Yesterday's seemingly inane Wii update, which neglected to bump up the system menu version a single decimal value (it remains at 3.3 -- the firmware has upgraded to IOS51, though), now appears to have an actual purpose. Forget the Shop Channel optimization tweaking. The update's more direct mission seems to be to block new installations of fakesigned applications -- most notably, the Homebrew Channel and DVDX. But take note, if you've already got the Homebrew Channel or other unofficial apps up and running then apparently you won't notice the difference. Carry on.
[Via Wii Fanboy]
Reader Comments (33)
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 12:02PM chrisgrant said
Same here - I updated last night to see what was new and inadvertently removed my ability to install the Homebrew channel. Here's hoping the community finds yet another way around it!
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 1:23PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said
I wouldn't be surprised if we see a fix for Nintendo's fix within the next week or two.
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Posted: Oct 25th 2008 4:12AM BananaBoat said
They will. There is always a hole to be exploited somewhere.
Good thing I don't even have my Wii connected to the internet. The last thing I need is for them to remove the only feature that has brought me any joy since the day I beat Mario Galaxies.
It was inevitable though. First a douchebag made it possible to pirate Wiiware and VC games, and now we are months (weeks?) away from another guy releasing an Iso loader for full Wii games. It's no surprise that Nintendo would take steps to keep people away from an Iso loader.
Blocking DVD playback on the other hand, serves no purpose, and is pretty offensive. Nintendo should either provide the functionality themselves (since the hardware clearly supports it) or allow people to use the hardware they paid for however they wish. I'd never watch DVD's on my Wii, but I'm sure there are people out there that would, and stopping them is outrageous.
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Good thing I don't even have my Wii connected to the internet. The last thing I need is for them to remove the only feature that has brought me any joy since the day I beat Mario Galaxies.
It was inevitable though. First a douchebag made it possible to pirate Wiiware and VC games, and now we are months (weeks?) away from another guy releasing an Iso loader for full Wii games. It's no surprise that Nintendo would take steps to keep people away from an Iso loader.
Blocking DVD playback on the other hand, serves no purpose, and is pretty offensive. Nintendo should either provide the functionality themselves (since the hardware clearly supports it) or allow people to use the hardware they paid for however they wish. I'd never watch DVD's on my Wii, but I'm sure there are people out there that would, and stopping them is outrageous.
Posted: Oct 25th 2008 2:39PM monkeyssuck said
The funny thing is, they already have another thing in development for booting directly from the SD card. Then you can use it to boot right into the Homebrew Channel. So they are already ahead. The sad thing is, people will still use these things for piracy.
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 11:59AM (Unverified) said
Likely they'll come up with a workaround for this. Just give em time.
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 12:05PM (Unverified) said
Thing is it won't let you open the shop channel without this update. So should they find a way to downgrade to a previous wii update, they'd be losing that function just to get the homebrew channel. So I imagine the homebrew community is looking for a way to directly counter the latest update.
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 4:31PM (Unverified) said
why would you need the shop channel when you can get free emulators?
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 12:06PM Ranus Studios said
I was lucky enough to install the Homebrew Channel the day before the last blocking attempt was released. 'Course, I still don't play it much, but I COULD!
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 12:23PM Mr Khan said
I put it in after the last update to block, but before this one
At least it forces Nintendo to put something of at least marginal value in, other than the homebrew blocks, little tweaks that have been needed for a long time, but probably wouldn't have come around otherwise
They're really lethargic about firmware updates.
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At least it forces Nintendo to put something of at least marginal value in, other than the homebrew blocks, little tweaks that have been needed for a long time, but probably wouldn't have come around otherwise
They're really lethargic about firmware updates.
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 1:23PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said
he really looked like Fat Alber in high school ...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/22360945_a69df4a8ee.jpg?v=0
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http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/22360945_a69df4a8ee.jpg?v=0
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 2:24PM (Unverified) said
@ PSN: johnnynumber5
Damn that pic is so funny it looks photoshopped!
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Damn that pic is so funny it looks photoshopped!
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 12:42PM The Commenter Formerly Known as said
lol...Funny Pic. First Army of Two Lethal Weapons and now this, man you guys are on a roll. I guess someone went on a $150,000 spending spree...
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 12:57PM (Unverified) said
Actually, from what I've read, it seems that even thought the HBC will launch that none of its apps will run.. So it effectively doesn't work either..
