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- JD52, on 10/12/2007, -12/+81Mod your Wii. Add 3 to 6 inches in a matter of days.
- OverThere, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I personally don't care to browse the net with my Wii. I have this thing called a computer that does it just fine.
- bertd, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16I don't know why you're taking such an interest in bashing maxconsole and Cyclowiz, but anyway:
You say Wiinja vs. Cyclowiz is a matter of "taste":
- Cyclowiz offers support for streaming audio of GC-games, Wiinja's support of this is unknown, despite the fact that it's important for the background music of many top-notch Gamecube games.
- Cyclowiz is cheaper.
- It's rather impossible to miss a soldering point using the Cyclowiz, because of the quicksolder method. Furthermore, the LED quickly gives you a heads-up if anything's the matter.
- Cyclowiz will sold be sooner than Wiinja.
In my opinion, both suck, as they do not allow you to run either homebrew or imports. However, the Cyclowiz currently looks like a better alternative than the Wiinja. It's not a matter of "taste", unless your taste is to pay significantly more and waiting longer for a lesser alternative. - kimos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@sngx1275:
Never say never. You know that...
It may seem transparent, but there's obviously something that's running differently. Nintendo just has to come up with an equally clever way of detecting it. The makers of the chip believe that it can't be blocked, but they may or may not be right. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Just try "gmail" next time. Web browsers have been able to handle it without the http:// (or even the www. or the .com) for years now.
- hagfish70, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems to be a non-flashable chip. Which not only means no big fixes, but if the big N comes out with a firmware upgrade that disables the chip, the thing is pretty much useless. Unless you don't care to upgrade the wii's firmware, which means no Opera browser for you.
- therayven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I would digg you up, but at the moment you have +69, and I can't bear to ruin that.
- sngx1275, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Did it hurt sony with the ps2 or microsoft with the xbox? Its not going to hurt nintendo either.
- squirrelza, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Arrr this is grrrrreat news!
- sngx1275, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7You are right, doesn't appear to be flashable. But if you read the article you'd see the chip is completely transparent to the Wii, so Nintendo can't release an update to break it.
- kLacK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Its $40, the price of one game. Who cares if Nintendo detects it? You don't have to install the updates. This is the first generation of modchips and flashable ones will be on their way.
- sharpfork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Microsoft has not been able to do squat with the DVD hacks for the 360. Modded 360s can even still play on xbox live. The wii hack is the same basic concept as the 360 hack. Nintendo isn't going to be able to detect a chip on the DVD drive.
Based on the history of the 360 DVD flashing/chipping and DS flash carts and firmware mods, I doubt Nintendo will be able to do a thing about these chips or even limit online play. I also doubt there will be a region free or Wii homebrew chip until there is a chip that goes on the main board using a different exploit. - hansamurai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Good to hear it's starting already.
- obeseotron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The quality of XBMC has a great deal to do with the fact that the Xbox is more or less a normal x86 PC, making development familiar and allowing easy use of preexisting components like open source codecs (ffmpeg). The only big issue with XBMC at this point is the p3 733 inside can't keep up with HD content, and seeing as the Wii is not much faster than an Xbox (though it is faster to be sure,) doesn't output HD and doesn't have a built in hard drive, the work it would take to make a WMC vs. the benefit of it is highly questionable. A true media center on the 360 or PS3 on the other hand would be great.
- johngardiner, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6the cyclowiz does actually let you play gc homebrew btw
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Looks reliable to me, again a video would be nice (showing cords of course) but maxconsole do seem on the ball to me. The Wiinja chip is cheap (single chip) but in my book thats not a bad thing.
- 4zumanga, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5In a suprisingly large number of games you can get away without any reading. In many games the text in menus is even in English.
As someone in the UK, I also want to import games from America. As far as I'm concerned, this mod-chip is crap. I don't want to pirate games, I just want to buy them, and reach out beyond the UK borders. I also want the Wii to suceed and not go the same way as the Dreamcast (I'm not saying pirating killed the DC, but I'm sure it caused a major dent in sales). I hope Nintendo come down on them like a ton of bricks - Buelldozer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I have really mixed emotions about 'chipping the Wii.
One on hand I'm the father of a six year old, that means lots of scratched and unplayable disks. This is the primary reason I chipped my Xbox, so that I could play backups and put the "real" disks away.
On the other hand I KNOW that most people are going to use capability like this for piracy, I would sure hate for them to sink the big N because everyone stops buying games.
