LiquidIce's Nintendo Wii Hacks

Wii 4.3u Bootloader Installation Tutorial

2012-01-21T12:52:00.000-06:00

This is the 3rd step to Soft-modding your Wii which covers: restoring the Trucha bug which is needed to install USB loaders and other hacks on your Wii.

What can you do with a Softmod Wii?

2012-01-20T12:49:00.000-06:00

This video shows what is possible with Wii softmods and homebrew wii software.

Wii Softmod - Somtmodding your Wii for Homebrew

2012-01-19T12:47:00.000-06:00

This video shows you how to install the homebrew channel, priiloader, bootmii, and more.

Smarthome Technology and the Wii

2012-01-17T12:45:00.001-06:00

Guy uses Control 4 and Nintendo Wii controllers to control his house!

Wii Homebrew Channel Instructions

2012-01-16T12:42:00.000-06:00

Watch this video to find out how to fix your Wii so it can play homebrew

Wii Homebrew Installer Guide

2012-01-15T18:04:00.001-06:00

Because you haven’t experienced the concept of Wii Homebrew and then the awesome online flash games Im almost certainly going to need to fill you in on what they are, and all the latest qualities your Wii might well have in a matter of moments With Homebrew.

What is Wii Homebrew?

It's games, programs, applications which have been having to do with gamers for gamers through either writing code (game) from the beginning or having an existing system and modifying it with either be better or add latest features to one game.

The cool thing is the fact that Wii Homebrew is not necessarily certified through Wii or Nintendo so that you can seriously install a multitude of games and applications...

But for this you will want to unlock your Wii!!!

In earlier times Wii Homebrew was started in 2007 as the console first made its debut you would need a Mod chip in your Wii which meant immediately voiding your Warranty so one can unlock your Wii to a world of Homebrew.

Now, thanks to team Twizzer, you no longer need to physically alter your system in any way. This means you also keep your Warranty.

Play emulators which are games that literally turn your Wii into any machine you desire coming from a usual NES which has a Super NES, Sega Genesis, Atari where ever you look you might do it…

The amount of do all of these emulators, homebrew games, applications is enormous!

The particular here though is that you simply are going to have to have the right files and a help guide to conveniently provide help unlock your Wii to Homebrew… In case you miss a single file or otherwise load some of the software you'll be able to brick your Wii system.

Instead of messing around and possibly breaking your console, you should just goto teh experts. the peopel who ahve done this hundreds of times and can take you by the hand to show you what to do. In order to do this done, you will need to read Myhomebreware.

Their guide is really phenomenal. They have a completely illustrated guide and follow along training videos this will have you up and running homebrew in less than 5 minutes.

click here to download the wii homebrew installer guide

step by step Wii USB Loader GX Tutorial and Instructions

2012-01-15T12:53:00.002-06:00

Shows ow to install USB loaders on Wii.

My Wii Hacks - Twlight

2012-01-15T12:42:00.000-06:00

Here is what you can do with twlight and the wii

HOW To Hack the Wii and Install Homebrew

2012-01-15T12:41:00.000-06:00

This video will teach you how to hack your Nintendo Wii. You wil be installing the Homebrew Wii Channel.

HOWTO: Unlock your Wii for Homebrew

2011-01-03T20:25:00.000-06:00

Sponsored Post:

Discover The Powerful New Features Your Wii Could Have Within The Next Few Minutes By Unlocking Wii Homebrew on your console...

Play Homebrew Games and Applications

Play Classic Nintendo, N64 , Sega and More on Your Wii

And Turn Your Wii into a DVD Player All in Less Then 5 Minutes!

Without Ever Using A Modchip, Soldering, or Even Opening Up Your Nintendo Wii!

Compatibility:
MyHomeBreware is completely compatible with all Wii versions. They have two software to unlock your Wii, one being for all system versions 3.4 and prior and the other software was for the latest versions of the Wii menu including 4.0 and 4.1.++

E-book:
MyHomeBreware E-book was good , they actually spent some time crafting it for the average Joe! Just as they said it really was easy to follow along . All the pictures and detailed descriptions to unlocking the Wii where spot on!

You seriously don't need any experience fixing or modding your Wii, every single step was drawn out for you so it was a breeze...+++

Video Tutorials:
There follow along video tutorials are really all you need. The High def videos in the members area where very helpful because you could unlock your Wii at your own pace like I did.

They have 5 video tutorials, all showing you how to do different things after your Wii is unlocked.

The unlocking videos go through the process of choosing what software to download depending on what Wii Menu version you have whether it be a 3.4 or 4.1 up until you completely unlock your Wii.

Application Installation Tutorials:
These tutorials really set MyHomeBreware apart from every single guide out there. None of the other guides show you how to download the free app's on the internet and install them on your Wii...

But MyHomeBreware does, They even show you where to download the emulators and homebrew games as a free bonus...

Money Back Guarantee:
Like if it couldn't get any better, MyHomeBreware has a 100% iron clad money back guarantee, if you don't like what you see or what your wii is now capable of doing, they will give you 100% of your money back no questions asked!

Ooh and can't forget they even let you keep the free bonuses which include the latest 2009 Wii Cheats guide and a free guide that shows you how to backup your Wii games and play them!

Bottom line is this is the best Wii unlocking guide on the internet hands down.
Download it Here

Nintendo Wii Homebrew Unlock Guide

2011-01-02T13:05:00.000-06:00

If you haven’t experienced the world of Wii Homebrew and the awesome free Games I’m going to fill you in on what it is, and all the new features your Wii could have within just minutes With Homebrew.

What is Wii Homebrew?

It games, programs, applications that have been created by gamers for gamers through either writing code (game) from scratch or using an existing platform and modifying it to either be better or add new features to a game.

The cool thing is that Wii Homebrew is not licensed through Wii or Nintendo so you can seriously download thousands upon thousands of games and applications...
But for this you will need to unlock your Wii!!!

In earlier days of the Wii Homebrew 2007 when the console first made its debut you would need to Mod chip your Wii which meant instantly voiding your Warranty in order to unlock your Wii to the world of Homebrew.

Now, thanks to team Twizzer for creating the software files, you no longer need to physically alter you console in any way which also means you get to keep your Warranty.

A great thing about unlocking your Wii is with software compatible with the Homebrew you can easily backup all of your current Nintendo Wii games to regular old DVD’s. Of course it has to be a blank DVD but that’s ok. So now you can put your original gamers in a safe place and play from the backed up games you just burned.

Play emulators which are games that literally turn your Wii into any machine you want from a regular NES to a Super NES, Sega Genesis, Atari you name it you could do it…
How much do all these emulators, homebrew games, applications cost?

Nothing at all they are completely free for anyone to download and it’s completely legal in every way…

The trick here though is that you will have to find the proper files and a guide to easily help you unlock your Wii to Homebrew… If you happen to miss a single file or not load one of the software you can easily brick your Wii console.

So if you’re like me and want to never have to buy a Wii game ever again because of a scratch, and want to play Homebrew games that you can easily get for free then you need to check out Myhomebreware.

Their guide is truly phenomenal; they have a fully illustrated guide and follow along video tutorials that will have you running homebrew in under 5 minutes.

Check it out. click here!

