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Nintendo Blocks Homebrew Installation
ElementC writes "Sometime yesterday Nintendo uploaded the latest Wii system update. This update quietly patches a few bugs that allowed the installation of both homebrew and warez apps. Currently installed apps such as the Homebrew Channel and the video DVD library, DVDX, are reportedly not affected. Those not installing this update are blocked out of the Wii Shop channel and in the future may be blocked out of certain games. Team Twiizers cracked the last update within about eight hours. They're already on the case. Readers familiar with the architecture of the Wii will find the list of currently discovered changes interesting."
If there's anything we have learned from the homebrews on the PSP, it's that people involved in firmware cracking are a resourceful bunch, always a step ahead of the big companies running around with a trowel and mortar to plug the leaks in the dam. Expect your favorite Wii homebrew to be restored to business as usual within a day or two.
8 hours is significant because I believe for that update, Nintendo had something like a three or four month development, testing, release schedule. This is of course not out of the norm for an update that will affect millions of people, but I can't imagine how much money was put into "fixing" the homebrew problem only for it to be cracked again in hours.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Did the update actually do anything to the Wii Shop Channel (other than making it inaccessible without the update)? Or was that simply a ruse to get everybody to apply an update that is really designed for a totally different purpose?
I saw the update message on the Wii this morning, lame. Unauthorized software? Remember the time when software updates added functionality and/or fixed bugs? Rather than trying to limit your use of your own hardware (or is it leased now?) and protect the suppliers own revenue streams. While I haven't (yet) played around with the homebrew channel, and probably won't for a couple months (newborn due shortly!), I'm skipping this 'update' out of disgust.
!Equality through palindromes semordnilap hguorht ytilauqE!
I don't have a Wii, some I'm not sure how it works (but I was considering getting one for the boy ... ok... any myself .. for Xmas) so I was wondering:
Do they block accounts with "hacked" consoles, or do they just keep you off until you update?
Sometime back I bought a used Xbox. It was able to get on live so assumedly was unmodified, but it appears that now it's actually hacked in a way that XBL can't detect. However, after going through the "it's modified and thus blocked FOREVER" issues with MS, I'm always worried it'll eventually get knocked offline. I'd rather not buy a wii and suffer the same issues, so what's Nintendo's practice in this area?
Yes, as Sony will soon update their firmware to allow community developed apps to be sold... Wait, I'm thinking of Microsoft.
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
Serious question, is it really worth installing the Homebrew channel if you don't plan to do any development and don't have any intention of buying a classic controller?
I took a look at what was offered about 2 months ago and nothing that was developed really made me want to rush out and install the channel. Don't get me wrong, people are doing great things, but I just ended up saying "meh" and went about playing Super Mario Galaxy.
If I want emulators I can get that on the PSP now and the control system is better suited for the task. If I want DVD playback, then I already have a great Philips box which does DivX too.
So ... is there something absolutely fantastic which I'm missing out on?
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As of the fourth quarter of 2008, most PCs have an SDTV output, HDTVs have a VGA and HDMI input, and Bluetooth dongles let the PC use Wii controllers. So what's the big draw of Wii homebrew?
Yeah, cos the homebrew PS3 scene is really rocking at the moment.
Was that sarcasm or not? Of course the PS3 runs Linux.
Not yet, but they're making progress.
I like Wii Quake. The Wiimote is a near-perfect way to play the game on my humongous living room TV screen.
1) They released earthbound for vc (I mean come on already) 2) They released other games for vc. A stream of 1 or 2 medeocre games a week is not going to cut it. 3) Kill all the lawyers (or laws.. I guess) so that licencing issues werent a problem.
This update also renders modchips useless - though luckily it doesn't seem to brick the consoles (not those with Wiikey chips anyway). Unfortunately the modchip community isn't as active as the homebrew community, so those with modchips might have to wait longer before being able to update their consoles again.
I live in Australia and many games (especially Nintendo and Capcom titles) take weeks, if not months longer to reach here after their US release.
I can think of two reasons:
For one thing, game consoles are typically used with large displays called "TVs". TVs in New Zealand and Australia run slower than North American TVs. A lot of games' physics are based on a time quantum based on that of the TV's vertical retrace, and developers need to retune the physics, retest all the levels to compensate for this.
Some video games include depictions of violence or sex that the community deems unsuitable for small children. The standards and practices differ from country to country, and rating boards in each country classify each game based on local standards. It takes time to remove depictions that would result in a refusal to classify a game.
