A team of console hackers, previously responsible for a custom chip that circumvents security protocols on Wii, have claimed they are able to design a similar key for Wii U.
Original report continues:
The hackers say they have "completely reversed the Wii U drive authentication, disk encryption, file system, and everything else needed for this next generation key".
Though it appears that the group has designed a hardware chip, the complexities of modding a console raises questions about the claim that it has fully hacked the Wii U.
Other questions, such as whether the mod will survive an official system update, or if the modded system could run back-up games, remain unanswered.
The group, which CVG has decided against identifying, has yet to provide verifiable evidence that it has hacked the Wii U, though it is responsible for one of the many Wii mod keys available.
Hacks of this nature could test Nintendo's expertise and will in overcoming piracy.
The legal issues surrounding modding consoles are particularly complex due to differences in international law.
In the modern age, console manufacturers tend to battle piracy by offering valuable online services that hacked systems tend to be stranded from. The capacity of Wii U discs - at 25 gigs per layer - is also a deterrent for piracy.
CVG has contacted Nintendo for comment.
Comments
57 comments so far...
Balladeer on 30 Apr '13 said:
Rob, what have you been up to?
KK-Headcharge78 on 30 Apr '13 said:
Well it might help sell a few more? Maybe?
Every little helps...
Rob Crossley on 30 Apr '13 said:
Hahaha
(but seriously console hacking is a scumbag profession)
Balladeer on 30 Apr '13 said:
Agreed; but why have you decided not to identify them? Is it so that they don't get more publicity, or another reason?
GregoryRasputin on 30 Apr '13 said:
Why the hate for those that hack Games Consoles ?
Those that circumvent the console security, do not do it for piracy, they do it to add things like Linux and to restore things that the console maker has taken away, or to add features that the console maker didn't bother adding.
I am in that category of Console Hacker, i am not personally a hacker myself, but i am involved in the scene, i am 100% against this device you are talking about, i despise these type of devices, the people i work with also hate these devices.
These type of devices make us look bad and are against everything we strive and work for.
So in future before you go insulting a huge group of people, remember that 90% of them are fine, its the very small minority that are scumbags and create these type of devices.
Finally Console Hacking is not a profession, its a hobby and you will see, if you bothered to look, that we are all against piracy.
FishyGinger on 30 Apr '13 said:
So is it 90% that are against piracy or all of them?
GregoryRasputin on 30 Apr '13 said:
Can't you read ?
timewarp1 on 30 Apr '13 said:
But didnt one pubisher hack peoples souls and then turn it into a Nintendo 3ds game ? These guys are small fry compared to this publisher (which I too have declinex not to name)
Knight on 30 Apr '13 said:
Which body published the figure of 90% and where can I read their report?
KK-Headcharge78 on 30 Apr '13 said:
Fail. If you wish to conjure favour in a different ballpark don't enter the fray with a higher than thou attitude when your very approach is based on bulls**t.
GregoryRasputin on 30 Apr '13 said:
The only fail is yours, none of my approach is based on bulls**t, but i can understand the attitude of yours, its like most of the brainwashed sheep i deal with, no intelligence to think outside of the crap you are fed.
The Drunken Spy on 30 Apr '13 said:
For thou art an enlightened one who knoweth more than all thus all beneath thou must be reminded of this in a very s**tty manner.
Is that about the tone you're going for? 'Cos you're doing a great job of it.
Rob Crossley on 30 Apr '13 said:
Yeah, well I feel it's an important news story if Nintendo's security measures have been compromised (that could mean lots of things), but we don't want to publicise the people who try to dismantle years of legitimate hard work for their own benefit.
Reegeee on 30 Apr '13 said:
I just unlocked the vault, I never realised that meant everyone would rob the bank. Not my fault. I thought people would just clean the notes.
DiamondDogs on 30 Apr '13 said:
.
FishyGinger on 30 Apr '13 said:
Obviously I can't. What did you just say? You need to write up a little louder, I can't quite read it.
Balladeer on 30 Apr '13 said:
Understandable. Thanks for the response.
The Drunken Spy on 30 Apr '13 said:
Is it not also fair to say that naming and shaming them could well put you in their firing line? And I'm sure you could do without that hassle for the sake of a name.
