Freeloader?
 

* Lets PAL gamers finally play some games on their system.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13...loaderyeah.jpg

Naturally everyone's shitting their pants expecting Nintendo to crush the use of it with a firmware update just like they did with the GameCube Freeloader over and over again on the Wii, but hey! I think Datel would have kinda been expecting that by now, so this may have some mystery magic in it to get past that junk. Comes out in like two weeks or something, you can order it from Datel's Code Junkies site for £9.99 ($20 US). They only accept credit cards though which is shit. ='( Plus there's the whole you'll probably get screwed being an early adopter with something like this. Oh, and judging by the first bullet point in their exciting list, this Freeloader will work on any system. Unlike the GC one, which was sold in PAL and NTSC formats.

I wish Datel all the best, if only because Nintendo Europe's pretty much officially the slowest bunch of twits out there. I'm talkin' 'walkin' into closed doors and wondering why they're not getting anywhere' style slow. Much smaller publishers are getting PAL games out within days of the American release, even extremely text-heavy games! Yet NoE takes four months for Excite Truck, or seven months for that fucking Pokemon Battle Revolution game that has a whopping one sentence in it "that attack was super nintendo!".

I will consume ALL the Simple Series on Wii! :cmb:

I'll get it if it supports Naruto 4. That will give me a good reason to put away my GCN. Then again, I might as well just buy that Japanese Wii sequel instead.

I'd be surprised if Nintendo did crush this too quickly. After all, the DS is region free so they aren't anti the idea of cross region gaming and let's face it, it's only a matter of time before everyone who rushed out to buy a Wii realises that once they're bored of Wii Sports there's nothing else to play on it.

I can't see them selling many copies of PAL Brawl if this gets a good take up though, given that the predicted launch date is still sometime in 2019 or something.

Handheld systems have always been region free, so I wouldn't rely on that logic.

I don't know... I used to double-dip games I'd imported sometimes on the Gamecube, because the disc-swapping involved in using the Freeloader was a bit of a pain compared with directly booting a domestic game.

For an RPG where you play once, complete the game and then likely never touch it again, it's fine. For something like SSB where you could be booting it daily for a couple of years, it's a pain in the arse.

With regards to the topic, this is probably the thing that will finally tip me into getting a Wii, if the disc continues to work for a while.

Think of it this way, the more people easily obtain a Freeloader (one that doesn't become useless in a week), the more likely they are to buy legit games (even if they do import), ergo the less likely they are to modchip their console and thus have access to warez.

I am seriously getting this as soon as it's confirmed not to crap out on you when something (anything) is updated. I don't even have a Wii yet and I know I'll have plenty of use for this. I still love my GC Freeloader, and I only had like three US games and one jap game I used it on. STILL GREAT <3

gonna get it for my friend.


Don't need it for myself (hello, twilight hack)

That's an excellent point. There are solutions for the Sega Saturn and the Gamecube that allow imports but don't allow pirate copies. The equivalent on most other systems permits you to load illegally copied games. It's a shame that importing and piracy are tied together this way.

If only they came out with this a few weeks earlier, then I could've indulged in Brawl. But it's coming out in more or less than a week, so... :mad:

I'll probably get it if I find something worth importing on the Wii. Can't think of anything right now.

You mean the hack that can only play homebrew?

So far.

It's not clear what hardware access we can get through that yet, though.

Well, either way it's still money in their pocket, right?

I mean granted, there's a potential for loss in all the effort of making PAL versions, but like others have pretty much said, better this than the path of pirating, right?

If NoE hasn't figured out yet that much of their audience is rather disillusioned, maybe this will do it.

Well I find two problems with the Freeloader and one has already been mention. The other problem is that some game REQUIRE an "in-game" update in order to play the game. Like for Brawl, it doesn't matter if you have the latest firmware, it will need to install something in order for the game to run. If the freeloader bypass/skip over the update it need, the game will not load (unless the freeloader does something that will check the disc for the necessary update file and install it there to which I doubt).

