Beware Wii Firmware Update v3.4: contains homebrew blocks

October 24, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Wii News

Wii Firmware Update v3.4 - Blocks Hombrew Channel & More - Image 1 Nintendo has released Wii Firmware Update v3.4. To the shock and disdain of the Wiibrew community, the update seems to contain measures that block the use of homebrew.

The measures of blocking seems to be more aggressive towards homebrew than update v3.3 was, as this update prevents new installations of the Homebrew Channel.

The full magnitude of the blockage has not been recorded by the community yet though. Here are some unconfirmed info from NES-hacks:

Installed WADS will still work as long as you dont use WAD manager (Channels will disappear)
Homebrew Channel still works but some apps wont
Modchips are NOT affected
Backup Loader still works
GeckoOS still works
You CANNOT install WADs after you update to 3.4
Region Changer will NOT work
Downgrader will NOT work

And some more info from Dydjnamite23 of tehskeen:

A. Does it affect WADs?
- If you had the most recent cIOS, I believe that WAD Manager 1.21 STILL works (it does for some i believe…), Unsure though!!

B. Does it affect HBC?
- If you had yours already installed, it doesn’t, but it seems to block new installations of it.

C. Does it affect Already installed games?
- In no way this upgrade affects anything already installed, unless it is something that must use a IOS, because they have been patched.

D. Can you downgrade and have the Shop Channel working?
- I think you can’t downgrade for the time being, so nobody can test if you can enter the WSChannel after downgrading.

Apparently, the firmware update also blocks fake signed IOSs. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. If you update, you’ll be able to access the Wii Shop Channel, but your access to homebrew will be crippled. On the other hand, if you don’t update, you won’t be able to access the Shop, but your homebrew will be safe.

Easiest solution: don’t update yet. At least until Team Twiizers or waninkoko come up with something. After all, firmware 3.3 was bypassed in short order.