Wii FreeLoader gives you region-free gaming without the mods

This one has been in the works for a while, but it looks like you can finally pick up your very own region-free enabler for the Wii for $19.99. Wii FreeLoader allows you to play any GameCube or Wii game from any region on your Wii. You just stick the FreeLoader disc into the console, let it spin up, eject the disc and stick in your title of choice -- like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, for instance, or some cooking-related title. Since there's no hardware modding required, this one theoretically won't void your warranty, but who's to say how Nintendo will treat you if you somehow break your Wii with it, and there's always the fear that Nintendo will hit your Wii with a mandatory software update that breaks FreeLoader, so proceed with caution. Or don't, so much confusing entertainment awaits you!

[Via Wii News]

[Curtis Joslin @ Feb 28th 2008 2:54PM]

Imports FTW!

[Liam @ Feb 28th 2008 6:25PM]

Bloody No More Heroes FTW!

(I live in the UK)

[Mickel @ Feb 28th 2008 2:55PM]

So can you played "Back-up" copies or your games too now?

[JC @ Feb 28th 2008 3:12PM]

RTFA

[SteveJ @ Feb 28th 2008 3:28PM]

Uh... the article makes absolutely no mention of whether or not it allows play of backups, but going on how freeloader worked on the Gamecube, the answer is surely no.

[ssuk @ Feb 28th 2008 5:06PM]

No, you CANNOT play backup coppies of games through the Freeloader. I hope Nintendo DOESN'T block this, because all it will do is speed up homebrew freeloaders through the Twilight Hack which will inevitably lead to piracy, here there is little chance of this.

[KangMin @ Feb 28th 2008 2:57PM]

how cumbersom...

[Andy @ Feb 28th 2008 2:59PM]

And the alternative being what? Some soldering?

[ssuk @ Feb 28th 2008 5:07PM]

Worked well enough on the Gamecube.

[Liam @ Feb 28th 2008 6:26PM]

Andy makes a good point. This is utterly painless.

[lonecow12 @ Feb 28th 2008 3:00PM]

Hauruhi Suzumiya Wii will now be preordered.

[farfisa @ Feb 28th 2008 3:03PM]

Should be the "Fwiiloader." I fink, anyway.

[Nick @ Feb 28th 2008 3:06PM]

Freeloader... but its not Free. interesting.

[wootman @ Feb 28th 2008 4:02PM]

i dont think he said freedom, jc. -_-
its a freeloader, meaning it leaches off of your wii.
i think.

[Abuzar @ Feb 28th 2008 4:19PM]

Wow nice messages on your website.

The "threat" of Islam?!

You're freaking horrible.

[JC @ Feb 28th 2008 5:12PM]

@Abuzar: Not my website, so chill out.

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 28th 2008 9:15PM]

JC is a Decepticon! Attack!

[BigD145 @ Feb 28th 2008 3:25PM]

I can finally make backups of my games? Cool. For $20, it's worth the risk. Nintendo should let it do its thing mainly because sales of multiple copies of games will shoot up in the US. People will buy their day 1 release of a Japanese copy and then grab the US one when it finally hits several months down the road.

[BigD145 @ Feb 28th 2008 3:28PM]

Ah, I see there is NO mention of backups. My last statement still stands.

[ssuk @ Feb 28th 2008 5:12PM]

'Backups' are unfortunately just pirated games half the time. And although it's nice to have backups of media, piracy will ultimately ruin it for us legit users and this thing will get blocked by firmware updates. So for now, I'm happy with just imports.

[Anthony @ Feb 28th 2008 6:45PM]

I have never needed a backup of any of my games. Even my NES cartridges still work. I don't think I'm particularly careful with my media.

[BigD145 @ Feb 28th 2008 8:06PM]

@John Cartridges and optical disks are not the same. They have completely different wear and tear.

---Why, exactly, does engadget have such a difficult reply system.---

[BigD145 @ Feb 28th 2008 8:08PM]

Strike that @. I am having such a bad day, today. My bios decided to change it's HD boot order and kept giving me a "ntldr missing" error.

[Jason @ Feb 28th 2008 8:19PM]

"Backups" aren't pirated game half of the time. They're pirated games nearly 100% of the time. That's just a nicer way of saying "pirated" games out in the public.

Anyway, even a region free Wii would make this worth while. The Japanese Wii games are usually released much sooner than the US version. By the time we see those US releases, the Japanese ones are sold at discount as older games...

[Matt @ Feb 28th 2008 3:34PM]

I wonder how long this will last? I'm sure Nintendo will disable it in a future update.
And how did they get Nintendo's signature? Hopefully they didn't use the methods as the recently released Trucha Signer. Nintendo could then kill two birds with one stone (or in this case one patch).

[John McPoop @ Feb 28th 2008 6:26PM]

Tell me why Nintendo would want to block this. I can't see a reason why.

[Matt @ Feb 28th 2008 6:30PM]

The same reason they implemented region lockout in the first place.
Also, does this do anything about the system updates? Those can result in a bricked/semi-bricked wii and duplicate channels. And does it work better than current modchips?

[John McPoop @ Feb 28th 2008 6:35PM]

I cant say for sure. But I know the original Game Cube freeloader worked like a charm. I can't see it bricking your console. All you do is pop it in and I suppose it somehow loads another region code.

