In point no. 4, the first portion was directed to the 3DS flash carts, the next portion was directed to the NDSL/DSi flash carts. To elaborate;
The flash carts for playing NDS game rom are/is able to read an SD Micro which contain several NDS rom in it. But at present, the flash carts for playing 3DS game rom only able to read 1 3DS rom per SD Micro. You don't need to have multiple SD Micro in your possession. Keep any 3DS rom you have for your kids in the hard drive, and replace the one in the SD Micro with what the kids wants to play when needed. Saves money that way, rather than having to buy many SD Micro unnecessarily. It's not like the kids will be able to play multiple games at one time anyway. It's also good in the sense they concentrate on playing 1 game until finish and not be distracted by multiple games at once but not finishing any in the end.
Regarding the Acekard2i, if you go to the Acekard2i's website, you should be able to see that the cart is no longer getting any support from the maker because it has hit dead end in term of making it work on latest 3DS and DSi firmware ever since it can't work on DSi v.1.4.5 and 3DS v.4.5.0. Given that your 3DS is v.4.4.0 and v.4.2.0, that is the maximum the Acekard2i will still work on. So be sure not to accidentally upgrade the console to any newer firmware or else those Acekard2i you have would not be useful on the 3DS. Which if upgraded would mean having to buy new carts for playing NDS game rom on the 3DS console.
Flash carts are region free in the sense it works on any console from any region. So you should see no problem buying it even if your consoles are UK region. As it stands for now, the R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe has v.2.0 update, which allows any rom from any region to run on your UK console. Unlike the current Gateway v.1.2 that can only run rom from the same region as your console's region. Hopefully that would change once Gateway releases it's already due v.2.0 update. They will run ok on both your DSi and 3DS as it stands since both devices you got are below v.4.5.0 for the 3DS and v.1.4.4 for the DSi.
From what I know, the Ace3DS+ doesn't work on the latest 3DS firmware. It's highest current supported 3DS firmware is v.5.1.0. It can run the latest NDS game rom since it supports using latest WOOD R4 as it's secondary firmware. It can work on your 3DS consoles, but not if the 3DS console is accidentally upgraded to v.6.3.0 or higher.
necr0 · #4Get the Gateway 3DS, not any of the other clones.
As pointed out correctly by the Gateway team, the software used by the Gateway is not meant for the hardware on the Deluxe/Link card and eventually will stop working.Pay a bit more for a product that will last a lot longer.
In business it's normal to see one company duplicating the other's successful product. In the end it's the market to decide which is better. Yes, the Gateway team are the first to make 3DS rom flash carts. But they too cloned the R4i cart for one of their 2 carts. And we must not forget, they all are doing an act of piracy. Honor among pirates? What matters the most is how each shows ability to continue developing what been made or duplicated or pirated. I wouldn't fully take what the Gateway team have to say about their competitor who copied their brain child as true. It could just be they want to sway indecisive buyers from going to the competitor who stole their hard work and probably had made it/would make it better. The fact is at the moment, the R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe is a step ahead with it's current v.2.0 update which the Gateway hasn't released for unknown reason. Probably the Gateway has better update later on when they release v.2.0, but they haven't done so to date. Thus that too isn't a final verdict on which is best, it has to be seen in the long run, not short term appraisal. For now, I don't see any being the likely winner in the long term given both (since I've no say about the 3DS Linker) still couldn't make it past v.4.5.0 firmware.
I wouldn't say "Pay a bit more for a product that will last a lot longer", you don't know how long that "last a lot longer" be. If I were you, I'd say "Pay a bit more to support the original developer". Also when you say, "not any of the other clones", we need to remember most of us these days tells people to buy the R4i Gold 3DS from R4ids(.)cn, which if we think back, it's a clone of the R4 Original. And that clone lasted longer in the competition than the one it pirated from, and the R4 is a second generation NDS flash cart, there are first generation carts that most people had long forgotten, they were the pioneers. So I'd say it's better to be neutral, we don't know how those 3DS rom player would fair in the long run, at present it's hard to put our money on any. Too early to tell which is better. For now, I don't see any as the winning horse, thus I don't support any yet.
At most time, buyers don't go for the original makers, it's not because they support "duplicators/cheaters/stealers" whatever you'd name such an act, but there're more to it. One of which would be how that "stealer" further develops the product they 'stole', and the other is the after sales service, not to mention price. Naturally, the one to cost lesser would be the one who 'stole', they didn't spend money/resources on developing from down-up. The down-up development costs the most. Unfair as it may be, that's business. Whine about it, sue it if must, but in the end it's boils down to whom the market chooses to put their money on who wins and have the final laugh. You can have more than 2 shops standing side by side selling exact same products, again the market decides who they would choose to buy from. The factors involved in who wins when it comes to selling identical products aren't decided by the product itself, but the factors that accompanies it, it may not be who sells at lower price, it could be service related. Bitter fact in business competition.
