Homebrew Channel Beta releases to the public

by Candace Savino { May 25th 2008 at 6:30PM }

This weekend saw the release of the "semi-official" Homebrew Channel, created by hard-working members of the Wii's homebrew community. The release, which is available to the public, lets you run homebrew on your console without having to perform the Twilight Hack. Also, you're no longer restricted to a ten-minute demo.

The release comes with a few applications, like Tetris, a Nintendo 64 Emulator, Wii Linux, ScummVM, and Gecko Region Free. Just remember: keep it legal, kids.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Tags: homebrew-channel

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Roto13 @ May 25th 2008 6:37PM

But you do have to perform the Twilight Hack to install it the first time, right?

guttertalk @ May 25th 2008 7:16PM

For the first time, yes. But after that, you can use the homebrew channel to launch homebrew games and apps.

This is good, although I'm wondering when Nintendo is going to nerf it.

Elemental @ May 25th 2008 7:35PM

Looks like a great way to totally F up your Wii. I for one will be leaving it the way Nintendo Made it. Those who partake Enjoy.

slthytove @ May 25th 2008 7:52PM

The team behind this is rather committed to making sure that using this is safe. Yes, there is a certain risk involved in doing anything that isn't officially sanctioned by the Big N. However, members of this team have also delivered the "Semi-Brick fix" for Wii owners who ran import games that installed incompatible updates and whatnot - they have perhaps the best understanding of the hardware of anyone not affiliated with Nintendo, and they aren't about to abandon the community should something happen in the future that causes problems.

iofthestorm @ May 25th 2008 7:58PM

Yeah, I trust these guys to actually be careful about stuff so that nothing gets bricked. These guys really know what they're doing and they're pretty concerned about bricking. They said that the chances of Nintendo doing anything to brick Wiis with this would be pretty low since it doesn't hurt their bottom line in any way (unless you count emulators which take some market share from Virtual Console, but then anyone who would have ran emulators could just do so on their PC anyway).

Spencer @ May 25th 2008 8:10PM

Andddd with the inclusion of the emulators makes Nintendo perfectly justified in kicking homebrew's ass. It's always about getting crap for free and screwing over companies that actually produce stuff.

FantomRedux @ May 25th 2008 8:38PM

Or its about bedroom developers who can't afford SDKs getting there work out there and getting it seen. Many people, such as a guy who made maps for Doom and was later hired as a map designer by iD, get into the industry this way. And lets face it, once homebrew REALLY kicks off on the Wii, many of the hombrew games will be better than many of the games which are released retail. I'm looking at you Ninjabread Man ¬_¬

Spencer @ May 25th 2008 8:56PM

if they gave a DAMN about ANY developer, PERIOD they wouldn't have software included that encouraged people to spit all over other developer's rights.

raindog @ May 25th 2008 9:13PM

Considering that emulators don't actually infringe anyone's copyrights, their inclusion doesn't justify "kicking homebrew's ass" any more than circumventing their encryption did in the first place. Nice rhetoric, though.

iofthestorm @ May 26th 2008 1:47PM

Emulators are legal, ROMs are not, so this is still legit. Now if they included say Mario 64 with the emulator, that would be illegal. Not to mention that people could play emulators on their PCs much better if they wanted to so this really makes no difference since this is harder than simply downloading PJ64 or something. Stop being an ass.

clif @ May 25th 2008 9:03PM

The presentation of the homebrew channel is amazing! I've been waiting for the homebrew to evolve to this level.

But this really looks like something nintendo would make for a channel. I'm going to bite. Granted I have to back up my save data. Just in case anything happens. This is going to rock. I still have to look into playing sega cd games. That would be sweet. Neo-Geo ROMs would be cool too.

I know that I'm promoting "piracy" but something like mark of the wolves will not be coming to a compilation disc anytime soon on the wii. Or Earthworm Jim Sega CD special edition won't be out on the virtual console till maybe 2010 if ever. So, the homebrew channel is awesome in that respect.

Or people can play the mother games too on the wii!