Uh, so let's say Jimmy purchases a Wii, takes it home with his new game and tries to play but it won't let him because the Wii has yet to be updated.
Are you saying that now Wii owners are required to have Internet access in order to update the console to let them play games?
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
Stick that wiimote in your assholes, faggot WEE owners!
You should have got a Playstation 3, the TRUE winner :P
What's the point of the anal wiimote installation? To simulate the expense of buying one? Looking for a lil sympathy?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Even PC apps that have native joystick support don't usually have ready access to save states or other menu functions from the controller.
Complain to their publishers and tell them why you've voted with your dollars.
But imagine a game for Windows or Linux that can be configured to bind MenuUp, MenuDown, MenuLeft, MenuRight, Start, and Back to a USB game controller. It also allows up to two-player cooperative or four-player competitive play on one PC with one monitor. Would you consider trying and possibly buying a copy of such a game, or would you reject it outright because "console-style games are for consoles"?
So the motion sensor control is still whacked, but now at least I can bask in the warm fuzzy feeling of DRM creeping over nintendo hardware.
Oh wait, no - I don't own a wii. And probably never will - if this is how they respect their customers.
You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
So if you use the homebrew firmware on the Wii, you can raid ships on the high seas?
Exactly. If you crack your Wii for homebrew and install an NES emulator, you can play an infringing copy of the NES version of Sid Meier's Pirates! (1991). Just make sure to use Twilight Hack to install the DVD driver and the Homebrew Channel before you put on the new IOS.
When will they update their Flash player? I paid 5 bucks to have big screen streaming web p-, er, videos, and all that seems to work is YouTube. WTF?
I had to take off all my homebrew apps just to do the update...it's a cat and mouse game.
That's essentially what happens.
The PSP hackers (Dark Alex in particular) pretty much know every trick Sony has in their arsenal. The only unknown is which particular bit Sony is going to try in each time (what the particular decompression keys will be for example). Making a new PSP custom firmware for these guys is really pretty straightforward; they unpack the firmware, doublecheck their CFW code against the new code, doublecheck any newly-appearing functions, and release the patched version that pretty much patches the same bullcrap stuff that's just been in each official firmware release since 2.00.
It's the companies that are reacting - they "patch" for the repairs the "hackers" have made to restore proper function to their Defective-By-Design products. With this latest bit, I fully expect we're going to start to see PSP-style custom firmware installations for the Wii that begin to open the platform up more fully and allow it greater flexibility to be used to its fullest capability.
I don't have anything custom installed on my Wii and the update failed for me.
~ I am logged on, therefore I am.
I agree it's good to have everyone running the same update for service and support purposes, but this update really doesn't seem to do anything important.
Instead of wasting time developing an update to block a handful of people from hacking their Wiis, why doesn't Nintendo put their time and development cycles into upgrading the freaking Internet channel flash player already. It's over a year and a half out of date and more and more flash videos are unplayable on the Wii as websites upgrade to the newest version. At least Youtube still works (mostly).
I know I can just go use my computer, but it's fun to watch Internet videos on my couch (and streaming TV shows) instead of having everyone huddle around the computer monitor.
You guys might have missed the point, or purposely ignored it.
With the homebrew channel installed, coupled with wadinstaller and dvdX + backup loader, you can pirate virtual console / wiiware games, and play downloaded backups of retail wiiDVD games.
The homebrew itself sucks, but being able to try before you buy is key.
This is probably why we see this update now, as the hack has hit the mainstream and too many people are pirating wii games for nintendo to sit back and ignore it any longer.
I fully expect to see these bug fixes included with every firmware update that comes down the intertubes.
It's a losing battle, as someone who's already installed the homebrew and backup loaders, has no need for the wiistore anymore, as they can grab all of the games, region free, for free. Why install an update that fixes basically nothing but this?
doesn't itunes always do this?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
So the copy of Linux I have running in Xen isn't real Linux? How about the copy I run in qemu on a Windows machine? That's not real Linux either?
Its real Linux no matter how it accesses the hardware, all the facilities of Linux are there. Period.
Sony has chosen not to expose certain parts of the hardware through the hypervisor running Linux to protect their market and I respect them for that. They've provided a much higher level of legitimate access than anyone else ever has (other than themselves, on the PS2).
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
[Game physics engine basing its time quantum on the frame rate] hasn't been true for a long time.
Plenty of games still have frame-based physics, including Ti and Brawl. In Melee, characters were even made heavier or lighter.
