Wii U has been hacked
wiikey.com
wiikey.com
At the end of the day, it's infinitely easier to make a drive say "oh, yes, that disc is clearly on original materials" than to subvert, say, signature checks for code authentication, as required for homebrew code. The console manufacturers really screwed themselves here.
Xbox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fOjGLCctEY&hd=1
Xbox 360: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxjpmc8ZIxM&hd=1
It would be quite ironic if by forcing always-on DRM on users, the next Xbox becomes the most hacked/with most pirated games console ever.
This won't kill homebrew nor piracy, but it's going to put a massive dent in both. Nothing is unbreakable in theory, but when the cost of a break raises to a certain point, it's effectively unbreakable in practice; they're rapidly approaching that point, if they haven't hit it already.
All of this makes me pretty sad, really. I'm no supporter of piracy, and I don't generally use homebrew software, but I'm going to miss the challenge of breaking consoles. I remember sitting in my apartment in San Diego back in early 2006, with bunnie and a couple other guys, modifying shaders on the King Kong demo from the kiosk disc in an attempt to read out memory from the 360 and display it. I didn't have much interaction with the 360 scene after that stuff, but sitting around and coming up with angles of attack with the best and brightest in the console community was just amazingly fun.
I can see that they must have raised security A LOT, but it seems it hasn't stopped the pirates.
as in they flashed the disc reader's firmware to have it say 'yes, this is a legit disc', which does not invalidate the fact that the code on the disc is signed.
> What do you mean by bulletproof?
bulletproof as in even partial access to the hardware to execute random, sideloaded, unsigned code on the CPU is extremely involved, if at all possible.
From a practical purpose, it doesn't sound bulletproof, but for the homebrew community it sure does.
source: http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/26/4268782/next-xbox-drm-achie...
In what way exactly? Would enabling homebrew in some way subert piracy? You can make games for 360 if you want through their indie games platform for a mere $100.
You could argue that enabling homebrew would sell more hardware and/or software I suppose. Is that your argument? That 360 would have been more successful for Microsoft if it allowed homebrew?
I'm still waiting to hear how Microsoft and/or Nintendo screwed themselves exactly.
Nintendo has a pattern of overdelivering with the consoles, and then underdelivering with the games available for said console (at least at first).
EDIT: I should add that this is a relatively recent pattern; the N64 and the Game Boy Color are definitely stronger as platforms (with all their available games) than as consoles. Somewhere between the Game Boy Advance -> 3DS (which has terrible game availability for an awesome console) and the GameCube -> Wii, the pattern reversed itself.
The European launch (5? 6 months later) had those two, plus Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.
Also, the ping pong game (and 100 pin bowling) in Wii Sports Resort is probably worth the money for the whole disc, which is another way to get the dongle.
they keep regurgitating the same franchises.
they almost did something new with n64/gamecube, but just because the 3d shift forced them to. (e.g. pikmin)
the DS almost pushed the envelope again, but they quickly settled to just regurgitating old franchises again with an extra map screen or something else that is irrelevant.
I think the problem is that the Nintendo platform differentiates itself on actually being different, and in this day that isn't exactly a selling point for game publishers, even if it is for the consumers.
Would you as a game designer/publisher rather build new game customized to the experience possible with the Wii or Wii-U, with their limited audience, or would you program to the lowest common denominator so you can ship on all consoles (keeping in mind that the more you customize for one, the harder it is to maintain the integrity of the experience of the game)?
But ultimately, i shouldn't care much about that. That's a market issue nintend surely foresaw when launching wii and wiiU. i'm just buying a console on the promises (by nintendo) that games will be fun and utilize the full potential (did they demo 12 clones of call of duty on their launch videos? because that's pretty much what's available). Nintendo should be doing a better job there. even if it's opening the devkit to everyone. They have failed me. ...is the wiiU a failure because of what? i wonder.
The Wii U has been out for about half a year. Has ANY console actually had even a decent library at this point in their lifespan? Basically every console starts with a couple mediocre exclusives, one or two good exclusives, and a ton of ports. (And god forbid if they're bad ports.) It's usually only the fall following a console's launch that good games start coming in any appreciable number.
These carts play DS games, they do not play 3DS games.
Each time the console gets an upgrade (DS to DSi; DSxl; 3DS; etc) some of the carts stop working, and manufacturers use it as a marketing opportunity.
Cards usually tack '3ds' on the name. EG: "R4i3DS". But these just play DS games on the 3DS. (Some of them include GBA emulation functionality; nothing could play GBA games on the NDS cart slot until recently.)
edit: ah, nevermind, see other comments.
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/22846-wii-u-hack-unlocks-conso...