29 January 2007, 15:12

Copy protection for Nintendo's Wii console allegedly cracked

A cracker group known as Team Ninja claims to have cracked the copy protection mechanism in Nintendo's new Wii games console. The group is selling a modchip by the name of Wiinja on the internet for 35 US dollars.

The chip must be soldered to the circuit board with five contacts and apparently circumvents the copy protection mechanism of Wii's DVD drive, so that copied games can be run from burnt DVDs. The chip is a very simple programmable 8-pin microcontroller. The simple construction and relative speed of release following the launch of the Wii console suggest that Nintendo have hardly changed the copy protection mechanism since the GameCube, Wii's predecessor.

The group known as Team Ninja have previously developed modchips for other Nintendo consoles. Apart from two internet videos, however, there is as yet no proof that the Wiinja chip actually works.

(ehe)

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