User:CascadeUrbanite/sandbox/Wii system software

=Wii system software=

The Wii system software is a discontinued set of updatable firmware versions and a software frontend on the Wii home video game console. Updates, which could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a game disc, allowed Nintendo to add additional features and software, as well as to patch security vulnerabilities used by users to load homebrew software. When a new update became available, Nintendo sent a message to the Wii Message Board of Internet-connected systems notifying them of the available update.

Most game discs, including first-party and third-party games, include system software updates so that systems that are not connected to the Internet can still receive updates. The system menu will not start such games if their updates have not been installed, so this has the consequence of forcing users to install updates in order to play these games. Some games, such as online games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, contain specific extra updates, such as the ability to receive Wii Message Board posts from game-specific addresses; therefore, these games always require that an update be installed before their first time running on a given console.

User interface
The system provides a graphical interface to the Wii's abilities. All games run directly on the Broadway processor, and either directly interface with the hardware (for the hardware common to the Wii and GameCube), or interface with IOS running on the ARM architecture processor (for Wii-specific hardware). The ARM processor does not have access to the screen, and therefore neither does IOS. This means that while a piece of software is running, everything seen on the screen (including the HOME button menu) comes from that software, and not from any operating system or firmware. Therefore, the version number reported by the Wii is actually only the version number of the System Menu. This is why some updates do not result in a change of the version number: the System Menu itself is not updated, only (for example) IOSes and channels. As a side effect, this means it is impossible for Nintendo to implement any functions that would affect the games themselves, for example an in-game system menu (similar to the Xbox 360's in-game Dashboard or the PlayStation 3's in-game XMB).

The Wii Menu (known internally as the System Menu) is the name of the user interface for the Wii game console, and it is the first thing to be seen when the system boots up. Similar to many other video game consoles, the Wii is not only about games. For example, it is possible to install applications such as Netflix to stream media (without requiring a disc) on the Wii. The Wii Menu let users access both game and no-game functions through built-in applications called Channels, which are designed to represent television channels. There are six primary channels: the Disc Channel, Mii Channel, Photo Channel, Wii Shop Channel, Forecast Channel and News Channel, although the latter two were not initially included and only became available via system updates. Some of the functions provided by these Channels on the Wii used to be limited to a computer, such as a full-featured web browser and digital photo viewer. Users can also use Channels to create and share cartoon-like digital avatars called Miis and download new games and Channels directly from the Wii Shop Channel. New Channels include, for example, the Everybody Votes Channel and the Internet Channel. Separate Channels are graphically displayed in a grid and can be navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote. Users can also rearrange these Channels if they are not satisfied with how the Channels are originally organized on the menu.

Network features
The Wii system supports wireless connectivity with the Nintendo DS handheld console with no additional accessories. This connectivity allows players to use the Nintendo DS microphone and touch screen as inputs for Wii games. Pokémon Battle Revolution is the first example Nintendo has given of a game using Nintendo DS-Wii connectivity. Nintendo later released the Nintendo Channel for the Wii allowing its users to download game demos or additional data to their Nintendo DS.

Like many other video game consoles, the Wii console is able to connect to the Internet, although this is not required for the Wii system itself to function. Each Wii has its own unique 16-digit Wii Code for use with Wii's non-game features. With Internet connection enabled users are able to access the established Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Wireless encryption by WEP, WPA (TKIP/RC4) and WPA2 (CCMP/AES) is supported. AOSS support was added in System Menu version 3.0. As with the Nintendo DS, Nintendo does not charge for playing via the service; the 12-digit Friend Code system controls how players connect to one another. The service has a few features for the console, including the Virtual Console, WiiConnect24 and several Channels. The Wii console can also communicate and connect with other Wii systems through a self-generated wireless LAN, enabling local wireless multiplayer on different television sets. The system also implements console-based software, including the Wii Message Board. One can connect to the Internet with third-party devices as well.

The Wii console also includes a web browser known as the Internet Channel, which is a version of the Opera 9 browser with menus. It is meant to be a convenient way to access the web on the television screen, although it is far from offering a comfortable user interface compared with modern Internet browsers. A virtual keyboard pops up when needed for input, and the Wii Remote acts like a mouse, making it possible to click anywhere on the screen and navigate through web links. However, the browser cannot always handle all the features of most normal web pages, although it does support Adobe Flash, thus capable of playing Flash games. Some third-party services such as the online BBC iPlayer were also available on the Wii via the Internet Channel browser, although BBC iPlayer was later relaunched as the separate BBC iPlayer Channel on the Wii. In addition, Internet access including the Internet Channel and system updates may be restricted by the parental controls feature of the Wii.

