If you have researched about how to unlock your Wii, no doubt you have seen lots of hype-filled articles and advertisements for products that promise to help you unlock your Wii without the need for a modchip. However, when you visit the websites where these products are sold, you can quickly become confused about exactly what it is that they are trying to sell you. So, in this post I am going to explain what these products are and discuss whether they really do work. In addition, I am going to share my opinions about which of these solutions you should take a look at and which you should avoid. In separate posts, I provide detailed reviews of 5 leading solutions:

• BreWii
• Homebrew Installer
• Homebreware
• Wii Unlock Plus
• Wii Unlocker Ultra

What Is a Wii Unlock Solution?

I call these products “Wii unlock solutions,” because while some of the vendors may imply that they are selling software, what they are actually selling is a set of instructions along with links to the appropriate software. In addition, while the advertising for these products – like so many other downloadable products on the web today – shows pictures of books, DVDs and packaged software boxes, what you are actually purchasing is a set of downloadable products. Typically, this set of downloads consists of one or more eBooks in PDF form as well as one or more videos that provide you detailed instructions on how to unlock your Wii. In addition, you usually get membership to the web site, meaning that you can return for updates and additional downloads in the future. On the web sites and in the guides you will be given links to various sources for the free software that you will need to download and use to unlock your Wii. To make their products more enticing, many of these vendors also include extras such as Wii cheat guides and other related digital products that you can download. Typically, the vendors promise lifetime updates. Most also offer 60-day money-back guarantees.

Do Wii Unlock Solutions Work?

While depending on what changes Nintendo might make to future versions of the Wii, this might change, it appears that the leading Wii unlock solutions do work. Now, this assumes that you carefully follow the instructions provided. The fact is that if you are tech savvy and do some research online, you can figure out how to do what is in these guides yourself. The actual hacks that these guides explain and the software applications that they are showing you how to download and use were mostly developed by Team Twiizers, a group of game hackers that that have created many hacks for the Wii including the Homebrew Channel, the Twilight Hack, and DVDX. What these vendors have done is created guides that “dumb down,” this how-to information so that less technically inclined people can do it themselves. Essentially, these solutions amount to “Wii Homebrew for Dummies” or “Wii Unlock for Dummies.” And, no, you can’t buy that book pictured here at Amazon, because it is not real

Should I Purchase a Wii Unlock Solution?

Whether you should consider purchasing one of these solutions really depends on how comfortable you are with working with computers and software. I am sure that some readers will be perfectly comfortable researching the Wii hacks for themselves and working through the process of unlocking your Wii. Many others may find that these solutions are extremely helpful because they put all of the pieces together in one place and provide detailed instructions. The best of these guides go through the process of how to unlock your Wii in great detail both in print and videos, so even someone who is a total newbie can have a lot of confidence in getting it right and not bricking their Wii.

Can they really guarantee that you won’t brick your Wii, void your warranty or that they will always be able to keep up with future updates? The truth is that they can’t. No one can do that. However, for the typical, non-technical Wii owner who wants to unlock their Wii and experience the world of Wii homebrew, these solutions offer a relatively safe and painless approach to unlocking your console’s potential.

Which Wii Unlock Solution Is the Best?

I’ve written detailed reviews of five leading Wii unlock solutions and rated them based on Features, Effectiveness, Ease of Use, Value and Support. As I have already noted, they are all generally effective, that is, if you follow the instructions carefully, you will be able to unlock your Wii. A couple are easier to use than the rest because they provide more detail and the instructional videos are put together better. Customer support is not that great for any of these products – it’s not like they have a team of tech support staff waiting to answer the telephone. In fact, what you can expect from the better vendors is a reasonably prompt response to email requests for support. A couple of these solutions have reputations for pretty lousy support, because they take forever even to answer email requests for help. The big difference between the top two products and the rest is the set of features and extras that are bundled in the package. When you read the reviews, you will see that Wii Unlocker Ultra and Wii Unlock Plus are head and shoulders above the rest based on the items included in their solutions. As for overall value, 4 of the 5 products that I looked at are priced the about the same, with the only outlier being BreWii which is priced about $5 more than the others, despite lacking many of the features that the two leading products have. You can take a look and judge for yourself, but Wii Unlock Plus and Wii Unlocker Ultra are my two picks.