I'm not sure why, but a lot of people seem to be connecting the announcement of Wii Freeloader with the new homebrew Trucha Signer (which allows you to take updates out of Wii isos, then burn them again with Wii signatures). How does this have anything to do with Freeloader?

Anyways, I'm getting this if people report being able to play Smash (and avoid Wii updates). Screw PAL release dates.

Uh huh. =(

I was briefly swayed towards buying this and playing the US No More Heroes, but really, I don't think the censorship of the PAL bothers me enough to import.

It's apparently shipping already.

ORDERED LIKE WHAT

It can't play backups right?

If you look at it, it's most likely Datel use that program to create the Freeloader. They have the source to pressed their own disc and using that program they are able to make one (er, massive pressing the disc).

If they created the Freeloader, oh say, before the Trucha Signer and/or the release of Brawl in Japan, then it would be a different story (and not to mention the Japaense version of Brawl would had sold more copies).

If a new Wii firmware update stop the Freeloader AND Trucha Signer from running on the Wii at the same time it mean they had been using the same Wii signatures exploit.

Oh ho.

Also huuuuuge box art!

http://www.vooks.net/images/BigFreeloader.jpg

No access to a credit card and no PayPal whatever sucks. =') I'm thinking of putting down a pre-order on that Play-Asia site (along with Brawl) and doing a direct bank transfer thinga-ma-jig.

...that doesn't stop the internet sending the download to you...

What?

HMMMMMM.

CAPITAL LETTERS.

So if playing an import game requires the Freeloader to somehow bypass firmware updates (which I assume do more than simply block Freeloader), wouldn't that make your console a lot more unstable? Does using Virtual Console require you to keep your firmware up to date?

Last time I checked, it did. At one point, I couldn't even enter the store without it telling me I needed up go update. :(

I don't see any titles in the future which would make me want to update (yet).

As far as I'm concerned, once I get Smash, my Wii will only go online for brawlan purposes. I might be coaxed into updating if a new Zelda comes out or summat.

Sounds good, but correct me if i am wrong, there isn't alot of games out on wii in the USA, so if the USA doesn't have alot of games at the moment, whats good in the import area?

*facepalm*

There are plenty of good games out in Japan that we'll never see. Most of them are import friendly as it is.

A good example (of an older fighting series) is Naruto Shippuden EX2.

God dammit Ness, how am I supposed to delete idiocy if you respond to it first? ;_;

inb4 http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ppynegro-1.png

I'm sorry. It's just that I respond to idiocy rather quickly.

This is why I'm too scared to meet you.

Is that like saying Skills is idiotic and you don't want be the one to point it out (by reacting to it rather quickly)?

Let's not forget that this is practically a godsend for European gamers.

Seriously. We exist.

Probably. Took him over a day to get back to this guy, but only 16 minutes to get back to me.

Let's hope this quickness:stupidity ratio isn't on an exponential scale or anything.

That is a very good question, i hope someone knows that answer to this

No, it's not a good question, because Freeloader will not run backups. Never has, never will. It's designed to play imports, not for pirates.

The GC Freeloader only played bought imports and I'm pretty damn sure Datel has not jumped on the "plenty of people like to burn backup copies of their games and movies ok, it's not illegal or suspicious" wagon just yet.

For those who never import stuff, like myself, what are some games to import that would make this worth getting? No I don't know what games are Japan exclusives for the Wii, which is why I am asking.

Wow, quote out of context, yet again.

No, I was talking about the original poster guys.

Geez. Also, the reason for the late reply/quick reply issue is because I was at work, and happend to be surfing gff.

I don't pay attention to timestamps.

I'm pretty sure the question is asking which games are worth importing.

And I listed one of them.

I am getting Onechanbara Revolution, the game where you play as chicks who go around killing zombies with katanas. Its one of the few games where the different ways you slash the wiimote will make character slash similarly to what you did. And this game has 2 new characters, with one of them having a chainsword/snake sword similar to Ivy's from Soul Calibur, but a bigger heavier version. So far the Onechanbara series is Japan only.

