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Pirates

The War Between Nintendo And Switch 2 Pirates Is Heating Up

by admin June 16, 2025

It took hackers over a year to jailbreak the original Switch, but the Switch 2 has one vulnerability its predecessor didn’t: backwards compatibility. Some new console owners have already tried to use a type of flash cartridge associated with the piracy of Switch 1 games on their Switch 2 consoles, and were promptly banned by Nintendo.

Nintendo Switch 2 Could Launch With Almost No Reviews

The device in question is called the MIG Switch and it’s a cartridge that users can load up with games—either ones backed up from legally purchased copies or files pirated online. Nintendo started suing people who sell the MIG Switch last year and designed the Switch 2 so the carts wouldn’t work with it. The makers of MIG Switch, however, recently released a firmware update that made it possible to use the devices to load Switch 1 games on the Switch 2.

Nintendo has responded by banning any Switch 2 that it’s seemingly found to have run one of the illicit flash cartridges at some point. “My NS2 has been console banned and I have absolutely no idea why!” wrote SquareSphere on the Switch 2 subreddit earlier today. “The only thing I can think what has happened is that I tried my Mig switch in my NS2 once.”

Someone else reported something similar. “Just wanted to let everyone know to refrain from using their mig flash on the Switch 2 online for now,” wrote givemeupvote on the Switch Hacks subreddit. “My switch 2 was just banned (my account is fine for now).” They shared a picture of the error message on their Switch 2. “The use of online services on this console is currently restricted by Nintendo,” it read.

X user SwitchTools said they used a MIG Switch with ROM dumps of their own games and were also banned at the console level, writing that they suspect Nintendo has a new method for detecting its presence. “I strongly recommend that you do not use the mig switch, it was already very risky to use but it is even more so on Switch 2,” they wrote. Some players use MIG Switch and competing clones to create backups of their gaming libraries, though the proliferation of tools like it also threatens to make piracy on Switch 2 even worse than its predecessor.

While Nintendo has been banning these users from online services, it doesn’t yet appear to be using its nuclear option. Back before launch, Nintendo updated its terms of service to give itself the option of bricking entire consoles if they violated the agreement. “You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with the foregoing restrictions Nintendo may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part,” it read.

Hackers have already started trying to reverse engineer the Switch 2. Early signs don’t give much sense of how rapidly the hardware vulnerabilities might be discovered and exploited, but it seems likely that Nintendo has taken every precaution available to keep the Switch 2 as locked down as possible. Unlike at the start of last generation, however, the company is already on the legal warpath. Last month, it filed a lawsuit against accessory maker Genki who flaunted an early 3D-printed mock-up of the Switch 2 at a trade show earlier this year.

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June 16, 2025 0 comments

A druid wearing a demonic mask holds up a decaying head in a jar.

Product Reviews

Atomfall is getting a spooky DLC set on an offshore island that also lets you blast pretend pirates with a blunderbuss

by admin June 1, 2025

Atomfall wasn’t as good as it could have been when it launched in March, mainly due to its barebones combat and anaemic stealth and survival systems. But I nonetheless enjoyed exploring Rebellion’s eerie take on the Lake District while unravelling the mystery behind the catastrophe at the Windscale Power Plant. I’d be more than happy to ramble through a little extra of that world, and it just so happens that more Atomfall will wash up on the Cumbrian coast next week.

The Wicked Isle DLC adds a whole new offshore region to Atomfall’s map. Named Midsummer Island, this area unsurprisingly plays on the folk horror elements of the original. Expect to encounter a lot of druids and at least one wicker man, as well as new locations like a ruined abbey, and a pub called the Jolly Angler.

Despite being in the sea, Midsummer Island is somehow closer to the Windscale plant than much of Atomfall’s vanilla map. Consequently, the inhabitants are more affected by its influence. Enemy factions here include pirate-cosplaying bandits and strange aquatic monsters that look a bit like The Witcher’s drowners. You’ll be able to fight these enemies with several new weapons, including a cutlass, the “Beekeeper’s Staff”, and a blunderbuss shotgun, which you can see in action in the DLC’s trailer above.