Fix Wii Error Code 85020, 80510, 81010

2011-01-01T13:00:00.002-06:00

The Wii Error Codes 85020, 80510, 81010 messages are typically caused by an unstable network connection. The issue could be with your connection environment, your friend's connection environment, or a temporary issue with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
The servers may be trying to handle an unusually high amount of traffic (especially if you are trying to play online with a recently-released or popular game, or if there is a new Wii system update). Please retry your connection later
If you have waited a few hours and are still experiencing issues, try the following:

How are you connecting online? The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is only compatible with Cable, DSL, and Fiber-optic internet connections. If you are connecting via Satellite, EV-DO (cellular), Dial-up, or other types of connections, then you should try to use an alternate type of connection. Contact your Internet Service Provider if you are not sure what type of internet connection you have.
The error may be caused by a basic setting on the router that needs to be adjusted (such as the channel).
Some games may need certain settings on your router enabled or disabled to allow a successful connection with other players. This can include UDP and firewall settings that will vary from router to router.

Fixing Wii Problems

2010-12-30T13:20:00.000-06:00

Does your Wii have any of the following problems?

* Your Wii console is not reading the discs.
* Your screen froze in the menu or during the game.
* Your console won't accept discs or ejects them immediately.
* Your Wii remotes are not working properly or not at all.
* You have an error message that won't go away.

I know how frustrating this can be. It can take all the fun away from a video game console, can't it?

Well, I decided I could either complain or do something about it. And I did. No more frozen screens, broken down remotes or error messages for me.

And you can forget about them too

You see, I have put together a Nintendo Wii Fix Guide that will solve all your Wii hardware problems.

This guide will take you step by step through the process of fixing your Nintendo Wii console yourself

I want anyone to be able to fix their Nintendo Wii, so the guide doesn't include any heavy technical terminology. It doesn't require any expensive or extremely specialized equipment either.

Moreover, you can fix your friends' Wii consoles and impress (or charge) them.

Sounds cool, huh? Get more information at:

http://purelyi.wiifix.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=wiihacks

Is your broken down Wii console gathering dust because your guarantee has expired or because you don't feel like going through the hassle it takes to prepare it to send it to Nintendo and wait for it to come back?

You're right; it's impractical, expensive or time consuming. Don't lose valuable play time and get the Nintendo Wii Fix Guide today

If you can play with your Wii console, you can fix it. Get it now at:

http://purelyi.wiifix.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=wiihacks

Fix Wii Disc Error \ Unable to Read Disc

2010-12-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

There are some common reasons why we see Wii disc read error. The specific error message it gives is: "Unable to read the disc" or "Disc could not be read".

Most common causes are overheating. It causes some of the internal connectors to fail and prevent the consolve from reading the disc. It’s a good idea to replace the disk when you experience Wii disc read error.

Many people still prefer to repair it through a Nintendo authorized agent. But most of the time it’s time consuming and expensive. Like other wii errors (which can be solved easily by the user itself), Wii disc read error is little bit more complex.

One thing you can try on your own is to clean the Wii's DVD drive with the official Nintendo Wii cleaning kit:
http://store.nintendo.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=146718¤cy=USD&catalogId=10001&tranId=0&lastAction=setCurr&storeId=10001&languageId=-1&categoryId=62707&ddkey

Did this help fix your Wii disc read error? Post a comment below!

AirDeck Wii Theremin and DJ Scratch App

2010-01-18T22:30:00.001-06:00

Joel wrote in:

I just found your blog... pretty cool stuff! I just wrapped up work on my Undergrad Project and thought I would share it as it may be of interest to you and your readers. It is a Wiimote theremin synth and DJ app. It uses Infrared LED gloves I made to control pitch and volume and manipulate samples. You can check it out here:

http://mojosdojo.com/?p=351

Wii Motion Plus

2009-06-24T06:44:00.002-06:00

Wii motion plus, the highly anticipated addition that was announced at Nintendo’s E3 2008 and featured in their 2009 E3 conference. What Wii motion plus offers is a more 1 to 1 control over what you are doing with the Wiimote, what this means is all the games that have had huge draw backs to the fact the controller has issues being picked up by its very own sensor sometimes, this improves that connection capability. You can currently get Wii Motion plus with EA’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Grand Slam Tennis, and you can also purchase it seperately.

Source:
http://complexgamer.com/wii-motion-plus

Load Games from HD with Wii 4.0 menu Hack

2009-06-16T06:42:00.001-06:00

Last week Lifehacker shared a great hack to let you back up and play your Wii games from an external hard drive. That hack has been made easier by eliminating the need for a Wii downgrade.

Why would you want to play your games off a hard disk? Wii games cost anywhere from $20-50, while an external hard drive that can hold all your Wii games—assuming you don't already have one on hand—costs $100 or less. Backing up your games to an external hard drive attached to your Wii costs less than the replacing two premium games, and has the added benefit of loading your games radically faster.

Read full article here:
http://lifehacker.com/5280957/load-your-wii-games-from-a-hard-disk-part-ii

Wii-mote Skins

2009-06-15T07:33:00.001-06:00

The year 2009 is full of new innovations from Nintendo Wii and its team. We are experiencing a new gaming experience thanks to the wonderful work of the staff. The massive market of amazing new Nintendo Wii games and with multi player mode give us the opportunity to play with our family or friends.

That is why I like havin different Wii remotes, different colors and now the Wii remote skins give me that occasion. You have many different colorful products that will satisfy your needs no mater if you are a women or man, you have colors from pink to green or blue and many others. Make your game play more colorful with the beautiful covers for your Wii remote.

More info:
http://www.squidoo.com/wiiremoteskins

Vitality Sensor info

2009-06-10T10:25:00.001-06:00

At this year's E3 Expo, Nintendo revealed a new peripheral for Wii called the Vitality Sensor. This little gizmo fits on the end of your index finger and can measure certain stats about your body's state. Now some extra info has come out describing how it all works.

The Guardian newspaper says this device uses a small light sensor to look at your blood flow and calculate things like how hard you're breathing.

Source:
http://www.wiisworld.com/wii-news/wii-vitality-sensor-details.html

Nintendo DSi Hacking

2009-03-23T03:12:00.001-06:00

Bushing from Hackmii has started a wiki to collect information related to to hacking the NDSi. It is released April 3rd in Europe and April 5th in the States. Stay tuned for more info! Or bookmark this wiki: http://dsibrew.org/wiki/Main_Page

Google Earth Homebrew on Wii

2009-03-23T02:57:00.004-06:00

Check out Paulwagener's Google Earth app running on the Wii

Read More from the developer or download it at TehSkeen

Wii Hacking Message Board

2008-12-28T20:41:00.004-06:00

While not related to this site in any way, it's been a while since i've posted and thought you might like to see this link.

http://www.wiihacks.com/forum.php

Here you can talk with other wii hackers about all sorts of wii related things. We don't run the forum, but it looks very active, so give it a try.

Gamecube and Classic controllers banned in US

2008-07-27T06:17:00.001-06:00

Anascape, a texas based company, sued Nintendo for violating a patent of Anascape's controllers. Nintendo lost the lawsuit. Instead of paying the $21 Million bond, Nintendo has decided to take all the controllers off the shelves.

