Nintendo Penalizing Homebrew Users? 95
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.'"
Obvious Fake (Score:1, Interesting)
First of all, I don't read German, but "softwarehack" is only one line of that receipt and I doubt it has the same meaning in German and English. Even so, if they were charging additional for hacked Wii's, it would probably be an extra line item. I would expect to see a normal repair fee on the invoice *plus* a "hacked wii fee".
Second, the email is a poor fake. It's anonymous, with typos and grammar mistakes. And what company ever refers to the possibility of their policies being illegal in a corporate memo? I quote: "yes we are aware of a small legal risk to be claimed on this in the court, but NOE more than willing to take the risk."
Is this allowable by law in Europe? (Score:5, Interesting)
Doesn't Europe have the equivalent of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act [wikipedia.org]?
Re:Is this allowable by law in Europe? (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know why the parent is modded offtopic. Hopefully, those of you with mod points will fix this.
The warranty act is very interesting; I didn't know about it until now. According to Wikipedia: "Warrantors cannot require that only branded parts be used with the product in order to retain the warranty. This is commonly referred to as the 'tie-in sales' provisions, and is frequently mentioned in the context of third-party computer parts, such as memory and hard drives."
I would read this to also include branded software. I.e., installing unauthorized software shouldn't void the warranty (unless, of course, the software is what caused the malfunction).
Re:Is this allowable by law in Europe? (Score:1, Interesting)
It is my understanding that if it can be shown that what you did, did not cause the failure(directly or indirectly, I'm not sure), then the warranty should be honored. (Like someone else said, installing a third party radio should not invalidate the warranty on the engine, unless they could show that it somehow did)
So a jailbroken phone that had the filesystem fucked up because of an app that wasn't Apple approved, then probably not since it(the app) caused the direct failure. (Breaking it, not so much(unless the jailbreaking itself broke the phone). Installing non-approved apps that fucked up your phone, well they can point that caused the failure, nothing that they(Apple) did)
Now, if your screen developed a crack in it because of bad parts, then yes, they should honor that warranty, since I doubt that a jailbroken phone running any app should cause the screen to crack. (But then, I don't know)
But then I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know anything.
You doubt. Never a good sign (Score:5, Interesting)
I do speak german and softwarehack is NOT a german word, it is a borrowed word and therefor means the same thing as you would expect it to. Never DOUBT. CHECK!
Your entire argument starts to look shakey because you asumed.
You then go on to claim that it is a seperate line. It is not, it is a wrap around of the previous line. Failure two.
You then go on to make your final claim. The email being fake. 2 strikes, is the third a hit? We already know you leap to conclusions, so might you have struck out completly?
The email indeed seems suspicious. The english in it is piss poor and that is coming from me. Could there be a reason? Nintendo is a japanese company, could we be dealing with an advanced case of engrish here? Maybe someone low in the hierachy whose native language is not english went outside the official channels to send this email?
It is important to remember that many internal emails would make any language teacher cry like a britney spears fan. I have seen worse.
The grammar itself is not enough to label the email a fake. That it came through an anonymous source, well that doesn't mean anything.
Finally, the wording. It isn't very proffesional but I am sure we all remember the halloween documents. If Balmer can throw chairs why can't a nintendo flunky send out this email?
So, two strikes and one questionable. I think you put to much faith in proffesionalism in individual employees. While I have no proof this email is wrong, it being stupid and badly written does not guarantee it as a fake. Really, read more leaked documents.
Is it so hard to understand? (Score:5, Interesting)
The warranty states that you cannot modify the system yourself either by opening up the console or installing custom firmware. By not following these conditions you're voiding agreed conditions. It's not illegal or immoral (gotta love the irony of accusing Nintendo of that in this case), you go against the contracted conditions, the contract is void.
If firmware has been modified they may not be able to use the utilities they have to detect faults or may not be able restore it as easily. It could take extra time and require extra effort.
It's hard enough giving support to customers when you know the software on their systems, let alone when they've got a modification which could be doing god knows what.
Re:Rightly So (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sorry, no deal (Score:4, Interesting)
Ohhhhh, and I am sure some of that $$$$ will be used to buy several well placed poles in my office......
Finally!
Someone who didn't forget Poland!