Disc Channel
The Disc Channel is the primary method of launching Wii and GameCube games from supported Nintendo optical discs inserted into the console. Wii games will display unique intro screens, whereas GameCube games will display a generic GameCube screen.

Mii Channel
The Mii Channel is an avatar creator, where users can design 3D caricatures of people called Miis by selecting from a group of facial and bodily features. At the Game Developers Conference in 2007, Shigeru Miyamoto explained that the look and design of the Mii characters are based on kokeshi, wooden Japanese dolls used as souvenir gifts.

A custom player avatar feature was shown during Nintendo's media briefing at E3 2006; Katsuya Eguchi (producer of Animal Crossing and Wii Sports) subsequently confirmed its inclusion in the hardware during an interview with Wired. The feature was described as part of a "profile" system that contains the Mii and other pertinent player information. Officially unveiled on September 14, 2006, the application allows users to select from pre-made Miis or create their own by choosing custom facial shapes, colors, and positioning. In certain games, each player's Mii serves as the player character in some/all forms of gameplay. Users can send up to 20 Miis per day to other Wii users, though it is unlimited in practice since the restriction is easily circumventable. Miis can interact with other Wii users by showing up on their Wii consoles through the WiiConnect24 feature or by talking with other Miis created by Wii owners all over the world. This feature is called Mii Parade. Early-created Miis as well as those encountered in Mii Parades may show up as spectators in some games. Miis can be stored on Wii Remotes and taken to other Wii consoles, with one Wii Remote capable of storing up to 10 Miis.

In addition, Mii characters can be transferred from a user's Wii to Nintendo 3DS consoles, as well as supported Nintendo DS games via the Mii Channel. The Mii Channel is succeeded by the Mii Maker app for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and the Mii options in Settings for Nintendo Switch.

According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, over 160 million Mii characters had been created using the "Mii Channel" as of May 2010.

Photo Channel
If a user inserts an SD card into the console, or receives photos (JPEG) or videos (MJPEG) via email, they can be viewed using the Photo Channel. The user can create a slideshow simply by inserting an SD card with photos and, optionally, MP3 or AAC files (see note regarding December 10, 2007 update to version 1.1). The Wii will automatically add Ken Burns Effect transitions between the photos and play either the music on the SD card or built-in music in the background. A built-in editor allows users to add markings and effects to their photos or videos (The edits float statically above the videos). Mosaics can also be created with this feature. Puzzles can be created from photos or videos with varying degrees of difficulty (However, your first puzzle will be six-pieces) with 6, 12, 24 and 48 piece puzzles available, with 192 selectable while holding down 1 on the Wii Remote. Edited photos can be saved to the Wii and sent to other Wiis via the message board. According to the system's manual, the following file extensions (i.e. formats) are supported: Photos (jpeg/jpg), Movies (mov/avi), and Music (mp3/aac).

JPEG files can be up to 8192x8192 resolution and in baseline format. Video data contained within the .mov or .avi files must be in an OpenDML-compliant MotionJPEG and use some variant of this format for their videos, with a resolution of up to 848×480 pixels (Wide VGA). Photos, even high resolution ones, are compressed and decreased in resolution.

Photo Channel 1.1
Photo Channel 1.1 is an optional update to the Photo Channel that became available on the Wii Shop Channel on December 10, 2007. It allows users to customize the Photo Channel icon on the Wii Menu with photos from an SD Card or the Wii Message Board. It also allows playback of songs in random order. The update replaced MP3 support with support for MPEG-4 encoded audio files encoded with AAC in the .m4a extension.

Wii owners who updated to version 1.1 can revert to version 1.0 by deleting it from the channels menu in the data management setup. Consoles released after December 10, 2007 come with the version 1.1 update pre-installed, and cannot be downgraded to version 1.0.

Owners of Japanese systems can download a "Revert to Photo Channel 1.0" Channel from the Wii Shop Channel if they wish to do so.

