The Homebrew Channel has ceased development due to stolen Nintendo code

Draugoth

Gold Member


The Homebrew Channel has ceased development. A developer alleges that key figures in the Wii homebrew community stole code from Nintendo and other projects. "The Wii homebrew community was all built on top of a pile of lies and copyright infringement"

 
Sorry, but clutching your pearls so many years atfer the fact doesn't make any sense. The Wii is long discontinued, so who is being hurt by this alleged copyright infringement?
 
Nintendo is the last company you want to steal code from if you're going to Homebrew for their hardware. All you're going to do is make any legitimate work go to waste when they come knocking.
 
lol. Well, I guess you will have to add apps manually now. Are they keeping the servers up?
I noticed that some homebrew apps were kind of janky the last time I used them.

I was playing around with the Wii a few months ago.
 
Ugh of course this happens now, just a few days ago I had decided to finally look into Wii modding so of course I willed this into existence
 
Wow, modern modders are ______'s who get butthurt protecting multimillion dollar corporation code? Could you imagine a cyber punk, but all hackers are good boys who play by the rules and never ever steal code, or do anything illegal? We live in the gayest timeline.

Like I get not wanting to get involved in stolen code, sure you have a family and don't think its worth risking with the big N, but like, just silently drop out and walk away. But making a huge public outcry about it is just pathetic. Won't matter though, wii is old news, and homebrew channel has been functional for longer than it hasn't at this point, so dropping development of it really doesn't matter. They could've just said 'we are happy with where it is and are moving on to new projects'.
 
Never even heard of this Homebrew channel before and I can only vaguely guess what it was, but still, what a fucking rat.

"Boo hoo, these people I knew and I worked with STOLE code from the big corpo. Pls do the legal thing and send a C&D, Ninty!",
Backstabber.


EDIT: Maybe even a mentally deranged liar, so worse than I though.

5HPnW3c.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I was looking into getting a cheap Wii and going down this road since I have a ton of the discs and their backup files. Instead I loaded it all on my Steam Deck. I would imagine that it will take Nintendo awhile to scrub the internet of this.
 
The thing's 19 years old. Who gives a shit if they're ceasing development of the fucking Homebrew Channel, of all things?
 
Never even heard of this Homebrew channel before and I can only vaguely guess what it was, but still, what a fucking rat.

"Boo hoo, these people I knew and I worked with STOLE code from the big corpo. Pls do the legal thing and send a C&D, Ninty!",
Backstabber.


EDIT: Maybe even a mentally deranged liar, so worse than I though.

5HPnW3c.jpeg
Hmmm, I think I know of that guy. I'll check that one new Zealand themed agriculture forum.
 
Sorry, but clutching your pearls so many years atfer the fact doesn't make any sense. The Wii is long discontinued, so who is being hurt by this alleged copyright infringement?
Based on what happened last year I'm willing to bet this is another domino.
 
The thing's 19 years old. Who gives a shit if they're ceasing development of the fucking Homebrew Channel, of all things?

At first it may seem like petty revenge, but this is Nintendo going nuclear on the homebrew community of their consoles. Shame too, a hacked 3DS or Wii U are some of the best consoles one could ever have.
 
Ugh of course this happens now, just a few days ago I had decided to finally look into Wii modding so of course I willed this into existence
Still very much worth doing. I modded my Wii over a decade ago and I still go to it often. It probably helps that I have it hooked up to a CRT; it's such a great place to play those 480p games as well as emulate older consoles. Do you have the OG Wii with the GameCube ports?
 
If you do Nintendo homebrew and emulation stuff, the best strategy is to keep it low profile and not create drama on Twitter. Once Nintendo's lawyers have noticed it, you're toast.
 
This seems silly, Where did they think all this rock solid code came from to run this software as smooth as it did?
 
Last edited:
Kirby is not a Nintendo character; he was also a Nintendo lawyer that got his name honored and immortalized :)

But regardless, fuck the rats.
 
Kirby is not a Nintendo character; he was also a Nintendo lawyer that got his name honored and immortalized
Nah, they stole the character's name from a company that makes vacuum cleaners.

