WiiNintendo

After the Wiinja modchip, the CycloWiz was announced. MaxConsole was lucky enough to receive one of the modchips and obviously testd it to the fullest. The review states that the modchip is obviously of high quality and that the installation was easy. There’s also a LED to verify that everything is installed correctly. Wii and GameCube backups both worked and because of how the CycloWiz works it is completely invisible to the CPU and therefore it is highly likely that no firmware update will be able to detect it (and therefore disable online abilities or similar). The modchip only supports games from your region, it does not remove the much hated region code on Wii games. GameCube homebrew runs, so you can use GCOS to run other region GameCube discs.
Judging by how successful this review was, Wiinja is already slain. Over all it looks like Nintendo should have properly fixed the backdoors I mentioned in an earlier post. And now, not too long after the release, people are going to go insane with illegal copies of games. I, for one, could finally play GameCube imports (I can’t find PAL games that support 480p) and Wii backups. I don’t always play nice with my discs so scratches happen.

Source

Update 1: All warranties will be void if you open up your Wii and alter it, and depending on terms, third-party cables/controllers/etc may void your warranty as well. The Nintendo warranty will be void after installing the modchip, so will all other purchased extended warranties.
In Germany we have stores that’ll instal a modchip and give you a warranty on that. It’s what I did so I could play my PS2 region free.
Theoretically you could remove the modchip once it has been soldered in, but this would be tedious because you’d have to heat up all the contacts at the same time till they liquify so you can lift the chip off the console. Don’t try to fool the manufacturer this way though, they’ll most likely notice the excess melted coil.

Update 2: Installation video posted on follow up post

Successful Gaming Company in San Mateo County is looking for game testers. Candidates will be playing a video game on Nintendo Wii all day[…]

This is from a job posting at Monster.
The successful gaming company can either be Blizzard which has a development team in San Mateo County or it could be Slipgate Ironworks which is based there. This is interesting, very interesting.
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I know it’s a rush job … sue me

The laundromat, the bathroom, and the subway. As of late, these are the only three places where I’ve been able to get down on the DS loving. The Wii has completely taken over my home gaming experience. No more laying on my ass and playing several sessions of Clubhouse Games bowling online – now I find myself mixing a little Wii Sports and Red Steel to calm the nerves after a day at work. And it’s not only my DS gaming that’s suffering – several of my favorite PC games, such as FEAR, Need for Speed Underground, and UT2004, have sat untouched for weeks.

I finally said enough is enough, and I tore myself away from the television to work on Starfox Command. I was really into this game before it came out, and I love trying to find all of the endings and missions. However, I’ve been on the same storyline since – well, before the Wii.

What about you? Has the Wiimote managed to pry that cold, hard stylus from your hands?

Well then you are in luck because user hollowfreak at Cheap Ass Gamer has modded his Wii so that the 4 GC controller ports are at the front of the console. Let me rephrase modded to built an extension bay for the Wii. You should be able to tell by the image how it connects to the Wii, but in case you want some more images follow the source link at the end of this article. (more…)

SCEA spokes person Dave Karraker told the New York Times in an interview today (Jan. 30th) that the Wii shouldn’t be compared directly to the PS3 equating it to nothing more than an impulse buy .

Mr. Karraker also inferred this in a statement he made back in December: “We feel very confident that the PlayStation fan is going to wait until they can get a PlayStation 3. If they do pick up a Wii, it’s as more of a novelty.� (Dec. 16, 06 [techwhack.com])

Mr. Karraker insists that Wii sales are made primarily to casual gamers unlike the PS3 which caters to a more dedicated gaming community that will likely purchase more software in the long run.

While the Wii is definately attracting many non-traditional gamers, does that necessarily mean that software sales will be sluggish as a result? Surely there are plenty of dedicated gamers flocking to the Wii as well, me being one of them. And what about the Wiis rapidly growing userbase? More users equal more software sales, even if the casual gamer doesn’t purchase as much software.

