Rumour: Someone Tried To Steal The Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Demo, And Failed

I applaud them trying to hack it (as a coder part of me just wants to see if it can be done!) but I am glad they didn't manage to leak anything; it'll be nice to have a few secrets in the game left until it actually comes out.

Possibly but you would think someone would have seen this going on

Reminds me of that one mission in Watch_Dogs 2...If only they'd gotten that one. The irony that could've been...A man can dream.

When every demo booth had a Nintendo rep standing next to it.. I call BS.

@sandman89 People are more foolish than you'd think. Still, it's a bit of a stretch, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.

I think this is unlikely. There was at least one Nintendo rep for every two units, from what I saw. Unless they could have someone else distract the rep and they could mess with the Wii U in seconds, I don't see how this could be done without getting caught. Also, what network would they have connected the internet to? Even if they could get to the internet settings, they'd need an open network to work over.

I would have loved for the game to be leaked it looks amazing

@MitchVogel magic WiFi of course.

The things kids can do today!

If this were true, he should have been drawn and quartered for even trying. Time to go old skool on these kinds of losers, that'll teach 'em...

I'll believe someone went there with the intention of stealing it, but that's all.

A secret button combination to access the menu? Nope.

If the booths were booked that day then what was with the stampede to play the game?...

But in a way I'm a bit gutted it wasn't hacked/preserved. I don't want things leaked as such, but it would be neat to compare this code to the final code someday - and find loads of cool beta stuff that ends up not being in the game.

I don't buy the story personally, simply because there was Nintendo staff monitoring the usage of all kiosks at E3. Unless the hackers had a Nintendo staff member who was in on the heist there's no way that they could have pulled it off. Another tall tale from some backwater corner of the internet if you ask me.

Annnnnnnnnd this is why Nintendo did not want to give the rest of us a downloadable demo.

Good job hackers, you've probably beefed up game security for future E3s...

@BensonUii

of course the worlds greatest hacker nw player123 was in on this

@Angelic_Lapras_King @kamikazilucas i think giving us the demo would prevent the issue because that is exactly what the hackers were trying to get

Not even E3 demos are safe from selfish hackers anymore. Luckily they didn't get very far. I would refuse to play a pirated demo.

@MitchVogel Phones can be used as a wifi hotspot. I do it quite often to connect my 3DS to the internet.

"Is this story true?"

Yes, I think it's true that people did not steal the Zelda Wild demo during E3.

As for all the "hackers are bad" comments - it's a free to play demo, how do you steal something that's free to play? Were people stealing the first part of Doom when they were giving it away 20 years ago and almost single handily created the idea of shareware? Are the 500 people who played it free at Nintendo NY pirates b/c they didn't pay to play it? It's a demo, it's supposed to be free, and it's supposed to be played to generate interest in the game. FFXV had a demo out a year ago.

It is bad to break into other people's hardware, that's wrong, but if Zelda Wild was going to lose sales b/c people played a demo beforehand, well then it probably doesn't deserve to be bought.

Considering how so many people on here were hoping for a wide release of the demo before and during E3, to say a demo getting out now would be bad b/c hackers stole something that was meant to be free almost seems hypocritical.

Good job by Nintendo locking it down. I'm kind of surprised nobody simply transfered the demo onto a thumbdrive and then hacked that to play anywhere.

For everybody commenting on the lack of WiFi, I'm guessing they intended to use a hot spot in their pocket. You don't need to be a hacker to generate WiFi from your cell phone. It's actually kind of a selling point.

I am kind of worried about the "non-retail" Wii U. How long before Zelda Wild pulls a "The Last Guardian" and becomes NX only b/c the Wii U hardware isn't capable of running the game? We all noticed the lack of NPC in the demo, and we all ate up the "no spoilers" company line, even though its hard to believe in spoilers for a game that was supposed to release last year. Maybe there were no NPC b/c the game runs at 12FPS with them in? They already told us "physics is hard", maybe it's too hard for the Wii U? They already dropped the real time map, maybe it wasn't distracting, and maybe it wasn't b/c no NX 2nd screen, maybe Wii U just can't cut it for this game, and NX will have a second screen w/ the map, b/c it can.