I dunno. I'll probably 'chip my Wii (lol) because it makes sense for me to do so but I sure hope that this tech doesn't hurt Ninty too much. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Every time something about a wii modchip goes on the front page somebody says they want XBMC on the wii. Nobody has said why they think the wii is a good choice for a media center. There's no hard drive, and no ethernet port (so if your wifi sucks you can't stream high quality video). In addition, the Wii can't do high definition video.
There's some great potential for apps on the Wii, but a media center isn't one of them (Unless you can explain why it is.) - Darthmalt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@software
Because I have a Wii and don't have an xbox. I just want to be able to stream content from my PC to my Wii. Since it won't be doing HD bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. It already can do streaming flash (not the same I know). It would be great to have a small frontend app on an sd card that query's my computer and displays a list of all the videos in a certain folder. hit another menu it queries my computer again and lets me sort through my music. It doesn't have to be that big of a program since the pc backend would be doing most of the work. - bagpipegoatee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Software2, I agree with you completely. But I think the main reason people want a wii media center is because of the controls. A wiimote is better than an xbox controller/keyboard/mouse. Other reasons are that it's smaller and that they might want to take their trusty xbox down and use the wii to do everything.
- merkul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Easily avoid bricking the system: Have an on/off switch for the mod externally available. Before connecting to the internet, turn the mod off. Download any available updates if you deem them necessary, now turn off Wii. Turn back on the mod and start up Wii. If Big N updated the firmware, the LED on the mod should indicate a failure because it doesn't know how to patch the newest firmware (it can't recognize it, if this isn't the way the mod is built, somehow have a checksum of the old firmware on the modchip and check it against the drive's current firmware on bootup). Unless I'm mistaken, the only way N can brick it is if they detect a mod ON while applying the update.
- kLacK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think it is a mod for the DVD drive.
- sacherjj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It doesn't allow homebrew for the Wii run, it can only run homebrew as Game Cube. I would want homebrew as Wii, so that your control for something like that can be via the Wiimote. It would be nice as a front end display with a back end server storing the video (because of no hard drive on the Wii.)
- ApolloImBurning, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Does this come pre-flashed with bios? Or is not a bios-replacement chip? How exactly does it work?
- TheRealPod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4be the wii, very zen
- sexycommando, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3it wont sink Nintendo for 2 reasons:
1. a HUGE majority of people buying the wii probably do not know about modchips, what they do, and would not want to anyway because it involves opening the wii, breaking the warranty, and soldering (hell, I don't even know how to solder)
2. Nintendo makes a profit on every Wii - DagMX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Till it accepts import games, its pretty much useless to me and I guess a lot of people too.. I really don't care about piracy unless thats the only means i can get a game, but region coding sucks seeing as I have an imported US Wii and being able to play games from any region would be a wonderful way to work.
The only downside I see to modchips on internet-updatable/connectable machines is that the modchips can be noticed and banned or the system bricked by an official update(sort of like DNAS on the PS2s when using a modchip during online play). Thats why I'd much rather prefer it if Datel could get to work on their freeloader for the wii. Piracy ain't important to a lot of people, but being able to just pick up a wii game from anywhere and know that it'll work is vital. - XSforMe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@obseotron
I understand the limitations of the XBMC running on the old Xbox; yet this begs the following question: out of all the current consoles in the market, which one would be the best suited to keep the XBMC project alive?
Wii is underpowered, the 360 is deeply rooted with DRM, it seems the only candidate left is the PS3. Anybody care to comment about it? - merkul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Another random thought: It's obvious that we cannot just insert a disc with homebrew as it is not signed. It is also obvious that we cannot just use a patched dump of a disc because the signature would be broken. However, is there a way to inject the on-board hdd with data that isn't signed via a non-discdrive method? This could be useful if someone could dump wii updates (that add actual functionality), then dump those to the internal hdd via some component (non-disc). One method: Set the Wii hdd as a slave in your PC config via ribbons, grab the update and throw it on there.
- Frybread, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There is no such thing as a "gc audio streaming" - this is a made-up feature by Team Cyclops and Maxconsole to sell the cyclowiz. A drivechip is connected directly to the optical drive, it doesn't have anything to do with audio. The wii handles the gamecube audio itself, and does quite well.
Read here for more information on the Wii modchip war:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=43780 - Coolwave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'll mod my Wii when I can add my own custom channels with homebrew software and load content off a USB hard drive.
