What Is Wii Brick Blocker?

History

• The Wii Brick Blocker was created in June 2007 to enable players to play games formatted for other countries on any Wii system in the world. The Brick Blocker works with Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. The framework is necessary to run the Brick Blocker. In late 2007, the creator released source code for the system to the general public for investigation and modification. Since 2007 there have been no changes made to the Brick Blocker software.

Purpose

• The Wii Brick Blocker allows people all around the world to play games released for specific countries. In many countries, Japan especially, manufacturers publish Wii games that they never release in the United States. These games will not work on American consoles due to an embedded update International Organization of Standardization (ISO) code built into every Wii DVD. The ISO code, a regulation added to every type of digital media, is what defines the different region settings specific to CDs and DVDs. It is because of these ISO files that many foreign discs are unplayable on U.S. consoles, DVD players and CD players.

Benefits

• ISO files contain all the information necessary to replicate a piece of software. This is the main type of file used to copy DVDs, console games and CDs. Most ISO files contain a ̶0;brick̶1; in their files that prevents the program from working on certain systems. The Wii Brick Blocker is a patch that prevents the ISO brick from installing the part of the program that prevents certain games from playing on U.S. Wii consoles. This allows players to access games sold only in other countries.

Use

• To use the Wii Brick Blocker, the user must first have the Microsoft .NET framework installed on her computer. Once the user installs the framework, she can download the Wii Brick Blocker from the Wii Brick Blocker site. The user installs the program and can then use it to patch international ISO files.

Warning

• Any modification to the Wii, even at the software level, voids the warranty. Normal system updates to the console will overwrite any modifications to the Wii system and will sometimes cause serious problems with the console. If you modify your console in any way, do not install any of the regular Wii updates after that point.