Filed under All, Game Industry, Interviews, Reviews, hacking by DaedaluS | 1 comment
Team Twiizers has made some comments about the recent Wii System Update 3.4.
Long story short, everyone needs to calm down about the update.
Nintendo released a recent update that once again tries to secure some existing bugs on the console, breaks some things, deletes others. This time they’ve also gone around and modified the TOS. As usual, mass panic ensues.
The people who are panicking can be divided roughly into two groups (non exclusive):
* The pirates
* The clueless
This should go without saying, but we don’t want to have anything to do with the former group. Nintendo is obviously going to fight piracy (and that’s going to hurt homebrew). We’ll have to deal with the homebrew part, but don’t expect that to help piracy in any way. It may, or it may not. And if it doesn’t, pirates will have to deal with fighting nintendo themselves. The usual messages about WADs, “backups”, and all that crap are going straight to /dev/null, and we’re seeing quite a few bans due to piracy on #wiidev recently. Don’t ask us about it, don’t talk to us about it.
The clueless are panicking because, well, that’s the thing to do (OMG, new update! What will we do!). Read the Wiibrew page about the update. To clarify some things: the Twilight Hack is gone and probably won’t be coming back. There are other game exploits on the table (which haven’t been announced yet). Given the ability to run PPC code, we can install stuff and exploit IOS, as the HBC beta9 installer already shows. In short, homebrew isn’t going to go away. We can “do anything” right now. But we do need to figure out what to do.
All we’re concerned with is the ability to run homebrew (from-scratch programs), not necessarily modify the existing system. This means that we’re not necessarily concerned with getting things like menuloader and DVDX working again. Menuloader involves hacking the system menu - which is pointless if it can be replaced. DVDX enables DVD use - which is pointless if there are other ways or you use an entirely new IOS. We’re also not big fans about installable stuff - the utopian homebrew ecosystem would be contained entirely on removable storage and involve zero changes to NAND (implausible, but hey). Either way, the ultimate goal is to have homebrew that is able to use the Wii’s features, period. How that is accomplished is irrelevant, so old methods of doing things aren’t necessarily going to work in the future, nor do we care about it (we’ll find alternatives if necessary).
You may be wondering what it is that we’re doing anyway. Basically, we’re looking at the current situation, moving on with existing projects, and trying to figure out what the best course for the future will be. Quickly releasing hacks as soon as they’re available might not be such a good idea for the future - it’s best if we think it through a bit. We’ve also got tons of stuff to do. Prognosis is good, and hacks will come out eventually, but you’ll have to wait it out. And you shouldn’t expect anything in particular. Remember, it’s about the end result (homebrew), not about how we get there. Also, don’t take some ideas that we’ve thrown out there previously as definitive - we’re rethinking things right now.
In short, calm the hell down and just wait. Don’t update if you don’t feel like “change” - you’ve got that option so far. And if you’ve updated, my suggestion is that you wait. Avoid hacky workarounds - they can be worse than the problems they purport to fix.
Thank you xboxbman for the heads up.
Discuss this topic in our forums.
Filed under All, Wii, hacking, homebrew by WB3000 | 1 comment
Nintendo has once again released an update to the Wii. This update installs a new System Menu, bringing it to version 3.4. The Wiimpersonator is reporting that a new IOS module, IOS50, has been added, with updates to IOS31 and IOS37. It is strongly recommended that you hold off on this update, as by accepting it, you are agreeing to allow Nintendo to install future updates without you knowledge. To receive the benefits of the new Mii Channel, you can use CashMan’s Mii Channel Updater.
From WiiBrew:
The announcement lists these changes:
USB keyboard support in Mii Channel
Enhanced parental controls
Twilight Hack version 0.1beta1 cannot be copied to the console.
Two other changes have been noted:
Improved SD card read/write speed
Improved disc reading
Update appears to include IOS50 (used by menu) and IOS254 (a copy of IOS9, to block PatchMii).
From the changed Nintendo EULA:
“We may without notifying you, download updates, patches, upgrades and similar software to your Wii Console and may disable unauthorized or illegal software placed on your Wii Console to ensure that your Wii Console is operating properly and efficiently, comply with applicable laws, assist law enforcement, protect us and our customers, or prevent the use and distribution of software obtained through improper channels.”
Thanks to xboxbman for the news submission!
Discuss this topic in our forums.
Filed under All, Modchip, Nintendo-Scene, Wii by tom35 | 7 comments
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!
Download:
Discuss this topic in our forums.
Filed under All, DSi, hacking, homebrew by DaedaluS | 5 comments
Filed under All, Modchip, Wii by DaedaluS | 4 comments
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
Download:
Discuss this topic in our forums.
Filed under All, DSi, hacking, homebrew by WB3000 | 1 comment
Filed under All, Modchip, Reviews, Wii by DaedaluS | 8 comments