I still do not understand why Nintendo region locked the system to begin with. Explain to me why it is a good idea. The PS3 is not region locked but the 360 and Wii are. If I remember correct the wii was supposed to be region free for first party titles but that idea was scrapped.

[John McPoop @ Feb 28th 2008 6:38PM]

As far as mod Chips well i would say it works MUCH better. You do not have to mod your console (illegal to trade in such parts and actually voids your warranty). But, I do not see why the updates would be mandatory unless they are needed to play newer releases. But compared to a Mod Chip for the purpose of just playing import games it works a lot better. I still use my Game Cube one to play imported One Piece and Naruto games.

[BigD145 @ Feb 28th 2008 8:04PM]

Region codes are for sales. If they were for anything but profit, I wouldn't have to use region-free software on my PC in order to get around the onboard cd/dvd region settings that can only be changed something like 3 or 5 times and then it locks you out forever.

[John McPoop @ Feb 28th 2008 10:00PM]

@BigD @ANYONE!!!

Maybe im a bit thick or I am just missing something but how does region coding equate to more sales? I do not understand the concept. For instance, if I import a Japanese game that will be here in the states in 2 months (Smash Bros brawl For Example) and I am able to play it with this device I fail to see how Nintendo would lose ANY monies. They are still selling the game to me.

I am not being sarcastic I would just really like some insight here. As I said maybe I am missing something here.

[snazz @ Mar 1st 2008 7:31AM]

Because John, to truly own a market... you must control it first.

[ssuk @ Feb 28th 2008 4:10PM]

Finally!! As a PAL gamer, I import a lot and this is only but good news. Fuck Nintendo Europe's waits, UK pricing and 50hz only games.

[emazzuca @ Feb 28th 2008 4:29PM]

Hmm found this information about the Wii-Freeloader

"This item does not play backup games or Wii import games, only original Gamecube import games!!"

from http://www.videogameaction.com/frforgaandwi.html

I guess it doesn't play "Back-ups"

And it doesn't play Wii imported games,, only gamecube?

this sure sucks

[Calviin @ Feb 28th 2008 4:36PM]

You're reading an old review of a previous version of this product.

[ssuk @ Feb 28th 2008 5:15PM]

That's because it's a Gamecube freeloader which was updated to bi-pass the recent ActionReplay blocks imposed on later Wii firmware versions. This news item is about a new Wii Freeloader which works for Wii and GC games.

[Emil @ Feb 28th 2008 4:36PM]

You do know though that you were looking at another product, don't you? You are looking at the cube freeloader, which of course would only play cube games.

The only relation to the Wii is that the latest version of the cube freeloader also worked on the Wii, meaning that you could also trick the cube mode of the Wii to play imported cube games.

[LI @ Feb 28th 2008 5:38PM]

Where is it going to be sold? Datel's website is a labyrinth leading to a whole lotta nothin'. Is there already an online distributor or are we going to have to skip over to our local chinatown gaming stores for this one?

[Backlin @ Feb 28th 2008 6:19PM]

Are those 360 Dashboard blades on the side of the box?

[John McPoop @ Feb 28th 2008 6:23PM]

I had the Game Cube freeloader and it worked like a charm. I don't see why Nintendo would even bother blocking this with an update. it would just mean more games for more Wii owners. Its not like they would lose any money.

[Liam @ Feb 28th 2008 6:28PM]

Yeah, either way, they've done they need to do to placate the publishers. Then again, the big three do have a history of pissing off their core audience.

[umm....hello??? @ Feb 28th 2008 7:01PM]

...it's not like there's a whole lot of imported games I have to play anyway, but at least it's a nice option.

ps- why is joystiq's comment section all f***ed up?

[taco @ Feb 28th 2008 7:55PM]

With the US dollar getting so weak right now, this freeloader makes perfect financial sense.

living in Australia, if I buy 1 game at US$50, plus the freeloader for US$20, plus postage from play-asia at US$4, that comes out to AU$78.90. Add foreign currency conversion fee from the bank (I think it's 2%) and that's AU$80.50

RRP in Australia for Wii games is AU$99.90, so this represents a potential saving of around AU$20 on your first import purchase!

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 28th 2008 9:32PM]

Great, now I can play games that I can't understand.

[webon @ Feb 28th 2008 11:17PM]

Sorry 4 my ignorance, but thoes this mean I can purchase a Wii in Japan and the play US games?

[Enki @ Feb 29th 2008 2:13AM]

Thats a great question. Where I live, I haven't been able to find a Wii available for purchase for over a year now.

[John T. @ Mar 1st 2008 2:07PM]

So this is available now, right> I went to their online store and it is supposedly available.

[alegria690 @ Mar 2nd 2008 6:39AM]

sorry for sounding so dumb but where can I get this. I've had a wii fit in my closet since my gf brought it to me from Osaka for christmas. Th only one i saw online says it doesn't work on wii games

[acdc_rulz @ Mar 6th 2008 9:45PM]

Has anyone tried to use Wii Freeloader with a Wii Fit from Japan? I just bought a Wii Fit in Japan and ordered this CD. I hope it(Wii FreeLoader) bypasses the region lock and any firmware update pushed by Wii Fit. I think my U.S. Wii is running 3.1.

Thanks.

[alegria690 @ Mar 6th 2008 11:02PM]

i ordered the Wii loader and I am waiting for it to get here so I can see if the wii fit will work.