4.3: The Worst Nintendo Could Do

Its been a while since Nintendo released a system update, so perhaps another update will be released soon. If their previous attempts at blocking homebrew are anything to go by, the next update will have little effect on homebrew. However, lets speculate on the worst thing that Nintendo could possibly do to disable homebrew (besides bricking any wii that has homebrew, of course). After all, their updates have done unexpected things before.

For the sake of discussion, lets assume that the next system menu will be 4.3 and that it will use IOS 80. Perhaps Nintendo will update boot2 to verify the signature of the system menu IOS, and also refuse to boot if the system menu uses an IOS below IOS 80. IOS 80 could then verify the signature and version number of the system menu, preventing the system menu from being patched or downgraded. Finally, the signature of everything or the wii could be verified when the wii is turned on and anything fakesigned deleted. If this is too time consuming, a scan could be performed in the background while the system menu is running, and the signature of all channels could be verified before launching them.

This would cause signficant problems, as it would make it very difficult to install or modify anything on the wii. However, the good news is that it would hurt pirates the most.

Any thoughts on whether this is possible, any reason Nintendo would not do this or something similar to it, or anything else that Nintendo could do that would cause signficant problems for homebrew?

I don't think they would do that, because I honestly don't see a simple way of implementing such checks. However, I could be wrong. Such checks would also require large parts of their SDK to be rewritten, as I see it. Thus hurting WiiWare, which would cause financial issues for Nintendo. I am just talking out of my ass here, and could be totally wrong.

I can't see how this would require an SDK rewrite. All of this can be done with existing system calls. I also can't see how this would hurt WiiWare in any way. Granted, it would make the Wii somewhat slower, and Nintendo would botch it somehow.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2010 01:02PM by WikiFSX.

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WikiFSX
I can't see how this would require an SDK rewrite. All of this can be done with existing system calls. I also can't see how this would hurt WiiWare in any way. Granted, it would make the Wii somewhat slower, and Nintendo would botch it somehow.

Yeah, I was really talking out of my ass in a sleep deprived state. I currently have no idea what I was going on about =p

At least, after everything from the 4.3 update is installed, the wii could reload to an IOS installed with the update, ensuring that it won't have the trucha bug. Then, the signature of everything on the wii could be verified, and everything fakesigned deleted. It would not matter how long this takes, since updates are expected to take a while anyway.

The important thing when the wii boots is for boot2 to verify that the system menu uses IOS 80 or higher (to prevent downgrading) and verify the signature of the system menu IOS. Then, the system menu IOS can verify the version number and signature of the system menu. Also, the signature of a channel can be verified before launching it. I doubt that any of this would take very long. After all, it doesn't take very long for the system menu to verify the signature of a game before launching it. Also, boot0 verifies boot1, and boot1 verifies the signature of boot2 already, yet it doesn't take very long for the wii to boot.

If I remember correctly, at one time it was suspected that boot2 did verify signatures, and that the signatures of channels were verified. Why would this be unlikely or hard to implement in the future? Still, going by past experience, Nintendo will probably never succeed in causing signficant harm to homebrew.

Aren't you just tipping them off here!!

Who cares? It would probably affect pirates the most anyway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2010 07:58PM by jbc007.

If they actually manage to block homebrew in 4.3 we could still just stay on the versions we are now.

For whatever reason, many people will update anyway. However, there really isn't any reason to do so. I currently have 3.2, and probably will never update.

heh there are so many of these topics now :P mebbe they all should be combined into one.

I Know The Worst Thing Nintendo Did To My Wii:
Nintendo Blocked My Wiikey 2 Modchip :( 20 BUCKS DOWN THE DRAIN
Even Though I Blocked WiFi-Updates