"Team Ninja" hacks the Wii.

[thatmariolover]

No, not that (http://www.tecmo.co.jp/teamninja/) Team Ninja.

The news is going on two days old, but for those who stick to the big Wii websites (such as IGN) this is probably new.

The Wii has officially been hacked with the Wiinja. Team Ninja is reporting the first successfully made modchip for the Wii. So far it allows you to play "backup" Wii and Gamecube games. It does not allow you to play import titles or hack the Wii Channels - and it's unclear if that's an upcoming feature that could be added with a firmware update or if it will require different hardware entirely.

Personally I'm not particularly interested, but I figured you guys wouldn't mind a gander. A backup only modchip seems to beg for pirate abuse. If there was a legitimate hack for full Wii channel manipulation, it would be an excellent step for the homebrew crowd. But I can't imagine this will be used for much other than theft.

http://wii-news.dcemu.co.uk/wiinja-modchip-for-nintendo-wii-pictures-and-info-50785.html
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/wiinja-modchip-enables-wii-gamecube-backups-to-function/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libxIKSTS9A&eurl=
http://www.wiinja.com/

[Angrist]

I hate it. But on the other hand, PS2 was being pirated a lot and it still did great last generation. It may not be such a huge disaster when a system is hacked...

But I never understood how people could just advertise for illegal hacks in normal newspapers. I saw the ads every week.... are those people untouchable? :confused:

[gekko]

Something in the hardware, you would need a new chip if they ever make one to bypass regions. But like I've been saying all along, Wii restricts to saving to internal memory, which may need to be formatted to change regions. It's very possible that the only "hack" they ever make requires you to completely reformat your memory each time.

Don't really care. My Japanese Wii will work no matter what they do.

[Jason1]

What do you mean "backup" wii and gamecube games...

What does this thing even do?

[thatmariolover]

What do you mean "backup" wii and gamecube games...

What does this thing even do?

I mean that it makes your Wii capable of playing burned Gamecube and Wii games. I put "backup" in quotations because aside from being a legitimately legal way to handle your game library (in many countries), most people who run "backup" copies are in fact just dirty pirates that downloaded the game.

[Null]

heh, they mention its non upgradable. so if nintendo were to find a software way to block this, and stick it in an update..... everyone who got this would then have a useless piece of crap soldered into their wii...

[Jonbo298]

Not surprising. I saw a Youtube video about a month ago poking fun at Nintendo and the fact they barely even upgraded the security in the Wii and that it was inevitable before the first modchips hit.

[Angrist]

Well, with upgradable consoles, how do you hack them anyway? Unless you let it connect to an unofficial network. Woops, I don't want to give them ideas...