It looks like the Wii U has been broken apart by the WiiKey team.

WiiKey is a site that sells products with which you can use your Wii in ways that Nintendo doesn’t want. They have also found a way to bypass the Wii U’s defenses and have claimed that they have got a hack working.

Third-party developers won’t be pleased with this development, although, if it turns out to be true, Nintendo may sell more Wii U systems and gain a good install base.

Here’s what they’ve written on their site.

Yes, its real – we have now completely reversed the WiiU drive authentication, disk encryption, file system, and everything else needed for this next generation K3y. Stay tuned for updates!

Take this as a rumour, since unless people have officially confirmed it to be working, it’s still unverified for now. The team was responsible for releasing the first ever hack for the Wii back in 2007, so this could be as legit as it gets.

Update: We have the features of the device. It’s called the WiiKey U.

Play your Wii U and Wii games from any USB media! Compatible with all Wii U models and regions User friendly intuitive interface No soldering required Multi-language support Supports most popular file systems, including EXT4/3/2, Max OS X, and NTFS Powerful embedded Linux system High-speed USB2 interface Firmware and FPGA fully in-system updatable from USB media Recovery mode – it is always possible to recover from a bad flash Stylish USB remote with powered USB hub and charger function Bulletproof high quality hardware (not manufactured in China!)

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But there’s no mention of region lock bypass, so personally it’s pretty useless for me.