The Wii Unlocker Ultra Guide and Videos are the signature Wii unlock solution sold by Myhomebreware.com. This is one of my top 2 picks among the solutions that I have reviewed. First off, Wii Unlock Ultra has a really good guide.  It is really written with the average, non-technical user in mind. It is really was easy to follow along, and all of the pictures and detailed descriptions to unlocking the Wii are spot on.  I mean, you really don’t need any experience fixing or modding your Wii, because every single step is spelled out for you in sometimes too much detail (if you are a little more technically inclined).

The videos are also nicely done. You could ignore the guide and just use the nice high definition videos in the members area to unlock your Wii at your own pace. The unlocking videos go through the process of choosing what software to download depending on what Wii system menu version you have whether it is a 3.4 or 4.1 up until you completely unlock your Wii. There are also 5 video tutorials, all showing you how to do different things after your Wii is unlocked.

The other thing that sets this apart from most of the competitors are the application installation tutorials. Wii Unlocker Ultra actually shows you how to download the free applications that you can find on the internet and install them on your Wii.

Wii Unlocker Ultra is completely compatible with all Wii versions. They have two sets of software  to unlock your Wii, one for all system versions 3.4 and earlier and the other software for the latest versions of the Wii systems menu including 4.0 and 4.1.++

My Homebreware offers several extras with Wii Unlocker, including the following:

• Wii Games Cheats Guide – (this is the most updated Wii cheat book that gamers are using right now)
• Backup Wii Games Guide and Software – (shows you how to back-up all of your Wii games in a safe place just in case they get damaged)
• Wii Games Patching Guide and Software – (There is some games out there that you just cant backup, but this patching guide shows  how to get around these road blocks to back up any game)
• Wii DVD Converter Guide and Software – (enables you to use your Wii as a DVD player)
• Wii UNLOCKER ULTRA Elite Gamers Membership – (a one-stop solution for all Wii-related mods, cheats, guides, games, Wii updates, downloads and more)
• 60-day money back guarantee

This is a great solution with lots and lots of extra features. Please check out the Myhomebreware Wii Unlocker Ultra web site yourself for more information and some user testimonials. Also, if you have had a chance to use this solution, please share your experiences and rate it below.

Wii Unlock Plus is sort of the new kid on the block. This popular product launched in August 2009, and its developers are working hard to make it the leading Wii unlock solution. The solution consists of a Members Area with Wii unlocking and homebrew guide, instructional videos, and several exclusive bonuses like a Homebrew Database, Wii Themes Club, Wii Cheats Handbook and Game Guide, and more. I have to confess that after doing my research for a solution to unlock my Wii last fall, I was torn between Wii Unlock Plus and MyHomebreware’s Wii Unlocker Ultra. From what I had read, it seemed like they both got the job done and both offered more extras than the other solutions. In the end, I liked what Wii Unlock Plus had to offer and decided to give it a shot.

Wii Unlock Plus guides you step by step with video tutorial and expert explanation all the way to make sure you do everything just right. While it might even get a little tedious at times for the technically inclined, I think this is probably just the thing that a newbie needs. Unlike some of the other Wii unlock solutions that provide less software (or no software at all) and limited tutorials, Wii Unlock Plus really does provide everything you need. It also includes a lot of bonus extras that make it an even better deal. While I didn’t make use of it, others reviewers have commented that they actually do provide customer support.

So, in a nutshell, here is what you will need to unlock your Wii safely with no chip mod or any alternation using Wii Unlock Plus:

• The Wii Unlock Plus download and site have all of the software and instructions you will need
• Wii console (works on any model)
• Computer with SD card reader
• SD card
• Wiimote

Of the five solutions that I have reviewed thoroughly, I think that you really can’t go wrong with Wii Unlock Plus. Check out the Wii Unlock Plus site for more information and testimonials, and if you have had a chance to try it out, please feel free to share your comments and evaluation below.

Like the other solutions that we review here, BreWii is a set of guides and tutorials which show you how to unlock your Wii. BreWii does not sell the software to unlock your Wii; however, the guides do show you where you can download the software which you can use for free. The product is useful, and the guides and videos do a good job of showing you exactly how to unlock Wii consoles and play backup and homebrew games.

So, while BreWii certainly gets the job done, we have a couple of reservations about it. First, BreWii is the most expensive of the five solutions that we review here. Now, it’s only about $5 more, so that’s not really that big of a deal, but when you consider that the only extra is a Wii Cheats guide that you can find elsewhere (or at least something very similar), it just doesn’t seem to be worth the extra cost. Especially, when you compare the number of extras that come with some of the other solutions. Second, we have had a number of reviewers complain about the customer support.

