Rum & Dal

The R4 looks like a simple piece of plastic. It is just a couple of centimeters square, a few millimeters thick and unbelievably easy to use. For Nintendo it is the Christmas stocking filler from hell.  In the hands of the 35 million DS users around the world the R4 chip has the potential to deal a heavy financial blow to Nintendo and to the dozens of software developers that make games for the machine

Nintendo is Japan’s third most valuable listed company with a stock market value of more than $85 billion (£41 billion) and revenues of $7.8 billion in 2006. The R4’s function is simple: it is a direct conduit for illegal game downloads and other unofficial software. Built to fit into the DS’s existing game cartridge slot, the R4 will transfer on to the console anything saved on a removable flash memory chip.

Most DS games appear on the internet and are ready for downloading within a few days of the legitimate version going on sale. Video’s on youtube.com offer first-time users of the R4 an easy-to-follow tutorial in making the device work. Salesmen even quietly suggest visiting youtube.com rather than attempting to decipher its Chinese instructions.  Just search for R4 tutorial.  Learn more about the R4 Chip

So what do you get when ordering the R4 kit.
Software/driver disk,  download the lastest software recommended.  R4 Cartridge, this is the same shape and size as the game cartridges.  Your micro SD card will fit securely into this.  Micro SD memory card, this will house all your games, MP3’s and movie files.  USB card reader, this is for reading/writing data from your micro SD card via your computer/laptop.  Keychain carry case.

This is a great innovation and now enable the user to use the DSlite as a media center,  great for those long road trip or flights.  Fill up the memory card with your favourite music or episodes of south park.  Of course you could even download games however this is illegal and you should always support game developers by purchasing original games. Though it is always nice to play the game and see if you like it before you invest your hard earned cash on games.  Another source for games, this one has an easier search facility.

All website links used in this artical have not been verified.  Download at your own risk.