Nintendo Refuses to Fix Mario Kart 7 Exploit

[Mike Kayatta]

Nintendo Refuses to Fix Mario Kart 7 Exploit


Repairing a glitch that allows cheaters to continually beat honest players online would be "unfair."

A spokesperson for Nintendo has announced that the well-known Maka Wuhu track glitch will not be fixed. Online players are currently able to jump their kart off the track into a large lake at a specific point in the race, allowing the ever-helpful Lakitu towing service to erroneously transport them to the other side. The distance gained is nearly half the track, giving the cheater an advantage nearly impossible to overcome by players either ignorant of the glitch or unwilling to abuse it.

"We are aware that it is possible to navigate a certain part of the track in Wuhu Island in a way that allows a large part of the course to be bypassed," said Nintendo spokesman Buddy Roemer. "There are no plans to update the game to remove this shortcut as doing so would create an unfair advantage for the users of the original release of the game. Rest assured your comments have been added to our records for Mario Kart 7."

Admittedly, this is a difficult problem to address while patching remains impossible. On the one hand, they could fix the problem, assuring that only the current cheaters have the advantage at their disposal. On the other, they could ignore the problem, allowing more and more players access to the exploit, forcing others to embrace the glitch in order to remain competitive on the track. What do you think, Escapists? Did Nintendo make the right decision?

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-01-17-nintendo-wont-fix-mario-kart-7-track-glitch]








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[RaNDM G]

Pretty lazy on Nintendo's part. If patching newer versions gives an unfair advantage to owners of the original release, why can't they patch those games too?

Remember kids. It's not a glitch. It's a "feature."

I'm assuming they "can't" because it's a cartridge game, and fixing it would actually require making new cartridges? Thus only owners of the rev.B carts would have the exploit fixed, while rev.A owners could still exploit away.

I don't think there's a way they can resolve this as long as they stick ham-fistedly to cartridge-based game delivery.

I suppose that makes sense. It'll stay a feature after all.

 

[Roserari]

Patch in an invisible wall. There, I fixed it.

 

[Sabrestar]

Pretty lazy on Nintendo's part. I don't see how fixing this would give players an unfair advantage.

Remember kids. It's not a glitch. It's a "feature."

I'm assuming they "can't" because it's a cartridge game, and fixing it would actually require making new cartridges? Thus only owners of the rev.B carts would have the exploit fixed, while rev.A owners could still exploit away.

I don't think there's a way they can resolve this as long as they stick ham-fistedly to cartridge-based game delivery.

 

[Vault Citizen]

Why can't they patch it? Can someone explain to me why DLC is possible but patching is not?

 

[Mr. Omega]

And the millions of people who defended Skyrim will now come to the charge of damning Nintendo in 3...2...1...

This does suck. There probably could be a way to fix this, but it'd involve something like the channel for Skyward Sword or something like that, and it'd pretty much be up to the people exploiting the game whether or not they'd use it.

A fix to the game is entirely possible. A way to put that fix into every copy of the game is not.

 

[Naeras]

If it can't be patched, then they should keep it as it is. It would just punish newer buyers of the game as it would be impossible for them to win on the map.

 

[Azuaron]

Is there a particular reason why cartridges are still individual games instead of removable hard drives with the games delivered wirelessly over the cell phone network? Aka, why does Nintendo want to profit share with retailers, when their device is nearly designed to bypass them already (ala Apple's App Store)?

 

[LordLundar]

I'd say they made the right choice. Their only option patch wise would be to introduce a Rev.B cartridge which would give owners of a Rev.A Cartridge an unfair advantage that Rev.B owners cannot do. Worse still, the track information will not match up which could prevent different versions from playing against one another. By refusing to patch it, the only seperation lies in the ability to use the exploit which can be resolved by practice.

 

[Miltrivd]

It's the right choice. It would be unfair as hell to watch other people teleporting half track and being unable to do absolutely anything about it. If the glitch is available to everyone, stops being an unfair advantage and makes it even. It does sucks, but the mistake is already done, and making a bigger one won't solve the oldest.

 

[ph0b0s123]

Why don't they remove this track from on-line play. Is on-line play not centralised in any way? OR is it you can play with other users in a local way with just two or three DS's, but without internet. Otherwise this is a reason most don't use cartridges any more.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

"Rest assured your comments have been added to our records for Mario Kart 7"
What does that even mean? The N-guy writing that probably was looking outside the window instead of the screen.

Right after writing it he threw the comments in the recycling bin, then he used that glitch online to pwn some unaware or honest "noobs"... :\

 

[Lunar Templar]

i don't see why the couldn't patch it in a DLC pack or something, but this seems fine, at least its fair to every one

Hey they invented the blue tortoise shell for a reason.

hehehe, yeah, and this XD

 

[InvisibleMan]

Given the circumstances, yes, Nintendo made the right decision: at least right now everyone has the possibility of using that exploit. Think of it as a shortcut. Many online racing games have those kind of shortcuts in a narrow window in some of their tracks!

Now, if you ask me if Nintendo should have designed a new handheld console that doesn't allow for developers to patch all the existing copies of a game, then I would say no, that's where Nintendo dropped the ball! Even if the game is in a catridge, the ability to download a patch should be there, just like in all other gaming consoles from other brands.

 

[Rad Party God]

I'm assuming they "can't" because it's a cartridge game, and fixing it would actually require making new cartridges? Thus only owners of the rev.B carts would have the exploit fixed, while rev.A owners could still exploit away.

I don't think there's a way they can resolve this as long as they stick ham-fistedly to cartridge-based game delivery.

I'm sorry to say this, but you're assuming wrong. You see, just as RaNDM G said, that's pretty lazy over Nintendo's part, on the Wii, if they screwed up, they had to replace entire discs or you had to send them your save file to get it fixed.

The 3DS allows for an easier update process, more akin to what the 360 and PS3 users are used to and as far as I know, they do have the capabilities of patching any game at any given time and in my opinion, this is just lazy and stupid.

 

[Stormz]

It would be unfair to not allow cheaters to cheat? I...wha...I have no words for this. Seriously what is Nintendo smoking? I want some.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Is there a particular reason why cartridges are still individual games instead of removable hard drives with the games delivered wirelessly over the cell phone network? Aka, why does Nintendo want to profit share with retailers, when their device is nearly designed to bypass them already (ala Apple's App Store)?

Because Nintendo seems to have something against building proper online functionality into their products. When they do include online features they're usually so limited by bullshit security measures like the friend code that they've inadvertently made the online features pointless or unusable in spontaneous play to anyone who doesn't live in a large metropolitan area. (IE Japan where a DS is just as common as the average iPhone)