And what about recent news that the Wii is outselling the PS3 2 to 1 in most parts of the world or that there are PS3s in stock at most major American retailers while the Wii is still out of stock? Any thoughts?

Source: Next-Gen.biz

This is a follow-up to the “Wii Sports Experiment” article I conducted and wrote.

First of all I’d like to thank EVERYONE who has emailed me, it’s really great to hear such positive feedback and it’s really a nice feeling to hear you’ve inspired people to not only purchase a Wii, but to use my experiment as a motivator to create their own Wii Workouts.

I’d also like to let everyone know about my plans for “Round 2″ of the Wii Sports Experiment, and to share with you all of the press coverage and different opportunities that have arisen.

Also, I tried to follow the “media trail” of my little experiment, so down at the bottom of this page I tried to map out how I went from just simply submitting my Wii Sports Experiment article to Digg.com to ultimately literary representation with a great literary agency on Fifth Avenue in NYC, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, Inc.

OK, let’s jump right into the media coverage, I compiled a list of some of the news agencies that I have been interviewed by. I’m still compiling links to some of these and I’m actually still in the process of giving interviews, so I’ll update this section as I get more elements.

Television
NBC 10 Television Report – Watch
MyPhl17 Television Report – Watch
!10 Show Television Talk Show – Watch
6ABC Television Report - Watch
FOX29 Television Report - Watch
CityTV – Watch
MSN’s ConnectedLife - Watch

E3
Nintendo displays my footage at E3 - Watch

Radio
BBC Radio One – News Beat – Listen
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Asian Network
CBS Radio WCBS NYC- Listen
CBS Radio KMOX St. Louis
FreeFM WYSP – Listen
B101 Philadelphia
Q102 Philadelphia
Opie and Anthony (explicit) - Listen
105.7 Salt Lake City
WZZEE-FM Madison
WKQI - Detroit
New Zealand Radio

Podcasts
PodTech.net - Podcast
unclegamer.com - Podcast

Print
TIME - Year in Review - View
The New York Times - View
ESPN - Sweat Spot
The Philadelphia Inquirer - View
South Philadelphia Review - View
The Washington Post - View
The LA Times
NY Daily News – View
Sydney Morning Herald
Metro UK
The Straits Times (Singapore)
VCD Magazine - View

Websites
CNN – View
FoxNews – View
Yahoo! News – View
Yahoo! News UK – View
MSN - View
Netscape – View
Digg.com – View
TIME Magazine - View
LA Times - View
Associated Content - View
Good Morning Silicon Valley - View
The Inquirer - View
Philadelphia Weekly - View
Philadelphia Will Do - View
The Washington Post – View
NBC 10 Health Watch – View
Newsday - View
MetroUK – View
NY Times - View
New York Times (printed version online) - View
Engadget.com – View
C-NET News – View
RegHardware - View
IGN – View
The Journal Gazzette - View
GameSpot – View
GamerSquad - View
Games Radar - View
BBC Radio One – View
New Zealand Stuff – View
Sydney Morning Herald – View
San Mateo County Times - View
MarketingVOX - View
Afterdawn - View
Red Herring - View
eMediaWire - View
India Times – View

I know there’s hundreds of other sites, thanks to everyone who covered the story!

Traineo.com
I used Traineo.com towards the end of my Wii Sports Experiment (I wish I used them the whole time…) and I was approached by Traineo after they saw that I used their site during my experiment. I was asked to team up with them to create Wii specific training tools on Traineo.com. I loved Traineo as a site and was honored to be asked to help out as much as possible. The Wii Workout and competition section of their site is set to launch this Thursday (Feb. 1st), so make sure to check back here for further info in the coming days. For now, you can still sign-up to Traineo and join the Wii group on there.

Literary Agency
After my story broke on local news, The Philadelphia Inquirer and on TV during the NBC 10 O’clock news I received an email from, Jeremy Katz, who was excited about my project and wanted to develop a book with me.