This isn't the first time Nintendo has been sued, but none have ended like this. As of July 23rd, no more Gamecube or Wii Classic controllers will be sold in the US.... bummer.

How will we play oldschool wii shop titles now?

[news via wiiusers.net]

Wii Homebrew Channel Launched

2008-07-13T06:56:00.001-06:00

The Homebrew Channel is a homebrew application loader by Team Twiizers which allows users to load homebrew applications without having to run the Twilight Hack every time. Once installed, users can access the channel from the Wii Menu just like any other Wii channel. It can launch homebrew applications in dol or elf -- either from an SD card, or via TCP or USB Gecko using Wiiload. It is also capable of downloading online updates for itself.

The Homebrew Channel can be downloaded from the official site:
http://hbc.hackmii.com/

Wiibrew chainloader and Twilight Hack

2008-02-24T22:32:00.003-06:00

Everything you need to know about the latest wii loader can be found on wii brew's wiki:
http://wiibrew.org/index.php?title=Twilight_Hack

The Twilight Hack works by employing a lengthly character name for the horse in the game ('Epona') in order to facilitate a stack smash. This gets triggered when talking to the man next to you when you start the savegame as he loads the name to use it in his dialog or upon entering the next zone when the game loads the horse for you to ride.

Nice work guys!
Homebrew is starting to trickle out. We have a wii mode MP3 player and a Wii SNES Emulator released recently. More to come soon, I'm sure...
All made possible by dumping ram. Kids, don't try this at home

Wii Hacked - First Homebrew Demo

2007-12-30T12:12:00.000-06:00

Even better than Hello World, the hackers at 24c3 have figured out how to run their own code on the Wii. By using what they call a 'tweaser' method, they were able to launch the Wii in Gamecube mode then trick the chips into dumping their contents. After rummaging through the dumps they were able to pull out the encryption keys and used a hole in Lego Star Wars cd to boot their own code. The app they demo in the video shows output coming from the Wii-Mote, proving that it is running in Wii mode and not in Gamecube mode.Previously all homebrew was done in GC mode where memory and hardware was limited. Now with access to the Wii mode, homebrew developers can begin to write apps that take advantage of all the hardware, including wiimote, Wifi, Bluetooth, etc.

There are no additional details on when the information will be released so others may write their own apps from the wii. The next step is to get libraries built or obtain an sdk so more apps can begin to get ported to the Wii. It sounds like lots of work still needs to be done before we will see any useful applications come from the Wii homebrew scene, but 2008 is going to be a good year for wii hackers! Stay tuned@!

Read more:

viaWiiNintendo.net

Interview with the hacker who cracked the Wii

--
UPDATE:

Additional Information from xiaNaix @ PSX-Scene:

* They got the wii keys, and we could use them without hacking our wii again.
* This hack requires a drive modchip to execute the code.
* There is not any tool to sign the code, but it’s coming soon.
* They are working to access to the SD thought EXI.
* There is not any stack homebrew for bluetooth
* A linux port for Wii will be released easily.

Head Tracking - VR using Wiimote

2007-12-30T12:10:00.000-06:00

Johnny Chung Lee demo's his Head Tracking Virtual Reality system using the Wiimote.

Watch the video:

Wii Browser SDK - Javascript API Supports 4 Wiimotes

2007-12-23T08:49:00.000-06:00

I came across this on Ajaxian. It looks like opera has opened up the Wii Internet Channel to developers. You can now use Javascript to poll data from all 4 wiimotes.

The Wii Remote data is accessed through the opera.wiiremote object. This object offers a single method opera.wiiremote.update(n) which is used to obtain the status of an individual Wii Remote. The method expects a single parameter; the Wii Remote number. The number is zero-based, so it starts at 0 for the first remote, and ends at 3 for the fourth remote. The method returns a KpadStatus object, which has several properties that give information about the remote. [source]

There is good info and examples here:
http://hullbreachonline.com/wii/sdk.html

Developers: If you create something using this new API, send me the link, and I will add it to the Wii Portal

Wii Maintenance Mode

2007-11-24T02:27:00.000-06:00

Has anyone figured out what this does yet?

Hello,

You may be already aware of this, but the Wii has a maintenance mode that can be accessed by pushing the + and - buttons and then pushing A at start up. I just got a reply from Nintendo about an Inquiry. Feel free to post it. Here is the message unedited:

Message(#6851-000631-3638\6313638)

Hello,

At this time, the “Maintenance Mode” you discovered has no functionality for consumers. If at some future point a consumer application for this mode is made available, it will be revealed on our website (www.nintendo.com).

Even though it appears—with the exception of the Wii Message Board—that everything functions normally in this mode, we do not recommend using it at this time.

Sincerely,
Nintendo of America Inc.

Wii-Mote Driver for OSX Leopard

2007-11-10T15:51:00.000-06:00

I don't have Leopard to try it out. Can anyone else answer his question?

Hi!

Just reading your page & curious to know if your app runs on Leopard?
http://wiihacks.blogspot.com/2006/11/wiimote-driver-for-osx-rvl-cnt-01.html

I have managed to connect the Wiimote as a 'remote control' in System Preferences, but as yet no additional control. Does your system allow for moving the mouse yet? I bought a battery-powered Sensor Bar, so ought to be good to go!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

-Guy

Homebrew Wii Blaster Mod

2007-10-10T20:06:00.000-06:00

Check out this video submitted by: susieq50510 of a guy who built his own gun housing for the wiimote:

Thanks John M. for sending this in!

Control music on your PC with the Wiimote

2007-08-24T19:01:00.001-06:00

This app allows users to use their Wiimote to control iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, and Napster.
It offers many functions, such as Play/Pause, Next/Prev track, Volume Up/Down. Any function can be mapped to any button. Plus the motion sensing is used. Shake the Wiimote to the right to go to Next Track.

Take a look and download the application here

Thanks Mike!

DVD Player For Wii Beta 1.0

2007-08-19T20:45:00.000-06:00

The Wii Scene may not be slowing down after all. Team Symbiote have released a BETA of their DVD player Application for Wii.

Instructions:
-Burn with clone CD
-Boot in modded wii with homebrew based mod programmed with YOASM 1.8

When menu comes up then the hit “z” to unmount, change disc to DVD movie and hit “start” to play.
More infor can be found at Nintendo-Scene and PSX-Scene Forums

Sad times for Wii modders - Wii Hacking State of the Union

2007-08-05T08:22:00.000-06:00

The pirates are doing what they do, as you can read about on many other news sites, but not much else has happened in the world of Wii Hacks, As you know, this site and it's affiliates do not condone or endorse piracy which is why I've been hesitant to post much on all of the wii modchips that have been released. If the modchips enabled some kind of Wii homebrew, it would be a different story, but it is clear that the main purpose of the Wii modchips being sold is to play copied games, something we will not stand behind. I still believe that you should be able to make a backup copy of the games you own for your own personal use, but it is becoming increasingly harder to do this, especially in the US and other counties that are enforcing their laws on circumventing copy protection to make backups.

