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Wii Homebrew channel sneaks onto Wii U, sticks with what it knows
Back in 2010, Ninteno's waggle-riffic wonder would occasionally pulsate with a charming blue glow: update me, it said, I have hackers to fight. Although its efforts were quickly circumvented by Hackmii's LetterBomb installer, the Wii's 4.3 update was Nintendo's last stand against the homebrew community -- it hasn't offered an update since. That isn't to say Kyoto's game giant gave up, though; Wii U owners can find a tweaked version of the system menu hidden away in the system's backwards compatibility mode, featuring just enough updated code to block existing exploits. It didn't take the community long to catch up, though -- the homebrew channel was working its way onto select systems using tried and true methods since launch day. Now, the HackMii team has compiled an official installer, letting the average joe bypass the menu's IOS files with ease. Like the PlayStation Vita's PSP-based homebrew loader, this exploit is trapped in the sandbox of its original hardware, effectively blocking it from making the most of the Wii U's fancy internals. It's a modest start (and perhaps a little too easy), but its encouraging to see both Nintendo and the modding community sticking to their guns. Check out HackMii's fancywork at the source below, and give us a buzz if you manage to find your way outside of Nintendo's last-gen sandbox.
LetterBomb does game-free Wii hacking for System Menu 4.3
The myth of the unhackable Wii has long since been put to rest, but that hasn't stopped intrepid homebrew enthusiasts from coming up with new exploits. Case in point: LetterBomb. This particular Wii hack is a follow-up to BannerBomb, which was billed as a replacement for Twilight Hack -- all of which are capable of launching the homebrew channel sans hardware mods. BannerBomb stopped short at Menu 4.2, but LetterBomb is carrying the exploit banner, so to speak, for the next generation. Utilizing the console's Message Board, the hack requires an SD card, a Wii running System Menu 4.3, and a Wii MAC address. If you're looking to get your game-free Wii hack on, check out the source link for the full rundown.
Hackers obtain PS3 private cryptography key due to epic programming fail? (update)
The 27th annual Chaos Communication Conference already hacked encrypted GSM calls with a $15 cellphone, but there was a second surprise in store this morn -- the souls who unlocked the Nintendo Wii's homebrew potential (and defended it time and again) claim to have broken into the PlayStation 3 as well. Last we left the black monolith, Sony had won a round, forcing the community to downgrade their firmware for any hope at hacking into the console. Well, the newly formed fail0verflow hacking squad says that won't be a problem any longer, because they've found a way to get the PS3 to reveal its own private cryptography key -- the magic password that could let the community sign its very own code. So far, the team hasn't provided any proof that the deed's been done, but they have provided quite an extensive explanation of how they managed the feat: apparently, Sony didn't bother generating any random numbers to secure the blasted thing. (We don't really know how it works, but we have it on good authority that dead cryptography professors are rapidly spinning in their graves.) The group intends to generate a proof-of-concept video tomorrow, and release the tools sometime next month, which they claim should eventually enable the installation of Linux on every PS3 ever sold. Catch the whole presentation after the break in video form, or skip to 33:00 for the good stuff. Update: The proof-of-concept vid is a bit underwhelming -- fail0verflow had to SSH into a PS3 over ethernet -- but it's here nonetheless. See it after the break, and find the team's full set of presentation slides at our more coverage link. [Thanks, Paolo S.]
Hackers claim discovery of PS3 'private key,' enabling unauthorized code [Update]
During the ongoing Chaos Communication Conference 27C3, the hackers responsible for the Wii's Homebrew Channel, calling themselves fail0verflow, gave a presentation in which they claimed to have figured out the "private key" used by Sony to authorize code to run on retail PS3 systems. This means, as a PSX-Scene forum post puts it, giving a hacker "full control of the PS3 system," without the use of a USB device. The group will explain more when its website launches, and also plans to show a demo tomorrow at the conference. This hack is designed not to enable PS3 game piracy (though it might have that effect) but, according to a tweet by fail0verview, to enable Linux to run on all PS3s, "whatever their firmware versions." Update: Find video of the full presentation after the break, courtesy of PSGroove. [Thanks, Liam]
Hacker's security concerns elicit response from 'Nin Tendo,' Nintendo
Last week, while most gamers were off writing screeds about their disappointment with E3, Wii hacker bushing was drafting an open letter to Nintendo stating that he and fellow coders had found an exploit that allows stock Wii consoles to play copied games, and seeking cooperation from Nintendo to patch this hole in such a way that homebrew is left alone. He quickly received a response from Nintendo -- or, rather, a Gmail address for "Nin Tendo." "Tyson Green" (also the name of the Halo 3 Multiplayer Design Lead) sent a curt message stating that while Nintendo didn't approve of people messing around with their console, he wanted to talk about this piracy issue.Of course, that one is a fake, as are many of the responses posted. But bushing indicated that, while most of the emails he received and posted were fake, he did in fact receive correspondence from the for-real Nintendo.[Via DCEmu]
