Thursday, January 6, 2011

Critical Alert: Backup All of Your Wii Games

By Cortne Riddel


Do you make copies of your Wii games? It's pretty risky not to do so. Why, you ask? Let's explore the reasons.

Even if you add in the cost of the game copy software, learning how to copy Wii games is a wise investment that will save you money over the long haul. Wii games (and any other modern games) are crazy expensive. I recently spent $60 on the new Epic Mickey game. If you lose a game or have it wind up damaged, you are throwing that money out the window. When you have a backup, it doesn't matter if something happens to your game. But if you don't, then you have to spend $60 all over again just to continue playing the same game - it's like throwing money down the toilet!

So we talked about games being expensive - this wouldn't be such an issue if the games weren't also so fragile. I mean, lots of things are expensive, but they're sturdy, so we don't bat an eye. Wii games have the one-two punch of being expensive and being easily damaged. In the olden days of the 1980s, games came on cartridges, which meant that they were sturdy and could withstand some punishment. These days, though, you spend $55 on a game, and then can't even drop it on the floor without risking the loss of your investment. This is another reason that's it's so critical to make archive/backup copies of your games. Because if the game is ruined, you've got a copy ready to go.

There are a couple of additional reasons why making archive copies of Wii discs is such a good idea. Have you ever loaned a game for a friend, and asked them to have it back to you by the end of the week? Well, the week goes by, and they don't return it. They promise to bring it by the next time that they come over, but they forget. Pretty soon, months have gone by, and they admit that they lost the game. This is a hugely important reason to backup games. When you have software to make backup copies you can simply make your friends a copy and let them keep it. Then you get to keep your master copy, and you keep you friendship intact!

So now you're wondering how game copying works. I mean, it seems like you should be able to make copies the same way that you copy music discs. They are on the same type of optical media after all... Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Game makers put encryption on their games precisely to keep you from doing this. They WANT you to end up with damaged games and to have to buy new ones so that they get more money. It's legal to backup games as long as you own the original, but there's nothing saying that the gaming firms have to make this simple for you.

So if you can't burn a disc the way that we burn MP3's, how in the heck DO you copy Wii games? Well, I'll break it down for you. The secret is in using special game copy software that you can find right through Google (just type in "how to copy Wii games and you'll find it). You pay for the software, download it, install it on your PC, and run it just like you would run any Windows or Mac program. The program will pop up with a wizard that will walk you through ripping your Wii game, breaking the encryption automatically, and then burning a fresh copy onto a blank disc. And voila! You'll have yourself a shiny new copy of your favorite game!

So if there's any lesson that you take away from this article, just remember to keep your master discs safe and never play them. If you make copies, and only play the copies, you'll save tons of money over the long run.

Take care, and stop back soon for more information!




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