"Wii-volution" HDMI enabled, 160GB HDD packing Wii: are you fooled?

As of writing, there's still a few hours to go until the day that pranksters worldwide like to call their own. Unfortunately that doesn't mean we get to escape from the droll task of reporting on outlandish and suspect game console rumors. This latest one is the most unlikely example we've seen for a while and it's not just the claimed features that stir our suspicions. The premise of the "Wii-volution" rumor is that Nintendo is on the verge of releasing a version of the Wii with an HDMI port and a 160GB Hard Disk Drive integrated into the base of the console. The evidence is an extremely pixelated and blurry photo which points to something on the panel of a black Wii. We're just speculating here, but we think that model could potentially be a developer's kit. And with that, we already feel stupid for in any way taking this kind of half hearted rumor seriously. Hopefully, tomorrow's efforts will be a lot more convincing.

Update: Not that we needed to tell you this, but the original source of the image suggests that this is definitely fake.

[tau zero @ Apr 1st 2007 2:12AM]

are all of engadgets posts today going to be bullshit?

because if so ill see you guys monday

[Crazylink @ Apr 1st 2007 2:16AM]

This looks shopped. I can tell from some the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Apr 1st 2007 2:19AM]

Damn, no need to be harsh. If you don't like the news here, go away.. simple as that. Quit cluttering the comments section, kthx.

Anyway, 160GB HDD for a Wii? Sounds crazy.. but not completely. A black Wii WOULD go along nicely with my black PS3 and soon-to-be released black Xbox 360! hehe, one can dream, right?

[Jeremy @ Apr 1st 2007 2:22AM]

Even if this did exist, what would anyone use the hdd for? 160gb of photos and virtual console games?

[anorexia @ Apr 1st 2007 2:36AM]

that has to be a dev kit.

the wiimote is wired.


then again, weren't the devkits green?

[Bryant @ Apr 1st 2007 2:39AM]

"then again, weren't the devkits green?"

Yes. The devkits were army green with white "wii" text on them. this is more likely to be a unit shown off at a press conference or an internal unit.

[HEADsoldier07 @ Apr 1st 2007 7:47AM]

yeah i think the dev kits were white with a green faceplate on them weren't they?

[Bryant @ Apr 1st 2007 10:08AM]

Correct. It was a white Wii, but the faceplate was green. Nothing else was green.

[Cocanuta @ Apr 1st 2007 2:39AM]

Well yeh, its shopped, but thats because its april 1st... what more did you expect.

[fs454 @ Apr 1st 2007 2:45AM]

Engadget didn't do any research?

It took me like 8 seconds to google "black wii" and got results with this exact picture from July 2006. Its an old picture which was on the net before the Wii was even released.

http://www.infendo.com/2006/06/mysterious-picture-of-black-wii.html

[Nick R @ Apr 1st 2007 11:33AM]

it is april fools... give em a break.

[Aprime @ Apr 1st 2007 2:53AM]

Just so you know, the Devkit is actually green.

Seriously Engadget wtf.

[2Perfect @ Apr 1st 2007 3:42AM]

yeah moment I saw wii-volution it just had to be a prank....

Engadget needs something better... :P

[2Perfect @ Apr 1st 2007 5:24AM]

And by better I mean something like Google's. Check out google.com (has to be classic home, not personalized) and gmail (make sure you log out)

[Kevin @ Apr 1st 2007 5:31AM]

Its April Fools you idiots.

[John Doe @ Apr 1st 2007 5:46AM]

Gah. I hate April fools. I would love this thing except for the price.

[Paulmichael @ Apr 1st 2007 6:35AM]

An HDMI-enabled Wii would be pretty sweet, but then the Wii isn't powerful enough to push anything above 480p, really. Not dissing the console, just stating the facts. I very much like the Wii.

[Ian @ Apr 1st 2007 7:03AM]

Maybe this new 160GB HDD supports rumors that Dreamcast games are coming to the Wii!

http://www.MarioKartWii.com

[Somebody @ Apr 1st 2007 8:47AM]

Lol, if you look closely you can see that it's not a Wii... It's the old Revolution...

[arman @ Apr 1st 2007 10:49AM]

It looks like an old prototype of the Revolution and the wii remote is wired...

[D.J. @ Apr 1st 2007 10:51AM]

Yea... one the of the first things I noticed was that, while the enlarged image is blurry, it's still detailed enough that you can actually see the original Revolution logo in the upper left of the sticker. There may not have been a single photo's shop involved in this... it's just an old photograph.

[Jello Mold @ Apr 1st 2007 11:56AM]

this is fake. I saw this picture way way back, I think back before they changed the name from "revolution" to wii. And I have no idea where y'all got the idea that it would be hdmi compatible and sport a 160 gig hd.

APRIL FOOLS

[Jim @ Apr 1st 2007 12:12PM]

April Fool's you dolts!!!

[Alex @ Apr 1st 2007 12:25PM]

anyone could make their own wii black... im sure its not that hard to mod the outsides up

[Boomy @ Apr 1st 2007 1:44PM]

Correction: TestKit are white with a green faceplate (or red and white if the testkit has a HD inside instead of a dvd). The DevKit are a big black box, nothing compared to the wii. But yes, this controller is a from a devkit.

[Benz145 @ Apr 1st 2007 3:14PM]

Whats funny is that the person who made the rumor apparently doesn't know that the Wii can't support HDTV output at an acceptable framerate. So trying to push an HDTV signal (probably at 1080p) over the highest quality HDTV connection (HDMI) is a pretty stupid thing to make up, not only that, but I don't even think the games are capable of HDTV quality (720p, 1080i, 1080p).

[Joe @ Apr 3rd 2007 3:25PM]

I remember first seeing this image a month or two before Wii's launch, so it's definitely fake.