DigiTimes is reporting, through various sources in Taiwan, that Nintendo has altered the circuitry of the recently manufactured Wii gaming consoles; the bottom line – modding a system will no longer work and could potentially damage the entire console.

A Wii mod chip is quite useful for allowing us to back up our game copies or play games in other regions; alternatively, they also permit the play of illegal unauthorized copies which is the sole reason behind Nintendo’s actions.

Soon after the release of the Wii, five mod chips were available: The Wiinja, WiiXT, CycloWiz, WiiKey, and Wiip; all Wii mod chips are reported to be extremely easy to install, and some offer more by adding homebrew capabilities.

DigiTimes’ sources indicated that a more logical mod chip should be expected in one month; however, providers of Wii modification services in Taiwan think efforts by Nintendo to circumvent modding could delay hackers up to 4 months.

Nintendo’s immense profits are mostly attributed to hardware sales, as they don’t necessarily feel the financial ripples that illegal software usage causes the gaming industry; but they’re still looking out for the software makers.

As for gamers, those who have an older Wii can mod to their heart’s desire; the rest of us will be lucky to even find a Wii before a fixed mod chip is available.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 1:32 pm under Piracy.

Read more entries by George Gardner.
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