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Wii Hacked for Better Homebrew Games
arbourp writes to mention that hackers Michael Steil and Felix Domke have demonstrated a way to hack the Wii that makes running homebrew code much easier. "The hack advances the possibility of running homebrew code with access to full system resources on the device, not just programs that Nintendo has sanctioned. Such games might be developed to run from a DVD drive, at least in theory. No such games are available as yet and Nintendo may respond by attempting to revoke compromised encryption keys. However history shows such countermeasures are likely to ultimately prove futile."
And the majority of these homebrew games look like retail games, except they're free. It's true that homebrew stuff invariably winds up getting used for software piracy... Even when it's not native software for the console, a popular use of a cracked console is for emulation - that is, playing games Nintendo would rather you buy through the Shop Channel instead of playing via the ROMs we've all had on our computers for the last ten years...
Still, some people really are interested in real homebrew... Either learning to write it, or just using it...
Bow-ties are cool.
Maybe not bad news for Nintendo.
Game consoles have never interested me, but I'd get one if it was hackable enough to run my own programs with full access to all the interesting bits of the hardware.
I suppose once I owned a game console, then I'd probably end up with a game or two. So maybe not bad news for Nintendo.
Many times I've been thinking - why is it so important to break the latest console to work with your "insert-homebrew-here"? Is it because it's some hardware that most have been importing in to your homes? is it because of the "scene" or is it because you "can"?.
I don't know. Did Edmund Hillary climb Everest because he thought there was prime real estate up there?
Metroid just tricks you into thinking there are no load times. Ever wonder why sometimes a door opens instantly, and sometimes it takes 15 seconds?
DRM and Copy Protection Schemes are cancer.