I know I can just go use my computer, but it's fun to watch Internet videos on my couch (and streaming TV shows) instead of having everyone huddle around the computer monitor.
That's what an HP Pavilion Slimline PC is for. Buy one, put it next to your HDTV, connect the PC's VGA or DVI out to your TV's VGA or HDMI in, and you can watch and play what you want without interference from the big three proprietary video gaming hardware companies.
You could also play the pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the Monkey Island series on ScummVM, as well as the Atari arcade game Skull & Crossbones on MAME.
Lots of pirate software available...
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
If I could rip the roms from [my NES and Super NES Game Paks] what is wrong with using the homebrew to play those roms via an emulator?
In countries with case law analogous to Sony v. Universal and RIAA v. Diamond, nothing. But what brand of NES and Super NES cart dumper do you recommend? (The Internet doesn't count, per UMG v. MP3.com.)
You currently need this update to access the Wii Shop Channel. from http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii_System_Updates
Umm.. So what Nintendo is basically saying is "Well, if you don't upgrade you can keep pirating but we REFUSE to let you pay for us for anything" Whoever thought that up should be fired. By doing this update, I'm sure that they're actually losing revenue from people that will not update. Of course, only until the patch gets a workaround again.
I completely disagree. Sony could just give access for non-commercial use. All Sony has tried to do with PS2/PS3 Linux is prevent decent game development, making Linux for the consoles nearly useless. Instead of making the licence state 'not for commercial development' and suing anyone who does not follow, they block access to basically the 'most important' parts of their systems, the graphics processors. Why bother installing Linux then? Would not it be cool to run some of those free OpenGL games (such as Neverball) on the PS3's amazing graphics card? I think so. Sony strongly disagrees. And I also think it would be a lot of fun to put these consoles to their limits without having to be a signed developer. They surpass most PCs in terms of power and cost a lot less.
It's not that it's not 'real Linux'. It is just that is extremely limited Linux in terms of the machine it is being run on. It is virtualised Linux regardless because it has a hypervisor (which prevents dumping of Blu-Ray discs with dd, and like said before, blocks access to several SPEs and the graphics card).
Maybe the whole industry should stop selling consoles at a loss and relying upon games to bring in money. This is a model that is surely not going to last. Nintendo is making profit when they sell a Wii. Yeah, it certainly is limited in comparison to its counterparts, but Nintendo will not rely upon a model that really has barely worked for both MS and Sony.
I do not like Kotaku's pro-industry and non-bias articles.
iTunes? To the Wii? Not that I know of.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
When I turned on my Wii yesterday, I had a message from Nintendo describing the updates, and specifically stating that this update will block homebrew programs. Although I was disappointed to see them block homebrew content, at least they specifically said that they were patching it, rather than not telling users, like Sony, or banning your Xbox/Xbox 360 from Xbox Live forever, like Microsoft...
definitely. a lot of gaming companies are focusing more on combating homebrew/piracy, which they can't stop, rather than actually improving their product, which would drive up sales & increase profits.
the PSP is in a similar situation to what you describe. the PSP is actually very well engineered by Sony, but its lacks the software to take advantage of the hardware. the XMB looks beautiful, is very easy to use, and is well-designed in general. but its built-in media player is extremely primitive. compared to the iPod/iPhone, Zune, Archos, Sony Walkman, or just about any other portable media player on the market, the PSP's audio player is missing a ton of core features.
aside from the bare minimum stop/play/pause/forward/rewind functions, the PSP is utterly outdated and lacking in the most basic features expected of all modern media players, including but not limited to:
don't get me wrong, the XMB is a very beautiful and elegant interface. but it's all flash and so substance. i can honestly say the PSP's built-in media player is the least functional of all the major PMPs. that's why i wish Rockbox would be ported over to the PSP so we'd have a decent media player to use.
not to mention the PSP's built-in web browser is useless since it runs out of memory every 15 minutes (less when browsing more media-intensive sites) requiring the system to be restarted. this is something that can easily be fixed by implementing a swap file to page memory to the memory stick. but Sony still insists on wasting their resources on trying to lock down the PSP rather than fixing its flaws or improving on it (wireless file syncing/sharing like the Zune would be a very welcomed feature).
the PSP's built-in web browser is useless since it runs out of memory every 15 minutes (less when browsing more media-intensive sites) requiring the system to be restarted
The Wii has a similar problem. I found a streaming feed of Discovery Channel from Southeast Asia (so it was English with Chinese subtitles) and was happily watching Mythbusters for about 15-20 minutes until it just hung. Only solution was to quit to the Wii menu and reload everything again, and even that wouldn't work for very long.