Also want the JP verson of Brawl, mostly for the voice acting clips. (I'm a fan of the Kirby anime and Meta Knight's Seiyuu does the voice in Brawl too.)

Incorrect.

Onechanbara (Simple 2000 Vol. 61) was released in Europe as Zombie Zone, Onechanpuru (Vol. 80) was released as Zombie Hunters, and Onechampon (Vol. 101) as Zombie Hunters 2. They skipped Onechanbara 2 (Vol. 90) entirely.

Doh that's right, forgotten about the European versions... My bad. Its not exactly a game I can see at my local gamestores in English.

Everyone forgets about Europe :(

THIS IS WHY WE HAVE THINGS LIKE FREELOADER









NOT FOR PIRATE

NO PIRATE

NOT FOR YOU




FOR YUROP and sometimes oztralia

Ahh... yeah. I don't know if my GameCube collection would be even half the size it is without imports. Admittedly some of the games did eventually come out in Europe... about a year later. That's no good, when you're reading about how cool the game is on the internets.

But "US" NTSC people cannot play PAL games unless it hacked. So we go to the direct source/Japan.

FOR YU, YUROP! I just noticed my awesome hotlinking skills have resulted in the Freeloader picture in the opening post now having a huge 'EURO VERSION' slapped across it. So I guess it will be like the GameCube Freeloader, PAL and NTSC versions. =o Datel were supposed to ship it yesterday but it's delayed. Maybe Nintendo Europe's distributing it now.

Speaking of Japanese games, I've wanted to try Success' Go! Go! Minon something game. <3

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...FL._SS400_.jpg

YouTube Video

Wow that game is like they took dominoes and shoved it into Katamari/Ouendan. If sold at a budget price I could see that game working well over here.

I've had my US copy of No More Heroes sitting waiting since Thursday, buy no EU Freeloader to play it with.

Assuming NMH is compatible. =o Anyone heard?

Hurray, people are finally starting to get their Freeloader's and testing them out!~

US No More Heroes on PAL machine confirmed!
US Smash Bros on PAL machine confirmed!

Seems for games that require updates (like Smash), you have to use the alternative method of loading, which uh.. involves.. this!

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/7646/9hmhwnbt6.png

TO THE ORDER MOBILE!

YES! I wanted to try out this game so much ever since hearing the music and seeing the crazy trailer thing... Which I can't seem to find right now. I'm still a little skeptical that Nintendo will release a patch that will kill off this Freeloader, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

So I just told my brother about this, within two minutes he came back claiming that SSBB and a Freeloader were on their way! Now to wait.

I'm soooo getting a Freeloader! I just found out Naruto Shippuden EX2 works! I don't want to get the US version 'cause of the English voices and 'cause they took out lots of characters :P

Time to get a Freeloader in April! sweet :3

So it's confirmed that US Brawl + Freeloader + PAL Wii = joy.

Now I just need to wait to get online somewhere that doesn't block game-related sites so I can order the necessary materials. EVIL GAMES, GAMES ARE EVIL, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THEM

At work the only game related site they had blocked was GameFAQS, I lol'd (IN MY HEAD, it was like an inside sneeze)

My copy of Braughlw should be here early next week. As for the Freeloader, which I ordered elsewhere.. *Shrugs shoulders* I hope the instruction manual is entertaining!

Err, the Freeloader doesn't have a manual so much as a piece of card. I'll scan it for you shortly. Brace yourself.

Unless you meant the Brawl manual?

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/4...aderlw3.th.jpg

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/5...der2ir7.th.jpg

So I heard Nintendo already released an update that stops Freeloader from working. They could have put the effort into, oh I dunno, maybe releasing Brawl here a bit earlier or whatever, just a thought :(

Or they could quickly disable the freeloader, and force all you Euros to buy the PAL copy of the game when it comes out. Actually nailing a bunch of you twice because you bought the US copy when freeloader first came out. Just a thought.

