Hacking Are you going to buy WiikeÜ or waiting for Wii U homebew ?

[sj33]

If the Wiikey U is just a drive emulator, then is is clearly not going to be able to defeat region protection. It won't be able to do anything that requires modification of code. The Wiikey U will be 'pretending' to be the disc drive, whereas region protection and the like is console-side.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

If the Wiikey U is just a drive emulator, then is is clearly not going to be able to defeat region protection. It won't be able to do anything that requires modification of code. The Wiikey U will be 'pretending' to be the disc drive, whereas region protection and the like is console-side.

Well, with DVD's and Blurays, region checking is done in the drive firmware. Something pretending to be a drive is also faking the firmware and could be modified if they were able to decrypt it. Maybe consoles don't work this way anymore, but isn't that how the Wii used to work?

 

[Slartibartfast42]

Can someone clarify what the key is? It's not just a USB device with the stuff on it, but a specific hardware that happens to connect via USB, right?

It's not going to connect by USB. It needs to pretend to be a disc drive, and the Wii U surely won't let you connect an optical disc drive to an external USB port. I would guess you have to open up the Wii U, and install this in there, by hooking it up with a couple of ribbon cables. Not sure how you get a drive to connect to it. Does it hijack an external USB port, or does a wire stick out? I don't really know. But if you are going to open up your Wii U, it should be out of warranty, and you should have experience opening up electronics. This is risky.

 

[Celice]

It's not going to connect by USB. It needs to pretend to be a disc drive, and the Wii U surely won't let you connect an optical disc drive to an external USB port. I would guess you have to open up the Wii U, and install this in there, by hooking it up with a couple of ribbon cables. Not sure how you get a drive to connect to it. Does it hijack an external USB port, or does a wire stick out? I don't really know. But if you are going to open up your Wii U, it should be out of warranty, and you should have experience opening up electronics. This is risky.

Maybe I remember reading the wrong thing, but I thought this thing was supposedly chipless, so no installation necessary? I haven't been following the wiikey thing though, so I dunno exactly what the situation is with it.

 

[GorTesK]

Maybe I remember reading the wrong thing, but I thought this thing was supposedly chipless, so no installation necessary? I haven't been following the wiikey thing though, so I dunno exactly what the situation is with it.

it is solderless, you still have to open the wiiu and connect it with a ribbon cable, but no soldering required

 

[Deleted User]

I would buy it if it were cheaper

 

[sj33]

Well, with DVD's and Blurays, region checking is done in the drive firmware. Something pretending to be a drive is also faking the firmware and could be modified if they were able to decrypt it. Maybe consoles don't work this way anymore, but isn't that how the Wii used to work?

No, the Wii did region check through the System Menu. That's why applications like Startpatch could patch it.

 

[shinkodachi]

If the Wiikey U is just a drive emulator, then is is clearly not going to be able to defeat region protection. It won't be able to do anything that requires modification of code. The Wiikey U will be 'pretending' to be the disc drive, whereas region protection and the like is console-side.

I'm not buying that.

Maybe I'm just being too hopeful and have a hard time grasping reality, so someone, anyone, feel free to slap me in the face if need be. If the WiikeÜ is just an ODE, then that's great. If we can feed it an ISO image of a game, this could be enough as a starting point to get to region free and other mods. E.g. region patching is not unheard of and has been practiced since the early PlayStation days. If it's possible to decrypt game images, or at least find the appropriate addresses for the TOC and change the region ID, then have the modified game image run through the ODE, voilá that's the first step to a (rough) region free mod.

At least that's how the great GameCube scene started with help from tmbinc and drivechips. So why not believe in an ODE? Again, slap me if need be, because I just don't understand what's the hindrance.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

No, the Wii did region check through the System Menu. That's why applications like Startpatch could patch it.

Then how did the modchips like the Wiikey work to change the region?

 

[Slartibartfast42]

I'm not buying that.

Maybe I'm just being too hopeful and have a hard time grasping reality, so someone, anyone, feel free to slap me in the face if need be. If the WiikeÜ is just an ODE, then that's great. If we can feed it an ISO image of a game, this could be enough as a starting point to get to region free and other mods. E.g. region patching is not unheard of and has been practiced since the early PlayStation days. If it's possible to decrypt game images, or at least find the appropriate addresses for the TOC and change the region ID, then have the modified game image run through the ODE, voilá that's the first step to a (rough) region free mod.

