Nintendo puts a stop to Wii Homebrew News

Now that I'm relying on a Freeloader disc to play my copy of Smash Bros, I've become intensely paranoid of any and all firmware updates. Can anyone who's downloaded 3.3 confirm that it doesn't break the Freeloader functionality? I don't think I could cope with the loss of Brawl, to be honest. :(

"Homebrew" is always the excuse for pirates. "I modded my console to play homebrew games" Yeah, right!

How about people that wan't to run multi-region games tho, is that such a crime? As far as i know the homebrew channel never allowed you to play pirated games, you still needed a chip to do this.

It's a bit naive to say that all homebrew leads to pirating.

Good. If it was truly used for homebrew then fine...but we all know it's just an excuse for piracy..which is a shame.

@jmctavish

Oh yes of course because you can buy Monkey Island for your Wii can't you... idiot

@jmctavish

Fuggin troll, go bugger off elsewhere.

You may find that those of us who enjoy writing code like to do so for whatever machine they have handy. For me, thats a PSP and DS but that doesn't mean I wouldn't do so for the Wii at some point.

I don't pirate games, I do unlock games machines so I can play imported games and run my own code.

If you have a partner from Japan like I do, you may find that buying 2 region locked consoles every generation becomes a little expensive... chipping the little buggers is a great way to get around that.

@Muddtallica

http://kotaku.com/5017064/wii-update-33-...

"Oh yes of course because you can buy Monkey Island for your Wii can't you... idiot"

You can buy it for the PC.....Twat.

Oh look, jmctavish the troll is back. Banned from some other site so polluting these waters again?

Good. If it was truly used for homebrew then fine...but we all know it's just an excuse for piracy..which is a shame.

Bollocks. To run pirate DVD games you need a modchip, which this update doesn't affect. The people who never bought a Wii game in their lives can carry on doing so.

All this does is prevent people from running legitimate imports (it does break freeloader, yes) and homebrew. i think you might be able to pirate wiiware games with this method, and i suppose people running whatever emulators they like on the thing sort of pisses on nintendo's VC parade a bit, but that's about it.

Great! Now those games I paid good money for (No More Heroes, Smash Bros Brawl, Okami) will be utterly useless thanks to the short-sighted Nintendo staff! Why not just include a software-enabled region free patch?

But its ok! I pirated all my games didn't I? I didn't pay $50 each for them at all! Oh no! That was just a figment of my credit card's imagination!

(sarcasm)

hana_fubuki: Thanks for the info.

Well, crap, that's really annoying. Is there a way around this, then? I mean, I know that this update will most likely be required for a future Nintendo release and thus forced upon me eventually, but do I have the option to simply not download it for now, or will I have to disable my Wii internet connection altogether? In any case, it's a royal pain in the ass, andI hope Datel will be able to produce a new version of Freeloader sooner rather than later; I'd hate to think that this was the end of region-free Wii gaming...

I think I might sell my Wii.

Shit. Fucking. Sucks.

Gah! Now my freeloader has gone out of the window I'm left relying on my Japanese Wii, *sigh* it seems Nintendo is forcing me to buy a UK copy of brawl just so I can easily play with my friends. Why can't everything be region free?

/shakes fist at Nintendo's lack of globalisation....

Does anyone know if this affects the GameCube Freeloader? I have a GameCube only one (not the Wii Freeloader) that works on the previous firmware. It had better do - I don't want to have my classic GameCube collection blocked from me AGAIN!

I'm kind of confused at the anger towards Nintendo here.

They had the choice to make the Wii region free and decided not too, it can hardly be surprising that they then attempt to fix holes that can be used to bypass this decision?

TWILIGHT HACK WORKS! From the wiibrew main page http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/Main_Page: "17 June 08: Bushing has already announced a workaround after just 6-8 hours of work! Big thanks to all involved! (Note that the workaround is not yet available publicly)"

So us Freeloaders can all calm down and just set up the twilight hack instead. =D

Games console company in countering hacks SHOCKER!!!!!!

Seriously, any person who feels like Nintendo are not in their total right to do this, is a complete idiot, and should find better things to get angry at, like the rain outside.

Sorta like this pretentious dickhead:


I think I might sell my Wii.

Shit. Fucking. Sucks.

Not really, Nikanoru.

