[ale] OT: WII question

[brian at polibyte.com (Brian Pitts)]

Greg Freemyer wrote:
> All,
> 
> I bought a WII game console recently.  Need to back up the CDs/DVDs
> that came with it.  I haven't tried to do it yet, but are there any
> tricks I need to be aware of?

I don't believe you can use the backups without modifying the Wii.

"The optical drive found in the Wii is capable of dealing with normal 
DVD media. But the drive's firmware is only programed to work with 
genuine Wii media. Normally, the firmware checks if a disc is a genuine 
Wii disc by looking at certain areas of the disc like the BCA (Burst 
Cutting Area) and the DMI (Disk Manufacturing Information), and refuses 
to work if the checks are not passed. Also genuine Wii discs use custom 
scrambling seeds that must be properly initialized."

http://www.wiili.org/index.php/Drivechip

There are links on that same site to software for using the wiimote with 
linux; it looks fun.

-Brian