It's a sad day to wake up and read things like this in regards to a Wii modder who's house was raided last week:
"I have NOTHING of any worth anymore, other than a computer monitor, and my car. Because of what happened I'm not allowed to see my girlfriend and our 4 month old daughter, and last night, I slept in my car and my girlfriend sent me a text message telling me it felt like someone was taking me away from her. They took my life away. I would like to formally thank Microsoft and Nintendo for cracking down on the little guy with a soldering iron in his garage, rather than going after the people that are responsible for the bootlegs being available." - Read the Full Story on how this guy was raided for installing modchips. And read more on how Nintendo is supporting these raids along with Team Xecuters response (giving up on modchips). And the comments by the Digg community.

So anyway, this why you haven't seen updates here lately. Homebrew on the wii (not gc mode) is still not possible and Nintendo has still not released any information on a homebrew sdk, or some way for a regular person to create some kind of content for the wii.

On the Gamecube side, there have been a few good releases such as GC Forth, a programming language for the Gamecube by Roger Levy. It's in alpha / beta stages now, and free, but soon will turn into a commercial product with documentation and demonstrations. Something to keep an eye on.

It still amazes me that Wii's are completely sold out everywhere around here, and that there still is not a game that supports some kind of internet multiplayer or community. It's almost coming to the 1 year anniversary of the Wii, and I'm still waiting for some good games. My Wii sits and waits, all of my Wii-motes except one with dead batteries. Waiting and hoping that some day there will be new fun and interesting things to do on it. (UPDATE: I take it back, I got Resident Evil 4 for the Wii and it's been a lot of fun)

Meanwhile your friend liquidice is hard at work hacking the iphone to do home control, play games, run ssh, and all sorts of neat tricks. Keeps me busy until something fun comes out for the Wii. Keep this page bookmarked, if anything happens with regards to Wii homebrew or some official homebrew developers kit from Nintendo it will be posted here.

Also, The wiimote articles here, are getting TONS of hits. In fact, this site is #1 in google when you search for 'wii hacks' or just about anything having to do with a wiimote. It's amazing, and I thank you all for your comments and support. I continue to update the Wii Portal with new Wii-friendly webpages. If you have a site you would like to see added to the wii portal, or you have news on a cool Wii hack that has not been posted here yet, find my email on the right column and, email it to me.

Datel Wii Drive Doctor - Retail USB Serial Tool

2007-05-28T18:38:00.000-06:00

http://uk.codejunkies.com/news_revie...3&i =9102&s=8

Quote:

The trouble with most games consoles, is you can't modify the game code when it's running. Sure, you can use tools such as Datel's own Action Replay game enhancers to input all sorts of cheats and enhancements, but there's no straightforward way for amateur programmers and techie tinkerers to get inside the game, investigating how it works and trying out modifications and tweaks you've programmed yourself. Thankfully, if you're a Wii owner Datel has come to the rescue with Drive Doctor, the ultimate aid for the hardcore tinkerer and amateur programmer. With Drive Doctor for your Nintendo Wii, you can gain a unique insight into the under-the-bonnet operation of your console, examining, analysing and altering the Wii drive's memory...

With Drive Doctor in place, you can connect your Wii to your PC using the supplied USB 2.0 cable. You can then review its innermost operations, watching your Wii software in action through Drive Doctor's PC application. You can even add data of your own, all from your PC. Drive Doctor’s memory and command views give you a unique insight into the innermost workings of your Wii’s drive memory, and even lets you make on-the-fly adjustments. You can read status, write data, send control commands, report the drive status and more. By injecting your own code into the data stream, you can create your own effects and experiment with modifying the program. It’s fun! And as the Wii home brew scene grows and prospers, the device will also come in handy for playing freely-downloadable software straight from your console.

Fitting Drive Doctor requires a little soldering, so make sure you have your precision soldering iron handy. Full fitting instructions are supplied. It’s a fairly simple task, requiring you to connect just five wires. After that, the unit just clips to the back of your console. It remains in place even when not in use - just unplug your USB cable and you can use your Wii in the usual way. It's styled to match the console, and completely unintrusive when not in use.

I have to hand it to Datel for bringing console modding to the mainstream. It will be great to be able to go into the local videogame store to buy all of this stuff instead of ordering it from shady internet sites.

Region Free Wii DVD Player for Wii Homebrewers

2007-05-28T18:29:00.000-06:00

WiiVision has posted about his upcoming app that will boot the wii into gamecube linux and allow it to play dvd movies.

Support currently includes:
- 4.7G DVD Media (-r, +r, +rw, and of course "originals")
- Region Free
- Multi-Language Subtitle Support

Controls:
Toggle menu: B
Play/Pause: Start
SlowMotion: A
Goto Disc Root: Y
Goto First Chapter: X
FF: R Trigger
RW: L Trigger
Next Chapter: C-Stick Right
Previous Chapter: C-Stick Left

DVD Menus Navigation: D-Pad
DVD Menus Select: Start

Eject the disc at anytime: L+R Trigger Combo

Great work so far! It's good to see the GC homebrew scene still brewing up releases.

Read More

WAB Determined to hack the Wii

2007-05-04T22:11:00.000-06:00

I've got to hand it to them, this is some pretty hardcore hacking going on at WAB and Team Infectus. The idea as it has been discussed is, you run the wii with probes attached to the memory. Then you apply an external power source and turn off the wii. Now everything that was in memory stays in memory and you can read it out and see if there is anything useful. Looks like they've got logic analyzers and their own homebrew circuits attached to try and figure out a way into this thing. God luck guys!

To follow their progress, check out the forum post here.

Wii NAND Dumped.., yup, it's encrypted

2007-05-02T19:56:00.000-06:00

Over the last few weeks, several groups have been dumping chips on the wii motherboard to see what they can find. After dumping one of the Wii's memory chips they realized that everything is encrypted and not very useful. They are not going to give up easily, now they are going after the RAM to see what data is stored in memory unencrypted.

The play-by-play can be found on websites such as WiiNewz Forums or TehSkeen, as well as OpenWii Forum.

WAB - Wii Hacking In Action:

Wii-mote Door Opener

2007-05-02T19:53:00.000-06:00

While not pracitcal, and definitely not secure, some clever engineers have hooked up a wiimote to their electronic lock, and can now open their door with the flick of the wiimote.

Check out their Video on YouTube:

The translation of the original site can be found here.

Lack of Wii Hacks

2007-04-17T20:48:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of Wii hacks, but the truth is, there is nothing new to report. The hype with the Wii seems to have died down a bit, and no new developments have been made in regards to executing arbitrary code on the Wii console. While I wait in hopes that someone will finally unlock this little white box, there an another little white box in my life now... The Apple TV. And this one is completely hackable

If you have any Wii related hacks that you would like to see featured on this site send an email to liquidice629 at gmail

Internet Channel No Longer in BETA

2007-04-15T06:34:00.000-06:00

The Internet Channel is out of beta, and a new download is available in the Shop Channel.

