Topic: Question regarding Wii serial number and Shop Channel account

I have had a White Wii since launch.

Bought lots of VC/WiiWare games.

Wanted new black Wii.

New black Wii was purchased for me.

Wanted to keep my VC/WiiWare games.

Took both Wii's apart, swapped the casings around.

I then had a black Wii with my white Wii's motherboard inside, and thus, all of my VC/WiiWare games/Shop Channel account on.

Now, I've noticed that when you purchase Wii Points with a credit card in the Shop Channel and view the receipt, it shows your console's serial number. Now obviously, the serial number shown is that of my old white Wii, because it's my white Wii's motherboard. This is fine, but because the white Wii's motherboard is in the black Wii casing, the serial number on the black Wii's sticker on the exterior is different.

My question is, should my Wii ever break, and I send it to Nintendo for repair, would they class this as an "unauthorised modification", or think that I illegally hacked my VC/WiiWare games onto the console because the above mentioned serial numbers do not match? This should not be the case, because a browse through my Account Activity shows that I have legitimately been adding Wii Points via credit card and points cards since December 2006. Would they refuse to transfer my VC/WiiWare games/Wii Shop Channel account to a new Wii should my Wii become faulty and require a replacement.

I would really appreciate some input.

Thanks.

I'd imagine they'd call it an unauthorized modification considering your wii has an entirely different casing on it now, and they have no idea what else you may have done while fiddling around inside your Wii. if you switched the cases once, though, surely you can switch them again just before sending it off if (god forbid) it needs repair?

I sold the white Wii, because i didn't need it. At the time I thought the serial number was on the consoles exterior only.

Whoops. Well write down your white Wii's serial number just in case (if you still can). The serial number shown on the other Wii you sold off is incorrect. It's definitely unauthorised modification and I doubt Nintendo will do repairs for you at all. You've already voided your user agreement so don't expect Nintendo to help you anymore. :/ The same goes for the person who bought the other Wii, which makes me wonder if they knew what they were getting themselves in to...

Thinking about it, swapping cases around could be one way of "stealing" someone else's WiiWare/VC games. Not to mention it would be identity theft - you'd be able to play all of their games using their WFC IDs. Scary stuff. Not saying you did that, of course - but you can see why Nintendo doesn't want anything to do with modified consoles.

Then they should let you transfer games that you have paid for.

And yeah also, i can't say identity theft is one of my hobbies. If I were a criminal, surely I'd just use hacking and illegally download VC and WiiWare games?

lucky for you only 6% of wiis ever need to be sent in. if you were an xbox360 owner though, it'd be time to panic.

I don't see why they'd refuse to repair or replace it though. None of the hardware has been modified, and there is no unauthorised software installed. It's just a different case. If I ever need it repaired or replaced, I'll just take the serial number sticker off.

Unfortunately this voids your warranty as it is an unauthorized modification

I know. I was fully aware that opening the Wii would void the warranty. That's fine. I'm not bothered about needing to pay for any possible repair or replacement, I'm just concerned that they may not transfer my shop account to a new Wii if necessary because I re-cased my Wii.

Surely I'm not the only person who has re-cased their Wii? What about all those people who buy those blue and other coloured Wii cases?

Surely Nintendo even repair or replace modded Wii's (for a price), and mine isn't even modded in terms of hardware and software.

They can't transfer accounts. From what I understand, if Nintendo replaces your Wii due to being beyond repair, they will send your new wii enough points for a refund on your shop account

That's incorrect, at least for when I sent my Wii in for replacement in 2007 due to a faulty GPU. They sent a brand new Wii with my shop account on it.

@Gavin: bottom line, this is a question you should be taking up with Nintendo proper instead of arguing it on the forums. To us, it looks like an unauthorized modification that would fall under their rules against providing under-warranty repair for such and they may see no obligation to port over the Wii Shop account to a possible replacement console, but perhaps you can persuade them with your eloquence or something. they're the only ones who can answer your question for reals, man.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo will repair even modded consoles, however they do levy a %100 surcharge - this was reported a year + ago, coincidentally shortly after I sent in my console to fix semi-bricking it. I believe this policy came about because lots of people were being silly like me and borking their systems with ill-advised hombrew softmods.

To be safe, if you do need a repair, phone or email to ask them; if you don't get results there are plenty of independent repair outfits should be able to sort you out if need be.

Thanks Sean, for the helpful reply.

I have emailed NoE explaining things, and to cut it short they basically said make a note of both serial numbers, keep the emails we've exchanged, and that they cannot guarantee my Wii Shop Channel licence will be able to be transferred, should the need arise.

I just wish I kept it in the original white casing now. Nintendo really need to sort out a way of transferring your purchases between different Wii's and DSi's.

I'm worried that Nintendo are going to think I'm a theif or something and ban my Wii from the Shop Channel now

Oh, and have I broken any laws or anything by swapping the cases around? I really didn't think that doing this would cause such hassle.

By the way, I sold the other Wii to my sister, who doesn't download any games or anything anyway, so the serial number thing doesn't bother her at all.

Is swapping the casing on a Wii illegal?

i doubt it, though it'd probably void your warranty and Nintendo would no longer be obligated to provide support, i'd imagine, since they don't know what you may or may not have tinkered with while you had its guts exposed to the world.

Yeah, don't worry about it so much, they might charge you more for repairs, but you won't be seen as some criminal I'm sure.