As much as I'm excited for the game and would love to have tried the demo, I'm sure in time it will arrive in some form on the eShop.

What angers me is that so many people want to play this game, and Nintendo made a big deal of getting as many people to try it as possible, yet this moron just wants to steal the code, and for what?? Some fame? Did the "hacker" even play the demo? Or just mess around with the Wii U units? What a waste of time.

And even if the demo was released to everyone online, would it even perform the way its supposed to? It's surely a tiny community that would benefit from it too, and the real fans should really only want to play the game from a genuine source and support Nintendo in making such an ambitious game.

I'm glad nothing appears to have come from this, if it is true of course.

I remember Etika of all people endorsing it. As much as I enjoy his hype content, I disagree on this. Just pay for the damn game.

I think some people are forgetting how easy it is to distract Nintendo reps are those kinds of stations. When you have several hundred people around you all at once, having a few friends can easily distract them.

@rjejr
I think as for stealing the demo, just because something is free, doesn't necessarily mean it's free for you to distribute. I doubt the demos had a license detailing exactly what attendents were free to do with the game but it's stuff like that makes it possible to steal free stuff.

@rjejr
The people that played the demo at E3 and at Nintendo NY store are fine. It is a free demo after all.

But it is Nintendo's property, and if they don't want to release it - for whatever reason - what the hackers are doing IS wrong. People may want the demo, but that does not entitle them to steal intellectual property from a company.

I guess one could say that Mega 64 got farther than this person did.

Would be interesting to have it preserved, but no, I wouldn't personally be interested in playing it. I'm not ready to hack my WiiU yet, and playing the demo would probably only make me more impatient for the final release.

Disgusting.

Wait, there were a lot of people there...so wouldn't somebody notice?

I have my doubts with that, mainly with the execution. Being at Nintendo NY last week, those reps (and other gamers) were watching like hawks. I can't imagine something running like that without some kind of in-game or real life tell (only in movies and tv) .

Even if it was released, I wouldn't play it. I don't know if it's safe for my system and to me most demos don't do the full game justice.

Btw if this "secret button combination" is ↑↑↓↓←→←→BA, I will facepalm into a nose bleed.

@HeCaster101 "That would be a huge spit in the face to Aounuma and team"

You mean like Anouma and team spit in the face of these people

• "the fans who have waited so long" -

when they twice said the game would be out in 2015? That was last year, we should have already finished playing this game if they were true to their word. And then they said don't worry, the game will be out in 2016. Spit in the face again. And they said it was going to be a Wii U exclusive, the reason to own a Wii U. Now it's going to be on NX and the reason to own an NX? Do we get our money back on Wii U if we want to buy an NX to play this game?

How many times do people have to get spit in their own face before it is ok for them so spit back once?

I'm not condoning stealing a game, but demos are meant to be free, they were created for people to play to get excited about the game. Sometimes they are given to people to give them something to do while they wait for the game. Since we were told we were getting this game in 2015 isn't giving us the demo in 2016 the very least they could do as an apology for delaying the game from 2015 to 2016 to 2017? How is playing a demo for a game in 2016 ruining anything? Are all the people who played the demo at E3 and the 500 who played in NY not going to buy the game now b/c it is ruined for them?

Forget discovering what's essentially a cheat code on-the-spot on the world's most crowded demo pod, or magically recoding a hack in one night to adapt to a system that you, by definition, can't get the code off of yet...

When I was 17, I would've called it the victory of a lifetime just to GO to E3.

@Luna_110 @PLATINUM7 I'm not saying stealing is right, but there are comments above that make it sound like the world will end if people play a demo "b/c it was stolen". Why would the world end if we played a stolen demo but the world is fine if we play the same demo freely distributed by Nintneod?

I'll condemn piracy, stealing is bad, but people make it out like - "Oh no, the game will be ruined for everyone if they play the demo."

Actual quotes:

"it'll be nice to have a few secrets in the game left until it actually comes out."
"These people don't realize (or maybe they do) the effects if the demo went out publicly because of some selfish reasons. Nintendo didn't release a demo yet because there are marketing reasons behind it. It would have sabotaged Nintendo's plans or strategy."
"Annnnnnnnnd this is why Nintendo did not want to give the rest of us a downloadable demo."
"Luckily they didn't get very far. I would refuse to play a pirated demo."
"has anyone thought about how bad leaking this game would actually be?"

