Nintendo has decided to close what is, to many, one of the best services that the Nintendo 3Ds provides to its users, the Swap Note service.
Since being first available, the service allowed users to send letters to each other in drawing form, very similar to the original Nintendo DS’ pictochat service although it also supported sound recordings, colours and allowed for the attachments of images from the 3DS’ SD Card slot, something that may have led to the closure.
Speaking about the closure of the service, Nintendo said:
Notice about service for Nintendo 3DS software Swapnote
Thank you for your support.
Nintendo has learned that some consumers, including minors, have been exchanging their friend codes on Internet bulletin boards and then using Swapnote (known as Nintendo Letter Box in other regions) to exchange offensive material. Nintendo has been investigating ways of preventing this and determined it is best to stop the SpotPass feature of Swapnote because it allows direct exchange of photos and was actively misused.
Nintendo always wants to provide a positive experience for all consumers and limit the risk of any inappropriate activity or misuse of a service. We feel it is important on this occasion to take this action.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience to the many consumers who have been using this service responsibly; however this decision was made considering the point that many minors also use this feature of Swapnote. Thank you for your understanding.
Nintendo will continue to work to ensure more consumers are aware of our Parental Control features, which allow parents to manage their children’s experience on our systems. For more information, please click here.
Service stop date: Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, 7 p.m. PT
Service being stopped: Nintendo 3DS software Swapnote – Sending and receiving notes using SpotPass
Affected regions: All regions where the service was offered
Special Notes services are also stopped.
[Source: Kotaku]
