Published on 01/28/2007
Looks like the Nintendo Wii has fallen prey to an illegal hack known as the Wiinja. The Wiinja mod chip requires a mere 5 wires to be soldered to the Wii, making the console capable of playing backup games (read: pirated) of the same region as the host Wii. Many claim that the Wiinja is a fake since the majority of mods used in consoles come in the 8-pin Programmable Micro-Controller variant, but there is also evidence that points toward the Wiinja's authenticity. Whether fake or real, I believe it is just a matter of time before such a chip becomes widely available. Hopefully the Big N would be able to release firmware updates that get around the Wiinja if possible. Curious readers can check out the Wiinja videos here.