[xiaNaix]

For those of you saying "it won't happen" or spewing nonsense about Nintendo not doing anything to combat piracy on the Wii, here is a refresher course.

1. The first Wii modchips appeared on the scene. Nintendo changed the chipset to D2C, which could not be modded. Many months went by before chips were available that worked on these consoles.

2. Mario Galaxy contained anti-piracy protection. Sure, it was cracked almost immediately but, obviously, they tried to stop it.

3. Freeloader was released. Nintendo almost immediately issued a Wii firmware update to stop it from working.

4. "Hacked" Virtual Console roms begin appearing on the net.

Do you honestly think they are not going to attempt to combat this? As I pointed out, the Nintendo licensing agreement gives them the right to STOP YOUR CONSOLE FROM WORKING if they want to. Why bother just blocking your IP or MAC address (which you could easily get around) when they can just force an update on you that will not allow you to go online, perform other updates that may be required for certain games, or even stop your Wii from reading discs?

This is not a "moral" argument. It's a simple matter of being smart. They cannot detect a chip in your Wii. They can, however, very easily detect if you're running pirated Virtual Console roms or have other "homebrew" channels installed on your Wii. This un-installer does not offer you the protection you think it does.

I honestly don't care what you do with your Wii. But realize that once Nintendo drops the hammer, and they will, all of the backdoors being used for homebrew will be closed. So, even if there were a "homebrew" solution to get around these issues, how will you run it once these holes are patched by Nintendo?

Sure, you can just not update your Wii firmware but what happens when Nintendo's latest and greatest game REQUIRES an update in order to run? What happens if that update installs without your knowledge?

I'm sure you're tired of hearing all this ranting from old, established sceners like myself, Bushing, etc. but face it, folks, all these morons releasing these cracked V.C. games have done is fucked the future of the scene. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

[Perseid]

Originally Posted by xiaNaix

This un-installer does not offer you the protection you think it does.

Care to elaborate on that one?

[Hell Phoenix]

So the message about SMG seeing an "unauthorized device" in so many people's wii's wasnt Nintendo detecting chips?

They wont brick your console just like Microsoft wont. An update bricked a few peoples 360's and Microsoft got sued (and they didnt even mean to do it). They may disable online features like MS has done, but thats it (or as Nintendo's license agreement says, disables the system until the modification is removed).

Im not condoning the use of the VC games, Im just saying the facts need to be looked at.

[nehe32]

Originally Posted by xiaNaix

1. The first Wii modchips appeared on the scene. Nintendo changed the chipset to D2C, which could not be modded. Many months went by before chips were available that worked on these consoles.

2. Mario Galaxy contained anti-piracy protection. Sure, it was cracked almost immediately but, obviously, they tried to stop it.

3. Freeloader was released. Nintendo almost immediately issued a Wii firmware update to stop it from working.

4. "Hacked" Virtual Console roms begin appearing on the net.

Do you honestly think they are not going to attempt to combat this? As I pointed out, the Nintendo licensing agreement gives them the right to STOP YOUR CONSOLE FROM WORKING if they want to. Why bother just blocking your IP or MAC address (which you could easily get around) when they can just force an update on you that will not allow you to go online, perform other updates that may be required for certain games, or even stop your Wii from reading discs?

As you have just very kindly pointed out, they have not resorted to bricking peoples wii's, so why start bricking wii's which have hacked VC games? why would they go to such EXTREME measures.
sure, if they wanted to brick pirate's wii's why not give make the SMG message also brick the users wii's?
I'm sure nintendo (right now) would not go to such lengths. it seems ridiculous, if they could as you say 'easily detect' these channels why not just make an update to identify and stop them from working?
nintendo wins if they do it this way
- no lawsuits
- no homebrew/hacked vc games
instead of just bricking a wii and just forcing someone to buy another wii or have a potential lawsuit.

[sodaboy581]

I do think the words used are a little extreme at times from some of the "higher ups" in the Wii scene, but I think everybody already knows what they're getting themselves into when they install a pirated VC game... and those who do have already accepted the risk.

Repeatedly stating things which have a very slim, if any chance, to happen (such as Nintendo bricking bad peoples Wii hardware) doesn't really help scare off anybody from doing it. Unless you're like 10 years old and still afraid of the Boogieman.

A funny thought I had in my head is that when WiiNewz received the supposed C&D letter from Nintendo about Waninkoko's website, they either got really scared themselves or got talked into trying to stop these types of things from happening in the scene by Nintendo.

Whatever happened, when I read these posts, it sure makes me giggle.

[BillW]

Originally Posted by xiaNaix

As I pointed out, the Nintendo licensing agreement gives them the right to STOP YOUR CONSOLE FROM WORKING if they want to.

You're asserting that a shrink-wrap license is enforceable, and that's a hell of a leap. Existing US case law on that is, at best, contradictory. See Bower v. Gateway.

I personally doubt Nintendo would risk a class action on this, but to each his own. But the risk of an "accidental bricking" by a legitimate trucha-blocking firmware update is reason enough to stay away from this for the time being, IMO.

[Yarrnos]

[For the record: I oppose VC piracy and support homebrew, which I stated in an earlier thread that got deleted]

Forgive me for being slightly insolent, but the torrent of posts about this lately as well as the news entry on the front page makes it look like the C&D did exactly what it was intended for - influencing the scene through scare tactics. It seems to me that it should be quite obvious for any pirate that breaking licenses can have real consequences. Putting additional effort into saying this seems superfluous.

The real issue here is what Bushing already exclaimed in his blog: Using homebrew for piracy incites Ninty to respond to the whole scene, as is quite evident with them sending a C&D here now. And while there's always some workaround to getting things to work again, progress in homebrew development is delayed accordingly.

There should be no doubt in people's minds that as you gain control over the system, you're able to pirate just about everything. Ninty probably saw this VC thing coming a mile away.

This un-installer does not offer you the protection you think it does.

I'd also like an elaboration on that. Doesn't have to be technical enough to enable correction, just something better than "you don't know what I know".

[panzerfaust]

xiaNaix,

i think you're being a bit overanalyzing, cause with the homebrew available, even if they issued an update to prevent going online or whatever, wouldn't it be possible to get a homebrew app to "counter-prevent" just that?