Wii hacked for homebrew, with Pong proof of concept

16 Comments by Scott Jon Siegel Feb 14th 2008 6:00AM
Filed under: Hacks, Nintendo Wii

Intrepid hackers have figured out a way to run homebrew code on the Wii, through an exploit available through none other than Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

By using a specially hacked Zelda save file, hackers have been able to run unsigned code straight off of the Wii's SD card. The hack is still in its early stages, but one user has made a pseudo-functional version of Pong that runs on the console. There are no working controls, and the whole thing moves at a snail's pace, but the community seems optimistic that this is a very good sign.

Check out a video of the hack in "action" after the break.

[Via Engadget]

Tags: homebrew, pong, zelda

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Tombstone: Feb 14th 2008; 6:39AM

Woo, can't wait to see what happens once they improve it.

jopojelly: Feb 14th 2008; 7:18AM

hmmm.....onward to creating Pokemon MMORPG

ThornedVenom: Feb 14th 2008; 7:23AM

YAY FOR HOMEBREW

StrangeBum: Feb 14th 2008; 8:06AM

I don't know a whole lot about homebrew and hacking game systems. I guess I'm a script-kiddie when it comes to the consoles. So maybe someone can clarify, with this hack would it be possible to enable the Wii to play CD/DVDs somehow?

If so, I have a younger brother who would be totally stoked, since he has no DVD player but only a Wii in his bedroom.

Also, the homebrew scene has a lot of possibility with games here.

beans: Feb 14th 2008; 8:16AM

fuck you! you got a wii pong, bitch!

Hot$auce_Magik: Feb 14th 2008; 8:46AM

I hope the left side wins.

WiNG: Feb 14th 2008; 12:02PM

This is secret code for Barack Obama 2008!

Adv2k1: Feb 14th 2008; 9:30AM

And guess what? Next weeks introduces some really big virtual console game like Mario RPG that requires a firmware upgrade to buy and squashes this.

Burnt Meatloaf: Feb 14th 2008; 10:37AM

Ah, good. Now that the homebrewers will be making minigames, hopefully the professionals will finally deliver software that is actually worth $50.

GCNH87: Feb 14th 2008; 2:09PM

That hack won't be something a company would use. This is just for the homebrew crowd. (which also means you'll be getting things like Code Handlers/managers [GameShark, ActionReplay, etc] for free!)

Scott C.: Feb 14th 2008; 10:49AM

Snail's pace? Didn't look too slow to me. If you pause the player and let it finish loading, everything plays at normal speed.

zsolt: Feb 14th 2008; 12:00PM

I had a Wii for a couple of days and after smashing my room I switched to the xbox 360.
http://www.i-guide.ro/blog/2008/02/14/the-xbox-360/

JerrKat: Feb 14th 2008; 4:04PM

Why Pong? Didn't you buy Wii Play

RabbidMickeyMouse: Feb 14th 2008; 4:13PM

The idea of people being creative and expressive with their Wiis is great and all (making their own games, or interesting apps), but how many people are honestly looking forward to running only homebrew apps now that they have an idea how this is done (thank you Joystiq for spreading the word!), and other legally made and/or obtained content?

Daniel: Feb 14th 2008; 5:59PM

This is awesome! Hopefully they create somekind of elf loader to play avis or mp3s...maybe dvds? H.264 mkvs is pushing it...but hey a regular xbox can play 720p mkvs...so anything is possible...:)

hvnlysoldr: Feb 15th 2008; 11:20PM

Hearsay that PAL and NTSC LoZ:TP and Wii launch and later versions are/aren't compatible.

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