[Theory] Nintendo made rounded discs and a separate Wii channel for the same reason: Piracy prevention
Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Rumors, Wii U | 4 Comments

It seems odd that Nintendo would choose to force you to boot up a separate channel altogether if you want to play Wii games/old downloaded titles on the Wii U, doesn’t it? After all, every prior backwards-compatible Nintendo console just lets you play previous-generation games in the same way that you play the proprietary games on the system. Even 3DS puts your DSiWare titles on the main menu, as though they’re eShop games.
So why the change?
Well, I have a theory. You know how Wii U discs have rounded edges? At first I thought that was just a nice little touch to make people enjoy touching the sides of their games more (which admittedly did happen), but after a real examination of it I came to the conclusion that it was probably done to prevent piracy. After all, if you illegally download a pirated Wii U game onto an regular disc– no matter how good your Wii U hack or homebrew channel is– the console will just say “Hey dude, this disc doesn’t have rounded edges! It must not be a real Wii U game!”, spitting it back out and thus preventing you from pirating Wii U games. At least until someone gets a workaround.
But wait!, I thought, If it can’t read “regular” edge’d discs, how will it read the good ol’ Wii discs!?
Thus we begin to understand why Nintendo might have put in a separate channel for Wii games. When you open up the channel, it tells the system “Okay dawg, reboot yourself and drop the whole ‘No Reading Regular Disc Shapes’ thing for a bit.”
Then when you go back into “Wii U” mode, it turns the safety check back on.
Just a thought. And I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case! Anyone else come to different conclusions?
Rumor: Rayman Legends releasing on February 26
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Wii U | 0 comments
Up to this point, Ubisoft has only offered a nebulous “Q1 2013” date for Rayman Legends. But based on a new report, a specific date of February 26 could be set.
We’ll wait for an official confirmation before getting too excited. If true though, the game would only be three months away from launching.
Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 screenshots/art
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Screenshots, Wii U | 0 comments
Wii Mini: no SD card slot
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
The Canadian-exclusive Wii Mini console will not contain an SD card slot. This may not seem like too big of a deal, but its disappearance means that you won’t be able to transfer save data. You can’t move saves from a standard Wii to the Wii Mini, and vice versa.
In related news, Nintendo of Canada’s Matt Ryan commented on the difference between the Wii Mini and Wii U markets:
“… they are two very different products for a different type of player. It really depends on the experience that players want and their preferred investment in their gaming console. If a player just wants to play Wii games, Wii mini is a great choice at a great price. If the player wants more from their system, Wii U is the latest innovation of fun from Nintendo.”
Official Nintendo Magazine review scores – Christmas 2012
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
This month’s ONM review scores are as follows:
Nintendo Land – 90%
ZombiU – 92%
FIFA 13 – 80%
New Super Mario Bros. U – 86%
Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition – 88%
Paper Mario: Sticker Star – 83%
Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion – 60%
Virtue’s Last Reward – 88%
Hana Samurai Art of The Sword – 80%
Liberation Maiden – 75%
New Style Boutique – 68%
Mole Mania – 70%
Mad Dog McCree – 15%
Samurai G – 38%
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D – 51%
Epic Mickey The Power of 2 – 80%
WWE ’13 – 78%
Skylanders Giants – 63%
Jewel Master Cradle of Egypt 2 – 55%
18th Gate – 40%
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
Takashi Tezuka’s Miiverse message
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
Pretty neat that we can see things like this in Miiverse…
Injustice: Gods Among Us shows Deathstroke in action
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
Photos from the UK Wii U launch
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Images, Wii U | 0 comments
Photos of the PS2 to Wii U/Wii controller adapter
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Images, Wii U | 0 comments
Wii U browser can play MP4 files from a computer
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
The Wii U browser has a bit of a secret video playback function. It would appear that most, if not all, MP4 video files should be viewable through a computer.
Essentially, all that’s required is to set up a simple web server and upload the desired files. Then visit the server by entering your IP address in the URL bar, click on the video you wish to see, and that’s it! There’s a slightly more in-depth explanation here.
Video playback is limited to MP4 files. Other file types such as AVI and MKV aren’t compatible.
Thanks to Jackson for the tip.