Take me for instance. When I had my GameCube I bought legitimate import games - quite a few. I bought them simply because Nintendo wouldn't release them in the UK despite the fact they're some of my favourite games.

It's nothing to do with being impatient (though I think that's a valid reason to import too with the ridiculous Europe release dalays) but because I had no other choice to be able to play these great games.

Also what about people who move countries? It does happen, you know. If I've moved from America to the UK and want to keep my game collection I have to buy TWO Wii consoles! And all that's from being a legitimate customer and putting money in Nintendo's pockets.

Screwing over Freeloader owners hasn't really crossed the line. Their disc was signed with the fake signing bug, and this bug had to be fixed once it became well known so that games on disc don't turn up in market places about a week after release.

If you've got to complain to someone, complain to Datel who released a disc with a shelf life of approximately three months and Waninkoko who thought it'd be a great idea to use the TP hack to pirate VC games.

Oh go fuck yourself.

If anyone thinks im not within my rights to sell my console because its balls is simply getting wound up about the wrong things and should consider being upset with Nintendo for breaking something that could have lead to more sales.

Whats that Nintendo don't like poeple importing? Then release games within a fucking respectable time frame.

I think the person getting wound up appears to be you.

Name a current generation console which isn't locked down. You know what to expect when you buy one and when they fix a bug you really can't get upset about it.

There's an easy solution... don't update.

PS3 is pretty much the only console that's locked down right now, everything else has been hacked to pieces...

/commence conspiracy theories.

The 360 and PS3 are both completely Region Free. As are both Handhelds and the PC.

Sega: Look at what you're complaining about. Game console makers doing something against imports. Remember Sony shutting down Lik-Sang (well, THAT went a bit too far)? They do that, and if there had been firmware updates back in the NES/Master System days they would have done something against imports back then! Of course you feel inconvenienced, but don't pin the company on doing business their way, when even DVD movies work with regions. This whole thread is silly, like complaining about getting wet when you're trying to swim.


If anyone thinks im not within my rights to sell my console


Lol, who said anything about that? Are you hearing things? Nobody fucking cares. Sell your console and shut up. Though from the sound of your posts, you just enjoy trying to make people on the internet "upset".

What was the word we had for someone like you again...

"It's a bit naive to say that all homebrew leads to pirating"

Its also misleading to include the word "all" in that sentence. Most homebrew leads to pirating.

"Oh yes of course because you can buy Monkey Island for your Wii can't you... idiot"

Play nicely kids. Of course there will be exceptions such as MI, but that doesn't represent the majority of cases. Why is everyone getting so stroppy? I agree that jmctavish was a bit off with the tone of his post (and maybe he has trolling history), but that hardly makes the whole point invalid.


Anyway, people seem to be ignoring a few crucial points here.

1. Homebrew opens the door to piracy, and THAT is what Ninty are concerned about. Its all very well saying you don't run piracted games, just "legit" homebrew. But no company is going to leave their bottom line open to the honesty of the customer base when they are able to secure it with technology. It has ALWAYS been this way, Ninty aren't inventing something new here.

2. Homebrew is not a right. When you buy a console you accept the terms and conditions. If those terms and conditions say you can't play homebrew then you can't. Maybe that upsets some poeple, and I understand why, but that doesn't change the facts of the matter.

You wouldn't buy a lawnmower and complain that it won;t wash your dishes, so why buy a secure platform and complain its not open. If you want an open platform, buy a PC. If you buy a console, accept what it is. By all means circumnavigate the security if you want, I won't lose any sleep, but ffs don't act as if you are entitled to do so. You simply aren't, in any way shape or form, except within the bounds of your imagination.


"and should consider being upset with Nintendo for breaking something that could have lead to more sales"

This is simply and purely not true. Seriously, this argument gets wheeled out time and time again, but its just a myth. If it actually contributed to more sales and more profit COMPANIES WOULD DO IT. They would. They are far better at planning their business strategy than us, and honestly if this myth was actually true, they would have opened their consoles to homebrew long ago. The cold truth is, an open platform console in the current market model would lose the vendor money, plain and simple. It might attract more console sales, but less money would be made from software sales and overall profits would fall.

I totally understand why people love homebrew. I do too, its great. But lets not let our optimism and desires distort the facts. If the facts don't suit our desires... well that is kind of just tough.

The 360 and PS3 are both completely Region Free. As are both Handhelds and the PC.

