Wii now fully hacked

[mancombseepgood]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/28/nintendo-fully-hacked-for-native-homebrew/

The homebrew scene hasn't gotten a whole lot accomplished with this latest round of home consoles -- which isn't surprising given the difficulty of the task and lack of incentives to succeed. Especially with the PS3 shipping with Linux compatibility, the Wii boasting VLC, and the 360 being such a chore to hack and keep hacked, there's really not much of a point. The Wii was compromised pretty early on to be able to play burned discs and GameCube homebrew such as Linux, but until now Nintendo has managed to isolate Wii hardware such as the extra horsepower of the console and wireless connectivity from hackers. But the walls are coming down. Some hackers from Germany have just showed off their fully hacked Wii at the 24th Annual Chaos Communication Congress. Nothing fancy is running yet, all they've achieved so far is a proof of concept that they've bypassed the Wii's protection with some encryption codes they swiped from the Wii's memory. Apparently a bootable Linux DVD is on the way, and we can't wait to see what homebrew coders manage to pull off with that Wiimote pointed where it belongs.

 

[BUDDH4]

Well this is sure to help hardware sales in SA!

 

[doobiwan]

:delete:

I'll be nice Shame, poor Wii.

 

[TiredOfWaiting]

Isn't the Wii one of the only consoles that are not sold at a loss?

I can understand Nintendo not wanting people to pirate their games, but keeping users from loading their own homebrew programs is just silly. You paid for the machine, why can't you use it for whatever you want?

 

[Lydon]

The 360 currently makes around a $50 profit per console sold apparently.

 

[TiredOfWaiting]

The 360 currently makes around a $50 profit per console sold apparently.

I stand corrected.

But the point remains, you paid for the hardware, why aren't you allowed to use it any way you want?

 

[NoADSLyet]

I stand corrected.

But the point remains, you paid for the hardware, why aren't you allowed to use it any way you want?

Because they sell the consoles at little or no profit so that they can make money on the game sales afterwords, but I agree you may use it for an paperweight if you choose!

 

[doobiwan]

I stand corrected.

But the point remains, you paid for the hardware, why aren't you allowed to use it any way you want?

You're right. According to the law you can modify it, stupify it, do what ever you want to it. Unfortunately the most common use for something like this is piracy, and the companies fight mods on that basis.

The other two platforms have both developed "legit" outlets for homebrewers, that being PS3 linux and XNA on 360, so by their reckoning, anyone trying to mod the device is definitely up to no good. But even having said that Microsoft cannot legally "brick" a 360 becauses it's modded. What they can and do do is ban you from Live.