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.

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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

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D2Sun is releasing a new modchip in the near future, the Sunkey. Currently in the testing phase, it is D2Sun’s take on the new generation of solderless modchips, much like the DriveKey, or the Flatmod.

SunKey

DETAILS:
* plug and play
* support all regions
* support all wiis
* support all games with same region
* support partical games with different region
* support USB update CPLD core and EEPROM firmware,never outday
* 2 LEDs indicate
* support chip ON/OFF

and MORE…

we here at nintendo-scene will keep you updated as we get more information

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This chip was tested on a D2A, D2B, D2C, D2C2 and D2E. All Wiis tested were NTSC.

Website

Instruction Manual and Resources

flatmodmini modchip

Technical Details:
(more…)

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First off, I’d like to thank the wonderful people at DriveKey who were kind enough to send me a sample to review.

This chip was tested on a D2A, D2B, D2C, D2C2 and D2E. All Wiis tested were NTSC.

Website: http://www.drivekey.com

Installation manual: http://www.drivekey.com/how-it-works/

DriveKey

(more…)

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First I would like to thank the makers of the Wii-lid for kindly sending me a sample to review.

Their homepage http://wii-lid.com

install manual: http://wii-lid.com/downloads/wiilid_X4_manual.pdf

Wii-Lid

The product in question is a solderless solution for the Wiikey 2. It was tested on a DMS, D2A, D2B, D2C, D2C2 and D2E, using the same Wiikey2, yellow sticker. All Wiis tested were NTSC.
(more…)

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With all of the advancements in hacking the Wii, new solderless solutions will be coming about. Flatmii which can be pre-ordered now and should be available shortly is a big step for the next evolution of Wii Modchips.

Although Flatmii will not allow you to play backups of your games from disk, it will allow you to connect to a PC through USB 2.0 to load ISOs from a Windows XP/Vista application.
Basic Features

* Plug and Play
* No Soldering Required
* USB 2.0 Port
* No DVD Drive/Media Required
* XP/Vista Compatible

Links
Official Site - Here
YouTube Video - Here
Mini FAQ - Here

The newest chip in developement goes 1 step further, WiiZii will allow you to boot backups from DVD or from a standalone SATA drive connected through a SATA adapter.
Information for WiiZii was obtained from TehSkeen

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Nintendo-Scene member machinist let us know that D2Pro has released another new firmware update for their modchips. This update will allow you to block any game updates that you enable.

An Update Blocker feature has been added to d2pro and is available via a DVD update included in v1.7 of the utility disc available for download in the resources section. After running the utility disc and allowing the update of d2pro to proceed, d2pro will block all updates from other regions. You can also enable the blocking of all regions if via the utility disc.

v1.7 Utility Disc
European Region - bz2 archive - 95KiB
Japanese Region - bz2 archive - 96KiB
US Region - bz2 archive - 95KiB

Thanks again to machinist!

• d2pro9_utilitydisc_eur_v1.7.iso.bz2 - 94KB
• d2pro9_utilitydisc_jap_v1.7.iso.bz2 - 95KB
• d2pro9_utilitydisc_usa_v1.7.iso.bz2 - 94KB

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Wasabi have released a new version of the upgrade disc for their modchip, doubling this time as a configuration disc.

From the website:-

Upgrade Disc 1.4 is now available, packed with great new features ! After upgrading, you could use the same disc to enter a configuration menu that lets you enable/disable Wii Region Free, GC Audio Fix, Update blocker and allows you to change drive read speed.
 
Most of those options should speak for themselves. When Update Blocker (Imports) is turned on and an import disc that contains an update is inserted, the update partition will be ignored. Enable it if you want to avoid any duplicate channel or brick problem due to an incompatible Wii update, but still want to play games from other regions. The same thing happens when Update Blocker (Domestic) is turned on, except that it targets discs of the same region as the Wii. Use that one if you want to avoid any System Menu update.
 
Others improvements are described in the README.TXT file. Now available in the Downloads section!

Download: wasabi_upgrade_config_1.4.rar

• wasabi_upgrade_config_1.4.rar - 265KB

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Xboxbman has reviewed another Wii modchip. The Wiikey 2 review is now available for all who are interested.

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