The Drunken Spy on 30 Apr '13 said:
..says the boy, as he denies the existence of the full stop and proffers only the comma.
DiamondDogs on 30 Apr '13 said:
I use google everyday it's how I frequent this website so of course I "kn ow" how to.
You know why people hack? For the bitches and hoes, amiright?
The Drunken Spy on 30 Apr '13 said:
I think he knows a lot of hackers so they can get his accounts re-instated on internet forums for him, as I have a feeling he probably gets banned from them quite a lot.
The Drunken Spy on 30 Apr '13 said:
Best joke ever! Are there no ends to your talents?
You're like a guiding light to us all. All hail he who knows hackers, for he is to be feared and loved in equal measure.
The Drunken Spy on 30 Apr '13 said:
Genius. You like must have looked up one of my gaming accounts that I have displayed knowingly on my profile because I'm not afraid of trolls like yourself. Wow, I mean, genuinely, wow; what hacking skills you must possess to be able to pull that move off.
KK-Headcharge78 on 30 Apr '13 said:
Firstly in order to add gravitas to whatever benign argument you are trying to raise it might help to use good English. Now in terms of your actual 'argument' explain to me how exactly, with all the many facts you stated, or rather didn't apart from your own perception, why anyone would look at your ramblings and deduce; 'Whoa here's a chap with a credible point'?
And if your answer includes terms like sheep, how you don't have to explain yourself (you are quite right you don't but it would compound the pointlessness of your posts) or should choose to communicate as if you are some kind of higher order then you fail, again.
GregoryRasputin on 30 Apr '13 said:
Well i am somewhat higher in credibility than you, as i am not the one sitting there with 7000 pirated games, defending someone attacking Console Hackers.
http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss144/GregoryRasputin/Capture2-14_zps5726cad5.png
You have 7000 pirated games, someone had to do some hacking to get you those games, they didn't just appear out of thin air, so you should be defending hackers, instead of defending someone who writes a rubbish article.
You sound upset, you want a tissue to wipe the tears from your eyes ?
FishyGinger on 30 Apr '13 said:
How about we all calm down with a nice cup of tea.
DiamondDogs on 30 Apr '13 said:
Do we get caramel digestives?
Bright-Light on 30 Apr '13 said:
During a reccession? Dont be silly.
richomack360 on 30 Apr '13 said:
Can't they hack life itself and get a girlfriend or a meaningful pastime ?
Hackers are so Y2K darling...
Imaduck on 30 Apr '13 said:
Some of the comments on here are frankly terrifying
billysastard on 30 Apr '13 said:
this is nothing to do with hacking the console (which can be very useful) sadly its just a piracy enabler, since it emulates the disc drive it will be near impossible for nintendo to block it although they may have a way to see if its there and brick the console or at least stop it working until the device is removed something that no other company has managed to do with other ode's (optical drive emulator).
at present there are no wii u iso's as others have said however it is possible that this device like the ps3 version will allow "self dumping" and if so these dumps could easily be spread online.
Mmmmgrolsch on 30 Apr '13 said:
Glad I'm not the only one who thought this.
DiamondDogs on 30 Apr '13 said:
He's not gonna hack you imaduck. You can relax and join us for Tea but unfortunately we only have Tesco brand digestives as Bright-Light has pointed out we're in a recession, sorry.
richomack360 on 30 Apr '13 said:
In what way mate ? - EDIT, just seen
Gents, you know who you are, keep it friendly or you get wet towel whipped by me - and you don't want that.
Keep it clean.
http://www.gamesprays.com/images/icons/keep-it-clean-3416_preview.jpg
billysastard on 30 Apr '13 said:
i thought you weren't going to identify them? maybe better to call it an ode rather than a key? also its not a modchip for the console, just a plug in device that sits between the drive and the mainboard and allows a user to play iso's from a usb device whilst pretending to be reading them from the drive.
timewarp1 on 30 Apr '13 said:
GregoryRasputin on 30 Apr '13 said:
Finally, someone with brains.
I only joined this site to correct the false statements made by the person who posted this "news", other than that, i have had no interest in this site, so if correcting someone makes me a troll, then so be it.
