A double shot of bad news for the Wii hacking set today -- not only do new Wiis appear to have a modchip-proof layer of epoxy around the DVD-ROM IC chips, Waninkoko has abandoned the Wii Backup-Loader project. The modchip news isn't all that surprising -- Ninty's been fighting a losing battle against chip devs for a while now, and gluing things down with epoxy is a logical solution -- but Waninkoko quitting is a bit of a shock, since we just caught wind of the Wii Backup-Loader a few days ago. Apparently he's not happy that it was leaked this morning, so he's dropping it, but surely an outpouring of affection in comments will change his mind.

[Thanks, Linh T]

Read - New Wiis have epoxy-locked DVD-ROM chips
Read - Waninkoko abandons Wii Backup-Loader

Getting the Wii to run backup disks has never been quite as easy as running homebrew, but that might be about to change -- there's apparently a secret recovery mode that can be accessed with a special GameCube memory card. Not much is being revealed yet, but apparently if a "device" with a unique ID signature is present in the slot at boot, the Wii will drop into recovery mode and happily run whatever you throw at it, from backup disks to homebrew code. Hopefully we'll find out more soon -- video after the break.

Update: It looks like the recovery mode is only good for fixing "certain bricked consoles" -- so much for that.

[Thanks, brakken]

The folks of WiiHD, in honor of the recent Quake release for Wii homebrew, have put together an easy-to-follow guide for getting the Wii homebrew channel up and running on your little white console -- plus a pre-packaged zip file with some ready-to-go 'brew if that's the way you like it. You've really got zero excuse to hold off on homebrew with as purtiful and straightforward all these fine hackers have made the process, but if you're still unconvinced, check out the Quake video after the break.

It's only been a short while since we saw the first successful attempts at Wii homebrew, but things now look to have busted wide open, with hacks seemingly turning up left and right these days. Most notably, the folks from the GameCube Linux project have recently let loose a proof of concept Linux "mini-distro" that makes use of the now infamous Twilight Princess hack to turn the Wii into a tiny (and so far not very useful) Linux box. If that's a bit too much you, however, you may be interested in some of the tamer homebrew fare that recently made its debut, including an MP3 player and, you guessed it, an SNES emulator. In related news, Nintendo also just pushed out an official updated to the Wii OS (version 3.2), but contrary to what the timing would suggest, it apparently doesn't do anything to block you from getting your homebrew fix.

Read - GameCube Linux project
Read - TehSkeen, SNES emulator
Read - Wii News, Wii Mode MP3 Player
Read - MaxConsole Forums, Wii Update 3.2

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]