170°

Nintendo Wii U Hacked; This is the Real Reason Next-Gen Implements DRM

VG Republic Writes: Yesterday came news that a group of hackers known for their work on the Nintendo Wii and the ability to enjoy backed-up versions of retail games, was at it again saying that they have unlocked the Wii U and are working on finalizing the hack of the Next-Gen console. While there were not any true details given other than saying via their website “Yes, its real – we have now completely reversed the WiiU drive authentification, disk encryption, file system, and everything else needed for this next generation K3y. Stay tuned for updates!” said the group via WiiKey.com, there are thoughts that the group is on the verge of breaking through the barriers needed to play pirated or “backed-up” copies of your currently owned Wii U titles.

There are some that will be chomping at the bit to get their hands on the device that would allow you to play games at a rate of free, but the bigger issue lies for those that choose not to go the route of piracy and purchase games for retail costs. Is nothing sacred anymore; have we become so cheap that we can’t just leave a machine for what it is instead of defacing a unit? These are the very reasons that consoles like the upcoming PlayStation 4 and Next Xbox are discussing ways to implement features that discourage use of pirated copies of games, but are even going to lengths of stopping the use of second hand copies of games as well.

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vgrepublic.com
Arai4013d ago

The bad luck doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon.
Nintendo is finding itself in some rough waters at the moment.

Sucitta4013d ago

How so, the Wii went on to win last gen, hacked almost right away..

Do you think Soccer mom Sally is going to flash her Wii to play free games or use homebrew? Maybe her daughter Tiffany so she doesn't have to pay for Barbie rides horses?

Out of the 100 million plus Wii sales, how many family's do you think modded their systems?

MASTER_RAIDEN4013d ago

okay so not a ton of mods, but believe me brother that first off, the modded systems were definitely out there. im sure there were most definitely a few million modded wiis out there. secondly, of those modded consoles, im sure a fair percentage have almost thousands of dollars worth of pirated games on them.

nintendo probably lost millions upon millions of dollars due to hacks on its console. just because the problem wasnt widespread in relativity to percentages, doesnt mean it didnt hurt them, badly. i didnt know too many people with modded PSPs or fat 360, but that didnt stop sony from openly admitting that they were losing a ton of money because of homebrew. wii was most likely more of the same, as may be the wii u soon. only time will tell.

Arai4013d ago

Case in point is that hacking is not good for anything.
Doesn't matter if they won the last generation or not, the fact remains that hacking is not good for any company.

Th4Freak4013d ago

Well the difference is that Nintendo wasn't losing money with these modded Wii's, Iwata said that they're selling the Wii U at a loss and they start making money when someone purchase a software so it's a completely different situation.

fairyblaster4013d ago

yeah sure buddy. i want shadow of the C. on wiiU

Typical-Guy4013d ago

It's really unfortunate, but it's ok for them to release already existing games on the Wii U for $60! That's something.

Sucitta4013d ago (Edited 4013d ago )

EXACTLY !!

60$ for any game that isn't AAA and deserving of your 60$ is a reason in itself to pirate.

Trillions of dollars stolen from the people since the beginning of time does not equate to some tech savvy hackers trying to save some $$$ from a multi trillion dollar industry that will do just fine with the hackers leeching a little.

Make no mistake. DRM is about greed and outrageous bonuses, given to fatcat CEO's that bleed every possible penny from the consumer, just to appease the vampire stockholders.

Arai4013d ago

While I agree to certain extent, hackers usually only cares about filling their pockets and/or just cheap out.

Granted that it's ridiculous to pay 50-60 USD for games that are sometimes 5-6 hours.
Long gone are the days when games usually used to be around 25+ hours.

DarthJay4013d ago

There is never a reason to pirate. If you want the product, you pay for it. If you don't want to pay $60, wait until there is a price drop.

If they want to save money, they can do it by not playing video games. It's a nice luxury to have, but it's a luxury. No one has a right to every video game ever because they are them and god damn it they want it.

There is no justifying piracy. The problem is, people want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to complain about the price and then contribute nothing at all. It's a product. You wouldn't walk into a car dealership and say "hey, I love this car but it's too expensive, so I'll just take it," so why are video games supposed to be different? Just because you can do it and get away with it, doesn't make it right or your justifications OK.

