All storebought Wiis now legless

[Fe2O3]

I've got from a fairly good source that Nintendo recalled all Wiis in storehouses and possibly stores to get the legs cut.

They did this atleast here in Europe.

This would make any possible Wii annoying to mod. I suppose they're stopping production, and only manufacture with the D2C chip (with legs cut) from now on once they get enough supply from that.

Cheaper then a PCB change I suppose ...

[drsquirrel]

Fairly good.

As in, the only bloke in the pub that wasnt drunk...?

[lenselijer]

I already got one legs cut wii, serial was leh123.

the leh122 was still with the legs, but these were sold out in minutes :(

Now the new wii consoles in the dutch shops will have leh123 serial, so all with the legs cut, very hard to mod :(

[dragonballz]

I got one Wii last week in Zellars in Vancouver, Canada without the legs LU 3154XXXXX. The people still able to mod my Wii with Wiikey.

[zarakar]

strange you should say this as af riend of mine went to buy a wii from asda (wallmart) uk and they said they had a lot in stock but were not allowed to sell them as they had to be sent back!!!

[Fe2O3]

My source ... I can't give that away. All I can tell is that I am the QA manager for a company that does a lot of business in Asia, we have a lot of mechanical and electrical components in our products ^^ and I get to talk with (and yell at) a lot of people.

As I said. Nintendo is recalling them, atleast here in Europe. If you buy a new Wii, check the screws. It has been opened up before then most likely the legs are cut.

I suspect they'll do this with ALL stock still unsold, and any current production. I've never seen such drastic measures against a modchip ... If I'd have to make an estimate, less then 1% of sales are modded. The impact on game sales is neglible imho, especially when put against a recall and rework cost.

The recalling is patchwork, cleaning up after a change. This does lead me to believe there are other changes coming. Like a far more effective change in firmware. Since they have not done this I'm guessing that they can't touch the DVD drive IC in the firmware (which is logical from a design point of view). Though I would not be surprised if they eventually found a workaround, and poke us all in the eye with it.

So this means patchwork on current production and in the field units they can still recall. For future Wii production there will be most likely a new DVD drive chip, like the D2C, and various changes on the PCB to remove any soldering points for any modchips.

All we can do is wait for that and be happy we got our Wiis early.

[zosh]

I've never seen such drastic measures against a modchip ...
I have the feeling that with the Wii, quite a number of people freck up their mod job and try to stick it with Nintendo's warranty program. Could it be that Nintendo is finally fed up and that being the reason for these measures? Can someone confirm or disprove my thoughts?

[xoltri]

I have the feeling that with the Wii, quite a number of people freck up their mod job and try to stick it with Nintendo's warranty program. Could it be that Nintendo is finally fed up and that being the reason for these measures? Can someone confirm or disprove my thoughts?

I would think they would get more broken Wii's as people try to dremel their Wii's and break them.

[zosh]

I would think they would get more broken Wii's as people try to dremel their Wii's and break them.
If the picture Fe2O3 draws is correct, cutting pins would be just a short-lived interim solution until the old stock is sold and new chipsets without the serial port functionality start rolling out.

[rik666]

I got one Wii last week in Zellars in Vancouver, Canada without the legs LU 3154XXXXX. The people still able to mod my Wii with Wiikey.

do you have pics of how they got around it? i currently have the three legs missing and a wii key installation that was no good. any pic of a wii key installed on a later machine would be awesome.

[Trouduc]

do you have pics of how they got around it? i currently have the three legs missing and a wii key installation that was no good. any pic of a wii key installed on a later machine would be awesome.

I have just purchased one with S/N LEH124. Haven't opened it yet, will wait and see other's feedback (and wait 1 month before i brick it). Found that though:

http://www.modchipfitters.com/Uncovering_Cut_IC_Legs.htm

Hope it helps.