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 1:45PM (Unverified) said
I own all three systems, and from my perspective, Microsoft's and Sony's firmware updates tend to add functionality/features, while Wii updates tend to disable them. What the fuck is up with that, Nintendo? Isn't it bad enough you don't have any games for us this fall?
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 1:50PM Mr Khan said
Even looking at the Wii from the outside, you can see Nintendo's disregard for hardware features, because its most evident in the lack of an ethernet cable
I see the point in a lot of what Nintendo does (why i'm their most prominent defender around here) but no ethernet jack? really?
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I see the point in a lot of what Nintendo does (why i'm their most prominent defender around here) but no ethernet jack? really?
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 2:00PM (Unverified) said
@Mr Khan:
You can buy USB-to-ethernet adapters on ebay for less than $20.
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You can buy USB-to-ethernet adapters on ebay for less than $20.
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 2:15PM (Unverified) said
That's all well and good, but Nintendo could throw in an Ethernet port for probably
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Posted: Oct 24th 2008 2:16PM (Unverified) said
Damnit, I always for get not to use less than/greater than signs here. Anyway, the full text there was:
That's all well and good, but Nintendo could throw in an Ethernet port for probably "LESS THAN" 2$ per system. I don't care if they charge me an extra $5 for the console, what the hell is the point of leaving that out? "Oh, we didn't think of it"? I doubt it. More like "Oh, this won't affect sales, so forget it." I shouldn't need to buy additional hardware to add basic circa 2001 functionality.
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That's all well and good, but Nintendo could throw in an Ethernet port for probably "LESS THAN" 2$ per system. I don't care if they charge me an extra $5 for the console, what the hell is the point of leaving that out? "Oh, we didn't think of it"? I doubt it. More like "Oh, this won't affect sales, so forget it." I shouldn't need to buy additional hardware to add basic circa 2001 functionality.
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 1:53PM CaptainProtonX said
This update can suck my left nut. The community has done more right for the Wii then all the cancerous shitware released thus far.
NES, SNES, and Genesis playback is nearly perfect. Anybody play Star Fox 2 for the SNES on it? OMG...I almost felt 13 years old again. Those long lost images from Nintendo Power came to life.
And playback from SD is sensational.
Really, I wish I could ask for my money back for all the VC games I bought. I filled my internal memory, and then some.
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NES, SNES, and Genesis playback is nearly perfect. Anybody play Star Fox 2 for the SNES on it? OMG...I almost felt 13 years old again. Those long lost images from Nintendo Power came to life.
And playback from SD is sensational.
Really, I wish I could ask for my money back for all the VC games I bought. I filled my internal memory, and then some.
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 2:17PM (Unverified) said
"This update can suck my left nut. The community has done more right for the Wii then all the cancerous shitware released thus far.
NES, SNES, and Genesis playback is nearly perfect. Anybody play Star Fox 2 for the SNES on it? OMG...I almost felt 13 years old again. Those long lost images from Nintendo Power came to life."
So stealing games that are on, or could be on, the Virtual Console is considered helping the Wii? I must have missed something..
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NES, SNES, and Genesis playback is nearly perfect. Anybody play Star Fox 2 for the SNES on it? OMG...I almost felt 13 years old again. Those long lost images from Nintendo Power came to life."
So stealing games that are on, or could be on, the Virtual Console is considered helping the Wii? I must have missed something..
Posted: Oct 24th 2008 5:33PM Crono141 said
But buying games that you already own that are on, or could be on, the virtual console is assinine. Play em on your emulator then buy them when they hit the VC. Nintendo gets the same amount of money either way.
also:
http://xkcd.com/488/
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also:
http://xkcd.com/488/
Posted: Oct 25th 2008 7:40AM (Unverified) said
Crap, I was just about to buy a Wii... but if i can't make it multiregion then there's no point.
If i buy one, and hack it before I plug in into the net, can i get away with it?
Damn it...
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If i buy one, and hack it before I plug in into the net, can i get away with it?
Damn it...
Posted: Oct 26th 2008 8:00AM (Unverified) said
http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii_Shop_and_IOS51_installer
If you have the HBC installed already, you can use this to regain access to the Wii shop channel.
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If you have the HBC installed already, you can use this to regain access to the Wii shop channel.
Posted: Oct 25th 2008 1:08PM viewtyd said
http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii_Shop_and_IOS51_installer
You can use this to regain access to the Wii Shop channel if you have the HBC installed and don't want to use Nintendo's updater
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You can use this to regain access to the Wii Shop channel if you have the HBC installed and don't want to use Nintendo's updater
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