Bye bye Wii Freeloader

Nintendo has effectively secured the region-protected Wiis. The latest Wii firmware update 3.3, released June 16, 2008, has rendered Datel’s Freeloader discs useless. See, all Wiis are region-protected. They can only play games released in their region, forcing people who want to play import games to either buy a Wii from that other region (too expensive), mod their systems (void the warranty) or buy the Datel Freeloader program (just right).

The Wii Freeloader was a special disc created by Datel which allowed Wiis to play Wii and Gamecube games from different regions without modding the system. People simply load the Freeloader disc, then remove it and insert a game from a different region to play. It costed only $19.99 – a much better deal than a whole extra system.

The firmware update also kills the Wii homebrew scene. Previously homebrew creators had used a hacked The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess save to allow users to run homebrew games and programs on the Wii with programs on an SD card. Some hackers had even created a “Homebrew Channel” on the Wii with this backdoor. Of course that’s all gone. For now at least – Wii owners are resourceful, and I’m sure that, at the very least, people will find a way to run games from other regions on their unmodded Wiis.

Read [Kotaku] Also Read [Nintendo Wii Fanboy] Site [Codejunkies]