Johnny Depp contemplating which Wii game to illegally download later tonight

Although the recent ability to run Virtual Console and WiiWare games from your SD card has stopped people moaning about the previously thorny issue of internal storage space, it hasn't stopped industrious hackers taking the concept to the next level by enabling users to hook up a USB hard drive and run their retail Wii games from it. No more loading, no more discs.

However, while this neat trick is obviously going to help lazy couch potatoes that can't be bothered to get up and change discs whenever they feel like playing a different game, it also opens the door for rampant piracy. You don't actually have to own the original games to do this; all you need is the game image, and these are relatively easy to obtain online.

The catch to all this is that users will need a homebrew-enabled Wii in order to perform this dubious techno-alchemy, which will provide at least an obstacle to most Wii owners - but not those with strong morals, we would guess.

Behold! The witchcraft in action:

[source kotaku.com]