Because it's vacuum cleaners. Of all things. They couldn't be more obvious.
 
Last edited:
I learned long ago to keep any modded game system off the Internet because I don't need unsupported random updates messing up my precariously balanced console where everything is working just so without failure. I assume all my old modded systems still work mainly because once I got them working they were cut off from the net forever.

So yeah copy/paste it to your SD card instead and be ready to backtrack/fix anything.
 
Yeah, people hacking their consoles are so worried about the legality of the code they use.

There is no honor between thieves.
 
Nah, they stole the character's name from a company that makes vacuum cleaners.

Because it's vacuum cleaners. Of all things. They couldn't be more obvious.
Oh I didn't know that brand existed. If thats the case then both of these can be true at once; Nintendo happened to have a Lawyer that was called Kirby that they highly respected, and his name happened to fit perfectly with the character they made probably.
 
Oh I didn't know that brand existed. If thats the case then both of these can be true at once; Nintendo happened to have a Lawyer that was called Kirby that they highly respected, and his name happened to fit perfectly with the character they made probably.
That's not official or anything, i just think it's too much of a coincidence a name they chose for a character who sucks enemies like a vacuum cleaner has the same name as a company that makes vacuum cleaners.
 
This seems silly, Where did they think all this rock solid code came from to run this software as smooth as it did?
You never know. Private servers for Ragnarok Online mostly run on eAthena, which is an Aegis (the official RO server software) emulator made entirely from scratch.
 
That's not official or anything, i just think it's too much of a coincidence a name they chose for a character who sucks enemies like a vacuum cleaner has the same name as a company that makes vacuum cleaners.

Its official

Shigeru Miyamoto stated that "Kirby" was chosen partly in honor of American lawyer John Kirby, who defended Nintendo in the Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. case, and partly because the harsh-sounding name contrasted amusingly with the character's cute appearance.
 
Still very much worth doing. I modded my Wii over a decade ago and I still go to it often. It probably helps that I have it hooked up to a CRT; it's such a great place to play those 480p games as well as emulate older consoles. Do you have the OG Wii with the GameCube ports?
I do, I have three of them (2 US and 1 JPN) basically collecting dust and have been thinking I may as well get some use out of one.

I also still have the Wii U and was mulling over if that would be the better option, any opinions on that? I have the Smash GCN->USB adapter if that factors in at all.
 
I do, I have three of them (2 US and 1 JPN) basically collecting dust and have been thinking I may as well get some use out of one.

I also still have the Wii U and was mulling over if that would be the better option, any opinions on that? I have the Smash GCN->USB adapter if that factors in at all.
The best option is do both. Admittedly, it doesn't happen often for me, but there are no better consoles for when you have people over. I know GameCube access is possible on Wii U, but I have never bothered with it as it is so easy to get working on the OG Wii.
 
The channel itself dont have too much to change anyway. But for news unlocks WiiHack still going to install HomeBrew Channel?
 
Never even heard of this Homebrew channel before and I can only vaguely guess what it was, but still, what a fucking rat.

"Boo hoo, these people I knew and I worked with STOLE code from the big corpo. Pls do the legal thing and send a C&D, Ninty!",
Backstabber.


EDIT: Maybe even a mentally deranged liar, so worse than I though.

5HPnW3c.jpeg
As a developer, you are never gonna see me advocate for stealing code, even if it is a big corporation's code.

I agree that snitches get stitches, and crying to the internet police was pathetic.

But theft of source code is theft, whether it's legacy or not, I won't pretend like it's a nothing deal. In this scenario, I totally am on Nintendo's side here.

It's not the same as shutting down fan projects or emulation where Nintendo are the obvious arseholes.
 
Last edited:
The double moral in the announcement baffles me. Steal from Nintendo? Well, go on. Steal from OSS? No way!

I mean... I'm one of them - I'm obsessively into older games and systems - but the fascination with homebrew shit on the Wii of all things is just plain weird.
People are still playing PES6 mods on PS2 nowadays.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom