Similar to most other Switch firmware updates, FW 9.0.0 got hacked in a few hours and SciresM ported Atmosphere to it quite quickly but a snag has been hit relating to button input which we’ll be looking at in this article. Other than that, we’ll also be taking a look at Nintendo’s latest lawsuit against piracy websites which targets RomUniverse, a website selling $30/year membership for downloading more than one pirated ROM a week!

Switch News: SciresM ports Atmosphere to FW 9.0.0 but all homebrew needs to be recompiled

Apparently, FW 9.0.0 changed some stuff relating to button input breaking homebrew that uses it but Atmosphere’s team have already found a solution 😉

A little under 24 hours ago, SciresM shared a tweet with a picture demonstrating the Atmosphere CFW running on FW 9.0.0 meaning that he was able to port it successfully and that a release is coming soon. However, upon further testing, it was found out that FW 9.0.0 is a tad more troubling than most other firmwares as Nintendo apparently changed how HID state population works meaning that all libnx homebrew won’t be able to detect button presses rendering an important feature of any CFW useless.

As a result, Atmosphere for FW 9.0.0 has been slightly delayed but it seems that the folks behind it have already found a temporary mitigation until existing homebrew is recompiled. This mitigation, which will be removed at a later date when most homebrew gets recompiled, involves the addition of a mitm module that fixes the HID initilisation issue that Nintendo’s changes brought about meaning that an updated version of Atmosphere (presumably version 0.9.4) with support for FW 9.0.0 will be coming soon!

For now, it’s recommended to wait out a bit and follow SciresM’s Twitter account for the latest developments but after the update is out, you’ll be able to use Atmosphere as usual on FW 9.0.0 including emuMMC.

Emulation News: Nintendo sues RomUniverse for theoretical damages of over $100 million

Surprisingly enough, RomUniverse is still online right now even though they’ve been hit by a lawsuit. Their paid membership certainly won’t do them any favours in this lawsuit!

It’s no secret that Nintendo doesn’t like it when people use their trademarks without permission or host ROMs for their games and as a result, they have sued yet another huge game piracy website and this time RomUniverse is the target.

2 days ago, Nintendo filed a lawsuit in California against Matthew Storman who is thought to be the current operator of RomUniverse, which is a website that hosts ROMs for various consoles including modern ones such as the Nintendo Switch and 3DS. Unlike many piracy websites, it also hosts eBooks and movies among other things while also offering a $30/year membership for anybody who wants access to more than a single download a week meaning that it’s profiting over blatant piracy.

Like the lawsuit against LoveROMs that Nintendo started last year (and eventually settled for $12.2 million), it’s seeking out damages of $150k for every illegally hosted Nintendo game and $2m for every trademark infringement putting the whole amount they’re suing for north of $100 million. TorrentFreak contacted an individual who runs or has to do with running the website and they claimed that they haven’t received anything from Nintendo about their activities or any recent takedown notices, with which the website promises to comply.

To check out the lawsuit, follow this link for a PDF hosted by TorrentFreak (link to their article which was the source for this news item)

Conclusion

It’s important to note that downloading ROMs for your favourite retro games online is usually still piracy let alone ROMs for modern consoles. However, there isn’t any easy way to legally obtain ROMs for older consoles online similar to how GOG/Steam sell retro PC games so until that happens, ROM piracy will probably still be widespread and Nintendo’s lawyers will keep on suing ROM websites!