Wired has an article about Gameboy Advanced Piracy. Before it was officially released there already tools available to copy the games.
The games can be downloaded from the web and are sometimes even available before they get to the stores.
But instead of paying $40 for each game cartridge, the $129 Flash Linker Advanced allows games to be downloaded from the Net and played for free. |
Featuring a 64-MB memory card, the Linker plugs into the game cartridge slot at the back of the Advance console. The Linker is ostensibly used for saving games and game data, like levels and extra points.
But it is basically a burner for Game Boy games.
The Linker comes with a card reader that is hooked to a PC's parallel port. Plug in legitimate game-cartridges, and the Linker's software reads and uploads the game to the PC.
Plug in the memory module, and games found on the Net can be loaded up for playing. The Linker can store several games at once.
Setting up the Linker takes some technical know-how, but it works, according to amateur product reviews.
It isn't bad marketing for Nintendo that these games can be easily copied, I think it's one of the arguments to buy a console. You don't want to buy all your games for 50$, do you ?
Source: Wired.com