Pirates GM Ben Cherington says trading ace Paul Skenes is ‘not at all part of the conversation’

by admin May 23, 2025

May 22, 2025, 07:28 PM ET

PITTSBURGH — The Pirates are reeling, and just about everything is on the table for a last-place team that has already fired its manager and packed a half-decade’s worth of public relations missteps into two months.

Well, except for one thing: trading ace Paul Skenes.

Asked Thursday if flipping the reigning National League Rookie of the Year is a consideration for a club woefully lacking in impactful position-player prospects, general manager Ben Cherington gave an atypically brief response.

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“No, it’s not part of the conversation at all,” Cherington said flatly.

Pittsburgh is already 11½ games out of a playoff position, thanks in large part to an offense that ranks last or next-to-last in nearly every major category, from runs, slugging percentage and OPS (all 30th) to home runs and batting average (both 29th).

The Pirates at least showed a small flicker of life at the plate in an 8-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers a few hours after Cherington spoke, scoring five runs for the first time in 27 games. Their 26-game streak of four runs or fewer tied a major league record set by four other teams, most recently the then-California Angels in 1969.

Yet it was telling that Pittsburgh also left 10 runners on base, typical of a season in which the Pirates have consistently been unable to take advantage of the few opportunities they create.

It’s not exactly what the team had in mind during spring training, when everyone from Cherington to Skenes to manager Derek Shelton — who was jettisoned two weeks ago and replaced by Don Kelly — talked about the need for Pittsburgh to take another step forward after consecutive 76-86 seasons.

Instead, the Pirates have been stuck in reverse from Opening Day, even when Skenes starts. Pittsburgh is 3-5 in his eight starts, the latest loss a 1-0 setback in Philadelphia on Sunday in which Skenes limited the Phillies to three hits while throwing the first complete game of his career.

Skenes, who turns 23 next week, has been all-in on the Pirates since being called up a year ago. He is also under team control for the rest of the decade and won’t become arbitration-eligible until after 2026, making his current deal one of the biggest bargains in the majors.

Though Pittsburgh has locked down players such as two-time All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to long-term deals, those contracts are a pittance by MLB standards compared to what Skenes might command one day should his career continue on its current trajectory.

The Pirates are perennially one of the most frugal teams in the majors. Their payroll to start the season was just under $88 million. Only the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Athletics and Miami Marlins spent less.

Even so, Pittsburgh has received little return on its investment. Though the bullpen has been a bit of a mess, the starting rotation has been solid. Skenes (2.44), Mitch Keller (3.88), Andrew Heaney (2.91) and Bailey Falter (3.50) all have ERAs under 4.00, yet they also have a combined record of 10-17.

The issue has been a punchless lineup that is largely nondescript beyond Reynolds, franchise icon Andrew McCutchen and center fielder Oneil Cruz.

Yet it’s telling that while Pittsburgh has one of the deeper pools of pitching prospects — a list that includes hard-throwing 22-year-old Bubba Chandler and Mike Burrows, who took the loss in his first major league start Thursday after going 2-1 with a 2.71 ERA for Triple-A Indianapolis — the cupboard of homegrown position players who are on the cusp of the majors remains pretty bare five-plus years into Cherington’s tenure.

Catcher Henry Davis, the top pick in the 2021 draft, remains a work in progress nearly two full years after his major league debut. Second baseman Nick Gonzales, a first-rounder in 2020, is recovering from an ankle injury and has yet to establish himself as an everyday player. Former first-round picks Termarr Johnson (2022) and Konnor Griffin (2024) are still years away.

So far, the only call-ups from Triple-A have been mostly injury-related, not performance-related.

“We want guys from Triple-A to pound the door down,” Cherington said. “That would be good. I still think that can happen this year. We want more of it over time. … Everybody knows we’ve got to score more runs. That’s not going to happen just by saying it and hoping for it. You’ve got to do the work to do it.”

Cherington said he remains optimistic that the major league team will start to turn the corner over the final 110 or so games, and he is certain Skenes will be a part of it no matter which way it goes.

“We’ve just got to get better,” Cherington said. “Let’s play better baseball, and that’s going to lead to winning more games. Then, let’s wake up and see where that takes us when we get to July.”

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May 23, 2025 0 comments