N-Europe Search:

News: Datel 'Not Sure' About Updated Freeloader

Posted by Nathan Whincup - Oct 28th 2008 22:38

Datel are uncertain about the future of the Freeloader and whether they will be able to offer an updated product any time soon.

Datel answered the prayers of thousands of gamers earlier this year when they released the Freeloader for the Wii, a product which cancels out the region lock on the console and allows users to play NTSC titles from America and Japan. Early copies of Super Smash Bros. Brawl whilst Europe remained without a release date and an extra-bloody version of No More Heroes were among the more popular imports when the product was released back in March.

Unfortunately for those users, Nintendo rendered the Freeloader obsolete with a new firmware update earlier this year, and Datel have kept schtum on the situation ever since. N-Europe reader ThePigMarcher emailed Datel to find out what was going on with the product, and received a response that wasn't very reassuring...

"Thank you for your recent enquiry unfortunately at this early stage we are not sure when, if ever, we will be able to release a new version of Freeloader that will run on consoles that have been updated with the v3.3 firmware. No refund is or exchange is available (outside of the terms and conditions of the returns policy offered by your point of purchase) since the Freeloader continues to be fully compatible with Wii firmware 3.2 and below."

For importers who want to keep up to date with their Wii updates and continue to import games, it looks like the most solid option would be to actually import a Wii from America or Japan.

Thanks to ThePigMarcher for the heads-up!

[More on Freeloader (Wii)]

Kagato Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 17:50 \|\| Total Comments: 683

I thought as much, a pity as it was far cheaper to buy the disc than to have to buy an import wii. Cant be helped if you want to play those elusive import games i guess...

Siouxsie Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 18:03 \|\| Total Comments: 17

I'm pretty sure it can be helped if you have Twilight Princess, an SD card, and wiibrew.org.. I know there is an application for running burned game discs on an unmodded Wii, I suppose region free gaming should work as well.

Sumo73 Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 18:37 \|\| Total Comments: 359

I have Freeloader and a US version of 'No More Heroes'. I can't buy anything from the Wii Shopping Channel now until I update my console to 3.4E thus making Freeloader unworkable. I've bought a European version of 'No More Heroes' as a backup but it's a costly experience.

Even if Datel did release a new version of Freeloader I wonder how long it would last before Nintendo released another update to block it again.

Ant Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 18:41 \|\| Total Comments: 40

Almost the same e-mail that i got AGES ago...

Further to the contact form which you recently submitted via our European website I apologize but at this early stage we are not sure when, if ever, we will be able to release a new version of Freeloader that will run on consoles that have been updated with this firmware.

20th June

Since I have the Homebrew Channel and GeckoOS that can boot my NTSC Brawl on my PAL Wii, I don't care about the Freeloader anymore...

Nathan Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 18:47 \|\| Total Comments: 1138

I thought it would be interesting to note that they still don't seem to have a workaround for it, Ant.

Ant Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 18:57 \|\| Total Comments: 40

Yes, Nathan. And it is interesting to warn all of the people that are still waiting for something. ;)

What I meant was that they are replying the same thing that they did to me back in June.

LordNixon Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 20:38 \|\| Total Comments: 13

I haven't updated my Wii yet (I can't let my bloodsoaked No More Heroes go...), but I can still buy stuff from the Wii Shop Channel.

Auntnadia Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 06:14 \|\| Total Comments: 854

no point in paying for freeloader, when twilight hack does just the same thing and lets you play homebrew games too.

Allenator Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 06:28 \|\| Total Comments: 49

This still sucks i can't get super mario RPG of the shop channel now unless i want to make my smash bros unuseable :(

Nirual Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 07:16 \|\| Total Comments: 92

Didn't the newest update put an end to homebrew?

Ghost_zero Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 07:17 \|\| Total Comments: 157

No it didn't.
It never did. If you had it already installed it continued working. Only installing didn't work for the HBC anymore. However, with the new version - just released a few days afterwards - installation works too.

@Allenator: See the other comments here too...

Kagato Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 09:35 \|\| Total Comments: 683

I havent updated my wii for ages due to the need to be able to use the freeloader for naruto shippoden and i am still able to access the shopping channel to download games.

As far as the HBC goes, how easy is it to install this thing? Is there still a lot of messing around with mod chips and the like as im really only interested in playing imported titles from japan.

Auntnadia Says:
October 30th, 2008 at 05:24 \|\| Total Comments: 854

there's a new twilight installer that beats the latest update.

i think these updates are a bid by nintendo to knock out datel rather than the homebrew scene. i imagine nintendo are non too pleased that datel are profiting from what they do and not having to pay any license fees either.