Please feel free to check out the BreWii web site for additional information about this solution. In addition, if you have used this product and would like to share your experiences with others, please feel free to comment and rate the product below.

I am going to combine my first two reviews, because these products are a lot alike, and while they both get the job done, neither of them is worthy of a top ranking.

Homebreware

First, let’s take a brief look at Homebreware. Homebreware is a simple Wii unlock solution that gets the job done. The package includes several files. You simply copy those files onto an SD card (which is the Wii memory format). Once they have been moved to the SD card, simply insert the card and boot up the Wii console.

Homebreware claims that its software is updated regularly to ensure compatability with Wii system updates.  If you ever wish to uninstall the mod, the package includes a nice rollback features which allows you to return your console to it’s original settings with the click of a button.

With this package you will learn how to unlock the following features on your Wii:

• Play backup games
• Play imported games that are region locked
• Make copies of existing games (for back-up purposes)
• Play N64, SNES, NES and Sega Genesis games, as well as games from other consoles
• Play homebrew games
• Play DVD movies and Mp3s

Homebreware comes with a lifetime membership, entitling users to get all of the future upgrades for free and the package also includes the Ultimate Wii Cheats Guide.

This is another solution that does seem to get the job of unlocking your Wii done effectively enough. Compared to some of the other solutions, it comes with only one extra and the process is not as well documented as with some others. Finally, we have heard some complaints about a lack of good customer support. You should check out the Homebreware web site for additional information. In addition, if you have had a chance to use the Homebreware solution, you are welcome to provide your comments below.

Homebrew Installer

Turning to Homebrew Installer, this solution consists of a set of guides and tutorials which show users how to unlock their Wii. Like most of its competitors, Homebrew Installer is  not selling software; however, the solution does show users where to download the required software for free and how to use it. Homebrew Installer works  on version 4.2 and lower and does not require the Zelda game (for the famous Twilight hack). Homebrew Installer is supposed to be updated twice monthly, and customers receive unlimited updates. The Homebrew Installer team provide full e-mail support through its tech department,a nd promises to answer questions promptly. The only extra with Homebrew Installer is a Wii cheats guide.

Homebrew Installer seems to fall pretty much in the middle of the five solutions that I look at on this site. It definitely does not have the features that the top two products have. It does provide you the tools that you need to reliably unlock your Wii. We are not sure about the twice monthly updates, but – anecdotally at least – the folks at Homebrew Installer seem to provide better customer support than a couple of the other companies.

For more information and some customer testimonials, take a look at the Homebrew Installer website. If you have experience with this product, please share your thoughts with the community in the comment section below.

In a nutshell, the term Wii homebrew refers to the reuse of Nintendo’s Wii game console hardware, accessories, and software for purposes other than those intended by Nintendo.

Original attempts to create Wii homebrew focused on using the Wii Remote as a pointing device on other operating systems or running web-based games using the built-in web browser. Subsequent developments, such as the Twilight Princess hack, Bannerbomb, and the Homebrew Channel, have made native code execution possible. The newest hacks as of January 2010 are the Lego Indiana Jones hack and the Super Smash Brother Brawl hack. So, for example, the Lego Indiana Jones hack is a save-game hack for “Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures” that functions almost exactly like the Twilight Princess hack by way of a buffer overflow. This hack will work on System menu 4.2 and below.

Wii Architecture

The architecture of the Wii is based on the Nintendo GameCube hardware, therefore most of the homebrew development tools used for the Nintendo GameCube are usable for Wii development. The Wii contains a GameCube compatibility mode, so most of the GameCube homebrew runs unmodified, albeit at a slower clock than native Wii applications. One of these homebrew applications is The Homebrew Channel. This application, when installed, can be found in the Wii Menu of the device. It shows a wave when clicked on, and has had several updates over the past years. You can load this channel through a disc, and/or with an SD card. This channel is mostly used for the hacking of Nintendo Wii games, such as Mario Kart Wii, The Conduit, Call Of Duty, and so on. Code running in GameCube mode also cannot access hardware that is unique to the Wii, such as the Wii Remote.

The first example of homebrew code being run in native Wii mode was demonstrated in December 2007 at the 24th Annual Chaos Communication Congress (24C3). It showed code running and responding to the Wiimote. They were able to find encryption and decryption keys by doing full memory dumps at runtime over a custom serial interface. Using these keys, they were able to create a Wii ‘game’ that ran their own code (their demo happened to show live sensor/Wiimote information, amongst a few other things).

