good!

from what i read, nintendo looks for a file on your wii that is present when the homebrew channel is installed, and they ban you if it is present

That was a false rumor if I recall correctly. Everyone who doesn't cheat and owns HBC (like me), have yet to report getting banned.

that's not confirmed. probably just a rumour

that was only a year late

nintendo rocks, but they suck ass at supporting their software

i lost interest in the tourneys as soon as i saw all the races were topped out by guys who did the track in 1 second, and that was like last may

get on this shit a bit faster guys

totaly agree. I would never play MK wii online knowing that there is a couple of cheaters on it. Cheaters must learn how to lose !!

From Oyvoyvoyv's description in the thred (refering back to http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=26332), Nintendo has been trying to figure out who is cheating for quite a while.

It may have just taken Nintendo this long to figure out how to "break" someone's account in a system where there are not accounts.

Mike from Morgantown

Combined with the DSi Virtual Console announcement, this makes for a great day for a Nintendo fan.

Here's hoping that the banning is as aggressive as possible: one moment of hacking during online play = permanent banning of Wii's MAC address from all Nintendo servers (plus a liquidation of any remaining Wii Points tied to console... and Club Nint. points... anything else they can do?).

That does bring up the issue of resale of the console however, and I'm sure someone somewhere will soon buy a Wii without knowing of its banned state online.

Okay, thought this might be a good place to have this discussion.

How do you feel about bug abusing online?

Tecnically, they're part of the game, so it should be okay to use it, right? No cheating involved. I mean, you're following the rules, and trying to get the best time possible.

I don't do it, because tbh, I win too much in games (video games, sport games, puzzle games, monopoly games, etc), so I actually like losing once in a while. I do it offline a fair bit though.

It depends on the bug; sitting on the finish line during an entire race and then jumping over at just the right moment (or however it's done) in order to get a guaranteed 1st place is clearly unacceptable.

I'm no fan of snaking either, since it amounts to a complete destruction of the game's intended mechanics; it's no longer about general driving, item skills, etc, but suddenly one has to join the obnoxious mechanical left-and-right with their thumb to the point of pain in order to keep up, and all other skills take a backseat to this nonsense.

Another fundamental problem with taking advantage of some bugs, and snaking is included in this one as well, is that it can kill the balance between characters, cars, and levels in the game. Suddenly, everyone has to pick one of the karts and drivers optimized for snaking in order to compete, and the snakers repeatedly choose the same courses to the point of unbelievable monotony, since they know that these are the ones where their bug can be used to the greatest advantage.

When you make something a central part of your strategy in such a way that it ruins the basic balance and core mechanic of a game, that's a problem. Unfortunately, there will always be some flaws and bugs in a game to exploit, which is one reason why online will, for me at least, always be greatly inferior to local multiplayer. If your friend starts pulling that kind of crap, you can call them out on it, or alternatively sock them.

Those who seem so brave in the online world, exploiting little flaws in games in order to win, are undoubtedly great cowards who would never keep that up in a face to face match.