Hacking Why do you hack your Wii?

[cayspekko]

I'm doing an Ethnography project in my college English class. I thought I'd see if I could get some feedback from this forum. My project is about illegal copying of copyrighted media among college aged people. Of course, anyone of any age is free to answer.

Hopefully it's okay to post this here, please don't flame me, I just honestly would like to know why people like to hack their Wii.

I answered my own poll and I fall under the not generally category. I think it's fun to hack things and get it to do what it wasn't originally designed for. But I also use it as a tool to screen games before I buy it, since I'm not exactly rich I don't want to waste my money on dumb games.

What do you guys think?

PS Thanks for helping me out!

 

[Bluee]

I modify my Wii because I believe in making my technology work for me. Technology is there to serve us and to make our lives easier. The answers provided don't really reflect that; playing "free" games is only one element of modifying a Wii.

Nintendo made a decent machine but then purposely crippled it; modifying brings out the full potential in the Wii. That is why I do it.

 

[riddle43]

you should try to ask what people are getting more of like games ,music or movies/tv shows cause gamers are not the only hackers out there getting free stuff it may give your project more boom for the buck

 

[techboy]

I voted for Not generally as well...I do download games, but typically toss them if they end up being the typical junky shovelware.

The only games I still have that I downloaded are Conduit (haven't played it yet, even though i've had it for a few months), Wii Fit Plus (lost my Wii Fit disc), and Red Steel (dumped my friends disc). All my others I own.

Other than that, I use things like USB loader for convenience. I'm too lazy to put discs in (or my sister borrows them), and because i'm impatient waiting for games on discs to load...

EDIT: Also forgot to mention: VCs are a different story. Have 5 or 6 pirated ones as of now. And now that I saw Bluee's post, Nintendo did indeed make a decent system. I made mine more useful by installing Windows...

 

[PrimeTime 84]

Because is much better than a "virgin" console, with or without pirate.

 

[Ramzee]

Why did I hack my Wii?

I saw the flow-z demo of configurable USB Loader on youtube and couldn't believe how fast the gui was. Did a lot of research to check if it was real and how much it would cost. Found out about usb drives and thought "that's better than two shelves of white DVDs clutering the telly" and "that makes the Wii look like the console it should be".

Because it makes it sexy!

 

[SifJar]

i do it simply for homebrew, not piracy. i frown upon piracy and illegal sharing of copyrighted material.

 

[PPSainity]

I softmodded my Wii so that I can use USB Loader GX, never having to swap discs to play games is sweet. I own most of the games I have on it, around 75%, but the other 25% makes me a pirate, arrrr! The funny thing is that I mainly use the Wii to play my Webcasts using MPlayer_CE and seldom play games on the darn thing...HomeBrew is the best thing on the Wii in my opinion.

-[]D

 

[wiistarter]

My main reason was not for playing games but more for watching streaming footy matches downstairs. Unfortunately the wii has not lived up to my expectations for this so I still use my laptop to do it.

Now I use it more for Testing any new games I may think are a bit dodgy just to buy and I have my full collection of originals on my HDD for portability and the fact now that the kids cant damage the disks.

 

[Ame16787]

why?? i don't earn enough with my job right now, i can't pay bills so why should i pay nintendo............ plus i love seeing my friends (with ps3s and 360s) drooling over all my games while they think about the 65-70 euros they just spent only for one....... priceless!!!!!!

 

[anaxs]

the last category is wired..i jus like hacking things..xD
anways i jus wanna play games with out buying them

 

[Maikel Steneker]

I hack it because I like using the homebrew and because I like to see how it works. I've been crippling, downgrading and modding my Wii just for fun, just to see what it would do, why that is and how it can be restored.

But I won't pretend like I never pirate a game. And I'll be honest: even if I like a game, I won't always buy it, for example if it's too short for its price.

