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Original article is taken from DSFanBoy

Bad dudes who pirate, watch out! The ESA just combined forces with the Singapore police force to raid several local stores that were selling DS flash cards, devices that let users download and play pirated games (but also, it should be noted, perfectly legal homebrew applications), and that are illegal under the Singapore Copyright Act. The haul, while not massive (200 devices worth around $5,800 were confiscated), was still big enough for the ESA to submit a press release, in which it warned more raids would take place should the piracy continue.

As a gamer and a DS owner myself, I find that the above enforcement is like a double edged sword. By clearing off unofficial flash cards, it helps in reducing piracy issues but at the same time hurting the game community. Although the majority gamers would probably use flashcards to play downloaded games, to what extend it is used would the main question here. Some gamers uses flashcards as a way to test out a game before purchasing the original from stores, while others uses them mainly for homebrew purposes (there’s nothing like having a similar Photoshop program on your DS where you can use the touch-screen to draw stuff). We can’t just directly assume that everyone who owns a flashcard are illegal evil-doers.

Nintendo is [rumoured] to launch its own flashcards in the future but currently, it’s only going to be released in Japan. There is another another rumour that Nintendo is going to offer downloadable GameBoy Advance games via Virtual Console-type service. I applaud to Nintendo for bringing in its own flashcard but there are still some issues to consider. Will the flashcards allow us to run legal homebrew programs? Will there be other usages apart from playing GBA games?

I’m sure most people would agree that the earlier point is pretty much impossible to achieve. If you allow uncontrolled software to run, piracy will find it’s way through the loop holes. But at this day, a medium that supports multimedia functionality is crucial for keeping the medium itself alive. It’s similar like a handphone. Today, they not just a medium for communication. Strip off their other functions and you will have a brick that makes phone calls.

So you might be asking, why am I getting so fired-up when the official product is yet to be released? I’m just merely voicing out my own opinions on the matter. I feel that a DS that is capable of doing multiple things is definitely better than a DS that can only do one thing.

Here I got a few suggestions of what Nintendo should implement on the flashcard;

• Homebrew enabled (Nintendo can provide softwares for developers to work on)
• Multimedia capabilities (music, video, web browser, chat programs, notepad etc)
• Downloadable contents (previous console games, game demos, trailers)

Heck what I mentioned above is already possible with the current flashcards (apart from point 3). Will Nintendo be able to pull off what the others have already done? If you ask me, buying a flashcard just to play GBA games is pretty weak. I would rather buy the ‘hard’ copy, with boxes and all. If supports for old consoles are included (NES, SNES, GB, N64) I’m definitely game for the official product.

Until more information is released, my personal opinion stops here.