Only a few weeks after pirates figured out how to install Virtual Console games on their Wiis for free using the Twilight Hack, a clever trick for running unofficial code on an unmodded systems, hackers have expanded their counterfeit offerings to allow bootleg copies of WiiWare titles.
We're not yet sure if online modes are working, but the fact that pirates can install Japanese WiiWare ROMs/WADs on a US system, as shown above with Family Ping Pong, is impressive (and criminal!). Considering how fast the Wii's piracy scene has been moving, someone will likely soon release instructions on how to bypass microtransactions and install downloadable content updates for free, too.
How long will it be before Nintendo steps in to end these shenanigans? Will that mean the end of Wii homebrew, as well? See, this is why we can't have nice things.
One person has apparently created a hack for the Wii, allowing for the transport of the Virtual Console games from one system to another. As you can see in the video above, the process does not look all too difficult, however there is room for discrepancy. The video was uploaded to YouTube by user dannyml, and merely says "Hacked The Virtual Console." And there is a noticeable lack of seeing the copied game run for us to be comfortable labeling this as believed.
For us, music is little more than something that plays in the background during the massacre of endless enemies. It is a trumpet's call, heralding our arrival in a virtual world where we call the shots. Outside of those worlds resides the music of man, which we cannot attest you knowing that much about.
When you use an entire, custom-made outfit (which proudly sports eight Wiimotes) and your body to create and manipulate music in real time, however, then you deserve the lowly props that come from being featured on a video game blog read by a record seven mothers. They've seen this video and agreed: people need to watch this brilliant use of technology in action. So listen to them and hit up the above video already.
We love science, even if it totally creeps us out sometimes. Take, for example, this video explaining quantum mechanics and parallel universes via Super Mario World. Maybe Tyler Durden was right and we aren't unique snowflakes, after all. (It's okay, we're trying to hold back the tears, too.)
Still, we love when science is dumbed down to our level (that is, explained using video games we know and love). This video, for example, teaches Hugh Everett's multiverse concept, using 134 overlaid playthroughs of a Super Mario World hack.
We now conclude your Nintendo Wii Fanboy lesson for today (brought to you by the folks at PopSci); make sure to run off and tell your mothers what you've learned.
For those you in the know (see: you, because you read Wii Fanboy), the "Twilight Hack" has been behind the recent influx of wonderful homebrew we've seen for the Wii. Whether it's just some basic Tetris, or running something entirely new, the homebrew community has had their hands full as of late.
Those who were running the exploit before needed a GameCube memory card adapter. That is not the case anymore, as the hack has been updated to support SD loading.
For those who need a visual walkthrough on the process, head on past the break for a video explaining how to do this.
While we really enjoyed seeing Super Mario Bros. on the Atari, the 2600 doesn't have nearly as much charm as the SNES. So, why not envision something more modern, like Super Mario Galaxy, on one of Nintendo's most beloved consoles? Why not, indeed.
As fans of Super Mario Galaxy, we really enjoyed this SNES-make of the game from Techeblog -- so much so, that we wish this hack was actually playable. As a bonus, the video uses a great remixed version of the power-up music from Mario 64 (and beyond).
We're enjoying this trend of making Mario games retro (or, in the case of Super Mario Bros., more retro), and hopefully this won't be the last of these hacks.
You remember the "Twilight Hack," right? Well, Pong isn't the only thing folks are using this to run, as one man shows us his homebrew version of Tetris running on the system. Originally created as a homebrew project for the GameCube many years ago, this version of Tetris is lacking the bells and whistles most have taken for granted over the last decade or so. Still, it's impressive to see homebrew running on the Wii.
