It may or may not have been Nintendo's intent, but a newer optical drive in some Wii consoles seems to be blocking mod chip functionality.
Techtree says that the new drive makes mod chips useless. They report that the new optical drive revision was found in the Australian Wii model (LAH1098xxxxxx) of the console, but hasn't been reported anywhere else. This post at Wiinewz details the technical changes. It seems that a controller chip has been removed.
Who are we kidding? Nintendo knows about piracy. And this change sounds deliberate. I'd guess that Nintendo will eventually put these new optical drives in all shipping Wiis. Unfortunately for Nintendo, there are already plenty of "old" Wii consoles out there.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
5:01 PM on 12.10.2008
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"This is how you do NOT defend yourself against a sword attack. Also, look at our cute socks."
The Wii is region free with the homebrew channel and gecko. No mod chip required.
"We know we screw Australia whenever possible, we release games late if at all. We release Animal crossing that doesn't work with the DS version. Oh and pricing, let's not get started. Let's make it even harder for them to play games by releasing this new stuff in Australia only so as to screw people who have chips for importing, that'll be a bit of a laugh!"
I know it's not really like that, but still.
it is like they are giving them there own little modding spot.