That said, I do own more than 100 original games (not only for Wii, for all of my systems combined) and I do spend a lot of money on games. I buy the ones I like, but not in quantities that I don't have any money left for my social life, other hobbies or my future.

 

[FenrirWolf]

All the games on my HDD are legit, though I have installed some to try them out (like the japanese release of Metorid Prime 1 and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom) before getting them when they come stateside. Same with other games I'm interested in. The convenience of the USB Loader is amazing.

But when it comes to GCN and unreleased VC/WiiWare I'm more liberal. Why not install SSB64 when Nintendo refuses to release it for some reason? Recuperating GCN games that I ended up losing over the years is nice as well.

I love the heightened control over my Wii since I've hacked it.

 

[rashef]

Why. Hmm... a tough question. To be honest I treat usb loader as a mean to test the game before I buy it. A "demo" of sorts. And... uh... Nintendo's to blame for not having demos etc. implemented in their system. Plus why carry and swap discs every now and then when we can have backup copies on easily accessible HDD ?
There's also Homebrew which lets me play all my Animes, Tokus, Dramas and the like (mplayer-CE). A safety mechanism that will enable me to restore my Wii if it's software fails (bootmii). Quite the number of free games.
It's simply a matter of choice between a fully legit 100% functionality wii and a not so legit, homebrewn 150% functionality one I think.

 

[bosman]

The Wii is a boring game console if it hasn't been hacked.

 

[s3phir0th115]

Coming from someone that has hacked most of his consoles, (Wii, PS2, Xbox 1, DS (dead), DS Lite, and PSP. Nintendo 64, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance remain unhacked due to lack of need and lack of ability.) I generally hack the thing to enable increased functionality. Arguably they are used for pirating, but you can't ignore the increased functionality.

For example, on the PS2, it's very handy to have the media player for that. Using ESR, I can go up to most PS2's and just put in my memory card to allow it to play media from a USB device.

On the DS, using lameboy, I am able to restore the backwards compatibility that Nintendo has removed and am able to play Gameboy and Gameboy Color, saving a lot of space compared to carrying my gameboy collection. (And not to mention that I have the no-intro set of it, allowing more than I even had before.)

On the same DS, I can play most nes games with nesds. This is very handy since there are many NES titles I like despite not having owned a real nes.

On the PSP, I'm able to play Sega Genesis games and SNES games using the emulators when I go somewhere. (If I don't play them on my laptop, that is. I use the laptop when I can, but sometimes you can't carry that anywhere.)

On the Xbox, I can enjoy all kinds of emulators, more than even the Wii due to it's x86 architecture, and the wonderful media compatibility of XBMC. (Unfortunately it can't do HD or a lot of x264 media I have, but it does well with the power it has.)

And on the Wii, I'm able to emulate all kinds of systems. I'm also able to use Mplayer, and all kinds of good homebrew for the wii.

So it's not just about pirating. It also enables a lot more functionality.

 

[DaRt]

mplayer_ce and usbloader! I hate dvdplayers and dvds!

 

[leemufc]

i wouldnt have a wii if it wasnt hackable as its poor compared to the ps3 i have
im more addicted to running programmes on consoles than playing the games (psp,wii,dsi)
still addicted to downloading though but thats another story all together
shit i think i need some counselling

 

[Giga_Gaia]

Why pay for games when I can get them for free? It's not like Nintendo or any other companies I pirate are gonna go bankrupt soon. Even if they did, whatever.

I'd rather save my money for things necessary to live. Entertainment shouldn't be that expensive. Beside, there is no guilt at all here.

 

[mysticwaterfall]

I hack the wii for two reasons:

1) Emulators. That way I can still play all the old systems (which I actually have, going back the 2600) without needing to have them all hooked up. Makes it much more convenient when I feel like playing Frostbite or something.

2)Cheats. I love having inf lives in Mario Galaxy, what can I say

EDIT: So in answer to the original question, nothing to do with pirating, per se.