Wii Shop Channel
The Wii Shop Channel allowed users to download games and other software by redeeming Wii Points, which could be obtained by purchasing Nintendo Points cards from retail outlets or directly through the Wii Shop Channel using MasterCard or Visa credit cards online. Users could browse in the Virtual Console, WiiWare, or Wii Channels sections for downloads. A feature to purchase downloaded software as gifts for others became available worldwide on December 10, 2007. Additional channels that were not released at the console's launch were available for purchase in the Wii Shop Channel. These included: Internet Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Check Mii Out Channel, Nintendo Channel, Netflix Channel, and the Japan-only Television Friend Channel. Until the channel's shut down on January 30, 2019, all downloadable channels were free of charge. The name was originally going to be called the Shopping Channel.

Nintendo discontinued the Wii Shop Channel on January 30, 2019 (having announced that they planned to do so on September 29, 2017), with the purchase of Wii Points ending on March 26, 2018. The ability to redownload previously purchased content and/or transfer Wii data from the Wii to the Wii U still remains available.

Forecast Channel
The Forecast Channel allowed weather reports and forecasts to be shown on the console from the Internet via the WiiConnect24 service. The Forecast Channel displayed a view of the Earth as a globe (courtesy of NASA), with which users can view weather in other regions. The user could also spin the globe. When fully zoomed out, an accurate star map was visible in the background. (The Big Dipper and the constellation Orion were easily recognizable, for example.) The Forecast Channel features included the current forecast, the UV index, today's overall forecast, tomorrow's forecast, a 5-day forecast (only for the selected country in which the user lives), a laundry check (Japan Only) and pollen count (Japan only). The Forecast Channel first became available on December 19, 2006. Certain games like Madden NFL 07, Nights: Journey of Dreams, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games could use the Forecast Channel to simulate weather conditions depending on the player's region.

There are slight variations of Forecast Channel versions in different regions. When viewing weather conditions in Japan, a different set of weather icons is used. Additionally, the laundry index was only featured in the Japanese version.

After the August 6, 2007 update, the Forecast Channel showed the icon for the current weather on the Wii Menu. Long neglect of this channel would result in the icon not appearing, although the set time was longer than that of the News Channel.

The Forecast Channel (along with the News Channel) was not available in South Korea.

Like the four other Wii channels (News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel, Nintendo Channel), the Forecast Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013.

News Channel
The News Channel allowed users to access news headlines and current news events obtained from the Internet. News articles were available on a globe view, allowing users to view news from certain areas of the world (similar to the Forecast Channel), and as a slide show. The content was automatically updated and viewable via WiiConnect24 with clickable news images supported. The channel contained seven categories: National News, International News, Sports, Arts/Entertainment, Business, Technology and Oddities.

The News Channel became available in North America, Europe, and Australia on January 26, 2007. Content was in a variety of languages provided by the Associated Press, who had a two-year contract to provide news and photos to Nintendo. Canadian news was submitted by the Canadian Press for publication. Japanese news was provided by Goo. European news was provided by Agence France-Presse.

Starting with the August 6, 2007 update, the News Channel showed a news ticker in the Wii Menu, and when selecting the channel. However, not visiting the channel for a period of time resulted in the ticker not appearing, instead displaying "You must use the News Channel regularly for news to be displayed on this screen." on the preview screen until the channel was opened up. A December 20, 2007 PAL region update increased the number of news feeds to the channel, sourced from a larger number of news resources and agencies, providing more news that were available per country.

The News Channel (along with the Forecast Channel) was not available in South Korea.

Like the four other Wii channels (Forecast Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel, Nintendo Channel), the News Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013.

Get Connected Video Channel
The Get Connected Video Channel or Wii & the Internet Channel (or alternatively known as the Wii + Internet Channel or Wii: See What You Can Do On the Internet) is pre-installed onto Wii console units manufactured in October 2008 or later. It contains an informational video specifying the benefits of connecting the Wii console to the Internet, such as downloading extra channels, new software, Virtual Console titles, and playing games over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

The Get Connected Video Channel is the only pre-installed channel that takes up spare internal memory, and the only channel that can be manually deleted or moved to an SD Card by the user. The channel takes up 1,180 blocks of memory, which is over half the Wii's internal memory space. The large size of this channel is likely due to the fact it is available in multiple languages; three videos in the U.S. versions, and six videos in the PAL versions. Upon connecting to the Internet and running the channel, the user will be asked if they would like to delete it. It cannot be re-downloaded or restored upon deletion.

The same video presentation contained in the channel can also be viewed on an archived version of Nintendo's official website. Furthermore, several gaming stores such as GameStop had this channel in their Wii stations.

