Nintendo Alters Wii To Block Modchips
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
Reports in Taiwan indicate that Nintendo may be altering the circuit board layout of the Wii to make mod chips more difficult to install. According to Digitimes, however, new modchips to deal with the changed layout may be less than a month away. While these changes probably won’t be difficult to work around, other mod chip installers believe that there are more complex methods available to Nintendo to block modifications for a longer period of time.
Read More 
| Digitimes
Gallery: Nintendo Alters Wii To Block Modchips
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Xbox 360 Security Hole Revealed, Already Patched
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
The Bugtraq mailing list recently published the details of an unsigned code execution security hole on the Xbox 360. The timeline of the security hole would seem to make this vulnerability the same one demonstrated at last year’s 23C3 Hacker Congress, as seen in this excerpt:
Timeline:
Oct 31, 2006 - release of 4532 kernel, which is the first version
containing the bug
Nov 16, 2006 - proof of concept completed; unsigned code running in
hypervisor context
Nov 30, 2006 - release of 4548 kernel, bug still not fixed
Dec 15, 2006 - first attempt to contact vendor to report bug
Dec 30, 2006 - public demonstration
Jan 03, 2007 - vendor contact established, full details disclosed
Jan 09, 2007 - vendor releases patch
Feb 28, 2007 - full public release
The public demonstration date is key; that would be the same date of the anonymous Xbox 360 hacker video release. Further, the overview of the vulnerability claims:
We have discovered a vulnerability in the Xbox 360 hypervisor that allows
privilege escalation into hypervisor mode. Together with a method to
inject data into non-privileged memory areas, this vulnerability allows
an attacker with physical access to an Xbox 360 to run arbitrary code
such as alternative operating systems with full privileges and full
hardware access.
According to the release, Microsoft has patched the vulnerability as of January 9th, but then Sony thought they had patched the Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories security hole as well. The existence of such a vulnerability indicates that the security of the Xbox 360 isn’t as bulletproof as Microsoft intended, and it would seem a mere matter of time before another exploitable hole is found to enable homebrew development on the system.
Read More | SecurityFocus via Xbox Scene
Gallery: Xbox 360 Security Hole Revealed, Already Patched
Internal Wavebird Mod For Wii
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
One of the mods for the Gamecube has resurfaced for the Wii. Gamers were originally able to internalize the receiver for the Wavebird controller on their Gamecubes to get the dongle out of site. With the sleek lines of the Wii, the wireless receiver can be even more of an eyesore. Now, the classic mod has been updated to work with the Wii, thanks to foobar2k at the MaxConsole forums. The mod does require the disassembly of the Wavebird receiver and some soldering, and of course will void your Wii warrantee; in fact, foobar2k managed to break the DVD drive cable on the Wii while trying this mod. Still, those with a little soldering skill and a lot of caution can internalize the wireless receiver while keeping the ability to use the first wired port as well.
Read More | MaxConsole Forums
Gallery: Internal Wavebird Mod For Wii
Wii Modchips Materialize
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
A couple of modchips for the Nintendo Wii have surfaced on the web lately; the first would be the Wiinja chip, a bare chip mod. The second is a little more interesting, promising more in its featureset. Maxconsole reports that the CycloWiz mod solution for the Wii may be arriving as early as this week. The developers at Teamcyclops promise support for Wii backups, Gamecube Backups, and Gamecube homebrew games in an easy to install quicksolder package. The chip itself doesn’t seem to have a method to update it, and it doesn’t currently support Wii import gaming. Overall, though, the chip is an interesting start if hack does what it promises.
Read More | Maxconsole
Gallery: Wii Modchips Materialize
The Industrial Wiibot
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Wii,
It looks like someone has found yet another use for Nintendo’s Wiimote: controlling an industrial robot. A couple of engineers at USMechatronics put together a software control program that let them control a Kuka KR16 industrial robot. Unfortunately, time limitations didn’t let them implement a real-time control scheme, but what they came up with is still pretty cool. Using existing PC driver software for the Wiimote and some custom VB.Net code, USM built a simple pattern recognition engine that would let the robot play back pre-recorded movements based on their similarity to the motions that the user would attempt with the Wiimote. The video shows off some of the results, some with a tennis racket mounted, and others with a sword. Handing a weapon to an industrial robot might just be how the robot revolution begins, but given the fact that other projects at the company include robotic sentry guns, it would appear that the company has ample methods to defend itself.
