Nintendo-Scene

According to CBS11tv.com, a southern California college student has been arrested on allegations of bypassing the DMCA by installing modchips into consoles.

A Southern California college student has been arrested on federal charges that he illegally modified video game consoles to enable the machines to play pirated video games.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 27-year-old Matthew Crippen was released Monday night after posting $5,000 bond.

The California State University, Fullerton student who lives in Anaheim is accused of modifying Xbox, PlayStation and Wii consoles in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents got a tip from the Entertainment Software Association and searched Crippen’s home in May.

He was indicted on two counts by a federal grand jury. Crippen faces 10 years in prison if convicted and is scheduled for arraignment on Aug. 10.

Attempts to reach Crippen for comment were unsuccessful.

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

Brkirch has updated the popular Wii homebrew application, Gecko OS, to version 1.9.2. This release is a slight bugfix, as well as expansion on the options you are provided per game. For those who have not heard of Gecko OS, it is a great alternative disc loader to the Disc Channel. There’s no backup support, but that’s covered by the extensive feature set.

From the release notes:

If necessary, cIOS will be used for channel loading

A few more gameconfig options were added

Some video mode fixes

• Gecko192.zip - 842KB

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

In his blog over at at teknoconsolas, Waninkoko has released a “Trucha Safe” version of System Menu 4.1.

From the Readme:

[ DESCRIPTION ]:

- This application allows you to update your console’s firmware, installing *only* the
most important updates (System IOS, System Menu, new channels…).

Thanks to this you can keep some features like Trucha bug that affected first IOS
versions.

[ REQUISITES ]:

- 150-250 free blocks.
- Internet connection.

[ HOW TO USE ]:

- Run the application with any method to load homebrew and the update will be done
automatically.

• Firmware-Updater_4.1.zip - 291KB

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

News article from Tehskeen:

Version 4.1 of the System Menu for the Nintendo Wii was built on June 24th, 2009 and released on July 3rd, 2009 in Japan, and released in America and Europe on July 15th, 2009.
Apparrently, there is a bugfix whereby if a VC/WiiWare game is played from SD, and then Wii Sports Resort is played, it forces you to watch the motionplus tutorial, although it was meant to be only watched once, on the first run.
Wiimpersonator log

Nothing has been broken with this update, bannerbomb works fine, using the hackmii installer to install the likes of the HBC is fine, so no need to worry.

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

Zapf Bandit has released WiiDump v1.5.1
This is a Wii-mode disc dumper that dumps to the Wii’s front-SD or to a USB2 drive. A SD gecko is not required at all.

Readme:

Wii disc dumper - v1.5.1 by Zapf Bandit, nitrotux & CaitSith2
————————————————————-

This is a Wii-mode disc dumper that dumps to the Wii’s front-SD or to a USB2 drive. A SD gecko is not required at all.

First install ios5.wad (obtained from previous version) using a wad manager, or install waninkoko’s cios 249.

WARNING: Installing WAD files is dangerous and might permanently brick your Wii. Only do this if you know what you are doing.
I take no responsibility if you brick your Wii.

The “wiidump151″ folder should be inside the “apps” directory of the SD card.

Then simply run the boot.dol file and start dumping.

Dump however many parts is required for the Disc type present in drive. There are not very many DL Wii game discs out there.

With an 8G SDHC card or a >8G USB2 FAT formatted drive you should be able to rip Wii games in one go.

If you are using a smaller cards simply copy all the “*.bin” files to the computer then restart wiidumpsdhc, it should then resume from where it left off.

Important!!! Do not move the “*.info” file off the SD card until all parts are dumped.

When you have all the “*.bin” files and the “*.bat” and “*.sh” file on the computer run either the “*.bat” of “*.sh” file and wait until the joining is complete.
This script will check the validity of the parts and the final “*.iso” file.

Make sure the drive you are going to join the iso is *NOT* FAT or FAT32 (e.g. NTFS) or the join will fail.

A big f-you to teq, you suck.

PS If any linux script junkies could make a good joining script I would love to be able to add a generated “*.sh” script.

• wiidump151.rar - 165KB

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

Comex has released a video showing a working Wii exploit in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl game. Once released, it will give Wii owners another way to install homebrew onto their systems.