Jeremy was an editor for 15 years, first at St. Martin’s Press, where he published the #1 New York Times Bestseller THE ARTHRITIS CURE. He then joined Putnam, publishing breakout health, fitness, and narrative titles. Katz was recruited by Rodale to lead its nascent Men’s Health and Sports Book Group, publishing more than 30 titles a year and helping to define the modern notion of men’s publishing. While there, he published two New York Times Bestsellers: PETE ROSE: MY PRISION WITHOUT BARS (#1) and million-copy franchise THE ABS DIET.

Jeremy is now with Sanford. J. Greenburger Associates. Its prestigious reputation, built representing such icons as Kafka and Sartre, provides the foundation for the dynamic and independent spirit of the agency today. With over two dozen New York Times bestsellers in two decades, SJGA provides representation to contemporary authors including Nelson DeMille and Dan Brown.

The Media Trail
It’s funny to see your story move through the media circuit. It has taken me from Philadelphia to San Francisco to London to Australia to Singapore. I tried to track how my story moved around, below is a few of the companies that have featured the story and it shows who picked it up next. It’s actually still in motion, I hope I can make a new one where it ends with “Nintendo of America”

FAQS:

Have you heard from Nintendo?
Unfortunately, no. But, I have had indirect contact with them. Traineo.com has been in touch with Nintendo’s PR team and they are very excited to work with Traineo.com. If you missed it above, I’ve teamed up with Traineo.com to create a competition / workout area on their site focusing on the Wii. The Wii Sports Experiment is going to be used as their “case study/poster boy”.

Do you still keep up the 30 minutes a day?
I’ve actually been consumed by interviews and work and have not kept up the 30 minutes everyday. I still play fairly often and I just weighed myself last night and I’m one ounce less than my final weight, so I’ve been maintaining my weight at the very least. I will most likely start a more controlled workout with a real trainer to gather “scientific” data for the book I’m working on (see above).

Inbox, RE: Wii Sports Experiment:

“On behalf of all the blokes around the world, we want to thank you for giving us an excuse to play video games to our wives and girlfriends, cheers” - New Zealand Radio DJ

“Congratulations on your success. This is really a great story” - Saif

“Hi Wii champ! I was very amazed about the results of your totally cool experiment!” - Debby

“I knew that Wii sports gave you a workout, but I never thought it could actually be used as an exercise routine. I’m going to start playing Wii Sports for a half-hour a day.” - Logan

“Great job on the “Wii Diet”, It’s very impressive what you’ve done.” - Lisette

“I’m from London, UK, but i was just looking on the news when your story popped up. I want to congratulate you on your achievement and to say that i think more people should do what you have done.” - Kate

“Hey man, just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your site.” - Ethan

“Wow! I have seen the commercials on this nintendo and thought it was a new neat and cool idea. I’m a mother of three and I’m totally against the kids sitting around playing video games (seeing as the big thing is kids of america are getting fat and lazy). Now I beleive i’m sold and will buy my children this (me and my husband too) and i will no longer have to hear “can i have a nintendo all my freinds have one�?, because we will too and I won’t have to worry about my family and if they are being active because we will be! Thanks.” - Beth

“First of all, nice experiment you’ve done right there. I am going to start exercising too with wii sports everyday!” - Martain

“It is inspirational .. We all need something and you found yours! Good for you!” - Giovanina

“Awesome job with the contest and good job with the site, it is now added in my favorites!” - Scott

So I seem to be over halfway through this game. Its kind of hard to say. I had planed on waiting until I was done the whole way through before writing a review but the more I played the more I realized you guys need to be warned. Don’t run out and buy this game. It hasn’t really picked up since I first wrote about it.