Nintendo and Opera has unleashed a new version of the beloved internet channel on the Nintendo Wii. It's new features include:
- Parental Control support
- Optional Internet content filter provided by Astaro (available soon)
- Improved start-up speed
- Clearer text when zoomed-in
- Improved Wii Remote navigation
- Improved scrolling and zooming
- Built-in search via Yahoo! or Google
- Option to hide Toolbar
- New cursor animations and operation sounds
- Ability to view page security information
- Option to delete cookies
- Built-in support manual
It sounds like the most useful feature is going to be the option to hide the toolbar. Finally we can watch fullscreen movies on the wii in the browser! I'm upset not to see usb/bluetooth keyboard support in this release, maybe next time? The parental features are useless because kids will find a way around them, but I guess Nintendo has to at least make an attempt.

UPDATE: The latest browser breaks some things like playing long flv video files. Developers are searching for workarounds. Check Pimpware.org and WiiCR.org for more info.

New Wii Accessory: Wii Helm

2007-04-01T06:48:00.000-06:00

ThinkGeek has the scoop on Nintendo's latest Wii Accessory, the Wii Helm.

Product Features
Helmet based Wii Controller housing allows effortless handsfree game play
Perfect for Wii sports and works with all your favorite Wii games*
Frees your hands for other important tasks like eating, scratching, beer drinking, petting your dog or cat, nose picking and unwrapping birthday gifts
4 frontal LEDs illuminate your surroundings while gaming in the basement at 3 am
Included Foot Pedals have all Wiimote Buttons, mapped to strategic toe areas
No danger of throwing Wiimote into TV with the WiiHelm's Saf-T-Lok technology
Includes: WiiHelm, Foot pedals, Cables, and Instruction Manual
Manufacturer Limited Warranty: 1 year

Setting up a Gamecube Development Workstation

2007-03-17T07:20:00.000-06:00

KIWIDOGGIE has posted a tutorial on how to set up a Gamecube Development Environment. It is for people just getting started with Gamecube Development, and is just the basics of installing the homebrew SDK.

Basically you need to download and install devkitPro and libOGC, the Gamecube library from sourceforge:
SourceForge: devkitPro

Once your up and running, and assuming you have a modchip or Action Replay/SD method of booting Gamecube homebrew, you will be able to compile your own gamecube applications.

The homepage for libOGC can be found here: http://tehwii.tehskeen.com/

You will also want to visit the tehskeen forums for additional information on Gamecube Homebrew.

Read the full Gamecube SDK tutorial here

or this version from tehskeen

Note: Wii Homebrew is still unavailable. Nobody has reported being able to launch unsigned code, however a few hackers have some ideas on how it can be done.

Datel releases Homebrew Launcher kit for Wii

2007-03-04T14:18:00.000-06:00

Looks like Datel is opening up the doors for homebrew on the Wii. This is very exciting news to the scene. While all of what you see is only able to launch homebrew in gamecube mode, it is still a great step in the right direction to bring homebrew to the mainstream. Where previously you needed to order strange products from questionable e-tailors, now you can just walk into your local ebgames to get the tools you need for homebrew on your wii or gamecube.

Here's what codejunkies posted on their website:

There's a wealth of really excellent home brew material out there for the GameCube, but how do you get it to run on your happening console? Our GameCube/Wii SD Media Launcher has the answer...

With GameCube/Wii SD Media Launcher, you can run all your home brew Cube software on an unmodified GameCube, or on a Nintendo Wii in GameCube Mode. All you need to do is download the program of your choice from one of the many web pages dedicated to amateur programming on the Cube (Google for 'GameCube home brew' to find dozens of sites). Drag and drop it onto the 1GB or 2GB SD card supplied with the Media Launcher, then plug it into your Wii or GameCube. Launch the application CD on your console and the home brew program is run from there. Easy!

Everything you need is in the box. The pack includes a software CD, 1GB or 2GB high-speed SD card, a USB SD card adapter and an SD media adapter to fit in your Cube's memory card slot.

This will be in stores very soon for about $50. For more information visit the official site codejunkies.

Browser Update Info

2007-03-03T01:50:00.000-06:00

Opera and Nintendo are planning the release for the final version of the browser for late March/early April. The browser is said to have the ability to do software updates, and there are rumors of keyboard support.

For more information and the full interview, go to play-nintendo.com

Hack your Mii files to get special Mii's

2007-03-03T01:33:00.000-06:00

David Hawley has posted lots of interesting observations about certain parts of .mii file that make special mii's with gold pants. Check it out here: http://www.davidhawley.co.uk/blog.aspx

Also if your intrested in Mii hacking you will want to check out Mii Editor.com and AJ's Mii Editor

All of this made possible by the hard work of wiidev and Mii Transfer and other open source wii developers around the world.

Open Source / DIY Wii Modchip

2007-02-12T12:20:00.000-06:00

TCNISO has announced their plans to release an open source / open architecture Wii Modchip. The chip, among other things, will allow you to unlock Gamecube Homebrew on your Wii.

The Wiip is going to be available for a mere $20 retail (and that includes shipping!) and will appear in their online shop around 2/27/07.

Also, the schematics, code, and software will be available so you can make one yourself for less than $10!

From their site:
"This mod works by utilizing a cheap and simple microcontroller that communicates with the serial port of the Wii's hybrid DVD drive and overrides certain parts of the media's data stream.

The most important part of this project, is that it is open source! In addition to releasing the Wiip chip, on this page you will soon be able to download the PCB schematics, Wiip firmware and documentation! We hope by creating this project, other users will make modifications to our code for newer updates in the future (if needed)."

Read more about the Wiip here

Wii Frontend

2007-02-12T09:22:00.000-06:00

This is a launcher app for the PC that looks like the Wii interface. It has the ability to launch other PC applications.

Features:
- fully customizable channels
- includes sounds and cursor
- launches all filetypes
- 16 channels and one extra button
- clock^^

Future versions of this software will include support for the wii-mote. I think this is really cool because you can have your wiimote synced to the pc, and at any time, pick it up, press the home button and this interface would load. then you press the game/app you want to play and go at it. I might try to integrate this with my Wii Home Control page as a new way to interface with it from my PC.

Find out more and get the file here

Source: WiiLi

Arbitrary Code Execution via WiiKey?

2007-02-03T08:42:00.000-06:00

As you may already know there are now 3 modchips out for the Wii. First it was Wiinja, then CycloWiz, and now WiiKey. Something caught my eye while I was looking over the specs for WiiKey this morning on Wii Newz...

# Fully upgradeable via DVD/disc (future proof, expect cool features to come)

Does this mean they've figured out a way to execute arbitrary code on the Wii or does it simply put the DVD drive into a special mode that passes the data on the DVD into the modchip?

UPDATE: The Update disc will likely be formatted for Gamecube and will launch in GC mode. The app will send commands to the chip to flash it with the updated code. Since the chip 'listens' and reacts to these commands, it also means Nintendo can possibly detect if you have a chip like this (WiiKey) installed in your console.

So to recap...Wii Homebrew is still not possible. Gamecube homebrew on the Wii IS possible via a modchip or through Action Replay/Freeloader. None of these chips get us any closer to Wii Linux

OSX Wii Media Conversion Tools

2007-02-01T19:32:00.000-06:00

There is finally a good solution for OSX users to convert their video content to a format playable on the Wii. Wii Transfer converts your MP3 files and videos to Wii compatible format. It can put them on an SD card or stream them through the Opera Browser.