Those aren't people complaining that piracy is bad, they are people saying that a demo getting out ahead of a game is bad.

"This is where NWPlayer123 enters the story, as she helped tweak the tool to fix this issue. It was all going down to the final day."
Sigh NWPlayer123 proving once again she's doing this kind of stuff for the popularity. Didn't she start the whole Octoling hacker situation in Splatoon by proving it was possible to play as them making other hackers who had no idea what the consequences were follow suit?
Anyway, I did hear about this last Wednesday and also heard the reason it didn't go down was due to a "snitch" of Twitter. If it did happen, it would have been a disaster for Nintendo. Like @HeCaster101 mentioned, hackers could potentially bypass the coding if they got their mitts on it and end up spoiling things that are meant to be surprises for players. You know, like how NWPlayer123 spoiled multiple weapons for Splatoon as well as Callie and Marie amiibo before they were announced....

Ugh...these people are making hackers/mods look bad. >.>

Nintendo, just eShop the damned demo already. We Wii U owners, especially those of us who bought at launch due to the promise of huge game support that you completely failed at fulfilling, deserve this much. We bought your always-dying console, so please let us all get a taste of the game that will make her death a memorable one.

That would have been a disaster for Nintendo and us fans if these hackers were successful in stealing the demo.

You mean to tell me the Wii Us at E3 are just sitting there out in the open? (With Nintendo reps positioned nearby, yes, but still.) Even the Wii Us at the local GameStop are trapped in plexiglass cases. How in the heck would they be able to link a Gecko up, for that long, without attracting much undue attention?

Crowd chaos and confusion is one thing, but since Geckos have been used to hack Nintendo consoles since the Gamecube, you'd think Nintendo's reps would be trained to spot something like that by now.

@Mr_Zurkon
Uhh, why would that be a disaster for the fans exactly? Getting this demo would be monumental from a historical/preservationist standpoint. Just think about once the game gets its full retail release, we can look back and see exactly where it came from.

And for Nintendo, it's free advertising. Granted, they seem to be allergic to that these days. coughYouTubecouch

If true, this is nothing less than a criminal act of theft and whoever was involved should be prosecuted and brought to justice. In fact, the people who are supplying the information about the crime should be considered accomplices and should be brought in for questioning so the offenders can be caught.

Remember back in Ocarina times when people would post fake screenshots of them with the whole Triforce? Or Mario riding Yoshi around in Mario 64, or playing as Luigi? That's what this reminds me of. Or, rather, how during E3, there were people saying, "Someone hacked Breath of the Wild!" on, like, day 1. Good times.

I remember in Etika's stream when he was keeping an eye on the hackers and was in contact with the main hacker. Also NWPlayer is reliable, so if she said an attempt was made, I'd believe her.

@SmaMan For the simple fact that the demo would have been data-mined and spoilers would be everywhere on the Internet to the point where it would be difficult to avoid for the next 9+ months.

Nintendo should just release the demo.

I think it sucks that Nintendo can't even show a demo at a closed trade show without some asshats trying to steal their property. If it weren't for selfish people like that, Nintendo might have released a demo. And it would benefit everyone of they did. Whether or not you think it's cool, the bottom line is that what they tried to do was a crime... or several crimes. And that sucks because that's one of the big reasons we can have nice things... or a Zelda demo.

The demos were locked into specific zones AND had time limits. They are primed and ready for eShop demo treatment. If there's some code that needs tweaking for the demos to be more secure, then I understand... but these should be released.

Reasons to release:

To build hype for the game itself ahead of the holiday season (competing for precious Christmas cash/gift cards... plant the seed and you'll turn them into reserves/preorders)

To bridge the rather large gap in major (and even minor) game releases - keeping the Nintendo brand relevant and on the radar

To let players have some time to get used to the new mechanics of the game and start discussions/word of mouth based on hands on experience instead of speculation/uninformed opinion

To build hype for the NX as they dream about the additional layer of beauty the system could bring.