I haven't imported a US Brawl because this whole thing about bypassing updates reeked of "it's never going to actually work". It's just that the delays in Europe are getting quite ridiculous and you'd think they'd stopped doing this, oh, about ten years ago. If someone wants a PAL game in German or French, they can wait for a fucking extra six months for all I care, I'd be perfectly happy with an english-only release.

I was mostly just taking the piss to bother you, mate. But yeah, I agree... PAL releases are stupid slow. But you got Terranigma, and we didn't, so, you know. We're even.

So you were, in effect, trolling me. Tisk.

No one actually got Terranigma since they released like three copies of it here. But we (at least I) did get Forbidden Siren 2 and Shinobido, so that was nice.

You had -access- to Terranigma. One of the single greatest games ever released. I'm STILL mad about no NTSC release, and this is how many years later?

Also, when do I do anything outside of trolling you?

Yeah, I constantly wonder why I keep you around.

I didn't have access to the game. It wasn't sold at a single store around where I lived. Not that it would have occurred to me to buy it at the time anyway. Now Suikoden II and Panzer Dragoon Saga, there's games I had access to, and opted not to buy out of foolishness. Slightly regretted that, later on.

You keep me around for my rugged good looks and for being a stunning conversationalist.

Suikoden II you can still track down for only mildly ridiculous sums of money, but PDS is fucking LAUGHABLE to buy. Man, they absolutely throttle you for that one.

Even if you purchased a PAL copy of Suikoden II, you would still be unable to buy a compatible copy of Suikoden III, since it was never released over here. When I get to that point I'm interested in transferring my save data for whatever bonus fun is on offer, which is why I'm sticking to the imported NTSC-U/C release of Suikoden I and II.

You can't transfer PAL saves to NTSC sequels? I'd never considered that as a problem. That's decidedly unfortunate.

I don't have certain knowledge that you can't. However, the save files are identified by the Sony product code. Licensed third-party titles released in America have product codes in the form of SLUS_xx.xxx whereas European titles have codes in the form of SLES_xx.xxx instead. Call it an educated guess that it will only be looking for a specific product code.

I don't know for sure that it won't accept a PAL save, but since I can play American PS1 games, it seems like I might as well play safe. If it will only accept the product code from the American game, I'm covered.

From Suikoden IV onwards I'll go back to the PAL releases because I was able to pick them up locally.

Confirmed.
Sounds like it can be possible... perhaps you need to find a way to edit the save on your memory card, something like that. I think I'm better off just playing these games using my Breaker Pro bootdisc. I know loading your old save data isn't that important, but since there's no disadvantage to me by playing the American versions, I may as well.

They did? Was it the most recent update because I downloaded it and the Freeloader still works fine.

IOS37 - WiiBrew - This should have all the info about the latest update.

R.I.P HALF PRICE GAMES

Freeloader's dead. Latest (PAL) firmware update renders it useless. Nintendo twists the knife once it's in, this update will also automatically DELETE any non-PAL save files from the system. Twilight Princess Hack is gone, too.

Thanks Nintendo, you cunts. =D Man I'm going to shake my fist when I'm eventually forced to update and lose my US Brawl save game. AGAIN.

I'm surprised it took them this long to be honest.

Er, from what I read it DOESN'T delete foreign savegame... just the Twilight Princess hack.

And yes Freeloader doesn't work anymore because Datel is stupid enough to use the "Trucha Signer" bug that Nintendo could patch it with firmware update.

So hopefully an alternative way will come around or mod your Wii.

Yeah I've been reading mixxxeedd internets about the whole save game thing. Some people are losing them, others aren't.

I'm not going to see what happens any time soon. :]

Advice to Freeloader users!

Install the Homebrew Channel before upgrading and use the regionfree loader app. Apparently though the Zelda exploit is patched over, it doesn't affect anything you've already installed.

Of course I haven't any practical experience with this as my Wii's been in a box somewhere in the Southwest for a few months, so what do I know.

My Freeloader (or my Brawl or my Wii) stopped working anyway. Although it's not like I've thought about playing Brawl at all after Mario Kart.

Good advice... however, the regionfree loader application has very very very limited success, as the handful of games that work with it... hmm.