- kimos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Software2:
You make some good points that I totally agree with. But consider, not everyone has an XBox or PS3. Not everyone wants one. I am one of these people hoping for some type of media center application to run on the Wii because it is the only console of this generation that I have or plan on getting. Maybe it's not ideal, but I already have the hardware, I just need a client/server app to run on it! - kLacK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2CycloWiz.com has them for $42 + free shipping
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Because I had a modchip in my Xbox, I couldn't do Live. It seemed like a good tradeoff at the start, but by the end, it was clear I was on the losing end of the deal. I'd never put a chip in my 360, cause it would preclude Live, and that would make it a lot less useful to me.
- nstern2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1More than likely the wii hdd is an on board chip and not a removable drive so you would have to get the chip off the board and then somehow get it on to a pc and dump the contents onto your pc. I Have a feeling that we will see someone spoofing their pc into downloading a wii patch and then using a router to trick the wii into thinking that your pc is a Nintendo server with a hacked update. Or someone will find a vulnerability in a game like they did on the xbox.
- DatVillain83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i love my wii but doesn't anyone else notice the lack of an extensive library right now in the US to even care about modification. the lack of no import support also devalues the excitement. but i might pick one up in a couple months.
- merkul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Credits to Wander2000 from the MaxConsole boards, this is his suggestion to implement an on/off switch:
"Get a set of small gauge wires of different colors, solder to the Wii inside at the points the mod chip is supposed to be soldered to; run them out towards the back, maybe find a way to pull those wires out through an existing hole.
Get an ohmmeter to find out which wire applies power to the chip. Solder this wire to the middle of a small 3 pole on/off switch. Solder the outside wires to the mod chip following the colors of the wires. Add a wire to one end of the switch and solder it to the last remaining point on the mod chip.
Mount the mod chip and switch somewhere on the back with velcro. To disable the mod chip, just flip the switch to the side where the two wires on the switch don't connect. Use your ohmmeter if not sure, and to verify all connections." - XSforMe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Software2:
Some other have covered most of the points of why it would be a good idea to have the Wii run a media center, but I'll add one more: Space and cabling complexities; I have limited space on where to put the consoles I connect, furthermore adding extra consoles can only saturate the video feeds of your TV. To us knowing that video1 is the VHS, video2 is the Wii, video3 is the Xbox/media center, and video4 is the sat/cable receiver might not be an issue, but try teaching that to your toddler or your wife. - merkul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Quick soldering it would be very very easy with a soldering iron with a thin point. Doing it with wires is a little more difficult, but is easier to remove if another mod is released in the future that has more features (like flashable updates, wii homebrew, etc).
- sacherjj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wii doesn't have to stream HD content, because it can't display it. I think it would be great to stream 480i and 480p content though. When I use Orb.com to stream to the Wii, the browser bar won't go away, so I loose quite a bit of screen for video display, ignoring the poor quality of the streaming.
- galactus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I can see your view, the thing is regardless of a small collection of US Wii games there's still a whole library of old GC games that some people (myself included) never got a chance to play. Unfortunately there are just some GC games that seem impossible to find at GameStops etc (I'm having a helluva time looking for a used Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker). Because of that it seems more tempting to just hop onto bittorrent and find the games that way.
- Wander2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1WTF are you talking about a Wii hdd?
- Rangoth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Who wants to bet that Nintendo will update the Wii like Microsoft does with the 360?
- muikano, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is why online support is so critical to the lifespan of the console. Transparent my ass. Imagine installing this modchip and not being able to go online to play? that would suck loads. Or not getting the updated Opera browser. Or whatever channel will be up in the future? Skype Channel, Gtalk Channel, etc etc.
It also needs import capability. I'll just use one for online games and retail copies, and a second modded wii for imports and downloaded homebrew. Buying a second one is a lot better than buying a handicapped modchip - nmoline, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For someone who has never done much soldering since some tech class in 7th grade now a college grad how hard would it be for me to solder this chip? I too have a major problem with scratched disks and this would be great.
- sexycommando, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a question for import players: can you read japanese? I would like to play import games too, but I hesitate because I don't know how to read japanese. Do you guys just guess what menu options and dialog say? Or just play games where text does not matter?
- Wander2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That guy really knows his stuff :-)
- Frybread, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is not a review, it's an infomercial. Maxconsole is being paid off by Cyclowiz.
Proof:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=43780 - matthewf01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0what about the fact that the Wii is contantly communicating with "the outside" while its sleeping?
That could make it potentially harder to "intercept" any kind of 'kill switch' Nintendo could send out at any moment, new firmware or quick "detect 'n destroy" when your system goes and tries to simply read the News. -
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