mario or Yoshi kicks them
| in the balls instead, so here we are.
| andrepd wrote:
| > Just stop giving money to companies that disrespect you, it
| is that simple, you DON't NEED the latest slop in your life
|
| Well I agree, you don't! Unfortunately, Nintendo produces not
| slop, but some of the most outstanding games I've ever played
| (plus a fair bit of slop too).
|
| Myself I don't mind to wait a few years and play on an
| emulator :)
| kulahan wrote:
| You don't NEED video games at all, so it's kinda moot to say
| that you don't NEED the newest "slop". It's 100% an
| entertainment device which is completely unnecessary to life,
| just like computer games and phone games.
| turtlebro wrote:
| Nintendo has the best 1st party games. They care a lot about
| making games that are just fun. What does Valve have?
| Lootbox, gambling ridden, addictive dopamine juicers. Their
| offering sucks compared to Nintendo.
| freedomben wrote:
| Portal and Half-life series will forever be some of my all-
| time favorite games, but yeah their newer stuff does seem
| to be not that great, though I'm very much a "play local"
| kind of guy
| giingyui wrote:
| >got flagged by big N
|
| Big N, really?
| giancarlostoro wrote:
| It's funny to me because I've never heard anyone refer to
| Nintendo as "Big N" there's a handful of other things referred
| to as Big N, Nintendo is not one of them.
| nope96 wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_N
|
| "Nickname for Nintendo"
|
| I remember it being frequently used as far back as the 80s by
| Electronic Gaming Monthly
| mvdtnz wrote:
| American racists don't get to claim exclusive rights to the
| letter N.
| kotaKat wrote:
| "Big N" is an older term from Nintendo. Think the giant
| rotating "N" from the Nintendo 64 logo.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb-h4oLctQc
| downrightmike wrote:
| Nintendo is adamant about destroying our reselling rights. I'll
| continue skipping this generation.
| phatfish wrote:
| This is about someone buying a used cart that had been dumped
| with the MIG Flash mod.
|
| I remember when this MIG mod got released people were saying
| buying used would now be a roulette as Nintendo can spot the
| duplicated cart when it is used online and blacklist your
| switch. Not sure how often it ended up happening, but at least
| once it seems from this article.
|
| Can't say I'm happy with how Nintendo is dealing with physical
| games, which means I'll need a really good reason to buy a
| Switch 2 myself. But Microsoft (and to a lesser extent Sony)
| are trying harder to kill physical sales and resale.
|
| Nintendo at least have some skin in the game as they have the
| largest percentage of physical sales compared to
| Microsoft/Sony.
| weinzierl wrote:
| _" Nintendo can spot the duplicated cart."_
|
| I think they cannot spot the duplicated cart specifically,
| they just see the same "cart" (or key) used twice or multiple
| times at the same time and block it and possibly all devices
| involved.
|
| Not defending Nintendo, but I believe it is technically
| impossible for them to distinguish between the pirate and the
| victim.
| snickerdoodle12 wrote:
| That means they're happy to punish the victim. The moral
| choice would be to punish neither in this case.
| isk517 wrote:
| Yeah, if they were able to directly identified a duplicated
| cart then the easiest solution would be to update the
| console software to just not play duplicated carts. There
| shotgun approach is just biting them in the ass since the
| market has apparently already been flooded with duplicate
| carts and all they are doing is antagonizing people who
| believe they bought in good faith a legitimate game
| tshaddox wrote:
| This can't be a new thing, right? For decades there have
| been entire businesses dedicated to buying and selling hard
| copies of video games, and online play has been common for
| at least one decade. I think it's on them to figure out how
| to make copying hard copies difficult or to distinguish
| between the legit copy and illicit copies. Banning people
| for using a legitimate hard copy of a video game because
| someone else has a illicit copy of it is in no way
| acceptable.
