Wii "CycloWiz" modchip reviewed

by Paul Miller, posted Jan 31st 2007 at 8:34PM

With Wii modchips busting onto the scene all over, well, at least two of them now, it's about time we got an idea of how well these things actually work. MaxConsole just took the CycloWiz for a spin -- the second modchip to be announced, but supposedly the first one to be hitting the market -- and they seem to dig what they see. For starters, the installation is a snap, with "quick-solder" holes to make it a bit harder for you to screw things up, and an LED indicator to let you know if you do. As for compatibility, everything works as advertised, with Wii and GameCube backups working just like original discs, and GameCube hombrew working just fine as well. The big drawback is a lack of import support, which was done to make sure the Wii can't detect the modchip. This is solved on the GameCube side of things by GCOS, an open source hombrew OS for the GameCube that allows you to toggle your region, but sadly there's no hope yet for Wii games, since Wii homebrew is not supported. The upshot is that Nintendo has little chance of a software update that can disable this mod, but it also sort of defeats one of the main purposes of a modchip in the first place. There are also graphics problems with some PAL games right now, but future GCOS updates should resolve those. Otherwise, there's plenty to love, including full support of "audio-streaming" GameCube games, and multi-disc titles. The chips should hit resellers on Friday.

[Via Digg]

Filed under: Gaming

Tags: cyclowiz, modchip, review, teamcyclops, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

Blackster @ Feb 1st 2007 3:01AM

dipshit

Low Ranked

adobochicken @ Jan 31st 2007 9:01PM

Bottomline: its useless

Neutral

Thomas Bags @ Feb 1st 2007 2:50PM

Free games are useless?

Neutral

Greg @ Jan 31st 2007 9:54PM

isn't it a wii illegal? Sorry, I missunderstood, this is obviously for people's own backup games...

Neutral

drebes @ Jan 31st 2007 10:01PM

I live temporarily in Japan, and I really want to get a Wii (despite the fact that I don't own a TV). But my Japanese hability doesn't allow me to get Japanese games. Since the Wii is region locked, I'm not able to get the console. I really don't care much about "homebrew" or "backups", since I would probably end up having just a few games, but the language barrier is really strong. There should be no need for region locks in this case. When a modchip which supports region free gaming is released, then it will make a difference.

Neutral

Brennan @ Jan 31st 2007 10:30PM

wait, im lost, backup to do what? Strip audio files off GCN games?

Neutral

barfythesailorman @ Feb 1st 2007 12:47AM

"Audio streaming" is a part of lots of gamecube game's design. It streams audio information over the disc instead of copying a lot of info over at once. There were quite a few gamecube modchips that supposedly didn't support this, and people are saying it is likely Wii modchips will not support it either.

It's just good to know this chip will be compatible with ALL gamecube games of the proper region (of course freeloader can unlock gamecube regions, though not Wii regions).

Neutral

Richard Vialoux @ Jan 31st 2007 10:48PM

@ Brennan

well, you can buy a copy of a game and technically not have to open it. just buy the game, leave it sealed, and download a copy off the internet, burn it, and play it. or, you can do it the naughty way, but for those who like to keep it legal and maintain the resell/collectors value of their games, you dont have to open them! there's probably a way to copy your games somehow too, i'm sure.

Highly Ranked

Dustin @ Jan 31st 2007 10:49PM

Ok, to spell it out plainly for you all, this modchip lets you:

- play "backed-up" Wii games
- play "backed-up" GC games
- play homebrew GC games

no really, that's it. It's good, very good, but that's it.

Neutral

Sam L @ Jan 31st 2007 11:00PM

So could somebody clarify what is meant by the Wii "regions"? Is it split into many like a DVD region, or is it just divided by NTSC/PAL? If you can only play backups from your own very specific region then that would make it more difficult to do what a previous comment suggested and buy a new game, leave it sealed and then download an image and use it to play (unless there are a lot of different versions of the same game available to download)...

Neutral

Canyon @ Jan 31st 2007 11:28PM

Wii regions are like DVD regions. Theres Japan America and Europe for sure and I dont know if there are others but discs from each region only work in that particular area's console. As long as the Wii region code matches the region you can play that game. More than you asked for but I hope this helps for other people too

Neutral

Demaar @ Jan 31st 2007 11:34PM

Without the ability to play imports it's useless to me. Even if I couldn't use my legit copies, if it played backups of imports it'd actually have a use.

Highly Ranked

shadoe @ Feb 1st 2007 12:16AM

what about dvd support?

Low Ranked

Evan @ Feb 1st 2007 9:23AM

"The upshot is that Nintendo has little chance of a software update that can disable this mod"

Is Engadget pro-piracy? It certainly sounds that way.

Neutral

engadget.com @ Apr 24th 2007 11:33PM

Pro-piracy? How about pro-consumer? With little kids in the house, disks get scratched. I feel a lot better handing my kinds a burnt DVD while the original stays in the office closet having to purchase movies 2 or 3 times as they get scratched up. This modchip would allow me to do the same thing with their games. I like that idea.

Neutral

SporkRocker @ Feb 1st 2007 12:26PM

Engadget is about beating the system!

Neutral

SporkRocker @ Feb 1st 2007 12:30PM

I just want to see a mod chip or home brew being support via modchip. That will allow me to play retro games with possibly my own mapped buttons. I don't want to rebuy mario 64, mario kart 64 (even though I can play double dash....), and other games I have. Also to play games that aren't yet supported by Nintendo on the Wii Shop Channel.

Neutral