When I first took a look at it, it seemed promising enough. Cool controls and a great visual style, and the plot promised to be the best part right? Wrong. At first you see that the guy is an ex cop, fired or quit for something to do with his old partner being shot. Now hes stuck in some seedy dive of a hotel with a chip the size of Nebraska on his shoulder. Well… it’s all downhill from there. The music to be honest sounds like it belongs in a hentai dating sim, its LAME. And the ex-cop with an attitude, what’s he do now? Well hes a door to door salesman! And he likes asking people lots and LOTS of questions and until he knows EVERYTHING about their personal lives. I figured you would get to know the characters and then in the middle of the night someone would get killed and you have to solve it before some deadline is up. Nope, just the opposite. You CAN’T LEAVE until you have harassed every single person staying at that hotel and know their life story. Theres a pompous writer who loves to use big words, a little girl who misses her mommy and her jackass dad, an old woman who feels guilty for leaving her son to go join the circus or something. These guys really are a sideshow, but not in a fun way.

This game drags ON and ON as you run around fetching useless items around the hotel and asking the same questions to everyone until you get the right answer. Theres no action, no suspense, no excitement. I really don’t understand why this game is rated Teen. Probably because of the ONE gunshot in the opening scene. This game makes excellent use of the stylus but the puzzles are beyond simple and most of the character’s stories are mundane and the whole game itself is on railroad tracks so you can’t even choose who you want to question first or second, though the Hotel is big enough that you can be clueless as to what to do next. Most of the time when that’s the case simply walk around until you bump into someone and then initiate dialogue to watch your character question them for 15 minutes. This game is a total disappointment thus far. I give it a 3 out of 5. I was close to giving it a 2.5 but I think it has enough redeeming qualities to give it a full 3 tacos.

My Co-Worker, Pat Grubb, modeled this flawless Wiimote using 3D Studio Max 8, we’re going to be using it for various projects, but in the spirit of giving, we’re letting everyone download the .max file for free.

Download Wiimote 3D Studio Max file

Before the Wiinja mod chip even gets a chance to really be confirmed as legit a new mod chip arrives on the scene. Maxconsole.net reports that yesterday (Jan. 29th) they received a new Wii mod chip called the Cyclowiz.

Maxconsole hasn’t reviewed the chip yet but reports that it is to support these features:

-Quicksolder (no wires required)
- Plays Wii Backups
- Plays GC Backups
- Play GC Homebrew
- Play GC Imports (swap needed)
- Built-in Audiofix (GC games using streaming are working flawlessly, no patch needed)
- DVD-R / DVD+R support
- Optional chip disable wire
- Stealth even when chip is enabled
- Multi-purpose LED

Source:
maxconsole.net

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For all of us who feel the virtual console is a bit over priced, try paying thousands (bid is at $29,700 as I write this post) for the complete collection of NES games along with the NES system and all accessories.

The Ebay auction is offering all 670 Region 1, licensed NES cartridges. While this might seem a bit extreme, apparently quite a few people are interested since the auction has over 100 bids and has reached nearly $30,000 with 4 days to go (as of Jan. 30th).

Hmmm…. New car or 670 NES games? What’s a fanboy to do?

Check out the auction:

The Ebay Auction

Source:

Joysiq

UPDATE: Over the first few days of the auction the price of the game collection skyrocketed to over $100,000 the suddenly plummeted down to $20,000. Now the auction has completely disappeared? No clue on what happened.

Sony may report third-quarter profit fell 50 percent after its flagship PlayStation 3 lost market share to Nintendo’s Wii.The results may highlight Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer’s failure to fend off Nintendo, whose $250 Wii console outsells the PlayStation 3 by two-to-one.

Shares of Sony have risen 9.6 percent in the past six months, trailing the 61 percent gain by Nintendo and Xbox 360-maker Microsoft Corp.’s 26 percent increase. Today, Sony’s stock fell 1.2 percent to close at 5,730 yen in Tokyo.

Nintendo, last week, reported profit in its latest quarter jumped 40 percent fueled by demand for Wii consoles and portable DS game players.

In the U.S., Nintendo sold 1.1 million consoles in November and December, almost double the PlayStation 3 units shipped during the period, according to researcher NPD Group. In Japan, Nintendo sold 989,118 Wii units last year, more than double PlayStation 3 sales, according to researcher Enterbrain Inc.

Thanks for the heads up William.

Source

SEGA has just announced that Secret Rings will be released Feb. 20 for the Wii.