New Wii and DSi firmware stop piracy

Last night as I played Ivy the Kiwi?, a familiar blue light caught my eye. It was my Wii, flashing to let me know there was a message for me. I checked it out and, sure enough, there’s a Nintendo firmware update announcement. Without any kind of fanfare, Nintendo released new firmware for both the Wii and DSi. Both firmware updates do the same thing – fight piracy.

The Wii firmware update doesn’t change the firmware number, it’ll still be listed as Wii Menu 4.3. It does remove all unauthorized modifications. In fact, that’s the exact description given by Nintendo. The whole point of this update to to delete any homebrew channels or programs added to a Wii. So no more Homebrew Channel, though hackers will probably find a workaround to bring it back.

DSi firmware updates the DSi or DSi XL to 1.4.1 and the official Nintendo description makes it sound like a minor update that just fixes some issues people may not even know about. It also shuts out many DSi flashcards, used for homebrew and piracy. The members of the GBATemp did some testing and discovered that DSis with the newest firmware will not recognize Acekard 2i, DSTTi, iPlayer, M3i Zero or Supercard DSTwo flashcards. However, DSis with 1.4.1 will still recognize EZ-Flash Vi, Hyper R4i and iSmart DS cards.

So far, both firmware updates have been found to be reasonably safe to download and update. It seems like there’s no need to worry about a bricked console or handheld if you decide you want to get 4.3 or 1.4.1 immediately.

Read [GBATemp] Via [Gamasutra] Site [Nintendo]