Nintendo has announced plans to implement advanced anti-piracy measures in its upcoming 3D handheld device to prevent the unauthorized distribution of games.
“We fear a kind of thinking is become widespread that paying for software is meaningless,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told the Associated Press.
“We have a strong sense of crisis about this problem.”
Iwata explained that software piracy was now a “serious” problem in Asia as well as Europe and blamed the recent drop in game software sales on the illegal phenomenon.
In addition, Iwata acknowledged that consumers were worried about the potential health effects of 3D gaming and confirmed the new handheld console would allow users to easily switch off the 3D function.
Meanwhile, Destructoid’s Dale North noted that Nintendo hasn’t been “very successful” in combatting software piracy.
“Nintendo hates your ROM downloading. Hates. They hate it even more when they see that they’re reporting the first downturn in six years now,” wrote North.
“[But] when it comes to piracy protection, I don’t think that Nintendo has been very successful so far. [Still], we’ll see what other measures they’ve put into place when we get a better look at the Nintendo 3DS at E3 this summer.”
