Nintendo only approves of certain pirates...

Nintendo has responded to claims by hacking group, Wiikey, that it's hacked the Wii U to play pirated, copied games. While Nintendo does acknowledge that it's aware of the reported hacking, the Wii U appears to still be secure.

Responding to the circulating reports, Nintendo issued a statement to Eurogamer:

Nintendo is aware that a hacking group claims to have compromised Wii U security. However, we have no reports of illegal Wii U games nor unauthorized applications playable on the system while in Wii U mode. Nintendo continuously monitors all threats to its products' security and will use technology and will take the necessary legal steps to prevent the facilitation of piracy.

Wiikey has a long history with Nintendo, having been the first group to create a mod chip for the Wii. While piracy was a significant issue on the Wii, Nintendo's firmware updates have been more effective in preventing hacking on the Wii U and 3DS. At the time of writing Wiikey has claimed a successful hack but not provided evidence, telling its readers to "stay tuned for updates".

It seems that, if Nintendo's checks are accurate, its latest home console is still secure, while it's likely to continue countering hacking threats — as it also has on 3DS — with system updates.

[source eurogamer.net]