If you're like us, you remember Billy Dee Williams for one role he has ever played in his life: spokesperson for Colt 45 malt liquor. Forget those wars of stars or whatever, when he popped a top on a fresh 780oz can of the good stuff and told us how smooth the taste was, we knew he wasn't kidding. When the advertisement said "it works every time," we felt life had balance and we had learned our first truth in the universe
And now, the nickname of this Wiimote hack brings back many memories for us. When we laid eyes on the thing, it was as if a million voices cried out to us to post this. So, we did just that. Head past the break for some more screens from the creation of this thing and tell us what you think.
"Team Twiizers" have just released a hacked save file for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess that allows unsigned code to run. It requires nothing more than an SD card and a copy of Twilight Princess -- no hardware modding needed. Check out the video above, which features not only a demonstration of the hack at work, but also some neat chiptunes from Thomas Detert.
This is just a proof of concept at the moment, but at the end of the video, the group promises an ELF loader, which would allow the Wii to run Linux. This isn't the first time someone has hacked the Wii, but it is the first time the tools have been made available. We look forward to the inevitable rush of neat Wii homebrew applications, if this hack is actually developed to a useful stage.
Forget Wii parties: the hot new trend is creating a 3D interface that you can manipulate with your fingers via the Wii. We can only guess that Minority Report, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, and other media are heavily influencing people who want their virtual interfaces right now and see the Wii as a path to the future.
Using our new hero Johnny Lee's efforts as a springboard, the guys at Cynergy Labs took the interactive interface and ran with it. With infrared gloves and a Wii remote, a picture is disassembled, reassembled, and moved around on the screen before our very eyes -- and everything is manipulated in mid-air, no actual touching required. The gloves allow for a more delicate (and accurate) range of movements, as is demonstrated later in the video, as they pair the set-up with an interface similar to Microsoft Surface for a distance-enhanced multi-touch experience.
All we can say is: move over, robots. We've got to get busy welcoming our new fingertip overlords.
These fan-created Super Mario Worldlevels are Rube Goldberg machines made from Mario mechanics. With a few exceptions (involving holding the down button or holding onto a shell in a few cases), every level plays itself out, propelling Mario safely through with a baroque arrangement of bumpers, platforms, and enemies. We were a little overcome by the beauty of such elegant design-- we're being absolutely serious about that.
Whenever we see brilliant hacks like these, we wish that Nintendo would embrace user content as possible Virtual Console extras. In this case, we also think that Nintendo should hire the person or people responsible for these hacks, because they have an understanding of Mario physics and level design that far outstrips anyone who has worked on any of the games.
We don't remember much of our own Physics class back in high school. That's probably because we slept through most of it. Still, the quiet rebels we were, we managed to recall our experiment with the Pendulum after reading about this experiment. Why choose the Wiimote? Well, the accelerometer, up until now, has been a costly item to obtain.
"Similar projects have been already proposed using a simple mouse," says Samuele Straulino from the Università di Firenze. "We therefore realized that a more sophisticated controller (like the Wii Remote) could be also more useful in developing simple experiments to be done with secondary school students." Sure, they're not playing games, but we can always get behind people being exposed to the Wii. And we always love it when people try and see what they can come up with when playing around with the Wiimote.
We were a little worried that nobody would consider the Internet Channel a fully-featured Web browser unless it crashed all the time. Some jerks on YouTube are working right now to make that happen!
Symantec has posted an explanation of the recent Wii security issue, which, as far as security goes, is a non-issue. You can also see it in "action" after the break! Basically, people can post hacked YouTube videos that freeze browsers. This affects any system that can run Flash, the Wii included. An exploit that takes advantage of this hack has already been devised for Windows, but other Flash-capable systems are safe right now. Yes, this means no homebrew code yet, but it also means that some dude isn't ... uh, stealing your Miis? What would someone even do to a Wii?
In releasing the final version of the Opera web browser for the Wii, it was believed that all security threats evident in the trial version of the channel were fixed. Turns out, that might not be the case, as hackers are finding a new exploit in the included browser's Flash Player. Through this loophole, it's believed that hackers could get emulators running on the system. This, for obvious reasons, would be a disaster for Nintendo.