I thought the XBox 360 was region locked and the PS3 allowed publishers to lock games if they wanted (it's just at the moment they need all the help they can get).

Now Nintendo has prompted me to just get a mod chip, £20 and im sorted for DVD's, DVDRs, Homebrew etc.

The modchip won't let you install the homebrew channel by the way as the signing bug has been fixed in the new update. It might also mean you can't remove system software updates from discs from other regions as that needs the disc to be resigned. So you're stuck with two weather channels, etc...

@jmctavish:

Word of warning - dont upset the pirates.. It makes them upset.. And the last thing you want to do is upset pirates.. Look what happened to starforce ("oh knowwws.. it breaks your cd player.. i have a mate of a mate it happened too.. and it happened to mine, although i cant prove it")!

"Oh yes of course because you can buy Monkey Island for your Wii can't you..."

Erm.. he said it was the excuse of pirates.. and then you use as your excuse that you can run a pirated version of monkey island on said machine. Uh? I cant play mgs4 on my wii - does that mean i should pirate that too?


As for the "but i want to write software for it!" what's wrong with just writing software to run on the pc?



"Whats that Nintendo don't like poeple importing? Then release games within a fucking respectable time frame."

Ah the age old "they've got it, so i have to have it too" argument... If you werent aware that america or japan had the game first - would it still upset you that you couldnt get it yet? I've never understood why gamers HAVE to have games the moment they're released (pre-ordering and the like). Makes me think gamers are more interested in owning the games than actually playing them..

I guess the nintendo europe were right.. gamers on forums are nerds...

@absolutezero - The PS3's games are certainly ALL region-free but that's certainly not true of the Xbox 360 as I wanted to import MLB 2K7 last year and couldn't because it was region-locked.

@JohnnyWashnGo: I'm interested, what development tools do you use to develop your wii software? And what have you done?

"Erm.. he said it was the excuse of pirates.. and then you use as your excuse that you can run a pirated version of monkey island on said machine. Uh? I cant play mgs4 on my wii - does that mean i should pirate that too?"

Hehe, thats actually pretty good :)

@smelly

"Look what happened to starforce ("oh knowwws.. it breaks your cd player.. i have a mate of a mate it happened too.. and it happened to mine, although i cant prove it")!"

Starforce didn't "break" my cd player but when playing games that use it it took up system resources in the background thus making the game run slower. On games that there was a work around to remove Starforce, processing performance improved, and with it frame-rates etc.

"Erm.. he said it was the excuse of pirates.. and then you use as your excuse that you can run a pirated version of monkey island on said machine. Uh? I cant play mgs4 on my wii - does that mean i should pirate that too?"

I hardly think the years old, abandonware and pretty much freely available everywhere, Monkey Island can be compared to Metal Gear Solid 4.

"As for the "but i want to write software for it!" what's wrong with just writing software to run on the pc?"

A PC is not a Wii. If you want to try coding for the Wii without purchasing a development kit then its the only way to go. Also useful apps like an MP3 player and DVD-player are made purposefully to use on the Wii - they're already freely available on the PC.

"Ah the age old "they've got it, so i have to have it too" argument... If you werent aware that america or japan had the game first - would it still upset you that you couldnt get it yet? I've never understood why gamers HAVE to have games the moment they're released (pre-ordering and the like). Makes me think gamers are more interested in owning the games than actually playing them.."

Its not so much about that as freedom of choice. It's a global system not just area-specific. Both Microsoft and Sony recognize this and have their own region-free software. Also in the case of No More Heroes why would you choose to have your game censored if you're over the age rating?

"I guess the nintendo europe were right.. gamers on forums are nerds..."

Flamebait.

"all Nintendo have done today with their archaic managment practices is piss many people off"

Lets face it, its not that many ;)

The vast majority of Wii owners wouldn't have the first idea what homebrew even is.

I never said anything about the games being locked, which is perfectly fine. Publishers retain the right to lock games if they so wish, both the 360 and PS3 consoles are Region Free.

no but I can feel better knowing im sticking it to the man, and from what I hear a homebrew fix has been found to combat the update already, modders will always win in the end, all Nintendo have done today with their archaic managment practices is piss many people off and turned myself and a few others away from ninetndo and into a 'filthy modder'.

Yes, but you can't 'do' homebrew with a modchip. You can bypass region locks (perhaps it would be easier just to be a bit more patient) and you can pirate games, but that's it.

