Nintendo Tries to Foil Pirates Again With System Updates
Nintendo rolled out some new updates recently for their DSi handhelds and Wii consoles which don't do anything, again, but try and get rid of those pesky homebrew 'unauthorized' applications.
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But forum posters at GBATemp.net report the new firmware breaks many popular brands of DSi flash cart, including the Acekard 2i, Supercard DSTwo, M3i Zero, iPlayer, DSTTi. Some flash carts reportedly still work under the update, including the popular Hyper R4i.
The latest version of the Wii firmware, Wii Menu 4.3U, warns updaters that "if your Wii console includes unauthorized modifications this update may detect and remove unauthorized content causing immediate or delayed inoperability of your console."
It'd be nice if they added some cool features instead of just trying to foil those bad pirate people.
I really wish that the industry would be honest about this piracy problem. Not every download is a lost sale, and nobody is taking money out of their pockets.
Its not that there isn't an impact, there clearly are some lost sales, but as long as the industry at large keep being dishonest about the extent of the problem nobody can measure a reasonable response. They should try to figure out what is actually going on and its true cost, then start working on solutions.
I suppose that's worth the possibility of bricking a user's console. Bushing has ranted at length on his blog about the absurdity of firmware updates that not only provide no tangible benefit to the user base, but unnecessarily endanger users' consoles by the very nature of the firmware-update process.
From what I read at the relevant forums, the Wii update was completely futile, since it's already possible to hack the updated Wiis.
I must say that the ability to run homebrew (media player, emulators) and an USB loader on my Wii is far more important to me than anything that Nintendo might have to offer via firmware updates.
Especially the USB loader is a real blessing: No more disc swapping, no more drive noises and shorter load times. Just pop in the disc once and dump it to an USB hard drive (kinda like the XBox 360 install feature, except you don't need the disc anymore). You don't have to be a pirate to appreciate that.
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Originally Posted by brandonjclark
MY Wii recently stopped playing discs, so it gets ZERO fucking use now.
I modded my wii to run emulators, and for a media center. I use it for the most part as a media center because the Xbox sounds like a jet engine, and I want to prolong its life. Same goes for my PS3 (not as loud as the 360), but once again I want to prolong the life of the console. Every game I have for the wii is legit including the emulated games (I have the original carts).
I understand that pirates cause monetary damages to Nintendo, but really how many modded wiis are out there. The vast majority of families out there wouldn’t know where to begin when it come to modding. If Nintendo wants to see a bigger game attachment rate for the system; then make more must have games, and demand better from your 3rd party devs. The system doesn’t need another pong toss/mini golf/bowling game.