GregoryRasputin on 30 Apr '13 said:
Like ive said, the news poster doesn't actually know what he is talking about, if he did, he would have known that the device is an ODE, he would have known that it isn't a mod chip and he would have known that the people that release these type of devices are not the normal Console Hacker.
This is what im finding over and over again, reputable sites, with journalists who are paid to write, but know nothing of what they are writing about
disgustingtramp on 30 Apr '13 said:
Agreed.
*Round of applause*
DiamondDogs on 30 Apr '13 said:
I hope that Robert doesn't report on these stories anymore. If it gets you and your ignorance out of here I'm fine with that. I did search your name however and came across your twitter. The tweets you made to Robert are disgusting and cowardly. Keep hiding behind that mask of anonymity. You're nothing more than a coward.
GregoryRasputin on 30 Apr '13 said:
There is nothing anonymous about me, look for me and you shall find me, but if all you found was my Twitter, im sure you wont manage to find anything without being spoon fed by someone.
There was nothing offensive i said to Robert, i spoke the truth, which is exactly the same as i said here, you can call me a coward all you want, but im not the one too afraid to respond to forum posts or tweets.
It is also not my fault that someone paid a salary cannot do research properly and it is also not my fault said person feels so miserable about his life, that he attacks a group of people he knows nothing about.
That would be like me saying all mainstream news sites have bad writers, just because Robert is one, i could say that and lump all those sites together, but that would be wrong and unfair for me to do.
Just as it was wrong and unfair for Robert to lump all Console Hackers together.
Like i said, i wasn't even going to bother joining this site, i wasn't going to comment about the un professional news story or the writers lack of understanding of said devices, but then i seen his attack on innocent people and i was compelled to join
Now finally a moderator has said to keep the posts nice, but still you continue to attack and insult, it shows you don't understand things very well
I just cant debate with people who are incapable of understanding, who block out the ability to see outside the box, its just a waste of my time posting anything, because you guys simply don't understand or don't want to understand.
richomack360 on 30 Apr '13 said:
You know what Ivan, I would be really keen for you to do an article on your hobby - what it involves, why you do it etc etc. Would be interesting to know, more so to dispel some myths about this particular side road ?
I think that would be more productive?
Barca Azul on 30 Apr '13 said:
Good idea not to name them. I expect proof on the net by tomorrow mind. Wish they all play a game of F off and they can go first!
Just means more expensive encryption in the future and who pays for that? We do of course.
Down with robots on 30 Apr '13 said:
I would expect that hardware hacking like this requires at least a fair amount of resources and technical knowledge, especially if it requires a custom chip, so it's safe to assume that these hackers are probably in the professional counterfeit business, so scumbag is a fair description.
StonecoldMC on 30 Apr '13 said:
You've been busy Rich
FlacidDonkeyGuy on 30 Apr '13 said:
Yes it could mean hardware sales go up and since hardware is sold at a profit (loss leading can only happen when the company has a wide range of other products to offer,RE supermarket loss leading with hardware is a myth perpetuated by the gaming press) that is good news for Nintendos bottom line in truth. Why on earth is the Xbox 360 at the top of the pile? Xbox live?....... Piracy pure and simple, the only exception was the Dreamcast (the best console to ever exist IMO) nothing could save that because Muppets were more interested in a DVD drive.
Do I pirate games?
No but many others do this will always be the case, do I support hardware unlocking (hacking). Why yes I do simply on the virtue, that the hardware is yours & you should do what the hell you want with it. Hell if it was not for "hacking" many games developers would not of gotten a start, Rare is a prime example. So I take it the stamper brothers are by proxy scum in the same vain?
Gameoholic007 on 1 May '13 said:
Ahh, another console hacked, a war that will never cease. It didn't take them long.
Skullet on 1 May '13 said:
Nintendo just can't catch a break with the Wii U, 3rd parties are already jittery about releasing on Wii U, if piracy becomes rampant it isn't likely to help, although it's hard to see how piracy could become rampant as there aren't exactly many games to pirate.
HelloLadies on 1 May '13 said:
Set your phasers to kill!
WHERESMYMONKEY on 1 May '13 said:
They won't brick the console because they'd get sued to buggery as Mod chips aren't an illegal device. Nintendo might be able to block them and thats generally been how they've dealt with piracy in the past.
but if it's like they're other chips they'll be updatable and an utter bugger to find if they've done their homework and make everything match up with how the normal drive performs.
