Wii U Homebrew Channel Teased, CPU Details Outed

by Mike Bendel November 29, 2012 @ 10:41 pm


Nintendo platforms aren’t exactly known for their ironclad security against hackers, and it seems the Wii U is no exception. Fail0verflow, the same team responsible for cracking open the PS3 and exposing Sony’s ‘epic fail on security’ has teased that a Wii U Homebrew Channel is on the way.

Thus far, they’ve released proof in the form of a video, keenly noting that it’s a demonstration at this point — there’s not a release date planned yet. Right now, this hack appears to be running under the sandboxed Wii environment, not native Wii U mode. However, judging from comments by marcan of fail0verflow, accessing Wii U mode is well within their reach.

We’re calling the Wii U security processor the Starbuck (vs. Starlet on Wii). And it seems to be about equally vulnerable, too.

Sorry, I’d rather not talk about how I got that yet. It doesn’t involve leaks, it involves Wii U hacks ;)

The second comment is in reference to the CPU details outed earlier today. According to marcan, the Wii U boasts a 1.24 GHz CPU with 3 PowerPC 750 type cores, akin to Wii’s Broadway chip. The GPU is clocked at GPU core at 549MHz. The processor spec can’t be directly compared to PS3 and Xbox 360, however, since the Wii U has a higher IPC — meaning it can do more work per clock cycle.

At any rate, check out the video below for an early glimpse at homebrew on Wii U. For those that’d like to take advantage of this, well, chances are avoiding any future updates will be wise until more details surface.

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