The channel is also available in multiple languages. Unlike the other channels, the video in the channel is not translated digitally, but is presented in multiple dubs, which means there are multiple copies of the same video in a single channel. The language of the video is presented is respectively according to the Wii's language setting. Available languages are English, French, and Spanish in the U.S. versions; and English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Dutch in the PAL version. The availability of multiple dubs is a likely factor that contributes to the large size of the channel.

Internet Channel
The Internet Channel is a version of the Opera web browser for use on the Wii by Opera Software and Nintendo. On December 22, 2006 a free demo version (promoted as "Internet Channel: Trial Version") of the browser was released. The final version (promoted as "Internet Channel: Final Version") of the browser was released on April 11, 2007 and was free to download until June 30, 2007. After this deadline had passed, the Internet Channel cost 500 Wii Points to download until September 1, 2009, though users who downloaded the browser before June 30, 2007, could continue to use it at no cost for the lifetime of the Wii system. An update (promoted as the "Internet Channel") on October 10, 2007 added USB keyboard compatibility. On September 1, 2009 the Internet Channel was made available to Wii owners for no cost of Wii Points and updated to include improved Adobe Flash Player support. A refund was issued to those who paid for the channel in the form of one free NES game download worth 500 Wii Points.

The Internet Channel uses whichever connection is chosen in the Wii settings, and utilizes the user's internet connection directly; there is no third party network that traffic is being routed through. It receives a connection from a router/modem and uses a web browser to pull up HTTP and HTTPS (secure and encrypted) web pages. Opera, the Wii's web browser, is capable of rendering most web sites in the same manner as its desktop counterpart by using Opera's Medium Screen Rendering technology. For most Internet users, the Wii offers all of the functionality they need to perform the most common Internet tasks.

The software is saved to the Wii's 512 MB internal flash memory (it can be copied to an SD card after it has been downloaded). The temporary Internet files (maximum of 5MB for the trial version) can only be saved to the Wii's internal memory. The application launches within a few seconds, after connecting to the Internet through a wireless LAN using the built-in interface or a wired LAN by using the USB to the Ethernet adapter.

The Opera-based Wii browser allows users full access to the Internet and supports all the same web standards that are included in the desktop versions of Opera, including CSS and JavaScript. It is also possible for the browser to use technologies such as Ajax, SVG, RSS, and Adobe Flash Player 8 and limited support for Adobe Flash Player 9. Opera Software has indicated that the functionality will allow for third parties to create web applications specifically designed for the use on the Wii Browser, and it will support widgets, standalone web-based applications using Opera as an application platform.

Third party APIs and SDKs have been released that allow developers to read the values of the Wii Remote buttons in both Flash and JavaScript. This allows for software that previously required keyboard controls to be converted for use with the Wii Remote. The browser was also used to stream BBC iPlayer videos from April 9, 2008 after an exclusive deal was made with Nintendo UK and the BBC to offer their catch-up service for the Wii. However, the September 2009 update caused the iPlayer to no longer operate. The BBC acknowledged the issue and created a dedicated channel instead. In June 2009, YouTube released YouTube XL, a TV-friendly version of the popular video-sharing website. The regular YouTube page would redirect the browser to YouTube XL, if the website detects that the Internet Channel or the PlayStation 3 browser is being used.

Everybody Votes Channel
Everybody Votes Channel allowed users to vote in simple opinion polls and compare and contrast opinions with those of friends, family, and people across the globe.

Everybody Votes Channel was launched on February 13, 2007, and was available in the Wii Channels section of the Wii Shop Channel. The application allowed Wii owners to vote on various questions using their Mii as a registered voter. Additionally, voters were also able to make predictions for the choice that will be the most popular overall after their own vote has been cast. Each Mii's voting and prediction record is tracked and voters can also view how their opinions compare to others. Whether the Mii is correct in its predictions or not is displayed on a statistics page along with a counter of how many times that Mii has voted. Up to six Miis would be registered to vote on the console. The channel was free to download. Each player would make a suggestion for a poll a day.

Like the other four Wii channels (Forecast Channel, News Channel, Nintendo Channel, Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel), the Everybody Votes Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013 due to Nintendo shifting its resources to its next generation projects. Unlike the other discontinued channels, Everybody Votes Channel remains accessible with users able to view the latest poll data posted, albeit the channel will never be updated again.

