Wii update blocking homebrew installations

by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 24th 2008 at 11:45AM }

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]

Tags: dvdx-installer, homebrew, homebrew-channel, ios51, wii-update

Related From Joystiq

Black Wii, holiday demand lead to big sales boost in Europe
16 days ago
PSA: PS3 firmware 3.10 now available
20 days ago
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories debuts on Wii Dec. 8
27 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chris Are @ Oct 24th 2008 11:51AM

Well shit. That's what I get for being indecisive.

Christopher Grant @ Oct 24th 2008 12:02PM

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!

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Oct 24th 2008 1:23PM

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a fix for Nintendo's fix within the next week or two.

BananaBoat @ Oct 25th 2008 4:12AM

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.

Monkeys Suck @ Oct 25th 2008 2:39PM

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.

Nicholas Sulikowski @ Oct 24th 2008 11:59AM

Likely they'll come up with a workaround for this. Just give em time.

Nicholas Sulikowski @ Oct 24th 2008 12:05PM

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.

run n gun 26 @ Oct 24th 2008 4:31PM

why would you need the shop channel when you can get free emulators?

Ranus Studios @ Oct 24th 2008 12:06PM

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!

ScottG13 @ Oct 24th 2008 12:16PM

I'd have to have a reason to turn on my Wii to actually notice something like this... Thanks for the great holiday season, Nintendo and her various 3rd party friends!

Mr Khan @ Oct 24th 2008 12:23PM

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.

Bloo @ Oct 24th 2008 12:24PM

Andrew Bynum FTW

Bondtastic @ Oct 24th 2008 1:18PM

Dikembe Mutumbo says "No No No"

PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Oct 24th 2008 1:23PM

he really looked like Fat Alber in high school ...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/22360945_a69df4a8ee.jpg?v=0

Bloo @ Oct 24th 2008 2:24PM

@ PSN: johnnynumber5
Damn that pic is so funny it looks photoshopped!

kbomb1upc @ Oct 24th 2008 12:42PM

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...

GCNH87 @ Oct 24th 2008 12:57PM

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..

Patrick @ Oct 24th 2008 1:45PM

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?

Mr Khan @ Oct 24th 2008 1:50PM

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?

Patrick @ Oct 24th 2008 2:00PM

@Mr Khan:
You can buy USB-to-ethernet adapters on ebay for less than $20.

Yourself @ Oct 24th 2008 2:15PM

That's all well and good, but Nintendo could throw in an Ethernet port for probably

Yourself @ Oct 24th 2008 2:16PM

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.

captainprotonx @ Oct 24th 2008 1:53PM

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.

reppy @ Oct 24th 2008 2:17PM

"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..