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A mod chip installed in a WiiThe Wii chip is removed and in its place a mod chip is installed. It has to be soldered into place carefully in order to avoid destroying the Wii's internal circuitry. - When a game disk is put into a Wii the firmware inside of it checks to see if this game is in the correct format for the Wii to play the disk. If a mod chip is installed in the Wii, the mod chip intercepts the firmware and adds a line of code that tricks the Wii's drive into playing the disk that was inserted, even if the Wii does not support that kind of disk. Wii mod chips trick Wiis into supporting import games from regions other than those supported by the Wii and back-up copies of games.
- Several new Nintendo Wii games or Wii updates have been reported to brick (cause them to be useless) Wiis with mod chips installed. Older Wii mod chips do not support games such as "Super Smash Brothers Brawl" and "Mario Galaxy." If the game disk is inserted into a Wii with a mod chip that does not support it, the game will automatically install software that renders the Wii useless. Also, some mod chips make the Wi-Fi capabilities of the Wii useless.
