Kotaku: Freeloader

Mario Kart Wii

Mark Wilson — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:20:00 EDT

It appears that those who were worried about Japanese copies of Mario Kart Wii not loading on US Wiis through Freeloader may have been breaking a sweat for nothing. Import retailer NCS tested the game on v3.1U firmware and found it to run just fine. Yes, this information directly conflicts with an earlier report from Play Asia, but there's a good chance that Play Asia tested the game with v3.0U firmware which NCS confirmed will not play the game. More »

Your Freeloader May Be Useless On Mario Kart

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:20:00 EDT

Thinking of importing the Japanese version of Mario Kart to get around the delay? Whoah, Bessie. Import specialists Play-Asia have, after a quick round of testing, found that neither US nor PAL Freeloaders will run the game on your non-Japanese Wii. Of course this is still unconfirmed by either Nintendo or Datel, creators of the Freeloader, but Play-Asia are normally spot-on when it comes to this stuff. We knew/feared Nintendo would get around the Freeloader sooner or later, but not this soon, and not via the code on a game disc. Bad news! And now for worse news: this may set a precedent whereby many, if not all Wii discs from here on in contain similar checks. Play-Asia's warning email to customers follows. More »

Freeloader for Wii: All hype and no...

juliopalio — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:36:03 EDT

Freeloader for Wii: All hype and no substance

Posted on March 19th, 2008 by ahmad

Datel Say Freeloader Can Beat Firmware Upgrades

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:30:00 EST

Datel's Wii Freeloader is awesome news. PAL gamers can get games on time, American gamers can play Japanese games, everybody wins. There's a few niggling doubts surrounding the deal, however. Well, one: won't a future firmware update stop the Freeloader from working, as it's already done once to Datel's previous GameCube-only disc? Datel say no, replying to reader Willis in an email:

...we can confirm that on every occasion that the product is used when the disc is inserted in the console that it allows the usage of any imported Wii game discs and disables the console from been able to update its firmware, if the disc is removed after been inserted and reinserted this will again enable the console to update its firmware but still allow the usage of the any imported Wii game discs.

Which unless my eye for English-as-a-second-language fails me is their way of saying "don't worry, firmware won't break this one". Course, they'd have to say that, otherwise nobody would buy the damn thing, so if you're wracked with uncertainty over picking one up I'd say wait until the next firmware update hits and we can get some independent verification. More »

Wii FreeLoader Makes Region Based Gaming A Thing Of The Past

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:20:07 EST

Rejoice! The Wii FreeLoader has become reality, bringing region-free gaming to Nintendo's great white hope. Similar to its GameCube predecessor, the Wii version of the FreeLoader lets gamers enjoy worldwide titles, regardless of what region for which they were intended. European and Australian gamers may benefit the most, especially if that rumor that Super Smash Bros. Brawl doesn't ship to PAL gamers until fall has any merit, but ex-pats and import enthusiasts may want to snap up a copy just in case. More »