There's a group already trying find a workaround.

Just don't download the update for now, I guess.

Well, the twilight hack has been updated and works with 3.3 now. I've been told GeckOS works with SSBB, so everyone's happy! Although I thought that the update also deleted wrong region saves, does anyone know for sure?

But the newly hacked 3.3 still blocks out Freeloader, does it not?

In any case, not updating might just be the best solution. Even Regionfree is pretty limited...

I don't know myself [as I haven't updated, nor do I have any imports...] but apparently it only checks for the Twilight hack, and deletes it, from what I've heard around the net.

You know if it wasn't for Nintendo being a gigantic fag about this I probably would have never gotten around to checking this out. Seriously this is the easiest way to do homebrew on any console out there. It's like the Wii was friggin built with homebrew in mind.

I was able to install the Homebrew Channel on my friend's Wii in about a minute. All I had to do was insert my SD card, delete his Twilight Princess save data, move the Twilight Hack to his Wii from the SD card, start up Twilight Princess, move Link backwards, and press the 1 button three or four times to confirm that I wanted to install the Homebrew Channel. Super easy.

I've got Quake (which works fucking beautifully with the pointer/nunchuk combo), SNES emulation, NES emulation, GBA emulation, Genesis emulation, Master System emulation, Tetris, Asteroids (up to 4 players), a region free loader of sorts, and motherfucking SCUMM VM. I was playing Starfox, Klax, The Secret of Monkey Island, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Earthbound, Yoshi's Island, Sonic 2, River City Ransom, and even fucking Fantasy Zone all easily and performing perfectly from my Wii.

I don't know why anyone wouldn't install the Homebrew Channel (and if you don't like it, pshaw, then you can just remove it like any other channel). You can buy a two gig SD card for like ten or twenty bucks.

YouTube Video

There is so much that this thing has to offer that Nintendo will probably never deliver on itself. The homebrew scene is working on USB harddrive support (not that it's necessary for most homebrew) and there's even a media player based on XBMC but with better support for newer formats like the mkv container and subtitles for all of you anime nerds and perhaps even high definition media that will obviously be scaled down to fit the Wii's video output. 1 SD card slot, 2 USB ports, easily accessible, and widely available - it's a homebrewer's dream come true.

So, while we're on the topic of Homebrew Channel and the like... Does anyone know if there's something out there that allows you to load/transfer GCN saves from your SD Card?

You can probably do something like that with the Gecko Loader hardware thingy. Go explore a bit on the wiibrew.org wiki. I recall seeing something about that but it seemed like it was a bit buggy or not really worth the trouble. Might be wrong though.

Does the Homebrew channel brick your Wii, or make it unable for you to connect to the Nintendo mothership for Wii updates, etc.? (Like how MS bans 360's from Live that have been modded?)

No, it doesn't. You'd have to be a real jackass during its installation to fuck it up. Like intentionally pulling the power cable out slightly and ejecting and inserting the SD card repetitively. It's super easy. If you have the latest firmware update then you can use the latest Twilight Hack if you have the second to latest firmware you might want to consider upgrading your firmware or using an older Twilight Hack.

One thing I might recommend though if you're talking from a tinfoil hat's perspective is to not install the Nintendo Channel as it sends Nintendo stats on what channels and games you play and any channel's playtime that is on the system will get sent to them including the Homebrew Channel. Plus the Nintendo Channel is pretty fucking useless honestly and this is just one more reason not to use it.

Actually you can opt out of sending "anonymous" data to Nintendo while still using the Nintendo Channel... you just won't get to download (crappy) DS demos.

I use it from time to time because I'm lazy to search the videos on wii.com/youtube.com. :tpg:

Forgot about that. Well I'd say those crappy DS demos are probably one of the few things the Nintendo Channel has going for it. If turning off anonymous data gets rid of that feature then the Nintendo Channel is just taking up space. More reason to ditch the thing.

Thanks for the tip on the Nintendo channel. I might just flip to the Homebrew channel. It just isn't the same playing ROMs on a PC, but now since I have a classic controller anyway...