Not to mention, bragging rights and a marketing/social media coup for being the bad ass game company that thought enough of their fan base to give them a chance to play the demo that was once locked behind E3s doors.

@HeCaster101 Can you provide proof of a story mode in Smash 4 to begin with? Because Sakurai stated at around 2 years before Smash 4 came out that there would not be cutscenes in Smash 4, due to the Subspace Embassary Cutscenes being put on the internet. And as for a story mode, or even an Adventure Mode, using the mode name from Melee and Brawl, this is the first I have heard of one being in Smash 4.

Lol, obviously fake. Apart from the strict time limit which only allowed players very specific periods of time with the demo before the next people in line took their turns, the whole thing was being very closely monitored and guided by Nintendo reps. There's absolutely zero chance any 'hacker' would be able to hook anything up to the consoles in question, let alone access menus, change settings or whatever.

This is so fake it's not even funny.

@A01 a secret button combo is actually very plausable. The WiiUs on display were very likely demo/dev units. Demo units for all types of gadgets usually have a special button combo/gesture to open a settings menu.

The settings menu is usually there for the shop owner to configure the demo unit for time limits, software locks and obviously connectivity such as Wi-Fi, bluetooth and peripheals.

How did somebody not notice someone was hacking in, turning on the internet settings, going to a specific website, then going back to the game?

And everyone should remember what happened when the new Smash story plot and cutscenes were spoiled well before the release. The whole thing got removed. I understand the fun of hacking, but please don't ruin it for everyone else, and hack something else and just be patient.

They should have tried the treehouse unit. That idiot bill forgot to turn off the demo reset time.
That unit has the "full" game on it!

@HeCaster101 Again, source and or proof? Uploading the Subspace cutscenes to YouTube isn't leaking the cutscenes. Because of Brawl's being uploaded to YouTube, and it was quoted in an interview, Sakurai decided against putting cutscenes in Smash 4.

The way you are taking about it sounds as if they were planned and in development, then someone uploaded the early cutscenes to Smash 4 on the internet, causing them to be removed.

I wonder if the demo was just the demo or if more sections of the game could be unlocked? Maybe that's why this demo isn't on the eshop as it's not real separate build for the demo but a scaled back version of the game that could had more areas/npcs unlocked with the right skills.

wouldn't it be crazy if he did steal the demo and Nintendo made a demo for anyone to download the very next day?

This is like the people selling their swag, u get the opportunity to experience something a select few get a chance to do, and you don't appreciate it..
I'm glad they weren't successful. Coulda ruined it for everyone

The title is "Someone tried to steal the Zelda: Breath Of The Wild demo and failed" because "Hackers realized not everyone can afford plane tickets, hotel rooms and E3 tickets before it ever dawned upon Ninttendo" was too much of a mouthful.

Someone didn't think they could wait 9 months... man people are impatient these days, but then again... it's Breath of the Wild, who actually WANTS to wait for that

Kudos to the hackers.
Please go and deal with ISIS instead though.

This is why we get updates so much,and I'm glad they failed thief's should be I'm jail

Fake due to the following:

Dumping of games don't work on demos (units) as stated above.

Second, I doubt the wii u demo consoles had internet access.

And third, the Nintendo representatives watch people like a hawk when they do public demos like this.

The guy claiming who was dumping the game created a twitter, posted about it, and then proceeded to close the account.

The hackers needed Tom Cruise to pull this one off. Maybe Jon Voight as well.

If this really happened I can't see this as anything other than straight up attempted theft.

@Octane Thats exactly what I thought. They mean to tell me that the hacker would've access the developer tool menu or the system's main menu without a single Nintendo usher noticing while standing right next to the hacker in order to see if heshe required any assistance with the game!?!?

BESIDES, E3 is an event for industry and press ONLY! Public in general doesn't have access and the last time I checked, even if one were to gain access by having borrowed someone's press/industry credentials, the tickets are about $500+ for the entire week. So no.

Total BS! LoL!

I knew that the demo getting leaked would be disastrous for Nintendo, but it made for a hype E3 with ma boi Etika.

Ninty should give us the demo. Maybe limit it even more than the e3 one but it would give us something to do. Maybe a Rayman style demo with a challenge mode based on a small piece of gameplay that's already featured in the demo....