I know that's not really what the Wii is meant for, but what's the point of having an Internet channel if it barely works? Oh yeah, Facebook doesn't work right, either, because the @#@Y$^$%%$^&$%#@ Flash player is out-of-date.
That slimline PC is looking pretty attractive, too bad I just blew all my disposal income on new tires. For my truck. A real truck. Not a Slashdot analogy truck/car.
And the PSP sounds like it could be awesome if Sony would tweak it. Maybe they want people to buy a PSP for games and a digital walkman for music...double the sales.
That last paragraph proves you don't know what you're talking about.
The PS3 has only 7 of the 8 SPUs enabled to improve yields, it has nothing to do with redundancy. If they required all 8 SPUs to be functional they'd have had lower initial Cell processor yields from the factory, that's all.
The PS3's overall processing power for certain workloads is a lot higher than you make it out to be. You can quit the FUD.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
All Sony has tried to do with PS2/PS3 Linux is prevent decent game development, making Linux for the consoles nearly useless.
This is intended. Sony sells the consoles very close to costs or even with a loss and recoups that on games which have broad sales margins. Allowing access to the GPU would allow PS3s to be used in certain scientific projects (e.g. molecular dynamics computations) and as general purpose PCs, which would run counter to their business model. Linux on the PS3 is just pandering for the FOSS crowd and a very clever move to drastically reduce the number of PS3 hackers.
Those who would give up liberty to obtain working drivers, deserve neither liberty nor working drivers.
Give me REAL linux, that can natively run the linux port of XBMC and can run Wine, and we'll talk.
Wine would be completely useless on the Cell, as Wine Is Not an Emulator. The Win32 code runs directly on the processor, which is of course impossible on anything that is not an x86 processor.
being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
people keep saying this, but Nintendo has not released a single Wii update which has affected the playing of pirated games for anyone.
being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
what I was referring to is that iTunes has been doing this all along and we don't see people nearly this freaked out over it as we do here with the wii.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
You know they invented this thing on video cards called 'TV Out', you really should look into that and a 14' dual video/audio cable. Shouldn't be trivial for any geek and video cards are dirt cheap.
"The Cell processor in the PS3 is much faster doing Folding@Home calculations than a regular Intel or AMD CPU for example, but isn't well designed for other workloads."
Sorry, my 9800GTX+ TEARS up F@H and goes through more folds than my PS3.
ROFLMAO because the quote you selected specifically says "regular Intel or AMD CPU", NOT "9800GTXOENZOSTANGAERON++ GPU" ;)
What are you feeling sorry for?
Modern GPU performance is really undisputed in all but your little world, but care to explain why there are no games using it for anything other than rasterizing? All the folds in the world don't make PC games any better
PC gaming - Bad as hell on paper, enough bullet points to choke a horse, overpowered machines, and you STILL get 20 fps with no better gameplay to show for it.
Do you not read Slashdot to know the standard and obvious response to this? 1) You don't have to install the updates. If you want it to stay the way it is, just use your homebrew. 2) It is there company, they can run it how they want. 3) Hacks come out to fix it within weeks of it being patched. 4) For the majority of people, they just want to play Nintendo games on it so it isn't a problem.
It's your fault that you use their software. They can do whatever they want to their software and if it pisses you off, don't use it.
Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
WTF, I did NOT have post anonymously checked.
Fix your fucking shit, Slashdot.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Now no one can complain "it does not run Linux," but everyone including myself can complain AGAIN that "it does not have full access to the system". And yet Sony at first marketed the system as a machine intended for many things, not just games. Being able to install Linux adds to that, but they are not 'pandering' anyone when they purposely limit the ability of an OS on their hardware that someone else pays (in all honesty) a substantial amount of money for. As far as I know, no one signs an agreement saying the hardware is Sony's no matter what when they buy a PS3 (the same is not true for the development kit). Hackers should be able to do whatever they wish with hardware they own.
1) I don't want to move my computer all the way across the house to do this.
2) I don't want to build another PC just for the express purpose of doing this.
3) Dirt Cheap is still at least a couple hundred bucks to build a box that does this. Not in my budget, not with two little kids.
4) I don't have any room in my living room to have a "media centre" box sitting around.
5) The $5 Wii Internet Channel was working well enough for watching streaming video until more websites started using the latest flash player version.