Later, the release of the Twilight Hack software made it possible to run native Wii homebrew code without any hardware modifications. This hack was created by Team Twiizers and is the first release of a non-modchip homebrew-enabling exploit on the Wii. Despite rumors, Firmware 3.4 for the Wii does not block this exploit. However, firmware version 3.3 does disable the ‘alpha’ version of the hack. According to Nintendo, “Because unauthorized modifications to save files may impair game play or the Wii console, updating to Wii Menu version 3.3 will also check for and automatically remove such save files.” Team Twiizers released an updated ‘beta’ version that is compatible with 3.3 and 3.4 updates. But with the new 4.0 update for the Wii, it has been officially announced that the Twilight Hack Bug has been squashed. Another option is BannerBomb+BootMii.
The Wii Optical Drive is very similar to that of the Nintendo GameCube, which has similar flaws and backdoors. The intention of Nintendo to add support for standard DVDs indicates it should be possible to get the Wii to read standard DVDs to load programs and data. On the GameCube, this was a popular method for running homebrew software.
Team Twiizers has released a library (DVDX) that allows other software to be able to play or read DVDs on the Wii. The hack comes in the form of a DOL file that can be loaded using the Twilight Hack or the Homebrew channel. It installs a small, invisible channel to the Wii, that allows DVD playback.

Team Twiizers has also released a fully working version of MPlayer for the Wii. It can play DVDs on an unmodded console if you have DVDX installed, and can also play media off of the SD card. A fork of the Team Twiizers MPlayer, called MPlayer CE, can play media off of the SD card, an FTP server or a SMB mount point. Both versions of MPlayer can be loaded from the Homebrew Channel.

Homebrew for Internet Channel

The Opera-powered Internet Channel for the Wii supports many of the technologies that general browsers also support. These include standards compliance for (X)HTML (including canvas), XML, Javascript (including XMLHttpRequest, but not designMode, contentEditable or Audio), WML, RSS and Atom, CSS, XSLT, SVG and the Adobe Flash 7 plug-in. It does not support FTP, NNTP, IRC, XHTML+Voice, widgets (except Opera widgets, plug-ins and some (X)HTML tags like file fields). Further, it does not support Flash 8 or 9 or 10, or Microsoft Silverlight. (It has been updated to Flash Player Lite which has support for Flash Player 9.)

Each button on the Wiimote, except Power and Home (and 1 on the primary Wiimote), can be detected in Javascript. The roll vector, distance from the Sensor Bar in meters, and cursor coordinates in pixels, can all be detected using the window.opera.wiiremote object. Several demonstrations have been made available with the Wii Opera SDK. Support for Adobe Flash 7 has also allowed many homebrew websites to arise since the Wii launch. Examples include WiiCade and its API, Wiisic, WiiCR (not a website at all but a server / client media streaming solution that uses XAMPP, Flash and the wii Opera Browser), WiiAUDIO and Moowee.tv.
The release of the WiiCade API and the Wii Opera SDK have augmented existing features of the Internet Channel by adding native support for the Wii Remote and more. This allowed more complex software development such as multiplayer online gaming and three-dimensional environments with full texture-mapping.

Wiimote Hacks

A number of features of the Wiimote have been reverse engineered to allow the development of drivers for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The Bluetooth HID driver is used to interface with the computer using a custom report format.

The Wiimote has been hacked to do a variety of actions not involving the console, including control a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, mix and splice tracks in a deejay act, control an industrial robot playing tennis, control a drum kit, play laser tag, and controlling a Bluetooth-enabled computer by simulating key presses. Some companies are looking into reprogramming Wiimotes for business applications such as manufacturing operations.

An interactive whiteboard has been created with a projector, the Wiimote and a $5 infrared pen. The Wiimote has also been used as a finger-tracking device that simulates the interface seen in the film Minority Report.

Unlocking your Wii opens up a whole new world of gameplay. Do you want to get a better understanding of the of software and guides out there to help you run homebrew software and hardware on your Nintendo Wii? Well you’ve come to the right place. Wii unlock sofware allows you to run hardware and software that were not meant to run on the Nintendo Wii console. This means that with this software, you can now run  games that were designed for other platforms and not for the Wii. The console is opened up so that foreign code can now run on the Wii. This is the purpose of these applications and guides and homebrew software is increasing in popularity in the Wii gaming world today. There are a growing number of software products and guides on the market today, but it is hard to know what you should buy. I built this site to provide in-depth and objective reviews of the leading Wii homebrew and unlock software packages and guides.