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| It's unclear to me in your comment if you know this so just
| want to point out that with Switch 2 a lot of the cards are
| just licenses for a digital download - particularly 3rd party
| games. 1st party though it looks like they're (currently)
| putting the whole game on the cards.
|
| Given their obsession with piracy/emulation I wouldn't be
| surprised to see them completely abandon it in the future and
| just have the cards be license keys like Sony/M$ currently
| do. We'll see i suppose.
| delecti wrote:
| The title is technically true, but leaves out the pretty
| significant context that he has openly used the MIG Switch, a
| device technically for "backups", but realistically for piracy.
|
| It's within the realm of possibility that you could get in
| trouble after buying used games which have been the source of
| pirated copies, but I don't believe that this guy's situation is
| an example of that happening.
|
| "Nintendo cuts off online access for console after guy uses tool
| made for piracy" is a less compelling title though.
| puppycodes wrote:
| Is this IP troll energy pervasive in other Japanese tech
| companies or is Nintendo an outlier?
| mvdtnz wrote:
| This has nothing to do with patent trolling.
| puppycodes wrote:
| Sure... IP rather than patent ~ the vibe reminds me of patent
| trolls is what I mean. It's the evil of opressive copyright
| boots on the necks of people simply trying to enjoy
| themselves.
| throwasxy1784 wrote:
| Animal Crossing will forever be a kids game that changed my life
| profoundly, and twice. Like most of us, Animal Crossing got me
| through Covid19. It was such a strange time to be locked in and
| spending 10 hours of every day working on collecting and
| manicuring your town. I remember my sister and I really bonded
| over this game, and there were many days where my mom and dad
| watched us play.
|
| But aside from a worldwide pandemic, I remember the first time
| Animal Crossing changed my perspective was when I was ~13? I had
| grown up with a GameShark on the Gameboy Color, but years later
| my next exposure to hacking was on the Nintendo DS playing online
| in Animal Crossing. Had some random person I made friends with on
| the Nintendo forums join our small group of friends to travel
| between towns. This person could do some impossible things!
| They'd dig rivers, spawn-in objects, and I still have a vivid
| memory of them making the game rain items on balloons like some
| festive meteor shower.
|
| I remember at that time you'd hear horror stories about hackers
| coming in and destroying peoples' towns. I did hear about abuse.
| I liked my (Ukrainian?) friend who would show up and help us make
| impossible towns with rivers that went in circles and showed us
| game assets we'd likely never have discovered on our own.
|
| I'm a PC gamer now, and I avoid consoles for the lock-in and
| control companies like Nintendo exert over its players. I
| understand why they do it but I feel like the experiences I had
| could never happen today.
|
| Whoever that was started me on a career of game modding and
| software development and I'm glad I got to meet them while it was
| possible.
| andrepd wrote:
| Thank you for sharing, both those resonate with me as well.
| praveenbatra wrote:
| I have a fond memory of playing Mario Kart Wii online with my
| brother when I was a kid, and we ran into into a clearly
| hacking player who was just constantly spamming items,
| permanently invincible, etc.
|
| Thankfully hackers weren't common when I played so it felt like
| seeing a unicorn in the wild. Good times
| hard_times wrote:
| Why would someone in their right mind ever buy a Nintendo
| product?
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| They make excellent games?
| kulahan wrote:
| Cool hardware, generally stable experience, family friendly,
| lots of games which are enriching, the portability is awesome,
| it's inexpensive, the games are fun, lots of exclusives...
|
| You couldn't think of ANY of these?
| freedomben wrote:
| > Cool hardware
|
| Eh, from what I've heard it's not really that great. Nintendo
| isn't really known for cutting edge tech, they're really more
| known for their first party offering. Steam Deck is a few
| years old now but still pretty impressive hardware, so I
| would call them about equal
|
| > generally stable experience
|
| Yes this is true (as long as you don't try to mod), though
| Steam Deck has been rock solid stable for me
|
| > family friendly
|
| Can you expand on this a bit? Other platforms have family
| controls and lots of family-friendly game options so I don't
| know where Nintendo out competes in this area.
|
| > lots of games which are enriching
|
| Aside from the first-party games, this also doesn't feel like
| a unique quality of Nintendo
|
| > the portability is awesome
|
| I'm assuming you mean physical portability? If so then yes,
| but also not unique to Nintendo.
|
| If you mean software portability like "can run games on other
| systems/platforms" then absolutely not. Steam is going to be
| way better at that.
|
| > it's inexpensive
|
| Is it? Here at least the switch 2 is $500 (there is one on
| Amazon for $450 but it is "invite only"), compared with Steam
| Deck which starts at $400 but goes up to $650 for the top
| model. It seems like again Nintendo is just not unique in
| price.