They're not without legal use though. Especially if you're a collector. I know a guy thats got a similar device for his 360. He still buys all the games on his HDD, he just never opens them and downloads rips of what he's got to play on the actual console.
Likewise the whole dukebox element of them was one of the reasons i hacked my wii in the end, having everything running off a HDD faster than the dvd drive is brill and yet again keeps the discs in good nick. If you have kids and are worried about them screwing up discs with their sticky fingers its a perfect solution.
As i've said tons of times before, there's a lot that companies can learn from hackers. I think Nintendo are one of the few companies to actually take this on board. What's the VC but an emulator, HDSD card support was first unlocked by hackers before nintendo saw its value and released official support. The ability to play games off an external which the wiiU does is something that hackers enabled to great effect on the wii.
KK-Headcharge78 on 1 May '13 said:
Nice try sunshine, at no point did I nail my colours to the mast and it is quite clear that the credibility point was squarely aimed at your inability to engage or not act like a child. And how was I defending someone attacking console hackers, methinks you should check what you write before posting. If you want to determine a 2nd hand MAME cabinet as the same to what you do, don't do, alledged to do then thats your choice.
superfruit on 1 May '13 said:
Chances are most people will do something more morally objectionable than hacking a console during their lives. If you're 13 or something you maybe are excused but believe me you will do something in your life that'll lose you more sleep than hacked consoles.
I can never understand the hatred the hacking debates stir. An element of it seems to be jealousy that results in the usual insults about virgins and living with parents, even though no doubt these people will go one to get decent tech jobs and earn good money.
As an Apple owner all I can say is thank f**k for jailbreaks!
toaplan on 1 May '13 said:
^ Yeah, iOS jailbreaking certainly is a popular form of hacking... The legal issues around it are complex and vary from country to country, but my impression is that usually the hacking itself isn't illegal. It's once you start downloading warez / ROMs i.e. copyrighted commercial software that you enter illegal territory.
Obviously as someone who cares about the health of the games industry, I don't approve piracy, particularly on current generation hardware like the Wii U. But no doubt I have benefited from some of the hacking community's efforts, such as emulators and workarounds bypassing the tedious region-locks that some console makers still insist on implementing.
Something like MAME, which is a product of hacking and reverse engineering, is a miracle for people with an interest in the history of video games, and without it a significant chunk of that history would have been lost.
So if someone wants to take a holier-than-thou attitude and condemn the hackers in a wholesale manner, just check first that you've never played a ROM (of which you don't own the original software) on an emulator, never used an action-replay cart / boot disc / hardware switch to play imports on your European console etc... before casting the first stone.
only_777 on 1 May '13 said:
A very well written post and hopefully it'll sink in with people here who think hacking=piracy.
I'm known to the regulars here for my pro hacking but anti piracy stance, because hacking is very important for videogames.
The only point I think you have missed with your post is that hacking and software modding is the training grounds for many games programmers in the industry. You'll find that many if today's software programmers are yesterday's hackers. It's very common for people to become involved in the hacking scene and develop skills that are later on vital to be a great programmer, as learning to take things apart and rebuild them to how you want them is a true skill.
Many hackers are against piracy, but to be a good hacker you need to see how far you can open a system up and in turn this does open the door to people who will abuse it. I guess the only good thing with the hate thrown at the hackers is that many people won't abuse the work a hacker does.
To quote Jurassic park:
'We spent so long wondering if we could, we never stopped to think if we should'
illage2 on 1 May '13 said:
Why would you not identify the hacking/modding group? CVG ..... is there something your not telling us?
*Waits for Conspiracy theories to pop into my mind*
Note: Had to be specific because people are for some reason being a bit bitchy about terminology and causing pointless arguments in the comments. Nice way off starting a p**sing match though, great work. *slow clap*. Now can we all get back to the topic at hand or is the p**sing match going to continue ......
ashadian on 1 May '13 said:
This made me laugh! God forbid hackers doing something for the community? Hacking always leads to piracy!
richomack360 on 1 May '13 said:
Is what happens when I get left at home while the missus goes out ! Watching a baby monitor and eating crisps whilst touring this place is at exciting as my Tuesdays can get !