Wii update provides minor menu changes, could brick modded consoles

It's that time again folks -- the moment when you're rushing out of the house, but you make the oh-so-wise decision to head in even later rather than leaving that glowing Wii unattended. Today, Wii owners in Europe, Japan, and the US can download a shiny new firmware update, which institutes a new digital clock on the main menu, a few "aesthetic changes to the Wii Shop," an updated Forecast Channel window, a "Today's Accomplishments" note on the message board, and a made over Wii Shop that "changes the way Virtual Console games are ordered." Also of note, some users are reporting that a message appears before updating that states: "If your Wii console has an unauthorized technical modification, this upgrade could cause interoperability of your console." Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise considering the Big N's crackdown on modders, but in our single attempt of updating a Wii not left on standby, the aforementioned statement did not appear. So go on, head on down and get to updatin' (if you're not chipped, that is), and do let us know how your experience goes.

[Via The Wolf Web]

UPDATE: We've seen numerous reports of the new firmware not bricking modded Wii consoles, and that includes machines using Cyclowiz and WiiKey. If you're courageous enough, give it a go yourself and let us know how it turns out in comments.

[Grey Acumen @ Aug 7th 2007 10:26AM]

I must have gotten this almost as soon as it was available. I was up late last night. I like the clock on the main screen, and I do like the shop channel rankings, but the forcast channel so far only displays the weather and not the temperature. What I wanted was to see the temperature.

[Kdawg @ Aug 7th 2007 11:10AM]

The forecast channel has always shown the temperature.... Just click on the Next> button when you're looking at the globe.

[Grey Acumen @ Aug 7th 2007 11:12AM]

No duh, Kdawg, but if they were going to make it so I could see the weather from the main channel selection menu, they could have worked it to show the temperature instead/as well.

The point I'm making is about BEFORE you even click on the weather channel to begin with.

[Chris2306 @ Aug 7th 2007 10:27AM]

interoperability???
Oooh, I can use my 360 controllers with the Wii?

[Jake Tobak @ Aug 7th 2007 10:39AM]

Sure, go for it.

[theotherstevejobs @ Aug 7th 2007 10:43AM]

seriously...

when are they going to bring out the Wii here in America? I've been looking for 6 months, and not a single retailer has had them in stock the 20 times i've looked. They have the games, for some reason, but i don't know why - its not as if anyone can find them.

its one thing to have a smash hit... its totally another to simply bullcrap us all with limited supplies so that you can't get them for 6 months.

[Darren @ Aug 7th 2007 10:40AM]

Couldn't agree more.

Our family just snagged one two weeks ago after searching for months by pure luck -- just walked into a store at the right moment.

Best of luck hunting one down.

[FRiC @ Aug 7th 2007 11:10AM]

The Asians are probably hogging all of them. I can walk into any electronics store here and pick up a Wii, and I can choose if I want a Japanese or US unit, pre-modififed. They're not selling very fast since most people are still buying PS2's.

[Dale @ Aug 7th 2007 11:11AM]

I've been searching since they came out. In the end, I decided to bite the bullet and go for one of the Walmart bundles (don't laugh!) and it came almost immediately.

For $630 including UPS shipping and taxes, I got the Wii itself, an extra Wiimote and nunchuck, a wireless sensor bar, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Elebits, Excite Truck and Super Paper Mario.

I half resent being forced to buy a bundle, but they're all items I would have bought anyway, unlike some of the junk in other companies's bundles.

[bpc @ Aug 7th 2007 11:25AM]

I signed up for WiiHunt alerts and picked up my Wii from Amazon after being email-alerted back in May. I usually get one or two messages a week saying that Amazon has Wiis on sale. Be ready to jump on it fast, though, as they usually sell out within 10 or 15 minutes.

[hypereric @ Aug 7th 2007 11:47AM]

i went hunting for an elite a couple of weeks ago, and ended up finding one at a target, which had one and ONE wii. target seems to be a place alot of people don't think about. on an added note: i had a wii, and while it was fun, im just more into sitting on my butt and moving just my fingers after work, so i got rid of it. look for used wii's as well, as another poster on this thread is talking about getting rid of one as well.

[allaina @ Aug 7th 2007 11:06PM]

try checking your local target. i know, sounds weird.

we had TEN yesterday morning in milford, oh.

we get them EVERY monday and friday at my store, or have been for the past six weeks or so.

try checking, i'm going to assume that since we're so strict about being the same (other than prices intra-district wise) that you can find one, once you figure out the schedule. it may even be the same as ours (monday and friday.)

