Nintendo Penalizing Homebrew Users?

An anonymous reader writes "Bricked your Wii? Not only will Nintendo charge you for the repair, they will now add an additional fee if they detect any homebrew software. 'Should Nintendo have to pay to repair hacked Wiis under warranty? Maybe not, but they have no (moral) right to gouge customers out of spite for having the HBC installed. This actually poses a technical dilemma for us with BootMii. As currently designed, BootMii looks for an SD card when you boot your Wii, and if it finds the card and the right file, it will execute that file. Otherwise, there's no way to tell it's installed.'"

Rightly So

[cfriedt]

I do understand German, and this receipt says that the internal software (i.e. firmware) was modified.

Realistically, if someone voids their warranty by modifying the firmware on a device, regardless of whether it was done directly by the user or by the homebrew software, then they should expect to pay to have that repaired.

Why? because it takes time. Usually companies have very specific procedures for quickly re-flashing using their existing boot firmware. However, if that boot firmware is modified (i.e. the device is 'bricked') then that procedure needs to be changed. In this case, the engineer would need to 'hack' their own device to get it up to usable standards again (i.e. 'unbricked').

In the non-wii-world (i.e. reality), people that fix things also need to be paid adequately.

This customer should be happy that their bricked wii was even serviceable and that they weren't forced to cough up an extra 40€ to buy a brand-new Wii for 250€.

Re:Is this allowable by law in Europe?

[Anonymous Coward]

> I don't know why the parent is modded offtopic.

Because US law doesn't apply in Germany.

Re:Is it so hard to understand?

[tacarat]

I always thought part of the fun with these kinds of modifications was that you COULD brick it. Nerd danger, yah? While the validity of the letter is in doubt, I would say that if you really want to have Nintendo fix your warranty breaking experiments, you should ask for what their repair costs are before you start, not after. At least then you'd know to save for a 2nd Wii or whatever first.

Re:Is this allowable by law in Europe?

[Gnavpot]

Because *this particular* US law doesn't apply in Germany. There, fixed that for you :o)

The question was:
"Doesn't Europe have the equivalent of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act [wikipedia.org]?"

The person who asked was obviously very well aware that the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act does not apply in Europe. He asked if we don't have some European law with the same effect.

And for this you think he should be modded off topic?

Re:Is this allowable by law in Europe?

[Hognoxious]

I doubt that a jailbroken phone running any app should cause the screen to crack.

Well if Linux can cause the screen hinges to break [cnet.co.uk] I suppose anything's possible.

" but they have no (moral) right to gouge"

[Anita Coney]

Anyone has the right to charge whatever price they want for any product or service they are selling. If you don't like it, don't pay it. It's as simple as that.

Yeah, I know you'll mod me down for this, it seems to happen every time I point out an utterly obvious truth.

Re:Is this allowable by law in Europe?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're assuming people read the posts they're moderating. Possibly even read them carefully. Sux 2BU N00b.

Re:Rightly So

[Anonymous Coward]

BIOS hacks can survive a re-flash [slashdot.org]. Therefore, since they don't know the particulars of this BIOS hack they can't guarantee their standard re-flash procedure will work correctly, assuming their standard procedure is a less-expensive software procedure rather than a more-expensive hardware procedure (remove and replace or nuke the ROM).

Re:Obvious Fake

[fuliginous]

If you use the device outside its intended purpose and that purpose is clearly discernible then it has to be your cost. If I take my regular car rallying and the suspension breaks it is hardly reasonable for me to attempt to claim repair under warranty. The car was built for the road not 140mph down a bumpy unmetaled track. If I fit a nitrous kit to the car and it pops a cylinder good luck proving it was a build flaw and therefore a warranty claim.

Re:Rightly So

[Achromatic1978]

Except in this case the defect IS "My Wii won't boot", and the defect was caused by "installation of hacked/custom software onto the firmware". Fairly simple, it'd seem.