From the release notes:

Exploit by comex, ELF loading code by Team Twiizers. Bug used was discovered by svpe.

This exploit exploits a vulnerability in SSBB’s stage builder code to run arbitrary homebrew code. Currently it will load an elf file from /boot.elf on the SD card.

This exploit differs from others in the fact that it is quite difficult for Nintendo to patch. There is no method on the Wii for patching games, and as this exploit does not go through the System Menu, it can not be patched by Nintendo at this time.

Join us in #sssb on EFNet (irc.efnet.net) to discuss! Release is when its done (aka: soon).

All you have to do to use this exploit is delete all custom stages on your Wii, then copy over the file. When you etner the Stage Builder menu, it will automatically run /boot.elf on SD.

DON’T NAME THIS EXPLOIT! LEAVE THAT TO COMEX!

The original video can be found here.

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

Segher has released the Twilight Hack exploit source code for the Wii. Perhaps others will use this to create their own exploits on other games.

From HackMii:

May 26th, 2009 by Segher

Without further ado… here.

Have fun! Any and all comments welcome.

As stated above, you can find the Twilight Hack source code at Segher’s git repository.

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

We at Nintendo-Scene all wish Brakken from TehSkeen the best of luck in his recovery.

This is Brakken. I am currently hospitalized and have VERY limited access to the Internet. Like my Father stated above I have recovered and I’m currently waiting to be released. My time is so limited I cannot read all of the comments, but plan to when I get home. Also, I’m shocked that someone sent me flowers (LOL), but whoever did they are at the house and thanks for sending them. Later.

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

Comex has come through with his Wii banner exploit, known as BannerBomb. When done properly, your System Menu will crash in the SD Channels Data Management screen, and you will be able to load a DOL file from SD. Several different builds are available, and compatibility is still a bit untested. Be sure to fill out the survey on the BannerBomb site if you have success.

From the release notes:

bannerbomb alpha
compatible (in theory) with 3.x-4.0

Get a SD card. If it has a private directory, rename it temporarily, e.g. to “privateold”. Having other saved channels on the same card will screw it up.

Download aad1f_v102.zip and unzip it onto the SD card.

Get a DOL or ELF and put it on the SD as /boot.dol or /boot.elf.

Press (Wii), Data Management, Channels, SD. Then insert the card. It should either pop up Load /boot.dol? or freeze.

If it pops up a dialog, then fill out the survey.

If it freezes, follow these diagnostics:

Did you use the SD menu (4.0) or click Savedata instead of Channels? If so, then you’re dumb

Otherwise, try a different version. The system menu is somewhat unpredictable; while most people should be able to use version i don’t know yet, some might need another version.

Bugs:

If it gives you the dialog but freezes instead of loading the dol, email me[ comexk at gmail dot com]. Tell me where it froze and whether or not the slot light is on. You might also try removing the disc.

If you press “no” when it asks you whether you want to load a dol then it might freeze.

It is possible to press the back button “under” the dialog. Make sure you don’t do that.

FAQ:

You can’t actually install the homebrew channel or anything– the bootmii installer will be able to do that soon, I hope. for god’s sake don’t use downgrade guides they’re made of fail

There isn’t a “4.0 version” or a “3.2 version”– you should use aad1f.zip no matter what version of the menu you have. Try the other versions only if aad1f doesn’t work.

Other stuff:

Please don’t copy/hotlink/whatever, just link here. Thanks.

Don’t use this for warez, pretty please :|

Check out the BannerBomb site for the latest downloads!

Download:

• aad1f_v108.zip - 52KB

Discuss this topic in our forums.

        

From vgt247, here is a brief synopsis of Michael Pachter’s view of the future for current and next generation consoles.

In a recent industry newsletter he sent to our in-boxes, Pachter reiterated what he told us at GDC that this current console generation is that last, and if not - it’s going to be a while.

“We do not expect a “new” console in 2010 (other than the long-rumored high definition Wii, which is likely to upgrade the Wii to current console technology),” he wrote. “We do not expect the ‘next’ generation to begin before 2013, if at all.”

“We remain convinced that the publishers will resist the introduction of any video game hardware technology that requires a refresh of software, as the publishers have as yet to capitalize on the immense investments made in being competitive in the current cycle.”

Discuss this topic in our forums.