Nintendo is reportedly tweaking the Wii's internal workings to prevent the use of console modification chips.

According to Taiwanese retailers cited by local newssite DigiTimes, the latest Wiis sport a modified motherboard intended to make it harder if not impossible to add existing modchips - at least not without damaging the system.

Modchips are typically used to allow games consoles to play games copied onto DVD°R/RW media. Nintendo and other console vendors claim these are all pirate copies - many modchip users maintain they're back-ups made to prevent the original discs being damaged.

Maybe, but not every country permits such back-ups to be made, and Nintendo's software licence terms forbid it, so quite a few modchip users are on shaky ground even if they're using copies of discs they've purchased and still own.

Either way, expect modchip makers to explore new ways of fitting their products to the Wii, and likewise for Nintendo to seek methods of thwarting them.