wii mod
Latest
Portable Wii mod renders this Wii portable, modded
Better keep an eye out, Mr. Heckendorn -- we know that the modding community is pretty cut throat -- just like the Ice Pirates in that movie, uh, Ice Pirates -- and now it looks like there's another young hotshot on the scene. Fifteen year old modista Xteaphn (that's pronounced Steven, folks) has a little sideline going on custom-made portable hardware, with several mods to his name -- including this pint-sized, battery-powered Wii. The thing is tiny -- it's dwarfed by a 13-inch notebook -- and a full charge will give it about an hour of play. Stunning video after the break.
Matrix WiiZii mod hooks to external SATA HDD for speedy ISO loads
Though only a small fraction of Wii owners will ever mod their console, there's something strangely comforting to our status as a species that it's imminently doable. The latest in this long line of Wii hacks is the WiiZii, which is termed a "plug and play" no-solder method of playing Wii backups and other fun modchip-style stuff. WiiZii has an upgradable firmware, and is being touted as "future proof" against any forthcoming attempts by Nintendo to block it, but what's really exciting is the external SATA connector for extra-speedy ISO loads off of your favorite SATA hard drive -- no more dinky USB keys. Right now WiiZii is in prototype stage, but we're sure somebody will be hitting us up for cash for the mod in the near future -- if you're feeling a little stingy, just remember: hacking consoles that we've already paid money for to be able to do what we want with them is the only thing separating us from the apes. That and Hulu.
FLATMII streams games to your Wii, via USB
Nintendo has gone to some lengths to keep one step ahead of the modding community, but to little avail. We've recently seen a product that enables DVD playback on the Wii, and now we've been hepped to FLATMII, a device that plugs into the Wii's drive ribbon, letting you stream ISO backups of your games (or the Gecko OS, Mplayer, emulators and more) from your Windows XP or Vista PC -- which your console now takes for its DVD drive. If you're the sort of sane and sober Wii owner who figures that it is wise and prudent to backup games that you own legally -- the kind who would never ever think of stealing software -- hit that read link. And be sure to catch the video after the break.[Via Max Console]
Star Wars Wii mod realizes very few of our childhood dreams
Grab your Light Swords, it's time to kill some Jedi to save the Empire from the Ewok menace! We know you already own seven Wiis, each one espousing a different sort of childhood memorabilia or cute-overload, but can't you use the force to make room in your heart for one more? This Star Wars-themed Wii just hit the eBays, with a $500 starting price that includes the work of art you see before you, a red LED Wiimote and nunchuck, and a copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. You can't usually put a pricetag on this sort of midi-chlorian concentration.
Nintendo thwarting Wii modders with epoxy-locked chips; Wii Backup Loader abandoned
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
Mod that: 5 of our favorite Wii consoles
The Wii is a great console, but don't you just get sick of all of the white and grey everywhere? Can get kind of plain and boring, no? Well, be prepared to check out 5 of the best Wii mods you've ever seen in your life. So hit the button below to head into the gallery and see 5 consoles you wish you owned. #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } Click here to continue >> We're always talking about Mods here at Wii Fanboy. Be sure to check out our retro mod gallery, as well as our 5 favorite GameCube mods. Keep up with the modding scene by staying up to date with Wii Fanboy!
Super Mario Bros. Wii mod is doing it exactly right
Hey kids, listen up. That guy with the red hat and blue overalls in the fancy new Super Smash Bros. game you just brought home? His name is Mario. He's a neat guy. This Wii mod here features the lovable plumber in his natural habitat, World 1-1. On the other side is a pipe, his favored form of travel, which doubles as a Wiimote charger. Pretty great. OK, that's it for today's lesson, stay safe out there![Via Wii Fanboy]
Nintendo reportedly making Wiis in Japan unmoddable
Wii modders have already hit (and overcome) a few snags as a result of changes Nintendo has made to the console, but it doesn't look like the company is ready to give up the fight just yet, now reportedly introducing (as rumored) another round of revisions to stop folks from messing with the Wii's innards. According to at least one retailer in Japan, Nintendo has taken the somewhat drastic step of actually snipping some of the pins from the surface-mounted IC on the Wii's motherboard, making the current crop of modchips virtually useless. Currently, the changes only seem to apply to NTSC-J model Wiis sold in Japan, with no word of any NTSC-U model Wiis suffering the same fate -- although we wouldn't bet on them being immune for long. Of course, all this is of little concern for anyone planning on playing by Nintendo's rules, but the rest of ya may want to grab a moddable Wii while the going's still good -- or at least wait for the inevitable workaround to this latest impediment.
Zelda Wii mod, champion of our hearts
Behold the magnificence, rejoice in the glorious Triforce-ocity -- the Wii mod of Wii mods has arrived. We're not really sure there are even any points of potential improvement in this Zelda shrine, unless of course it could magically turn into Link and wanted to be friends with us. The word from comments is that the fancy sword and shield are from the collector's edition of the Twilight Princess score, and it turns out you can remove the sword and flail it around like you don't even care. The best news is that you can make this Wii your own, since it's already up on eBay, waiting to dive into the arms of the highest bidder -- just look out for the mind-melting embedded Zelda theme music MIDI when you hit up that read link, death comes to all who hear it.[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]Update: Apparently eBay was giving our good-hearted seller a bit of a hassle, so he had to relist it with proper permissions for sale on behalf of a charity. Check out the new listing here.