At least that's how the great GameCube scene started with help from tmbinc and drivechips. So why not believe in an ODE? Again, slap me if need be, because I just don't understand what's the hindrance.

I think this time the hindrance is the encryption of the area with the region code in it.

 

[GorTesK]

here again, a quote from crediar, why it won't work

Slartibartfast42 while stripping unused data will surly come, a hardmod will never be able to make a game play on a different region.
The region information now is in an signed area and obtaining the private key is considered impossible.

The only way for region free is a softmod.

 

[shinkodachi]

here again, a quote from crediar, why it won't work

I know about that, but to me it seems crediar is talking about having a game from another region running on a console from another region, NOT excluding the possibility of patching a game from another region and running it on a console from the same (patched) region. And I've yet to see anyone actually deny this possibility. The only real problem is whether we can decrypt the contents / TOC of the dumped game image and modify its contents such that it identifies itself as being from a different region.

 

[Qtis]

I know about that, but to me it seems crediar is talking about having a game from another region running on a console from another region, NOT excluding the possibility of patching a game from another region and running it on a console from the same (patched) region. And I've yet to see anyone actually deny this possibility. The only real problem is whether we can decrypt the contents / TOC of the dumped game image and modify its contents such that it identifies itself as being from a different region.

Depending on how the WiiU verifies the discs themselves, it may not be possible to load a modified game without a softmod. If there is a whitelist of the sorts (DS flashcarts on DSi/3DS), it can prevent all other games from running. The Wii U has a far better system architecture than the DSi/3DS, so a hardware mod may indeed not be able to circumvent region protection.

 

[shinkodachi]

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I'm only interested in a regionfree mod, so whoever makes it hard/softmod wise, gets my money (if it's commercial).

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Between Smash 4 and a Piracy device? Smash 4! Any day!

 

[dixeflatline]

Homebrew for me. I like the idea of playing legit backup but I rather have homebrew and region free any day.

 

[ieatpixels]

I'll wait for reviews before I even fantasize about having a Wiikey U.

but as it stands now, it's way too expensive.
I don't have a Wii U but if I got one and wanted to play games without paying for them I could just borrow them from Gamestop/EB Games using their 7 day trial period.

I think I remember reading that you have to use your PC to rip games aswell, so you'd need to buy a separate blu ray drive if you want to create legitimate backups.

That means;
$115 ODE
$27 screen/remote (only don't need one if you already have one)
$50ish HDD
$50 Blu Ray drive
___
$242
and that's not counting delivery and currency exchange fees.

I've read that the Wiikey U preorders are intended as a Kickstarter type thing, and that they still (as of today) don't have the device functioning properly.
I've also read that there will likely be a several month delay since all of the company's other ODE devices have been delayed when expected to be released.

So it's a huge amount of money for something with barely any function even if it works correctly, and you'll be lucky if you even get the thing.

If you're considering getting the Wiikey U for legitimate backups, just buy digitally. It costs about $20 extra per game but that's about 10 games before you start losing money.
Plus with buying digital you get the nice launch screen.

If you're considering getting the Wiikey U for piracy, i.e. to save money by not buying games, then you're probably better off just buying the 5 or so games worth playing on the system.
It won't cost any extra.

 

[crwys]

Why do you need a bluray drive? The Wiikey U rips the game to the harddrive from the Wii U? The only time the computer should be involved is for pirates to put their downloaded games on the hdd. The remote isn't needed and most people already have a hdd. So the price really is what it is no?

 

[4KK]

If you're considering getting the Wiikey U for piracy, i.e. to save money by not buying games, then you're probably better off just buying the 5 or so games worth playing on the system.
It won't cost any extra.

Haven't bought any games yet, all the games I want to get come out Winter 2014/2015. I would only have to download 3 games on release at retail price (~60$/ea) to make up for the cost of the WiikeyU I've pre-ordered. The cost savings in term of piracy are pretty clear to me. Although Wiikey is often late, they do deliver (eventually).

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

A third option to the poll.

Wait for the second generation of chips and or cheaper clones.

(I really only want homebrew so all the chips kind of have no desirable properties for me.)