Additional Features:

• Show album cover artwork in the music sharing interface
• Share MP3 music and pictures to your Wii over local network.
• Convert movies for playing in Wii's Photo Channel.
• Copy movies to SD card automatically if connected.
• Browse and convert iTunes video podcasts from within Wii Transfer.
• AppleScript support for automated conversions.
• Backup saved game files to your Mac automatically.

Download Wii Transfer here

Mii Editors

2007-01-28T13:20:00.000-06:00

The first computer based Mii editors have been released. One is on online flash based editor, while the other one is a Windows application. These editor programs will allow you to edit Mii's from binary files on your computer. Then you can use an application such as MiiTransfer or MiiMegaMall to copy those Mii's to your Wii.

AJ's Mii Editor for Windows

Flash Based Mii Editor

Both of these tools are in their beta/alpha stages, so this is for testing purposes only. For more information on the Mii file structure check out the WiiBrew Wiki.

Wii Bot - a sword-wielding, tennis-playing, WiiMote-controlled robot

2007-01-27T10:39:00.000-06:00

OK, ok, they've beat me. My wii-mote controlled smarthome is cool, but this wii-more controlled robot arm is freaking sick!

Two guys wrote some addon software for glovepie that allows them to record gestures. By performing those gestures with the wiimote, it activates their robotic arm to start a maneuver. They strapped a sword and a tennis racket to it's hand and took a video of it swinging the sword and hitting tennis balls. Check out the video:

Read more at their website: usmechatronics.com

Wii Modchip announced: Wiinja

2007-01-27T10:11:00.000-06:00

I don't know if it's real, and I don't plan on getting one, but word on the street is that a Wii modchip has been released. It's main purpose is to play copied games.. or 'backups' if you will.

If it opens the doors to homebrew (before Nintendo does officially) then i'm excited, but otherwise it's only good for the thieves or for people who want to make a backup copy of their game disc, and play off that (keeping the original disc safely stored away in it's case)

Watch: A video of this new device in action

Nintendo to allow Homebrew Game Development

2007-01-26T10:07:00.000-06:00

CVG has posted an article with some exciting news about Wii Homebrew Game Development. It sounds like Nintendo might allow independent game creators to work on Wii games after all...

"Nintendo has developed a programming system that will allow small independent developers to make games for Wii download service."

"We cannot confirm at this time in what format the new content will be delivered, but in the future there will be original games available for download through the Wii Shop."

For those of you who don't know, Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, spoke of such a development tool at various games events last year, allowing low-cost game production for Wii. Anyone who got hooked on Geometry Wars on 360 knows how exciting this prospect is.

It's currently unknown when the proposed original game content will be made available to download, although it is unlikely that they'll be delivered through the Virtual Console.

Source: CVG

Wii DVD Tool - Firmware read/write

2007-01-25T14:08:00.000-06:00

Wii Scene Newz is reporting that a tool has been released that will allow you to read and write to the Wii's DVD drive (it's memory area which contains the DVD drive firmware) via a serial port on a linux computer.

This opens up the possibility of replacing the firmware in the Wii's DVD drive which could potentially open another way of getting homebrew to run on the Wii.

Nobody yet knows how far they have taken this already, this tool is simply a tease of what's to come. Source code has not yet been released.

Wiimote Laser Tag

2007-01-24T14:00:00.000-06:00

Carl Kenner, inspired by another member's idea on the WiiLi forums has posted the first version of a Laser Tag script for Glovepie.

A bluetooth enabled XP computer, 2 wii motes, and a wearable sensor allow you to play 'laser tag' with a friend using wii motes as your guns.

Get the code here

Wii Friendly Search Engine

2007-01-23T13:49:00.000-06:00

Drew writes in:

We've just released a "Wii Friendly" version of the Clusty search
engine that is a complete redesign of Clusty from the ground up:

http://wii.clusty.com

I think this may be the first search engine that is completely
optimized for the Wii with a Wii look 'n feel, large text, automatic
search submit, and nice rollover effects to make it easier to navigate
the clusters and search results.

Links to this search engine have been placed on the Wii Portal

Wii Laptop Mod - Portable Wii Console

2007-01-21T13:33:00.000-06:00

Engadget has posted pics of a beautiful Wii Mod by Ben Heckendom. This is by far the coolest Wii mod yet!

This fellow, converted his Wii into a laptop. Now his wii is portable and he can take it on the go.

You can watch a video of this thing in action here

Ben says he will be releasing tutorials on how you can build your own Wii Laptop soon.

[via Engadget]

Wii Flash Game Demonstration Video

2007-01-18T20:54:00.000-06:00

WiiCade has put together a great video demonstration of Wii Compatible Flash games available on their website. Check it out:

Mii Mega-Mall 2.0

2007-01-17T22:15:00.000-06:00

SWiitPii really took the Mii sharing idea to the next level. He has just released Mii Mega Mall 2.0. He writes:
"One thing almost every Nintendo Wii owner has in common is an overwhelming attraction to Mii characters. Mii sharing is huge, but the mechanism that Nintendo has provided for exchanging Mii is clunky and slow. That's where we come in. Utilizing the brilliant MiiTransfer technology, we have built the first and only integrated solution to Mii sharing. That solution is the Mii Mega-Mall."

This software allows you to easily transfer Mii's from the internet to your WiiMote (using your computer's bluetooth adapter) to the Wii Console. The software taps into all of the Major Mii downloading websites to being you the latest and greatest Celebrity Mii's and other user submitted Mii characters.

Also, I have heard that progress is being made on figuring out what each bit of a .Mii file means, and how to manipulate the features of the mii by modifying the file. I suspect soon we will see a Mii creator software or API that can generate .mii files dynamically. While this many not be entirely useful to the average user, it will be great for SWiitPii and other website operators such as MiiPlaza and WiiModWii Transfer Station to be able to include an actual image of what the Mii looks like next to each listing.

Calm before the storm?

2007-01-16T20:19:00.000-06:00

Not much news to report on wii hacks lately. We're still eagerly awaiting the next major breakthrough. Meanwhile, if you want a good game check out Wario Smooth Moves. I just got it today and it's a lot of fun!

Also, don't forget to bookmark the Wii Portal in your Wii's Web Browser:
http://team-dsx.net/wii/portal

Wii Internet Music Players

2007-01-11T00:52:00.001-06:00

WiiHear.com

Your Wii can now tune and and listen to streaming internet radio stations!
Check it out on your Wii Browser.

FineTune.com/wii

finetune is a free online music player run by survivors of the original Napster, Gigabeat, and Listen.com. They have developed a special wii player for their service, and it looks great on the tv!

Restart the Opera Browser

2007-01-09T12:35:00.000-06:00

If you navigate your Wii Browser to this image, it will restart Opera:

http://img1.imagefuse.com/anon/11683629302.jpg

The bottom bar goes away, a grey screen appears then it reloads the bar and jumps back to the homepage

Let the fun begin! Thanks to ThE_OnE for pointing this out.

WARNING:
Please be aware that if what I'm reading is true it is only a matter of time before someone tries to use this for malicious purposes. There are bad people in the world who would get their jollies by breaking people's consoles with bad code. Please be advised that you take sole responsibility for your actions if you decide to enter one of these URLs into your Wii Browser.