Check Mii Out Channel
The Check Mii Out Channel (also known as the Mii Contest Channel in Australia, Europe and Japan and Canal Miirame in Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America) was a channel that allowed players to share their Miis and enter them into popularity contests. It was first available on November 11, 2007. It was available free to download from the Wii Channels section of the Wii Shop Channel.

Users would post their own Miis in the Posting Plaza, or import other user-submitted Miis to their own personal Mii Parade. Each submitted Mii was assigned a 12-digit entry number to aid in searching. Submitted Miis were given 2 initials by their creator and a notable skill/talent to aid in sorting.

In the Contests section, players submitted their own Miis to compete in contests to best fit a certain description (e.g. Mario without his cap). After the time period for sending a Mii had expired, the user had the choice of voting for three Miis featured on the judging panel, with ten random Miis being shown at a time. Once the judging period is over, the results of the contest may be viewed. Their selection and/or submission's popularity in comparison to others was displayed, as well as the winning Mii and user.

The Check Mii Out Channel sent messages to the Wii Message Board concerning recent contests. Participants in certain contests would add their user and submitted Mii to a photo with a background related to the contest theme. This picture would then be sent to the Wii Message Board.

This channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013 like the four other channels (Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Nintendo Channel).

Nintendo Channel
The Nintendo Channel (also known as the Everybody's Nintendo Channel in Japan) allowed Wii users to watch videos such as interviews, trailers, commercials, and even download demos for the Nintendo DS. The Nintendo Channel has the ability to support Nintendo Entertainment System games, Super NES games, Nintendo 64 games, and GameCube games. Later the channel was used for the Wii U, and the Nintendo Switch under the name of the Nintendo eShop. In this capacity the channel worked in a similar way to the DS Download Station. The channel provided games, info, pages and users could rate games that they have played. A search feature was also available to assist users in finding new games to try or buy. The channel had the ability to take the user directly into the Wii Shop Channel for buying the wanted game immediately. The Nintendo Channel was launched in Japan on November 27, 2007,  in North America on May 7, 2008, and in Europe and Australia on May 30, 2008. The Nintendo Channel was updated with different Nintendo DS demos and new videos every week; the actual day of the week varies across different international regions. Nintendo DS demos can be transmitted to the handheld console.

An updated version of the Nintendo Channel was released in Japan on July 15, 2009, North America on September 14, 2009, and in Europe on December 15, 2009. The update introduced a new interface and additional features, options, and statistics for users to view. However, the European version was missing some of these new additional features, such as options for choosing video quality. In addition, a weekly show known as Nintendo Week began airing exclusively on the North American edition of the channel, while another show, Nintendo TV, was available on the UK version of the channel.

The Nintendo Channel and the other 4 channels (Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, and Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel) ended their seven-year support on June 27, 2013.

A few shows appeared on Nintendo Channel which were no more than 20 minutes long:


 * Nintendo Week: The hosts were Gary and Allison, but other co-hosts appeared as well like Dark Gary, Daniel, and others.
 * Ultimate Wii Challenge/New Super Mario Bros. Wii Challenge: The hosts were David and Ben. They tried to beat each other's time in Nintendo Games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Kirby's Epic Yarn. In a few episodes, Ben and David worked together in levels of a few games.

Many Nintendo DS demos were available in Nintendo Channel's DS Download Service:


