Nintendo launches lawsuit against hacking website

Nintendo of America has filed a lawsuit against HackYourConsole.com, a website that the Mario maker says "blatantly promotes and sells unauthorized Nintendo games," as well as game-copying devices like the R4.

The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Florida, where HackYourConsole was established in 2012. The company could not be reached for comment at press time.

On HackYourConsole's website, a FAQ page says R4 Cards like the ones it sells are "not illegal, however, the software you put on the R4 may be."

"The cards themselves aren't illegal because there's plenty of things that are legitimately free for them. It's the actual DS games that you download that are illegal. Backups and NDS roms are a touchy subject. If you don't own the game usually a back up is illegal," the page reads.

HackYourConsole.com also sells 3DS Gateway cards, which facilitate the play of illegally downloaded games, Nintendo said, adding that such copying devices "severely undermine" a game's sales.

"Piracy on the Nintendo DS system has a huge impact on games sales," said Wii U and 3DS developer Renegade Kid cofounder Jools Watsham in a statement. "It can affect everyone involved, including the many honest players out there. If independent studios, like ours, are unable to recoup the money they invest into game development, through the sales of their games, we will unfortunately see fewer independent games developed in the future."

Nintendo said illegal copying of game software is an international problem that "continues to stifle the growth of the creative development community." The company added that gamers can report game copiers, illegal Nintendo software, or other piracy-related activities by contacting Nintendo at 800-255-3700 or piracyscene@noa.nintendo.com