I will do my best to filter the good from the bad, but I do not run the servers these images are hosted on and have no control over what people put there.

Lastly, it should be noted that all of this is being done for Homebrew purposes. There are legions of developers who would like to develop software for the Nintendo Wii, but without a big rich video game company to back you it is extremely hard to get an official developers kit. If you are attempting to find information about hacking your Wii for the sole purpose of ripping off Nintendo and their software development partners, please find another site.

Opera JPEG processing - Heap corruption vulnerabilities

2007-01-08T22:58:00.000-06:00

Another possible way to access the Wii as emerged.

IDefense is reporting a new Opera JPEG exploit.

There is a lot of info on how this all works along with sample code here.

This is way beyond what I will pretend to understand about programming, so i'm just posting it here in case someone else might find it interesting.

UPDATE: Some forum posters have been trying out these codes but so far have not been able to get it to affect the Wii. If you have any success crashing the Wii with this method please report your results.

Opera Vulnerability Discovered - Crash your Wii

2007-01-07T08:55:00.000-06:00

--This post if being updated throughout the day, if you are reading via RSS, it is recommended that you go to the actual URL of this post to get the most recent information. --

PS2-Scene is reporting a vulnerability in the Opera Browser. They have posted code which uses SVG to crash the Wii's Web Browser. This could lead to arbitrary code execution. The hackers are busy at work trying to make something useful out of this, while Opera is probably scrambling to issue a patch to fix the problem.

XiaNaix posted:

A flaw exists within Opera's Javascript SVG implementation. When processing a createSVGTransformFromMatrix request Opera does not properly validate the type of object passed to the function. Passing an incorrect object to this function can result in it using a pointer that is user controlled when it attempts to make the virtual function call.

Exploitation of this vulnerability would allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected host. The attacker would first need to construct a website containing the malicious JavaScript and trick the vulnerable user into visiting the site. This would trigger the vulnerability and allow the code to execute with the privileges of the local user.

This exploit could possibly be used to run code on the Wii!

Get more info and example code from here

I've also added this link to the Wii Portal Page, so if you already have that bookmarked, you can test out the 'Crash My Wii' link from there as well.

So to reiterate, they can get the Wii to crash. This has not yet opened up any way to run homebrew, but it's the hole most hackers have been waiting for. Will update later when more is known.

UPDATE 11:35AM
More information about this bug posted on iDefense. Seems like Opera has known about this one since November.

UPDATE 11:40AM
trapflag on IRC is looking at the registers to find ways to execute code:
http://paste.uni.cc/12615 (x86 opera)

UPDATE 11:45AM
pab_ has it crashing on Opera 9 PPC binary with debugger attached
Debugger Output

UPDATE 12:05PM
Opera's Response to this bug:

"Attackers can specially call the function createSVGTransformFromMatrix to have the browser execute code with the user's rights. The vendor has categorized both of the holes as merely "moderate". The firm argues that it is not easy to exploit the heap overflow consistently."

- http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/83279

Also, Opera claims they fixed this bug in Opera 9.10... but the Wii's version appears to be earlier than that.

An important thing to note is that if this works, it is also possible for dangerous things to happen to your Wii. Please use caution before you click on any unknown links, as someone may try to implement malicious code that breaks your Wii.

FreePlayPSP on digg writes:

I'm not sure how much is known about the Wii's architecture, so I'm not sure how viable it will be to run our own unsigned code through this. Not to mention that Opera seems to run in a sort of sandbox - I've Lastmeasured my Wii to the point that the browser was 100% unresponsive but the Home button still worked just fine. Haven't tested this out yet, though, so it's possible that this 'breaks' the sandbox.

Nice PoC, lbradeen and larholm. Question, though: is this an actual overflow, or just an out-of-memory glitch from trying to create an array with 0xFFFFFFFF members? I don't know much about how Opera handles memory in its Javascript handler, or if 0xFFFFFFFF means -1 or 4294967295 for Javascript in general. I assume that shoving this function into createSVGTransformFromMatrix simply bypasses some sort of memory limitation check. Is this really usable to run unsigned code, or just to crash the system?

--
Discuss this topic on the following forum posts:

- WiiNewz
- GBA Temp
- QJ.NET
- digg
- WiiLi
- WiiModWii

Or post your comments on this blog.

Customize your Wii and Controllers

2007-01-06T00:03:00.000-06:00

I was just checking out some of the links I have on this site and noticed DecalGirl has posted some new Wii skins. Here are a few of the ones I really liked:

I posted a review of the skin process a while ago. I'm really happy with my skin, and to this day it still looks great on my Wii.

In case you missed it here is my hands on review of the Nintendo Wii Skinning process:
--

I decided to try out these Nintendo Wii Skins from decalgirl to make sure that my visitors were not getting ripped off.

I have to say that I'm very impressed with the quality and the simplicity of applying a skin to my Wii.

I took pictures of the process, which reminded me of those things called 'Colorforms' that i used to play with when I was a kid. The decals come printed out on a sheet already precut to fit the wii perfectly. All of the notches lined up without a problem. The decal is sticky but not THAT sticky, meaning if you mess up, you can easily peel it off and start over.

The first time I tried to apply the big decal on the side I was left with a huge air bubble, so i took it completely off and started over. The second time around I applied the decal slowly making sure to press out all of the air bubbles as I applied it. If there are any additional air bubbles left after you install it you can easily press them out with your fingers. There is no smearing, so you will not ruin the decal by rubbing out the air bubbles with your finger.

I applied the pieces one by one to the Wii, then

did the same thing for the Wii-Mote. The wii-mote part was slightly harder to do because of the tiny holes for the LED's and slots for the speaker.

Since it's basically just a big sticker, you do not have to open your wii, or void the warantee to install these. No tools were necessary, just some stable hands and some time.

When all was said and done, the process took me about 20 minutes, and I'm extremely pleased with the results. So much in fact that I just placed another order with DecalGirl for skins as gifts for my friends/family who also have the Wii.

Order your Wii Skins Here.

Wii Sticks Physics Simulation

2007-01-03T18:42:00.000-06:00

On the WiiLi Forums, walaber , has posted about his Wii Sticks Demo Application. He writes:

I have been playing around with the Wii remote lately, and this is my first prototype combining Wii remote input + physics! It's a virtual version of a toy, where you flick a stick back and forth between other sticks.

created with the Ogre 3D rendering engine, and Newton Game Dynamics physics engine... Wii remote input via cWiiMote library.

Check out the video below:

Download the demo app from here

Automation with the Nintendo Wii and more

2007-01-02T21:50:00.000-06:00

Darkain, has taken the Wii automation idea to the next level and has released RMX Automation, a tool for seamless integration of hardware, software and user all in one tiny package.

What does all that mean?

RMX Automation (for windows) is a modular interface for user input and output devices, applications, etc. Starting with version 1.4 (20070101), RMX Automation includes a plugin for the Wii Remote.

Installation information can be found on the WiiLi Wiki

The homepage for RMX Automation can be found here:
http://wiki.darkain.com/wiki/Main_Page

I will be playing around with this software, to see if it might be able to integrate nicely into my Wii Controlled Smarthome. If anyone else gets something cool working with this app, let me know, I want to hear about it!