Mr.Nitemare @ May 25th 2008 9:23PM

i'm not a fan of homebrew, but i must admit, this application is very well executed... truly does look like something nintendo would release itself... actually , maybe the Big N should hire these guys to do some coding for the VC, give a face-lift and a speed overhaul....

Nebinator @ May 25th 2008 9:40PM

Where do we save the hbc_apps? In which folder?

Psy @ May 25th 2008 10:56PM

Root directory of your SD card. Don't save the hbc_apps folder itself. Save everything INSIDE it.

I got it to install just fine. But everytime I try to load an application it just stays at 0%. Not sure where to go from there.

Psy @ May 25th 2008 11:01PM

...whoops. Forgot to remove the GCN memory card.

ECG @ May 25th 2008 9:53PM

I'm still going to wait and see if any horror stories appear, i'm hoping none will. I just don't want a useless Wii.
Kudos to the developers, everything has a nice polish.

Brian @ May 26th 2008 2:31AM

They won't any horror stories.

Nintendo: 0 Pirates: 1

Brian @ May 26th 2008 2:32AM

*be any horror

omghaha @ May 28th 2008 10:24AM

nintendo has no right to brick your wii.
the only thing they are allowed to kick you out of wi-fi

Robert @ May 25th 2008 9:57PM

I just can't get over the music that plays when you select the channel from the menu...

So amazing.

mian @ May 25th 2008 10:13PM

Dugg.

I'm psyched about this, but concerned as well. Not as much about piracy, but about cheating in online games. If anyone manages to use it that way, it completely sucks the life out of what limited online functionality we have, and discourages further development on that front.

Not much can be done it, really. Either developers protect their games' features properly and detect and ban cheaters, or the games will be hacked and ruined for everyone. Pleas for responsibility to players are useless.

This is definitely a big day. There is so much a person could do with a machine like the Wii besides gaming. It's extremely well-suited to a lot of tasks. But there's also a lot of ways for this to ruin the core gaming experience. I just hope developers are paying attention and are careful with their products so they can prevent the bad apples from hurting everyone.

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ May 26th 2008 5:09AM

> Not as much about piracy, but about cheating in online games.

Let's face it. Some nuts across the globe who has 24/7 spare time to train in the on-line game is not much better than cheating. If you do not have enough time to learn all the tricks in the book - the case of about 99% of people - console on-line gaming (literally made of tricks) is not for you anyway.

On other side, if you know every trick on the book, then somebody cheating can only provide you with fair competition, not less.

I like how it is done in PC gaming. On-line protocols are encrypted. Applications are signed. Validity of both is verified by 3rd party application. And cheating in fact normally already included in games themselves. If party agrees, everybody can have cheating available to them during multiplayer session - what adds another angle to the game which otherwise might already became boring.

mian @ May 26th 2008 5:42PM

Cheating is far worse than people honing their skills (however long it may take them to do that). The total number of people who can spend that kind of time is pretty limited, but once a cheat is discovered, it spreads like wildfire, and before long, everyone is using it.

Someone who gets really good at the game can still be beat. Someone who becomes invincible can't. Playing against the former can actually make you a better player. Playing against the latter isn't really "playing" in any true sense of the word.

Disaster is avoidable, in some of the ways you've outlined, but only if developers are paying attention AND care enough to protect their games. So far, there aren't many 3rd parties putting any TLC into their games. We're still mostly getting the bottom of the barrel on Wii.

omghaha @ May 28th 2008 10:28AM

there was a cheat (custom .iso) for Mario Strikers Charged Football (all chars full powered)
but you could not play online with that.

nintendo1889 @ May 25th 2008 11:10PM

what about those games that Nintendo's afaid of releasing on the VC? Sure, Earthbound was rated on ESRB's website but what good did it do? None, unless someone can prove me otherwise. So, that's why the Homebrew Channel is more than fair. What's illegal about the ROM? They aren't actively selling it on the VC? Besides, other homebrewn, like media players. provide more flexibility for people who want to play various form of media besides .mov and .mp3/.aac format. But, I'd much rather run that stuff from a gamecube and not a wii; gamecubes are much easier to replace.

