Problem: You can only get Nintendo Zone downloadable content at participating retailers. Solution: Hack your router.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Nintendo Zone, it’s essentially a downloadable content delivery service that allows the Nintendo 3DS to pull down videos and game demos. In a bafflingly capitalistic move however, Nintendo only allows people to access the Nintendo Zone from places like Best Buy and McDonalds. Apparently watching Pokémon episodes while guzzling unidentifiable, deep-fried chicken bits is good for the company’s bottom line somehow.
Fortunately for those of us who abhor sunlight, public interaction and milkshakes in which the word “milk” is purely theoretical, one intrepid ‘net denizen has unveiled a simple hack that cracks the system wide open, allowing 3DS owners to access the Nintendo Zone content from the comfort of their own homes.
NeoGAF user “DarkWish” explains:
If you set your wireless network to be named attwifi and make it unsecured, then add that network on your 3DS… you can access the Nintendo Zone from home! So whatever demos (right now it’s just Mario & Sonic), Pokémon TV show episodes, and other content they have on there is now accessible from home.
Mr. Wish likewise posted a video tutorial of the process, which you can find embedded above.
Granted, this loophole isn’t exactly a crack for the Enigma machine, but it should prove useful to some 3DS owners. Perhaps those who really, really enjoy the Team Rocket theme song, or wish they could recite all the words to the Pokérap but refuse to turn on an actual television.
Point being: This is a thing we didn’t know about, and now we do. At least until Nintendo gets wise of this scheme and implements even the most minor network security measures. That sounds like something an internationally-beloved game publisher might do.
Source: NeoGAF, via Tiny Cartridge