Pathetic little douchebag with nothing better to do than thieve.

Spend your energies on something productive, rather than trying to undermine the hard work of others.

@Jukilum
Exactly- if they want to 'hack', go trespass on the grounds of Buckingham Palace or steal a pen from the White House.

Perhaps not- because that would incur consequences.

I don't see why this is applaud able behaviour. It hurts those who work hard and invest capital in providing us with fantastic new experiences. This kind of behaviour is really disrespectful and purely self serving. It contributes nothing to our hobby.

I'm skeptical, based on the whole "I had to recode it blind" statement. Also, how were they getting to the web browser? Do the demo units really not have the home button? Would Nintendo really not have noticed the screen changing from the Zelda demo to the bright white browser loading screen?

Whether this is true or not, I would probably feel pretty pissed off if it had succeeded. If the demo had been stolen and redistributed I don't even know where to begin on how I would be able to benefit from it anyway but I figure a few folks out there have figured something out if people are trying to steal the demo with intention of redistributing it.

Nintendo could surely be damaged, especially if the demo actually included more than the one land mass locked behind some string of code as the same thing happened to an early version of Half Life 2 and it almost killed the game, and Valve.

@HappyMaskedGuy
I think that hacking a game for information isn't necessarily stealing.

Yeah you're taking something that doesn't belong to you, but from what I can tell they had no intention of selling the information or claiming it as their own. It was an act done out of love for the game, (or maybe just glory haha).

But either way, it wasn't stealing in the traditional sense of the word, more like "observing without permission".

First all, piracy makes a copy. I was actually worried that thon stole the physical device!

Secondly, I have reason to believe that this really did happen. After all, while I am not really familiar with hacking of the Nintendo- Café, I know that a rather low-level exploit exists. I am surprised that the System Menu of the demo units were sufficiently low.

Third... whoa... this game must be FABULOUS if someone actually went to these lengths in actually pirating the game! (I am reminded of the Simon Wai prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which was physically stolen from a toy show.)

That's what you get when you (read Nintendo) are to lazy to dump the demo on the e-shop. Every Wii u owner should be able to play this demo!!

@rjejr Those comments aren't saying that people shouldn't be able to play the demo at all. The reason they say it's a bad thing for the demo to get leaked out is because people will datamine it and massive spoilers for the game will be leaked all over the internet. That'll be impossible to avoid for 9+ months. That ruins the game for everyone else.

After all of the leaks for Pokemon ORAS, Splatoon, and especially Smash Bros, they're not taking their chances.

@Benjelo I don't really understand what you mean- regardless of whether he did or did not have intentions to sell anything on, I was pretty sure that the act of stealing did not require interpretation-

Taking something without its owners permission.

I don't mean to sound rude, but did you get a different version of the definition of theft growing up? What exactly is 'observing without permission?' I'm pretty sure in most courts, that wouldn't hold much ground!

@BensonUii Etika World Network's livestream on twitch was accessed by hackers, NWplayer123 was in the chat and so was a high ranking Nintendo employee.

there was a tweet to Bill of Nintendo (guess which Bill it was?)
the video is 5 hours long and it shows the worst of the internet.

yes, the units on the floor are not retail ones, it would take 10 hours to transfer. Nwplayer123 tweeted to Etika during live stream
"Abort!"
hackers calling themselves Dedsec tried to hack and dump a 16 GB demo of BOTW, and failed.

@Angelic_Lapras_King likely, Nintendo will spare no cost for Zelda especially the lines larger than the wii booth days.

@kamikazilucas she contacted etika during his livestream,
I have no allegiances to EWN and I will see to it hackers are the very last ones to leak Breath of the wild!

@rjejr the demo was 16 GB big, and they were using a CAT device SD card to extract a dump, it would have taken them 4 hours to code an exploit and 10 hours to down load.

@Megas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRysnFfh0Gk
all the drama on this hacking plot. ft NWplayer123

@AVahne why release a demo if the game is still under development? E3 was the positive press Nintendo needed and that it is advertising the NX.