Haohmaru @ May 26th 2008 12:58AM

..So a game being rated but unreleased for a whole two weeks is how you're going to justify playing Earthbound without actually paying for it? Really? You fail at logic, and humanity. Please don't ever procreate.

Shogan @ May 26th 2008 3:07AM

I have exactly 71 Virtual Console games. I own most of the Arcade titles on XBLA (I passed on Centipede and a couple of others). If a game is available for me to purchase, I'll buy it. If some company is just sitting on the damn thing and not releasing it to the public, I'll play it via emulator until I can buy it.

I don't see anything wrong with playing classic arcade and console games through an emulator if there's no other option. Where can I buy Earthbound right now where the money will go to the developer? Nowhere in America that I'm aware of. There are hundreds of Arcade titles unavailable as well, including Nintendo's Arcade library.

monkeyninja @ May 26th 2008 12:36AM

would u have to probably have to delete it b4 a system update?

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ May 26th 2008 5:29AM

I think no need to worry.

After update the channel would simply stop working or just disappear (if N decided to let the homebrew folks know that they are on watchlist).

omghaha @ May 28th 2008 10:29AM

just check http://wiibrew.org b4 you do an update. they will tell you

KaBob799 @ May 26th 2008 12:48AM

Wait, what? Ive had a homebrew channel for a few weeks o.0

Sora267 @ May 26th 2008 11:13AM

You've had the 10 minute demo version. This is the full fledged beta, without the 10 minute restriction.

KaBob799 @ May 26th 2008 7:12PM

No..... its not as graphical but it doesnt have any limits.

Greg2k @ May 26th 2008 1:16AM

Works flawlessly with my December 2008 PAL Wii on the 3.2E firmware.

And I just love that fucking tune on the channel banner.

Greg2k @ May 26th 2008 1:17AM

Yepp, I meant 2006 =P

Danieru @ May 26th 2008 7:24AM

When I can load my old NTSC GC games on my PAL Wii, then I might look into this (SNES emulation does tempt me though - us Europeans still don't have Super Metroid on VC).

Greg2k @ May 26th 2008 7:32AM

Actually, we do have it. I've had it for over 4 months at least.

FLUP @ May 26th 2008 8:31AM

GC Linux won't load on my Wii... It stops at Freeing unused kernel memory.. or something like that.. it's been a few minutes since I was down there..

After a few minutes of sitting there the screen goes black and I can't do anything but force the Wii to shut down.

Anyone else have this problem?
Anyone know a way around it?

White Rose Duelist @ May 26th 2008 10:22AM

I don't suppose there's a version of the hack involving games other that TP? Everyone I know who has it has the GCN version, but I have access to every other major release.

Force73 @ May 26th 2008 11:48AM

it's so awesome :-) i am back right now from playing Monkey Island 1 ... using the wiimote works better if i am expected.

i never did some of this twilight-stuff before, and today i always loaded the ISO, burned it and installed the chan, no need for twilight-hack.

it's really comfortable, now there will be a (new) generation of Wii homebrew coders. nice thing. :-)

EcnobA @ May 26th 2008 1:18PM

I'm just waiting to play doom with the wiimote

mian @ May 26th 2008 5:49PM

You already can, though it's a much bigger hassle than Homebrew would make it. You need a PC with Bluetooth integrated or a Bluetooth dongle, GlovePIE and a compatible bluetooth driver.

andy @ May 26th 2008 6:56PM

This is cool and all, but I always feel like whenever something new is released in the wii homebrew scene, all the devs give you is the equivalent of a pile of legos with no instructions and only a blurry youtube video of the finished product.

andy @ May 26th 2008 7:03PM

Dammit. Ok I got the homebrew channel loaded and I started it up, but the problem is is that my pointer's movement within the channel is entirely inverted and the little hand is perpetually pointing downward. Anybody else have this problem, or know what to do?