Mod-resistant Wii consoles are hitting North American stores as part of Nintendo’s effort to stamp out piracy of its newest video game sensation. The reports of Wiis with the mod-resistant hardware first came in late May, when such consoles were spotted in the Japanese hardware.

Nintendo hasn’t made any major changes to the Wii hardware, but rather has taken measures to make the PCB connections much harder to interface with the mod chips. Three pins used by current mod chips to alter the console’s drive software and now physically cut, making modifications impossible for all but those with highly advanced skills and tools.

Users from the PSX-Scene forums found Wii consoles recently purchased with the IC legs cut, though one modder bravely applied a dremel directly to the chip to expose the connections. This leads some to believe that Nintendo is physically cutting the connections from the PCB as a temporary anti-mod solution, but will eventually introduce a new chip revision that will not respond to current mod chips at all.