If you were really into homebrew you would know that Nintendo can pull the plug on that any time they want and perhaps you'd be there with a debugger finding another bug...

I never said anything about the games being locked, which is perfectly fine. Publishers retain the right to lock games if they so wish, both the 360 and PS3 consoles are Region Free.

How can they be 'Region Free' and support region-locked games at the same time? In addition the XBox 360 respects region locks for XBox games and both respect DVD/Blueray region locks.

@lavalant

Maybe I am assuming too much then. I'd be interested to see figures, if there are any out there.

if not many people new about it, there wouldn't a large community, and Nintendo wouldn;t have taken the time to patch it.

It doesn't matter. It's a potential hole for software piracy, and Nintendo needed to do it to protect their business.

and with the old news headline that 90% of DS owners in the US pirate games, Im sure the community it's pretty big.

I doubt 90% of DS owners in the US are computer litterate enough to be capable of pirating games for the DS. I'm not ragging on US people here, even though it's not particularly difficult to do, but there's tons of potentially fiddly bits involved.

I don't et all of this. If you want to write code for a console, install Linux on a PS3 for pete sake. Or just apply for a programmar job. Don't get all assy at Ninty for wanting to make people buy legit games from the consumer's own country. Is it really that hard?? I don't find buying UK games for my UK PS3 and installing Linux on my UK ps3 challenging at all.

ukukk

Well done, Nintendo.

"I hardly think the years old, abandonware and pretty much freely available everywhere, Monkey Island can be compared to Metal Gear Solid 4. "


(looks at the virtual console) - I think nintendo would disagree with you there.

>Flamebait.

yes it was.. well done for spotting it (after a huge reply)

To everyone moaning at Nintendo, stop whining losers and just don't install the update.
It's Nintendo's every right to tackle the piracy, just like it's my prerogative to keep an eye out for the latest work-around because I paid for my VC games back in the day and I've paid enough money to fill up my wii memory 2 fold. So until I've got external storage or a wii update that allows SD game access I won't spend anymore in the wii shop no matter what Nintendo do to stop me.

"and should consider being upset with Nintendo for breaking something that could have lead to more sales"

This is simply and purely not true. Seriously, this argument gets wheeled out time and time again, but its just a myth.

Not amongst the hardcore. Most (and I know my circle isn't representative of the gaming masses) people I know with Xboxes and PSPs mostly still have them for their homebrew capabilities. Most of them aren't pirates, but since XBMC and a lot of the PSP homebrew stuff is just brilliant software, coupled with the fact that having modded versions of both consoles actually allows LEGALLY bought games to run BETTER on both machines (ripping to HDD/Memory Stick for faster loading/extended battery life, improving performance by removing the CPU underclock on PSP and re-enabling HD on Xbox), there are very good genuine reasons for having some consoles modded.

Granted the numbers may be small, and most modders are pirates, but to say it doesn't contribute to any legitimate sales is just wrong. I'm one, for starters, and that's a contribution :)

Great so my freeloader won't work if I install the update so Nintendo have given me the choice between updating and leaving me with a pile of useless import games or installing the Twilight Princess hack and having access the illegal applications that gives.

Anybody care to guess which way i'll jump?

Sorry to repeat myself, but to anyone planning to simply avoid this latest update, is it as easy as simply not responding to the update messages they send out, or does the update have a way of installing itself automatically without manual approval?

I have to ask, because I've never had cause to avoid a firmware update before, and if doing so means that I'd have to forsake Wii's online altogether, then it's probably not worth it. :(

How much does a Wii modchip cost anyway? What about discs do they just use normal DVDs like the PS2?

Quite a shame, there's some great homebrew on the DS, I was looking forward to the same on the Wii.

Glad I didn't buy an SD card to install the channel just yet.

Kangarootoo: "The vast majority of Wii owners wouldn't have the first idea what homebrew even is."

Actually, grandmothers have a very good notion about homebrew. But I digress, please carry on with the discussion.

@Muddtallica

It's not really as simple as ignoring the update mails I'm afraid. While they dress it up as an option, there is really very little choice about updating seeing as future game discs will require you to update before you can play them.

-You won't find this out until after youve broken the seal and voided any kind of returns policy.

Just hold off as long as you can, but from what I've read the update has been broken already so it won't be long before all this discussion is put on hold until the next update. etc etc