Wii Update 4.2 Tries (and Fails) To Block Homebrew
Found on Slashdot on Wednesday, 30 September 2009
On September 28, Nintendo released a Wii update, titled 4.2. This update was targeted squarely at homebrew, performing sweeping changes throughout the system.
During BootMii's development, its authors noticed that Nintendo's code had critical bugs and could sometimes permanently brick a console by writing incorrect or unchecked data to flash memory, so they decided to write their own, much safer flashing code.
Another interesting tidbit is that Nintendo is not believed to have any method to repair this kind of brick at a factory, short of replacing the entire motherboard.
So, in an attempt to try and keep control over the Wii, Nintendo bricks systems thanks to buggy updates. Perhaps they shouldn't sell the box for a price lower than manufacturing costs, because (as always) those control efforts fail and result in nothing but angry users; and that's something a company doesn't want.