Read More | USMechatronics
Gallery: The Industrial Wiibot
Xbox 360 Controller Tilt Mod
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Xbox 360,
Enterprising gamer Adam Thole hacked together a tilt sensor for the Xbox 360 controller. The modification essentially replaces the functionality of one of the analog sticks on the Xbox 360; this allows existing games to use the tilt functionality. Thole has also published a video of the controller in use. The functionality doesn’t look bad, and might give an idea of how such control might be integrated into games.
Read More | Adam Thole
Gallery: Xbox 360 Controller Tilt Mod
PS2 Backups Booting On PS3
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3,
Some enterprising gamer has figured out how to boot PS2 backups on the Playstation 3, assuming that one is willing to dismantle the PS3 and cut a hole in the top cover. Basically, the swap trick is an implementation of an existing hack used on the older Playstation 2 machines. The mod is interesting mainly because it shows off how deep the hardware compatibility for PS2 games goes, but if one really wanted to play back up Playstation 2 software, it probably makes a little more sense to pick up a cheap slimline PS2 and a Swap Magic disc rather than voiding the warrantee and risking the health of a $500 to $600 game console.
Read More | PS2 Scene
Gallery: PS2 Backups Booting On PS3
Anonymous Hacker Shows Xbox 360 Exploit
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Xbox 360,
Videos have surfaced of what appears to be an Xbox 360 hack being used to run custom code on the console. At the 23C3 Hacker Congress in Germany, an anonymous hacker brings an Xbox 360 with some kind of hardware modification on stage and proceeds to demonstrate running custom code via an exploit that appears to exist in Ubisoft’s King Kong. The video uploaded to YouTube eventually shows a moving logo apparently offering Linux and OS X on the console, “coming soon.” No other details have been released at this point, so it is hard to gauge the feasibility of the hack. Having this hack appear at the 23C3 Hacker Congress event hosted by the Chaos Computer Club gives this demonstration more weight than a random Internet video, but homebrew developers are taking a wait-and-see stance at this point until more details surface.
Read More | Xbox-Scene
Gallery: Anonymous Hacker Shows Xbox 360 Exploit
Unofficial USB Network Dongle For Wii Found
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Wii,
Wii owners with wireless networks have support out of the box, but those still operating with wired networks have had only a couple options: either purchase the USB WiFi dongle for one of their PCs, or wait for Nintendo’s official USB wired network adapter. Now, there is a third option. Some forum members from Nintendo’s official forums have found a USB network adapter that will work with the Wii. According to posts on the forum, the KINAMAX USB 2.0 to RJ45 Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Network Adapter will work correctly when connected to the USB port of the Wii. The adapter runs about $20, and should be a good option for those too impatient to wait for an official solution from Nintendo. One of the forum members has uploaded a video showing the adapter in action to YouTube, linked above. Of course, as a non-official solution, users with this adapter should not expect to get any support from Nintendo should any issues arise.
Read More | Nintendo Forums via Game|Life
Gallery: Unofficial USB Network Dongle For Wii Found
Sony Issues Firmware Update For 1080i Issues
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
Last night, Sony made a new firmware update available for the Playstation 3. Listed as version 1.3, the update is supposed to fix some of the issues people have been having with 1080i resolutions on their consoles. However, according to 1up, Sony attempted to fix the issue by boosting the priority for the 1080i resolution, which in effect breaks functionality for users HDTV sets that have native resolutions that support 720p.
Previously, users with 720p panels could enable both 720p and 1080i in their system settings, and when possible, the system would display content in the native resolution. Now with 1080i preferred, the system defaults to a resolution that requires the HDTV set to scale the video. The “fix” also doesn’t take care of the core issue: 1080i only users will still have the scaling issues that they had before, and 720p issues will have to toggle 1080i support on for Blu-Ray playback, and off for games if they want the best possible experience for their display. Until Sony can provide actual fixes for the scaling issues in games and Blu-Ray movies, they need to allow users to set resolution preferences individually for each media type on the system.
Read More | 1up
Gallery: Sony Issues Firmware Update For 1080i Issues
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