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Wii Hacked for Better Homebrew Games

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the playing-with-your-own-toys dept.

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."

6 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. hint hint by User+956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wii Hacked for Better Homebrew Games

    And the majority of these homebrew games look like retail games, except they're free.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
    1. Re:hint hint by Tetsujin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wii Hacked for Better Homebrew Games

      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.
    2. Re:hint hint by hansamurai · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm sure you're aware but I would recommend buying an Xbox and install Xbox Media Center on it. It can do everything you want plus more (hard drive built in opens many opportunities), and they're really cheap right now. I run an Xbox at home and use it as my media center, great stuff.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC
      http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/

      --
      Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
  2. Smart Thinking by MBCook · · Score: 5, Informative

    I love the way they did, it shows good ingenuity. If you watch the video, they explain that they can get into GameCube compatibility mode (what is used for GC style home brew) but that the ATI chip acts as a gateway to the extended RAM and other new neat stuff (SD card slot, BlueTooth, etc.).

    By physically tying address lines on the memory chips, they could circumvent the address lock and read areas of memory they shouldn't be able to. Through this, they dumped the RAM though the controller ports (using them as serial ports) and were able to pick through it and start decoding it to find things like the signature that let them break out.

    Very neat. I love reading about this kind of stuff.

    It will be very interesting to see what people do with this. I never really heard about any interesting XBox homebrew, just running Linux and XBMC type stuff. Ditto with the 'cube. But the Wii should prove interesting.

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  3. Re:Star wars entry point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    and you can use your wii-mote as god intended

    You do know that Steve Jobs has nothing to do with Nintendo, right?

  4. Re:Why a console? Why not your own breed? by Yosho · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That post really needed some more to be organized into coherent paragraphs, but I'll answer anyway...

    is it because of the "scene" or is it because you "can"?

    Yes, it's because they can. They enjoy the challenge.

    When you have broken the system security to release your own homebrew - then what? Challenge over?

    Yep, and then you move on to a new challenge. In reality, though, breaking the system security is just one of the first steps to making homebrew software; there are still many challenges left.

    Now realize this my friend - why not create your OWN hardware with your OWN challenges?

    Because that's a different kind of challenge, and not as fun to some people. Why don't you forge your own plate armor? Or learn a new language? Or study Tai Chi? Those are all challenges, but they're different and appeal to different types of people. Some people -- the people who are working on this kind of project, in fact -- think that breaking a system's security and making homebrew software is much more fun than making their own hardware.

    Point is - whatever you end up doing - make sure you use that time you got - wisely - otherwise you're technically just wasting your time doing it!

    If you spent your time having fun, is it really wasted?

    --
    Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)