|
| > the games are fun, lots of exclusives...
|
| The exclusives are IMHO really the only reason to get a
| Nintendo. If you really like their first party games then you
| have no choice. Everyone I know who bought a Switch (and will
| buy Switch 2) did it for this reason. To me personally the
| exclusivity is a major turn-off
| nielsbot wrote:
| Really, what's a good alternative to Nintendo? I argue they
| don't really have any competition.
| freedomben wrote:
| If you really want first party games or those with heavy
| anti-cheat, then yes, but if you just want a handheld console
| with a great UX, the Steam Deck is phenomenal. The same games
| are also often way cheaper, plus if you want to play on PC
| later you can...
| rodrigodlu wrote:
| For myself it was my first console bought on pre sale. And here
| in my country is much more expensive.
|
| Basically I raised the bar tremendously. I have the console,
| MKW, probably will buy Metroid, probably another Zelda. But
| that's it. I will not tolerate a low bar.
|
| Now that indies are constantly increasing theirs with more
| genuine experiences? No no no
|
| I bought NSW2 to be my defacto indie platform as well, but I
| just reporpused a laptop with Arch/Proton/Steam/Gog and I will
| work on that.
|
| All my accessories from 8bitdo are working flawlessly, so not
| even a controller I will buy. I don't even bothered to buy the
| special SD card they require because I can't see myself using
| even the internal storage, unlike my NSW1.
|
| I'm also part of the group that was shocked with the changes on
| MKW as well. A long time Nintendo fan disappointed.
|
| I stayed fan for all this time because the experience hassle
| free. I don't want another Denuvo strategy, or games becoming
| boring like many mobile games.
|
| I hope more people realize that there are options out there.
| Support the indies is my choice.
| kallistisoft wrote:
| > Why would someone in their right mind ever buy a Nintendo
| product?
|
| Correction: Why would someone in their right mind ever buy a
| Nintendo product and use it accordance within the
| manufacturer's guidelines?
|
| I purchased a first gen (rcm exploit) switch and I couldn't be
| happier with my investment.
|
| I'm not concerned about being banned as it is never connected
| to the internet... for "reasons". :)
| MYEUHD wrote:
| > To be clear, if this happens to you, the physical cartridges
| that you own will remain playable, without updates, and some
| previously downloaded digital games may remain accessible.
|
| What about game-key cards? (the cartridges that don't contain the
| game, but a license to download it)
|
| This could reduce the library of games you can play, if they
| don't let you download the games you purchased.
| gs17 wrote:
| > Other social media users were quick to reassure Nelson of two
| things. Firstly, hardware bans received for using second-hand
| game carts that have been cloned by tools like MIG Flash are not
| uncommon.
|
| I think the author and I have different definitions of
| "reassure".
|
| > And, probably more importantly, Nintendo is receptive to owners
| who can provide corroborating evidence that they are innocent of
| Nintendo-flavored piracy.
|
| Unless you, say, borrowed a game from a friend who you didn't
| know bought it from someone who ripped it. Right now it seems
| they're pretty lax about the "evidence" you bought it, but I'm
| sure they'll get stricter fast.
| wil421 wrote:
| Thought about this situation buying used games for the kids and
| me off Facebook. It's terrible because I used to trade and buy
| nes/gameboy and other systems games as a kid. It allowed me to
| play more games but sometimes you'd get a game that sucked really
| bad.
|
| Modding is one thing but piracy is another. Nintendo despises
| both.
| highwaylights wrote:
| It's pretty clear from the article that the ban is due to using a
| defeat device (which he posted publicly about trying out) and
| very likely has nothing to do with the game he bought.
| gs17 wrote:
| No, there are plenty of people who have reported being banned
| over used games. The article cites another article where the
| same thing happened (and no, it's not a pirate pretending to be
| innocent, Nintendo reversed the ban).
| xg15 wrote:
| > _And, probably more importantly, Nintendo is receptive to
| owners who can provide corroborating evidence that they are
| innocent of Nintendo-flavored piracy. We reported on exactly such
| a case, only last week, with a happy ending for the innocent
| Facebook Marketplace-sourced used-game buyer._
|
| I see, the Trump school of negotiation is finding imitators...
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