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News
Microsoft Sued Over Memory Card Crackdown
7:30PM Luke Plunkett | You know Datel? I like Datel, mostly because they made the Freeloader for the GameCube/Wii. Well, Datel are in the process of taking Microsoft to court over Xbox 360 memory cards. More »
Sony Sue Over Hacker-Friendly PSP Battery
7:30PM Luke Plunkett | Datel – makers of the Wii’s Freeloader, amongst other things – were working on a third-party PSP battery that would have made it easier to hack the PSP-3000. That is, until Sony sued. More »
Your Freeloader May Be Useless On Mario Kart
12:20AM Luke Plunkett | Thinking of importing the Japanese version of Mario Kart to get around the delay? Whoah, Bessie. Import specialists Play-Asia have, after a quick round of testing, found that neither US nor PAL Freeloaders will run the game on your non-Japanese Wii. Of course this is still unconfirmed by either Nintendo or Datel, creators of the Freeloader, but Play-Asia are normally spot-on when it comes to this stuff. We knew/feared Nintendo would get around the Freeloader sooner or later, but not this soon, and not via the code on a game disc. Bad news! And now for worse news: this may set a precedent whereby many, if not all Wii discs from here on in contain similar checks. Play-Asia’s warning email to customers follows. More »
Datel Say Freeloader Can Beat Firmware Upgrades
10:30PM Luke Plunkett | Datel’s Wii Freeloader is awesome news. PAL gamers can get games on time, American gamers can play Japanese games, everybody wins. There’s a few niggling doubts surrounding the deal, however. Well, one: won’t a future firmware update stop the Freeloader from working, as it’s already done once to Datel’s previous GameCube-only disc? Datel say no, replying to reader Willis in an email: …we can confirm that on every occasion that the product is used when the disc is inserted in the console that it allows the usage of any imported Wii game discs and disables the console from been able to update its firmware, if the disc is removed after been inserted and reinserted this will again enable the console to update its firmware but still allow the usage of the any imported Wii game discs. Which unless my eye for English-as-a-second-language fails me is their way of saying “don’t worry, firmware won’t break this one”. Course, they’d have to say that, otherwise nobody would buy the damn thing, so if you’re wracked with uncertainty over picking one up I’d say wait until the next firmware update hits and we can get some independent verification. More »Nintendo “Unlikely” To Fix Freeloader Issue
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | Nintendo’s Wii update, which borked Freeloader compatibility, has upset a lotta PAL users. Greatly. Datel’s Freeloader was all we had! It was the only way we could play many Gamecube games on time, and some games at all! And now it’s gone. Gone forever (just like most peoples Gamecubes when they bought a Wii). Nintendo Europe have told Eurogamer that:
because it isn’t an official product approved by Nintendo, there was nothing it could do.
Technically, that may or may not be true. Doesn’t make the hurt any less, especially as with few decent Wii games on offer and prices constantly sliding, there’s never been a better time to catch up on any US or Japanese Cube games you may have missed first time around.
Wii update breaks Freeloader [Eurogamer] More » 