Filed under: Games
Wii would like to hack
Hacking game consoles to run homebrew code is all the rage these days, but until recently, Wii owners were only able to join the fun with software that ran in Gamecube mode, which was a serious limitation. No longer! At the 24th Annual Chaos Communication Congress, a homebrew developer presented a hacked Wii running native code in Wii mode. By analyzing memory dumps from a modified Wii, they managed to decode the Wii's encryption keys. Programs run in this fashion have full access to the Wii's hardware, which means the sky is now the limit for homebrew Wii developers.
For those unfamiliar with the term, homebrew applications are programs that hobbyists make for specialized computer platforms, like game consoles and phones. They range from games to utilities to full operating systems, and allow the device to be used much in the same way as a proper desktop computer.
Reverse engineering of this type is
[Via wiinintendo.net]
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
thethirdmoose said 12:04PM on 12-29-2007
Reverse engineering is completely legal, fyi
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grant.robertson said 12:33PM on 12-29-2007
Cracking any copy protection mechanism in the US is a violation of the DMCA, and thus, against the law. So, sorry, that's not true. We wish it were, believe us.
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steve said 1:35PM on 12-29-2007
wii linux?
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Mark said 4:36PM on 12-29-2007
Funny to think that if the DMCA had been around when the IBM PC came out, Compaq probably wouldn't have been allowed to reverse engineer their BIOS, there would have been no cheaper PC clones, and we'd probably have a huge IBM monopoly right now (or Apple if IBM had tanked). When did we go from protecting consumers rights to protecting corporations pocketbooks?
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Grant Robertson said 7:15PM on 12-29-2007
Good point, Mark. The current state of things are pretty lousy. If IBM had the kind of lobbying power back then that the MPAA and RIAA have today, we'd be living in a vastly different world.
"This is indeed a disturbing universe" - Maggie Simpson, Treehouse of Horror V
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James said 11:53AM on 12-31-2007
I'm pretty sure there are some very specific reverse-engineering exceptions to the DMCA, but I'd be surprised if this particular incident were covered under them.
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