Guwapo774013d ago

That doesn't justify stealing the game because they re-released a game at $60. If you do not think it's worthy, don't buy it. Oh so you say you want to play it anyways? Well you have a couple options...

1. If you like it, buy it at $60.

2. Wait till the price is reduced. All games hit the bargain bin eventually.

3. Don't play the game at all.

I use to play pirated games when I was dumb and didn't fully understand and only cared about my enjoyment and my wallet. I was enlightened after I saw what happened to the Sega Dreamcast. I owned maybe 1 or 2 legit games and over 50 pirated. I to some degree feel responsible for helping my favorite system to date be destroyed.

Si4013d ago

Sega Ceo died during the end dreamcast generation the remaining shareholders sold the company to nintendo. Sega is still around as a developer. They didnt vanish because of pirates.

I_LOVE_MYSELF4013d ago

Nintendo games don't drop easily. I saw Mario64DS in a store the other day for the same price it originally launched at.

sway_z4013d ago (Edited 4013d ago )

I don't see the point for the general gamer population. 25GB games will take a whole lot of storage and let's be honest...there are maybe 3 games worth pirating on Wii U if you're the kind of scumbag who cannot see the harm this type of modding can do to the industry...

Piracy affects all legitimate gamers and I am against.

dangert124013d ago

I'm not interested in the Wii U but what i think will be interesting is...The POSSIBILITY of boosting WiiU sales for Nintendo...we all know piracy sells consoles.

Sharius4013d ago

what the point of that sale?

they may boost the hardware market a little but in long run they will hurt software market alot

the sale of 3rd party isnt good now, and if nintendo ignore that then even the indie will be scare away

dangert124013d ago

Not true always the case, take the PS1 and Ps2 for example and even the WII

MonkeyNinja4013d ago

There are many who wouldn't even bother buying a WiiU UNLESS they can hack/mod it. These people will increase hardware sales, but if they wouldn't have bought the hardware if it wasn't able to be hacked, then the games they pirate wouldn't have been bought in the first place. Although it would look bad to publishers/indies. And shareholders. This could be another Wii situation.

kayoss4013d ago

@dangert @ monkeybootey
The difference ps1 and ps2 is back then not everyone have Internet. So the number of people who knew how to mod were very small. The modding occur late in the life cycle of the system. Wii was hacked almost immediately but two reason why it didn't affect Nintendo.
1) the majority of wii owners were parents who bought it for their kids. Most owner were casual gamers who didn't know about modding or didn't care.
2) Nintendo made money every wii console it sold. Wii u, they are selling at a lost

@monkeybootey
It's always the same excuse, either for home brew or I wouldn't have gotten the game anyways. Then why would you play it now? Because you got it for free? If you're cheap then say so. It's a lame excuse.

MASTER_RAIDEN4013d ago

Wrong thread, i know, but.......price drop this baby and im alllll over it.
wii u has a few decent titles to its name, but the bulk of those i could just as easily fire up on my ps3 or 360.

price drop, with or without hacks, might actually motivate me to get on top of this.

kreate4013d ago

Problem with price drops is that, after a price drop is initiated, most gamers wait for another price drop.

LOL_WUT4013d ago

@kreate Really? Because i'm pretty sure if Nintendo price it right tons of people would definitely go out and buy one. Fifty dollars off would be a good start. ;)

kreate4012d ago (Edited 4012d ago )

@LoL

yea dude.. some ppl would go out and buy a wii-u after a price drop, but some gamers wait for another price drop..

havent u been on CAG? gamers are cheap. including myself.

- and i didnt click on the disagree button

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270°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv721d 2h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle13h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188110h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio10h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning775h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga12h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff218311h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga10h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan6h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

romulus235h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv725h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5h ago
purple10115h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos14h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-4h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac14h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10113h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic11h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead4h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4h ago
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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein1d ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno20h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k419h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson19h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu20h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson19h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

70°

The INDIE Live Expo 2024 event is to feature over 100 game titles

INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series , will debut never-before-seen games & content updates across more than 100 titles on May 25th.