@IceClimbers "to play the demo at all. The reason they say it's a bad thing for the demo to get leaked out "

I don't really see the difference. And besides, the demo was basically a tech demo of the open world engine w/ the entire game stripped out to avoid spoilers, what were the data miners going to find? That, and we were supposed to be playing the game last year, a little late for spoilers I think.

@any13th I watched it, the youtube comment section exploded with anger when it was released, even if Etika was joking with the "Snitches get stiches" the fact people would dump private property of Nintendo when the retail version is yet to even be released is deplorable and downright selfish...

i'd say more, but I don't want to get mods on my case.

@Gridatttack yes they can, they attempted to use a CAT device (SD card) to get a dump from the unit itself, the demo was 16GB big and proof a hacking plot happened : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRysnFfh0Gk

twitch streamer Etika was watching Day 1 of the treehouse and hackers including NWplayer123 was in the chat, a group calling themselves "Dedsec" were trying to dump the demo build... but they found out the demo units were different to the retail WII Us.
its 5 hours of pure cringe and evidence that hacking was happening on the showfloor.

@YouSeemFRAZZLED Etika's livestream ft NWplayer123
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRysnFfh0Gk

@Dark-Link73 heres your evidence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRysnFfh0Gk

I watched this livestream, they used a SD card.

@happylittlepigs you watched it too? Etika, Etika I respect him but this IS THEFT...
they
Cracked a wii U owned by Nintendo
attempted to dump a game, in development (this is why I use paper books for my story writing and games.) it is Nintnedo's property, they are not sharing the game because they feel the e3 build is to get players used to an open world Zelda.

day one, they were using a sd card to dump the demo
when they tried again, they failed... Bill of NOA was alerted Dedsec was hacking their wii U's.

as a modder, I am disgusted with the livestream.

@Nintenjoe64 the demo was for people to get used to an open world Zelda and they were very caring of Zelda fans ho did not wish to get spoiled as Nintendo told us their livestream.

that's why we didn't get a demo.

@TTGlider they are Nintendo demo kits, they know all the workings of it. as the hackers found out, they were different wii Us to what we own.

@Benjelo it is theft, you don't steal prototypes of games and the e3 build is no exception, they breached Nintendo's own units and attempted to dump data not meant to be represented in the final product... like Valve found out... so to does Nintendo care a lot about hackers breaking into their property (this is their property even to the modding community, the demo is not on the eshop, secondly, the game has not even come out yet and people do not wish to be spoiled.)
this is straight up theft and counterfeiting.

@Henmii its not representative of the finished product, do you not get that?

@HappyMaskedGuy absolutely because there is no precedent set by the courts, judge made law will rule this as piracy and counterfeiting, while they don't steal the data perse, they do counterfeit it (making a copy) and the fact if someone leaked my own demo that I had no intention making publically accessable to any one but beta testers. i'd haul the hackers ass to court for counterfeiting works in development (which is trespass) a tort I can use to claim the hacker broke into my digital property without permission.

@rjejr if they did it to me i'd sent those hackers to court.
this is no different to counterfeiting (which is a crime)

and it makes modders look bad.

@HSuzumiyaVI seems like a ruse nonetheless. Because if one if going to do this, they might as well say nothing until the act is done, not midway through...

In any case, what's the time of Etika's stream where said evens occurs? Seeking through a 5 hour stream is no fun

What asshats

@HSuzumiyaVI,

Ah, come on! This game has been worked on for ages, its faaaaar beyond the beta-stage. Yeah, they removed some stuff. But otherwise this IS the game we are getting. Besides, the game is as good as finished. They are only stalling it because of the NX.

And as far as I know Sony and Microsoft offer every E3 demo to the public, for years now!

The only sensible thing that I have heard is that people can hack the demo itself, uncovering stuff that should still be hidden to the public. Otherwise there's not a single reason to not offer it to the public (besides pure laziness from Nintendo's side)!

@HSuzumiyaVI so you expect me to find the "evidence" in a 322 minutes long video!? LoL!!!!!!!!

@Dark-Link73 actually, it happens in the Aonuma interview (basically, Bill playing the timed demo whoops...)

What a god

I think they should have released the e3 demo to play on the switch for those who haven’t bought it, or for those like myself who would just like to have another piece of Zelda history