3DS Firmware Updates May Enhance Functionality, Fight Piracy

A story about firmware updates may seem a little underwhelming after yesterday’s exciting news about the 3DS’s release date and price, along with the announcement of a Gameboy-flavored virtual console. However, their firmware plans for the future carry extra weight considering Nintendo’s past trouble with handheld piracy.

Nintendo president Iwata was asked at a meeting what the company’s anti-piracy plans are, to which he replied "as part of the functionality of SpotPass, we're looking into having automatic system updates via the Internet." SpotPass is that cool tech that allows the 3DS to access the internet via Wi-Fi when in sleep mode.

Nintendo says automatic updates would be implemented to replace manual installation, which apparently people just don’t do. Iwata says on-cartridge firmware updates are also an option considering the 3DS games’ increased storage space.

All this fancy piracy talk plays second fiddle to what Iwata refers to the “new functionality” that firmware updates would bring.

Source: 1up