Nintendo guts its Swapnote 3DS app, following exchange of offensive material

Nintendo has been forced to cut the SpotPass feature from its Swapnote 3DS messaging service today, as the company said that it has discovered some users are exchanging offensive material. Swapnote (or Letter Box, in Europe) was released as a free download for the Nintendo 3DS back in 2011, and allows users to send pictures, photos and text to other 3DS users via either SpotPass or StreetPass. Nintendo says that the online portion of the service is being abused by some consumers, and that offensive material is being sent to others, including to minors -- in particular, it said the exchange of photos was being misused. As a result, the company has now removed the SpotPass feature from Swapnote, essentially rendering the app disabled apart from the StreetPass functionality. Booting up the app from a Nintendo 3DS produces a notice which states that the service has come to an end. The company has also removed the "Special Notes" services from the application. "Nintendo always wants to provide a positive experience for all consumers and limit the risk of any inappropriate activity or misuse of a service," the company said in a statement. "We feel it is important on this occasion to take this action."