Wii: The easiest to hack

I was doing some researching about how easy many people on the internet have been hacking the wii and I was thinking if this could affect how developers support the console. The PSP has very decent console sales however it's software sales have always been lacking probably due to the ease of pirating it's games. The PS3 and 360 are both very difficult to pirate because of xbox's online and playstation's blu-ray format.

 So what do you guys think? Will the Wii sales become like the PSP's due to piraters?  

No, I don't think so. Running pirated games off the Wii isn't as simple as the PSP. For the PSP, you hack the firmware, load the UMD image onto a Memory Stick, and enjoy. For the Wii, you need a mod chip and a burned copy of the game. It's more complex, limiting the potential audience. Plus, the Wii has a more broad-based audience than the PSP. More casual gamers that are less likely to do piracy, if nothing else, for fear of breaking their system and needing to get a new one. For the unexperienced, hacking the hardware of a system can be a VERY daunting task.Hoffgod

This is true I can't imagine little jimmy and his parents going "k lets start burning some games lets rip that Wii open and start soldering the modcip on" but I could still see the teen-adult age group hacking it and that will hurt the sales of the more "hardcore" games on the Wii. 

[QUOTE="Hoffgod"]No, I don't think so. Running pirated games off the Wii isn't as simple as the PSP. For the PSP, you hack the firmware, load the UMD image onto a Memory Stick, and enjoy. For the Wii, you need a mod chip and a burned copy of the game. It's more complex, limiting the potential audience. Plus, the Wii has a more broad-based audience than the PSP. More casual gamers that are less likely to do piracy, if nothing else, for fear of breaking their system and needing to get a new one. For the unexperienced, hacking the hardware of a system can be a VERY daunting task.Metroid_Time

This is true I can't imagine little jimmy and his parents going "k lets start burning some games lets rip that Wii open and start soldering the modcip on" but I could still see the teen-adult age group hacking it and that will hurt the sales of the more "hardcore" games on the Wii. 

[QUOTE="Hoffgod"]No, I don't think so. Running pirated games off the Wii isn't as simple as the PSP. For the PSP, you hack the firmware, load the UMD image onto a Memory Stick, and enjoy. For the Wii, you need a mod chip and a burned copy of the game. It's more complex, limiting the potential audience. Plus, the Wii has a more broad-based audience than the PSP. More casual gamers that are less likely to do piracy, if nothing else, for fear of breaking their system and needing to get a new one. For the unexperienced, hacking the hardware of a system can be a VERY daunting task.Metroid_Time

This is true I can't imagine little jimmy and his parents going "k lets start burning some games lets rip that Wii open and start soldering the modcip on" but I could still see the teen-adult age group hacking it and that will hurt the sales of the more "hardcore" games on the Wii.

Wii games are coded in a proprietary format quite different than the standard format used in the 360 and PS3.  You won't see many people with the resources to crack it.

Thing is, if it's still the same as it was, you need to mod-chip the Wii, which costs another $50-$100 if you can't make those chips yourself (some can). And giving that the Wii is relatively cheap to begin with and it's games are not so expensive compared to the PS3 & Xbox360, I'd say not many would bother to go and download pirated games. At least I wouldn't bother :).

What will kick Nintendos ass in the near future are Emulators on PC tho. The GC emulator was already running on the PC. Altho it was more or less just a demonstration, nothing could be really played on it aside very few simple games, I think, people will make it work in the near future and giving that the Wii is not-so-much different in the tech department, this really might get ugly for Nintendo. The Wiimote emulation is already in full steam on the PC, only a Wii emulator is missing now.

I agree with taker42,Some pirating is benefecial to the console outside of Europe Australia America and Japan. Ouside those people will buy the consoles by millions and they usually can't afford to buy geneuine games. The PS2 selled like crazy in here because people can get the games for cheap.

Pirating, believe it or not, is very beneficial sometimes.

Note: 360 is already hacked and plays copies.