New Wii motherboard & (some) modchips don't solder (like before)
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Mar 27th 2007 at 9:45PM }
DigiTimes has a provocative explanation for reports of a new Wii motherboard in production. "Nintendo has altered the circuit layout of its Wii games console in order to block the increasing use of modification chips," reports Digi. If that were true, then why, as Wii Fanboy notes, does the updated circuitry only affect quicksolder modchips, like WiiKey? We emphasize "affect" because WiiKey most certainly is not blocked by the new board. According to a MaxConsole forum post (#6), solder point 3 is no longer on the PCB, so WiiKey must now by connected via the 5th leg of the IC chip -- got it?If Nintendo revised its motherboard to thwart modders, the engineers failed miserably. Our guess? The minor nuisance that the new hardware poses to modchip users is just a coinkydink.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sensai @ Mar 27th 2007 9:49PM
Is there any reason for the new motherboard at all, then?
Nintendo's not a company to change something that no one will notice for absolutely no reason...
Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Mar 27th 2007 9:51PM
Down with Piracy!
rokerovakero @ Mar 27th 2007 10:06PM
easier to manufacture and a little less expensive to make. Sounds like we are going to start seeinng them in stores for a change.
Diman @ Mar 27th 2007 10:15PM
You can't prevent the use of modchips, period.
Leshrac @ Mar 27th 2007 10:41PM
It probably was related to the mod chips, but as #4 points out, they'll never stop them. They will continue to make changes, and so will the modders.
-Leshrac
http://alinktothefuture.com
AndrewNeo @ Mar 27th 2007 10:47PM
It's hard to tell. Microsoft did the same thing with the Xbox1.. while making motherboards that were cheaper and easier to manufacture, in the process, they just happened to move around and change things that the modchips used to work with. Unfortunately they need those spots too, so they can't be completely rid of them. Same seems to be happening with Nintendo.
your mother @ Mar 27th 2007 11:25PM
"Down with Piracy!"
Modchips do not necessarily equate to piracy.
My Wiikey allows me to play import Wii and GCN games. How is that bad?
Nintendo should never have region-blocked their consoles (something both Sony and Microsoft understand). By doing so they are encouraging modchip usage. Without the stoopid region lock I wouldn't have Wiikey, and can therefore enjoy Bomberman and my Japanese version of Ikaruga. Simple as that.
I live in Asia, and there are loads of great Japanese games that don't require knowledge of the language to play them, but I have a North American Wii. That should not stop me from playing games designed for the console, and certainly not force me to buy another Wii.
Ken Seang @ Mar 27th 2007 11:50PM
I dont know why they try, sooner or later someone is going to hack it anyways.
reppy @ Mar 28th 2007 3:12AM
Modchip are seldomly used for imports. I doubt even 5% of them are used ONLY for imports.
sheppy @ Mar 28th 2007 9:35AM
"Modchip are seldomly used for imports. I doubt even 5% of them are used ONLY for imports."
Modchips are usually engineered for imports. Being able to play backups usually tends to just be a side effect. And in all honesty, if Nintendo and Microsoft wasn't so damned set on region encoding, I wouldn't be eyeballing Modchips constantly, asking "should I?"
And no, Microsoft is not region free. Plenty of games are region free, but all the stuff I actually want is region locked to Japan.
Jamar @ Mar 28th 2007 11:07AM
Well, then, but the excuse is still there, isn't it? If you want that possibility to be out of the question you have to make sure that there is inter-regional compatibility (like Nintendo SAID there would be). Otherwise the possibility is still there and the modchip market can still operate under legal pretenses. Of course in Mainland China where I live there is no pretending- everyone sells Wiis pre-modded because no one can afford "real" games here. This is a general result of American/international companies being cheap and underpaying the employees of the manufacturing plants; maybe if the workers earned more they could afford to buy official games. Of course, this is kind of hypocritical- I do the pirating myself because I can't afford to fly out to Japan(Jet de Go Pocket which I can't seem to find in Shanghai at all) /Korea(DJ Max Portable which no one in Shanghai wants to sell for some reason)/wherever to buy the games I want (certainly no excuse or even justification- but as a high-schooler I follow the crowd, the same PSP-toting crowd that happens to look down on the DS mainly because piracy is harder on the DS; this country will pwn the US with its blatant theft of US media and entertainment one day unless the US does something about it- being Chinese I know that such a thing will happen). And yes, it's about 10PM here so excuse my slight incoherency.
JodyAnthony @ Mar 28th 2007 10:10AM
the modchip in my psone and ps2 are only used for imports! *shifty eyes*
Mr Khan @ Mar 28th 2007 4:51PM
Isn't WiiKey fairly recent?
Isn't that the only modchip really hindered by this?
(If they were targeting modders, they would've fixed something more significant)
Methinks that Nintendo was just doing a standard motherboard upgrade, and happened to close a backdoor in the process
Now, if they start doing a few of these upgrades a year, then you could accuse them of that