It appears that those who were worried about Japanese copies of Mario Kart Wii not loading on US Wiis through Freeloader may have been breaking a sweat for nothing. Import retailer NCS tested the game on v3.1U firmware and found it to run just fine. Yes, this information directly conflicts with an earlier report from Play Asia, but there’s a good chance that Play Asia tested the game with v3.0U firmware which NCS confirmed will not play the game.
In other words, all hope is not lost. Still, go forth at your own risk, there may be bananas around the bend. NCS News Update [NCS]
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.
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.
Rejoice! The Wii FreeLoader has become reality, bringing region-free gaming to Nintendo’s great white hope. Similar to its GameCube predecessor, the Wii version of the FreeLoader lets gamers enjoy worldwide titles, regardless of what region for which they were intended. European and Australian gamers may benefit the most, especially if that rumour that Super Smash Bros. Brawl doesn’t ship to PAL gamers until fall has any merit, but ex-pats and import enthusiasts may want to snap up a copy just in case.
The Wii version of FreeLoader is only £9.99 (about $US 20), a decent price for gamers looking to avoid modding their consoles. It is, of course, 100% unofficial, so buyer beware.
Wii FreeLoader [Codejunkies]
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 »
The Wii Update that his overnight seemed like a good idea. And mostly is. Except for one thing. It’s broken my Freeloader. And not just mine, loads of peoples. You pop it in, you whir it up, and where you should get your Freeloader disc-swapping message you instead get this error message. What gives, Nintendo? Freeloaders have been around for years, legally, and have been of great comfort to both importers of Japanese titles and PAL users fucked over by a dawdling release schedule. If this breakage was accidental, fix it. If it was not accidental, this is not cool. Fix it. More »
