Wii update removes homebrew capabilities

Nintendo has just released the new Menu Update 3.3 pack for the Wii. That's not something we'd normally report on, except that the primary function of this update has been to remove the capacity of Nintendo's motion-sensing console to launch homebrew applications and games.

Previously Wii homebrew was something that bedroom developers and code junkies had long tried to make a reality and had only been able to do so by exploiting a bug in the save game code for Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The bug in the game allowed unofficial third party software to be run from an SD card, giving amateur game makers a chance to play in Nintendo's sandbox.

For a time, it was good. Then someone managed to get the ScummVM emulator on the Wii and people could play those classic Lucasarts adventure games on their TVs and for a time it was frickin' excellent.

Now though, that time has come to an end and Nintendo has clamped down on what it views as illegal software due to the closed nature of the platform.

Nintendo is saying that the new update has been made in the interest of console owners and sayong "Because unauthorized modifications to save files may impair game play or the Wii Console, updating to Wii Menu version 3.3 will also check for and automatically remove such save files."

On the plus side, at least the new update also lets you move a Mii from the Mii Plaza to the Mii Parade! What else could you want from a Mii? Let us know in the forums.

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