Hacker's security concerns elicit response from 'Nin Tendo,' Nintendo

by JC Fletcher { Jul 21st 2008 at 10:00PM }

Last week, while most gamers were off writing screeds about their disappointment with E3, Wii hacker bushing was drafting an open letter to Nintendo stating that he and fellow coders had found an exploit that allows stock Wii consoles to play copied games, and seeking cooperation from Nintendo to patch this hole in such a way that homebrew is left alone.

He quickly received a response from Nintendo -- or, rather, a Gmail address for "Nin Tendo." "Tyson Green" (also the name of the Halo 3 Multiplayer Design Lead) sent a curt message stating that while Nintendo didn't approve of people messing around with their console, he wanted to talk about this piracy issue.

Of course, that one is a fake, as are many of the responses posted. But bushing indicated that, while most of the emails he received and posted were fake, he did in fact receive correspondence from the for-real Nintendo.

[Via DCEmu]

Tags: exploit, hackmii, piracy

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gun Barrier (Gamer Tag) @ Jul 21st 2008 10:19PM

I don't understand, lol.

So is this hacker, real? Is he helping Nintendo?

klepto88 @ Jul 21st 2008 10:27PM

I was seething with rage when I saw this on the HackMii blog. "bushing" can take his morality and and shove it. You call yourself a hacker? What a fracking sell-out.

Mr.ESC @ Jul 21st 2008 11:14PM

Please die in a fire.

Signed:Nin-tendo.

Mr Khan @ Jul 21st 2008 10:35PM

I laughed for a minute straight at that picture

Sonic_13 @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:07AM

Lol. That letter is great.

theclaw @ Jul 21st 2008 10:58PM

Someone needs to arrest this idiot. He's got no evidence of these likely bogus claims.

Badaro @ Jul 21st 2008 11:37PM

Considering he's one of the people responsible for the Twilight Hack, I doubt his claims are bogus.

Feba @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:30AM

Good for him. It would be great if he could use this as a way to get a foot in the door with Nintendo. "Homebrew Channel" officially downloadable through Wii Shop, with hefty disclaimers, anyone? I'd install that in a heartbeat. Nintendo could appreciate the ability to keep things legal, homebrewers would have a much larger audience, and Wii owners would have more software. It's a win for everyone.

klepto: Hacking is about the spread of knowledge. Not about about exploiting someone else's flaws for your own gain. Whether you agree with copyright law or not, publishing this without helping Nintendo to protect against it would not have accomplished any good.

theclaw: Arrest him for what? He's committed no crimes. Even if he put this utility out, he would likely be untouchable, as long as he doesn't distribute the games himself.

Patius @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:00AM

Jeeze, you guys seem mad.

You do realize that by telling Nintendo, he is making us look good, right.

If we keep being nice to them, they might be nice to homebrewers next time around.

joemontana @ Jul 23rd 2008 8:40AM

psss.... in your dreams.

i seriously doubt that ninty would allow homebrewers of any level to play around for free in any next release or whatever. otherwise they wouldn't make money off developers licensing stuff and deals.

being nice is merely a matter of... being nice. end of story.

hvnlysoldr @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:30AM

I don't like coffee so I never learned how to brew it let alone home brew it.

What do you mean it's entirely different? Well forget it. Got to search for a suitable mate to replace the parrot in my avatar.

Anticrawl @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:28AM

Clearly some of you folk lack the understanding of what a hacker and what a cracker is. The man or group of people metioned in this post are truely hackers in the most strict of senses.

Metalluz @ Jul 22nd 2008 6:58AM

is it just me or this is a huge "gimme fame" thing? I believe he did find some minor hole, but disclosing it to nintendo so he can have a "legit" homebrew channel? that allows little things like playing illigal roms in emulators per example? C'MON, like the big N is going to make that effort...

Feba @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:54AM

First of all, read the source page. Secondly, pay attention.

All he did was post a note on his blog about modifying Wiis that he had found a security hole in the Wii which could allow easy pirating, and that he wanted to talk to someone from Nintendo to work it out. He is also apparently trying to get them to work WITH him to correct it WITHOUT impacting Homebrew. This is hardly an effort to get fame for himself.

The idea to use this as a way to get a foot in the door with Nintendo was MY hope for where this could lead. And obviously, the biggest benefit for Nintendo to work with homebrew is that they could squash out things like that, or at least set them back by taking away a lot of support for homebrew outside of Nintendo's permitted stuff (by permitting legitimate user created software, and getting rid of illegal stuff). It would allow them to put a barrier between themselves and homebrew content, while still encouraging people to develop. They could have downloadable, user made games, without having to worry about clogging Wii Shop with things nobody wants to spend their bandwidth on.

Metalluz @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:27PM

I've read it right, you just happen to have a different opinion... I still believe it's bogus, I understand his effort, but the big N isn't even going to take the tradeoff seriously. Although they could try to keep the homebrew legit, it sure opens alot more space for illegal homebrew to appear.

Gemini Ace @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:10AM

At least Nintendo isn't like Sony who patches the PSP constantly to try to squash this type of thing.

nirniva @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:17AM

The picture is brilliant.

Q-Kid-Kyle @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:39AM

so, let me get this straight - either one or a groupd of people from Team Twiizers found a glitch in the system allowing access to copied discs on a stock console. He posted a blog post or email or something saying he wants to talk to someone at nintendo about it. He wants it to be a trade-off - he helps rid them of that problem in exchange for them leaving HomeBrew alone.

Amirite? Is this correct?