Wiikey Hacks Wii U To Play Games From USB Drives

Wiikey, the hackers who invented mod chips and soft mods for the Nintendo Wii and many other consoles, have developed a new hack for the Wii U that lets them play content and games from a custom USB drive. With the new hacking method, it looks like you won't need to do any hardware modifications to your system to hack it. All you need to do is connect the custom USB device, WiikeÜ, too your Wii U and you're good to go.

The WiikeÜ isn't available to consumers just yet, but Wiikey will be releasing updates regarding the product soon. In a statement on their website, Wiikey stated that they were able to completely reverse "the WiiU drive authentication, disk encryption, file system, and everything else." When the WiikeÜ becomes available, gamers will be able to install homebrew software on their Wii U, and unfortunately for Nintendo, play pirated games.

The WiikeÜ spells trouble for game developers, however it may do wonders for the Wii U. The sales for the Wii U failed to even meet Nintendo's lowered expectations, selling only a measly 3.45 million units since its launch. People who purchase the WiikeÜ will inevitably use it to pirate games (with a few using it solely for homebrew purposes), and while it may be damaging to game sales, it may offer enough incentive for people to purchase a Wii U.

It'll be a bittersweet situation for Nintendo, who just replaced its North American CEO with Nintendo Global President Satoru Iwata. Nintendo planned on improving sales of the Wii U by bringing more "key" titles to the platform, enticing more consumers to purchase the device, but that plan may be thwarted by Wiikey. We'll see. But at this rate, anything would help the struggling platform.

[via Wiikey]