[R1cebrner @ Aug 7th 2007 12:01PM]

My local target had 4 of them yesterday, its in dover de, don't know how far that is for you

[mooky @ Aug 7th 2007 1:02PM]

A new Best Buy opened up in my area not too long ago with 250 Wii's in stock. It took about two weeks to sell out. I'm seeing a single Wii at Target and Walmart more often than not lately. So they are out there.

[BananaBoat @ Aug 7th 2007 10:46AM]

Do we have a choice whether or not we upgrade? Xbox 360 gives you a "Choice" but if you don't "Choose" to download the firmware update, you can't play on Xbox Live. Personally I'd like to keep the original firmware that is mod friendly, in the event that in the future, modchips won't be illegal (or is it just illegal to sell them, and not to buy them? It's so confusing!). My siblings like to play with my Wii, and they have no respect for the game discs (taking one disc out, putting another in and then not putting the disc they took out back in the box it came from) and backups would be a major help. Oh well, I'll fire up my Wii, here's hoping it doesn't force the upgrade.

[Andir3.0 @ Aug 7th 2007 10:51AM]

Even if it does update and brick, you can somehow blame Sony. It seems to be "the thing to do" nowadays.

[Matt B @ Aug 7th 2007 12:57PM]

Blu-ray disks don't scratch. ;)

[sdman @ Aug 7th 2007 9:00PM]

Even if I had a "choice", I'd still upgrade

[travistaylor @ Aug 7th 2007 10:49AM]

Well, my update worked like a charm. Of course, I'm not chipped or anything. I like the new digital clock, but I would really like to see a new channel released soon. It seems like forever since they have released a new channel...

[kdawg @ Aug 7th 2007 11:10AM]

There is a new Mii channel coming out soon that lets you upload miis and get them ranked and do like celebrity look a like miis and stuff, its on the nintendo e3 website and it looks pretty cool. No word on when its released though

[gian @ Aug 7th 2007 10:51AM]

I was wondering what the blue blinking was all about this morning. Does the update happen automatically? Or do I need to take care of it when I get home?

[Adam @ Aug 7th 2007 11:27AM]

You need to initiate it when you get home. The blinking light is just telling you that you have a new message (in this case, notification of an available update). If this is your first time using it, you've got lots of stuff to download. :)

[DJ @ Aug 7th 2007 10:54AM]

Has anyone experienced an issue with the update and a Wii with a modchip?

[Joshua @ Aug 7th 2007 10:54AM]

I know this is going to sound like hater comment but I haven't turned on my Wii in over two months now. It's not that it isn't fun but all I ever played was VC titles. I think I need to just sell it so someone could actually enjoy it.

[Andir3.0 @ Aug 7th 2007 11:03AM]

I go by the motto:

Retro gaming is best left to memory. You'll remember the games better than they actually were.

[James @ Aug 7th 2007 4:16PM]

Amen, brotha, amen. I was just saying to my coworker that I was meaning to turn off WiiConnect24 (because of the possible overheating issues). He said you need it for Weather and News to work right, but then it dawned on me that I never (ever!) use those.

I've had it on maybe once a week for the past two months to play a little Super Paper Mario, but I finally finished the game last weekend, and until Metroid, I don't think I have anything else to play. There may not technically be a drought, in that there have been Wii releases at least every other week, but none of them were worth buying to me. I'd like RE4, but never have time to play gory games like that (e.g. when my 2-year-old isn't in the room). Maybe I'll go poke through the used Gamecube section at EB.... ::sigh::

[sdman @ Aug 9th 2007 3:42PM]

Have you tried Twilight Princess yet? You should at least play that because it's AWESOME!

[DJ @ Aug 7th 2007 10:59AM]

Has anyone experienced an issue with the update and a Wii with a modchip?

[Randy @ Aug 7th 2007 11:23AM]

Posts at MaxConsole Forums indicate it DOES NOT affect most/all modchips

http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?t=72185&page=3

[atomicmatt @ Aug 7th 2007 11:32AM]

I just picked up a wii on sunday at a local blockbuster. No call needed went in there and they had 1. Guess I got lucky... I love the wii. I also have a xbox360.

[ken @ Aug 7th 2007 11:39AM]

...this upgrade could cause interoperability of your console." Interoperability means it will work
with other things. So, maybe it will work with my Xbox or PS2?

[Mike10010100 @ Aug 7th 2007 11:51AM]

Hey has anyone experienced problems with the wireless connectivity of thier wii? Whenever I try to connect it to my wireless network, it will soon kick off the rest of the wireless computers in the house and then a few minutes later will reset the router.

