Nintendo Updates Wii, DSi Firmware To Block User Modifications, Flash Carts

Nintendo released firmware updates earlier this week for the DSi and Wii that reportedly block the use of many popular piracy-enabling flash carts and software modification on the systems. The official release notes for DSi Menu Ver. 1.4.1U state only that the update "provides behind-the-scenes improvements to system performance." But forum posters at GBATemp.net report the new firmware breaks many popular brands of DSi flash cart, including the Acekard 2i, Supercard DSTwo, M3i Zero, iPlayer, DSTTi. Some flash carts reportedly still work under the update, including the popular Hyper R4i. A Wii firmware update made available this week warns updaters that "if your Wii console includes unauthorized modifications this update may detect and remove unauthorized content causing immediate or delayed inoperability of your console." This latest update builds upon the June release of Wii Menu 4.3, which also removed some user modifications "because unauthorized channels or firmware may impair game play or the Wii console," according to a note on Nintendo's Web site. Users can refuse the update on either system, but future Nintendo-distributed game releases may require up-to-date firmware to run properly.