 * Fossil Fighters: Champions
 * Kirby Mass Attack
 * Ōkamiden
 * Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
 * Sonic Colors
 * Crafting Mama
 * Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
 * Ivy the Kiwi?
 * Dragon Ball: Origins 2
 * Picross 3D
 * America's Test Kitchen Pots de Creme
 * America's Test Kitchen Roasted Red Potatoes
 * Rooms DS
 * Battle of Giants: Dragons
 * Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects
 * Ace Attorney INVESTIGATIONS: Miles Edgeworth
 * James Patterson Woman's Murder Club: Games of Passion
 * Fossil Fighters Gift Fossil (Neutral)
 * Fossil Fighters Gift Fossil (Water)
 * Fossil Fighters Gift Fossil (Fire)
 * Fossil Fighters Gift Fossil (Earth)
 * Fossil Fighters Cleaning
 * Mega Man Star Force 3 (until 9/20/2009)
 * Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (until 9/20/2009)
 * Rhythm Heaven
 * Personal Trainer: Math
 * Personal Trainer: Cooking Mac & Cheese (until 12/21/2008)
 * Personal Trainer: Cooking Lasagna (until 3/22/2009)
 * Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir
 * Crosswords DS-Crosswords
 * Crosswords DS-Wordsearch
 * Crosswords DS-Anagrams (until 7/27/2008)
 * Brain Age
 * Brain Age 2
 * Flash Focus
 * Jam Sessions
 * Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
 * Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends
 * Disney Friends
 * Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
 * Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero (until 12/21/2008)
 * Soul Bubbles (until 12/21/2008)
 * PICTOIMAGE (until 1/18/2009)
 * Carnival Games (until 7/6/2008)
 * The Incredible Hulk
 * Kung Fu Panda
 * Walt Disney Pictures Bolt (until 1/18/2009)
 * Imagine Ice Champions
 * Avalon Code
 * MLB 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars
 * Big Bang Mini
 * Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
 * Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
 * Ninjatown
 * Miami Law
 * Up
 * Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Council 4
 * Knights in the Nightmare Tutorial
 * MySims Kingdom
 * Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs
 * Brain Quest Grades 3 & 4
 * Brain Quest Grades 5 & 6
 * Spore Creatures
 * Lock's Quest
 * My Word Coach

Disconnection
It was announced on April 12, 2013 that the Forecast Channel, the News Channel, the Everybody Votes Channel, the Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel, and the Nintendo Channel would close permanently on June 27, 2013, as Nintendo terminated the WiiConnect24 service which these channels required, and shifted their resources to their next-generation projects.

List of additional Channels
This is a list of new Wii Channels released beyond the four initial Channels (i.e. Disc Channel, Mii Channel, Photo Channel and Wii Shop Channel) included in the original consoles. The News Channel and the Forecast Channel were released as part of system updates so separate downloads were not required. As of January 30, 2019, all channels listed below have been discontinued with the exception of the Wii Fit Channel and the Internet Channel.

Updates
Pre-launch Wii consoles sent to retailers as demonstration units required a Wii Startup Disc to patch the firmware with the finalized version for launch; some launch units were also bundled with it. Nintendo offered to repair units that prompted for the disc, of which 11 variants are known to exist. The launch firmware itself does not display a version number. Upon initial connection to the Internet, a Wii console would automatically download the day one patch; some consoles were bricked by this process at launch, prompting Nintendo to replace them for free as a result.

Nintendo, notorious for its protective attitude towards its hardware, made significant efforts to quash the Wii's homebrew scene, especially once hackers demonstrated a hack that allowed unauthorized software to run natively on the console in December 2007. The version 3.0 update disabled use of Datel's GameCube products; users with hardware-modified consoles were warned that it could brick them, though no such result occurred.

A week after Wii Freeloader released, Nintendo released an update containing a new IOS with the bug exploited by Freeloader fixed, although this new IOS was not used by the Wii Menu. Later that year, Nintendo released a new Wii Menu that copied this fix to the IOS user by the Wii Menu. In addition, code was added to the Wii Menu to delete the primary homebrew entrypoint on every boot, although this code was very buggy and was easily bypassed. Nintendo also patched the hole used to extract the private encryption keys of the Wii, and finally made a small change to the Mii Channel to convince people to update.

Nintendo's next few updates made similar small changes to various channels, and one of them copied the fix for the previous IOS bug to every IOS, as well as a few other exploit fixes. A few weeks later, Nintendo ported these new fixes to every IOS, made a failed attempt to block a specific homebrew IOS, and made their second attempt at fixing the main homebrew entrypoint. This attempt at stopping the homebrew entrypoint was then superseded by a successful attempt in 2009, along with other IOS fixes, and some features.

Later that year, Nintendo released another homebrew-blocking update, but unlike the previous updates, it offered no new features; instead, it updated the Wii Shop Channel to require the new version. In addition to fixing homebrew bugs, it aggressively checks for the Homebrew Channel and deletes it if it is present, replaced several IOSes used by homebrew with nonfunctional versions, and updated a bootloader to overwrite the one used by homebrew, unexpectedly causing many consoles to refuse to boot. Two similar updates were then released throughout 2010, although the only attempts to stop Wii homebrew past that were in the Wii U's Wii Mode feature.

The final update delivered in PAL and American regions added support to transfer content to the Wii U. However, two updates were released in Japan past this point that only affected Dragon Quest X players, solely updating the IOS used by Dragon Quest X.