R4 news : ROM Anti-Piracy Software

"Andrew Mclennan, CEO of U.K.-based Metaforic, has announced a new anti-piracy measure for flash linkers. Specifically engineered for ROMs, and not homebrew, this new bit of software can be injected into code and will cause the corruption of ROM files which are pre-patched before launching. The code is currently specifically targeted to the R4 patching routines, due to its popularity. Nintendo is behind this anti-piracy software 100% as are 6 leading third party NDS software publishers.

It will remain to be seen what hackers can do with the anti-piracy measure when it begins to ship, injected into retail carts, as soon as December of this year. The code can be altered to change its signature for each retail cart, potentially preventing an automated fix from being developed.

Metaforic’s goal is to “annoy the hackers” as much as possible. They admit that the solution is not fool proof but it should require a fresh hack on a per-ROM basis. Thus allowing software a longer shelf life before it is pirated."

source: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23529