3DS fans across the Internet were outraged last week when Nintendo suddenly discontinued its popular Swapnote service, citing “offensive material” as the reason for their actions. Acting as a tool to send messages, drawings and pictures to friends through their handhelds, it seemed like many were in agreement that this knee jerk reaction was either Nintendo being Nintendo and overreacting to a potential threat, (which is why friend codes are still used as a way to make it harder for strangers to communicate,) or that something went really, really wrong when it came to how the service was used. Unfortunately, it seems to have been the latter.
Yomiuri Online, an Internet news site, is reporting that two men were arrested for performing “improper acts” with a 12 year old girl early this year. The girl met both men through her 3DS, and the Japanese newspaper Mainichi News is suggesting that Swapnote was involved at some point.
Unfortunately, that’s not all there is to the story. Mainichi, also reported that a man is said to have confessed to receiving nude photos from two girls, age 12 and 13 respectively, at the time of the incidents. Child pornography charges have reportedly been filed in regards to this incident.
Nintendo has yet to officially comment on the controversy specifically, still only citing “offensive material” as the reason for the service to be pulled, but the situation had to involve something big for them to shut down the service worldwide as suddenly as they did. Assuming the above stories are true, it’s a shame that we all have to suffer for the actions of a few perverts in Japan. But then again, fears of these types of actions are partially why Nintendo has shied away from a traditional online experience. When incidents like these take place, it’s not hard to see why.
SOURCE: Kotaku.com