Oh we of little faith. On Thursday, GameCyte reported that Nintendo’s new Wii Shop Channel update was expressly designed to break homebrew applications, and that Nintendo had sneakily left the end user with only two choices; give up the opportunity to install potentially groundbreaking homebrew apps, or completely lose the ability to purchase new WiiWare and Virtual Console titles.
But in retrospect, there was a third choice: wait two days for homebrew community hackers to show Nintendo up. Not one, but two new ways to defeat Nintendo’s update were completed this weekend.
One day after the offending update hit, WiiBrew user Muzer came up with the first elegant solution: simply modify it to remove all of the anti-homebrew code. The result? If you haven’t yet updated, you can keep using all your fakesigned content and trick Nintendo’s system into allowing you to purchase games simply by installing this program.
But if you did update — or have yet to install the Homebrew Channel — you’re not out of luck yet, because Team Twiizers has just released a new version of Homebrew Channel that also works around Nintendo’s new fix. Beta 9 uses an entirely new, undisclosed exploit to allow installation (via Twilight Hack, confirmed working after October 23rd) and adds SDHC support as well.
Although it seems the homebrew community is several steps ahead of Nintendo, this latest skirmish did not result in a complete victory for the hackers. Team Twiizers had a number of bugs they’d already discovered in Nintendo’s code, so when the Japanese gaming corp closed one hole, they merely walked through another. But by doing so, they’ve revealed that hole — and if Nintendo can afford to keep patching, the Team will eventually run out of exploits.
Thanks to Nael M. for the tip.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Although I find myself in desperate want of the region switcher, I can’t bring myself to download the homebrew channel for fear of a failed install bricking my console, or of a future update doing the same.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
The thing about software development on incredibly complex closed-source systems is, if you close one hole, you generally end up opening another when you add new features. Sometimes the patch is so poorly designed it only partly closes the hole, or even opens up old ones again.
I have no doubt that this game of cat-and-mouse on the Wii will last well into Nintendo’s next console. They will likely continue to patch the Wii until it is no longer commercially viable in about eight to ten years.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
You’re welcome. So happy for this, I can still play Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.