• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

First Wii U exploit revealed

TunaLover

Member
You would remeber the fail0verfl0w guys that were the first one in hack the Wii U, however they never would share this in public because for them there is no real interest in Wii U hombrew scene (example create a secure homebrew enviorement and prevent piracy).

Time has passed and from nowhere guys from Wii U Hax found an exploit to access to Wii U hardware, even more they were able to dump the file "bootrom.bin" which is the first file the system access to boot.

WaO9TGu.jpg


More interesting the hashes match the ones published by team fail0verfl0w

According to Marionumber1 (one of the members, or testers?) the exploit works in Wii mode, from there you get access to Wii U hardware, not sure if it's full access though. It seems bootrom works the same way as boot0 in Wii, it can't be patched by Nintendo through updates, the only way they can fix it is hardcoding the hadware itself (new Wii U model)
http://wiiuhax.com/wii-u-bootrom-dumped-welcome-to-the-scene/
 
There's always a first step for everything. Looking forward to Wii U homebrew...

Edit: 2 pages in and surprised no one's commented on the idea of unlocking Blu-ray Disc playback. I wouldn't mind having another BD player/backer-upper at the house without having to buy a separate PC drive.
 

Foffy

Banned
Someone explain this to me like I'm 5?

The beginning to opening the doors on Wii U for homebrew. Which also means the potentiality of making it region free, and also piratable..that last bit is always a sad end to these sorts of efforts.
 

Firehead

Member
Figures it's from within Wii mode. Was hacked within hours of Wii U's release. They didn't bother to patch the exploits for the Wii.

Can't wait to see what comes of this.
 

Hesemonni

Banned
USB loaders and being region-free awaits.

Hopefully at somepoint in the future.

Btw. one big thing is that this is unpatchable via firmware updates. They can change the bootrom via hardware revisions, but the ones sofar are safe.
 
Reminds me of those countless “3DS is hacked!” statements from various hacking groups, and in the end 3 years after the console's release all they have released is a pathetic Gateway that only works for an outdated firmware and doesn't allow online play. Wohoo.
 

Rocky

Banned
Does this kind of stuff even matter anymore now that they can update the firmware at any time?

They were able to update the Wii firmware at anytime too, but they couldn't stop the hacks. Not to mention it was impossible to patch the SSBB hack, it even works in Wii mode on the Wii U.
 

Jackano

Member
For all the people who "look forward to homebrew":
What do you expect exactly from homebrew?

Because things has changed since the Wii. Homebrew games and apps are now entierely doable with Nintendo's indie program (Unity + HTML5/javascript Nintendo Web Framework).
Outside some UI and region lock related things, it sounds like piracy hypocrysis.
 
For all the people who "look forward to homebrew":
What do you expect exactly from homebrew?

Because things has changed since the Wii. Homebrew games and apps are now entierely doable with Nintendo's indie program (Unity + HTML5/javascript Nintendo Web Framework).
Outside some UI and region lock related things, it sounds like piracy hypocrysis.
People who aren't into piracy (or Wii/U piracy I should say) are in it for things like

- game mods of which there are plenty available on the Wii... track packs for Mario Kart, new characters/skins/moves/rebalancing for Smash, etc.
- emularion
- bruteforcing more multimedia functionality
- and I don't know how I overlooked region unlocking
 
They were able to update the Wii firmware at anytime too, but they couldn't stop the hacks. Not to mention it was impossible to patch the SSBB hack, it even works in Wii mode on the Wii U.

With a big difference being that Wii games were not patchable and could not force players to use a specific firmware version to be allowed to play online. Of course it ended up being nonsense, the biggest offender probably being cheaters online and Mario Kart Wii's Grumble Volcano glitch.
 

Foffy

Banned
For all the people who "look forward to homebrew":
What do you expect exactly from homebrew?

Because things has changed since the Wii. Homebrew games and apps are now entierely doable with Nintendo's indie program (Unity + HTML5/javascript Nintendo Web Framework).
Outside some UI and region lock related things, it sounds like piracy hypocrysis.

Region locking, while not an issue on Wii U due to its anemic library, can become an issue. 3DS is already a problematic platform due to this. I don't desire any homebrew effort today to break the system, but that is not to say something won't come in the future that I would want to get, and nobody should be getting in my way, especially hard coded fucking nonsense.

If anything, region locking should be in demand for those in Europe, as they get fucked pretty hardcore, especially with SMT IV...but again, that is 3DS. Wii U has....what in the pipeline that is not planned for worldwide release?
 

Bebpo

Banned
Yeah, I reaaaaally hope they hack this system and make it region free before X comes out in Japan. Don't want to buy a second Wii U just because Nintendo are thick headed about region locking.
 

Foffy

Banned
Yeah, I reaaaaally hope they hack this system and make it region free before X comes out in Japan. Don't want to buy a second Wii U just because Nintendo are thick headed about region locking.

They keep showing that game in all Directs worldwide, no? Who's to say it's Japan only?
 

Bebpo

Banned
They keep showing that game in all Directs worldwide, no? Who's to say it's Japan only?

Region-free isn't important for just Japan-only games. Some of us would rather play in Japanese (XB had dual-language, but who knows if they will do the same with X) and not wait a year+ for localization. Same applies for people in Europe who have to wait years for games like SMTIV.
 
Top Bottom