3DS hacker insists he wants no part in piracy as Cubic Ninja prices rocket

The man at the centre of a new 3DS exploit has said that he doesn’t want the method to open the door to new piracy on the machine.

Illegal flashcards that allow for the playing of pirated games are already available online for 3DS, but homebrew software has until now not been possible on the handheld. However, a new hack created by 22 year-old Frenchman Jordan Rabet facilitates just that.

As well as the handheld itself users will also require either a physical or digital copy of little-known Ubisoft’s 2011 platformer Cubic Ninja, leading to a surge in prices for the game.

One solitary used copy is currently available on Amazon for 59.95 while Ebay auctions have been ending for anything between 5 and 65, with prices climbing sharply this last week.

"I don’t care if people pirate in their private lives, but I don’t want to be a part of it," Rabet told Eurogamer. "I don’t want to release something others can use to steal someone else’s intellectual property. That’s not what I want. I wouldn’t release something that could be used for piracy… it’s just not something I want to do.

"It’s very dangerous. If you release an exploit that’s too powerful you might let people do whatever they want with their console – which can be great – but you also have the possibility of piracy… which isn’t so great.

"Right now I’m hoping the loader attracts more developers and people start building more homebrew games. I’m working on the 3DS version of Minecraft and a bunch of people are working on emulators. I’d really like to see how far we can push the 3DS."