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

[b1tchell @ Aug 7th 2007 3:20PM]

I do notice that my other devices wifi suffers when the wii is on.

[Player1 @ Aug 7th 2007 3:18PM]

Do you have your wireless router set to Channel 1 or 11? Mine wouldn't work wirelessly until I set it to one of those.

[James @ Aug 7th 2007 4:18PM]

Dude, if you're resetting your router by connecting your Wii to it, you need to buy a new (less crappy) router.

[R1cebrner @ Aug 7th 2007 12:06PM]

I have noticed my cable modem and router must be reset alot more since ive gotten the wii, but it is normally only after long periods on non use. Or it could be that my router fell off the stand one to many times when hit by the wii mote.

[Aaron @ Aug 7th 2007 2:05PM]

I have Wiinja Deluxe, the update caused no problems.

[Kait @ Aug 7th 2007 2:19PM]

The dang light woke me up in the middle of the night.. brightened the heck out of my room.

[Kelly McElree @ Aug 7th 2007 3:48PM]

Okay, this update is about as thrilling as family home movies that my relatives bring over. When are we going to be able to try demo's of virtual console games, where are the new virtual console games. How about something fun in an update. Seriously, I have two game systems: my Wii and my 360. I love both for various reasons, but Nintendo needs a rich on-line, interactive service, like Xbox live. I realize that Live costs me a few dollars each year, but once you experience it - it is well worth it. Come on Nintendo, invest and develop your on-line content experience.

[Riku98523 @ Aug 7th 2007 3:56PM]

First my Wii says the tech modification thing Second I kept getting an Error turns out it was just a Router error though *NOTE* my system is not modded but i did try to install a chip pulled up a soldering pad and maybe a trace D: but all seems fine so far I think i must not have pulled a Trace or something would go wrong.

[4n0nym0us @ Aug 7th 2007 5:18PM]

All three of my consoles worked, Cyclo, wiikey, and my virgin wii.

[Dave @ Aug 7th 2007 6:47PM]

I'll explain the exact state of my upgrade to anyone who wants reassurance. I have a recently installed wiikey. My wii was on red mode (aka off). I turned it on by pressing the button and went to system settings and update. It proceeded to download/install without telling me about bricking consoles (mines a PAL btw). After install it restarted and I inserted Pirates 3, Mario Party 8 and Smooth Moves 'backups' and they all came up fine.

The coolest update is the pulse of the disk bay on insertion and ejecting of the disk.

[ML @ Aug 7th 2007 8:22PM]

"interoperability:? Does that make sense to you? Why would you even report such a statement?

[geoff @ Aug 7th 2007 8:36PM]

Dont use the wiikey disk with this update
http://mywii.com.au/post.aspx?id=6989

[sdman @ Aug 7th 2007 9:00PM]

Just downloaded this update this morning, no problems because I don't have any modding on my console. Worked perfectly but was a little slow to download. I was really hoping that they'd add a clock to the Wii Menu because below the channel menu beside the date would be a perfect place. Nice enhancements to the Wii Shop Channel (such as searching using a keyword or title), News channel and Forecast Channel too.

[whitelightnin92 @ Aug 8th 2007 12:54AM]

I have an NTSC WiiKey and I just installed the update. Everything still works like a champ. The wii is still able to read the backups and the online is working great.

[mikeytrend @ Aug 8th 2007 1:14AM]

The wii now supports usb keyboards when sending friends messages from the message board and browsing the wii shop channel.
I'm very serious.

[Karim @ Aug 8th 2007 2:27AM]

I downloaded it this morning--I'm happy. But I gotta say--when are they gonna let us run VC games off an SD card?!?!

What I really want though is to be able to turn off message notifications. I can't stand the whole message thing. I would get rid of it completely if I could.

Besides--the main thing is games, games, and more games. More WW would do some good too.

[Slvrgun @ Aug 7th 2007 11:45AM]

Now why would Nintendo make it easy for you?

[JC @ Aug 8th 2007 10:53AM]

They'll probably never let us run VC games off the SD card - the VC games are specifically tied to your console anyway.

I bricked a Wii trying to make some... err, electrical modifications and it and had already downloaded a ton of VC games. Bit the bullet and bought a new system, when I called up tech support asking to re-download my games onto a new system they said I couldn't. So if your system gets destroyed in a way that isn't covered by warranty (i.e. kid sister chucks it in a pool) you're out of luck. It sucks.