And you can download the files needed on the sourceforge homepage for RMX

Wii Remote Speaker Communication Cracked

2007-01-01T19:04:00.000-06:00

Carl Kenner is the man when it comes to the Wii Mote. Not only was the he the first person to have a working application for Windows that could read the Wii-Mote, but he did all of the programing with no wii-mote to test with.

Ever since that day he has been the driving force behind many wii-mote hacks featured on this site. His software, GlovePIE is the heart and soul of making the Wii Remote work in Windows, and several sites have started to spring up to host scripts for using the Wii-Mote with various different types of applications. He was one of the first to add Nunchuck support to his app, and his GlovePIE software can also handle multiple Wii-motes.

One of the last pieces of the Wii-Mote to be discovered is it's speaker. Up until now, nobody has been able to successfully communicate with the speaker to produce sounds. Carl made a post today to the WiiLi forums including a script that will bring the Wii Mote's speaker to life. Much of the initial work to find the codes to send to the wii-mote was done by Marcan, so a good chunk of the credit for this discovery should go to him.

Here is the GlovePIE script you will need to test out the Wii-Mote's Speaker from Windows:

// Carl Kenner's Wiimote Speaker Test script! Version 2
// A = start sound, B = stop sound
// Minus = decrease sample frequency
// Plus = increase sample frequency
// It takes a short time to start (due to delays built into Poke)

// Change the next line to set the rate at which sound data is sent
// BUT it must be low enough for the wiimote to respond to the B button
// it may depend on your PC speed. Must be at least 91 for freq 13.
pie.FrameRate = 120 Hz

if not var.initialized then
var.freq = 13 // Set sample rate = 3640 Hz (so computer can keep up)
var.volume = 0x40 // volume = 40 ??? Seems to be about max
debug = var.freq
var.initialized = true
end if

if var.On and (not Wiimote.One) and (not Wiimote.Two) then
// Report 18, send 20 bytes, square wave, 1/4 sample rate freq
WiimoteSend(1, 0x18, 20 shl 3, 0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33, 0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33,0xCC,0x33)
else if var.On and Wiimote.One then
// Report 18, send 20 bytes, square wave, 1/2 sample rate freq
WiimoteSend(1, 0x18, 20 shl 3, 0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3, 0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3,0xC3)
else if var.On and Wiimote.Two then
// Report 18, send 20 bytes, square wave, 1/8 sample rate freq
WiimoteSend(1, 0x18, 20 shl 3, 0xCC,0xCC,0x33,0x33,0xCC,0xCC,0x33,0x33,0xCC,0xCC, 0x33,0x33,0xCC,0xCC,0x33,0x33,0xCC,0xCC,0x33,0x33)
end if

if pressed(Wiimote.A) then
// Enable Speaker
Wiimote.Report14 = 0x04 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble)
// Mute Speaker
Wiimote.Report19 = 0x04 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble)
// Write 0x01 to register 0xa20009
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20009, 0x01)
// Write 0x08 to register 0xa20001
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20001, 0x08)
// Write 7-byte configuration to registers 0xa20001-0xa20008
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20001, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20002, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20003, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20004, var.freq)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20005, var.volume) // 40
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20006, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20007, 0x00)
// Write 0x01 to register 0xa20008
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20008, 0x01)
// Unmute speaker
Wiimote.Report19 = 0x00 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble)
var.On = true
end if

if pressed(Wiimote.B) then
var.On = false
Wiimote.Report19 = 0x04 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble) // Mute Speaker
Wiimote.Report14 = 0x00 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble) // Disable speaker
end if

if pressed(Wiimote.Plus) then
var.freq--
debug = var.freq
// Mute Speaker
Wiimote.Report19 = 0x04 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble)
// Write 0x01 to register 0xa20009
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20009, 0x01)
// Write 0x08 to register 0xa20001
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20001, 0x08)
// Write 7-byte configuration to registers 0xa20001-0xa20008
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20001, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20002, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20003, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20004, var.freq) // max volume?
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20005, var.volume)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20006, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20007, 0x00)
// Write 0x01 to register 0xa20008
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20008, 0x01)
// Unmute speaker
Wiimote.Report19 = 0x00 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble)
end if

if pressed(Wiimote.Minus) then
var.freq++
debug = var.freq
// Mute Speaker
Wiimote.Report19 = 0x04 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble)
// Write 0x01 to register 0xa20009
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20009, 0x01)
// Write 0x08 to register 0xa20001
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20001, 0x08)
// Write 7-byte configuration to registers 0xa20001-0xa20008
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20001, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20002, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20003, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20004, var.freq) // max volume?
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20005, var.volume)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20006, 0x00)
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20007, 0x00)
// Write 0x01 to register 0xa20008
WiimotePoke(1, 0x04a20008, 0x01)
// Unmute speaker
Wiimote.Report19 = 0x00 | Int(Wiimote.Rumble)
end if

This is a huge accomplishment and you can bet that soon enough the hackers will be streaming all kinds crappy 4 bit sounds to their wii-motes. Let the fun begin!!!
Once again Carl, great work!

Next up is integrating the Speaker functionality into the other Windows Wii-Mote apps, as well as the Linux and OSX wii-mote programs. Developers will want to check out the WiiLi wiki for information on how to initialize the wii-mote speaker and send sounds to it.

Source: WiiLi.org

UPDATE: My apologies, it was actually marcan who did most of the discovery to get the Wii-Mote speaker working, I've updated the post above to give the proper credit. Thanks Perrpf for pointing out the mistake. Sorry for the mix up.

Macromedia Flash code for Wiimote button events

2007-01-01T18:35:00.000-06:00

quasimondo, has posted some source code that allows you to register keypress events from the WiiMote in Flash applications inside the Wii Web Browser. He writes:

Now how does this work? Since all direct Javascript to Flash communication is either impossible or too slow I'm using an indirect method: I use the Stage.onResize event of one Flash file as a trigger and communication device. When a keypress is received by the Opera browser I scale the layer which contains a sender swf to a width that is equal to the detected key code. This triggers a resize event inside the sender swf which reads out its new width and sends that number via LocalConnection to the main swf. There it is processed by a Wiimote class which can then be similary used like a Key object.

Flash developers will want to download the source code here, and read quasimondo's site for more info.

Control your Computer From the Wii

2006-12-31T21:25:00.000-06:00

One of the members of WiiModWii.com's forums has posted a nice little howto on getting logmein's service to work on the wii. Logmein is a remote access application similar to VNC or MS Remote Desktop, but it works through a web browser.

This method requires a manual refresh (probably because the Wii is bad at processing progressive images, as I found out with the Axis IP Security Cameras), so it's not really seamless, but it can be useful if you want to access your computer from another room to change the MP3 playing, or to do a quick checkup on an app running on your main pc.

Step-by-Step instructions for using LogMeIn with the Wii can be found here

Nintendo GC / Wii Security Flaws

2006-12-29T10:50:00.000-06:00

tmbinc did a speech at a Video Game Console Conference the other day. The video is up on youtube and has some very interesting info.

Wii Media Center - Music Streaming Solutions

2006-12-28T11:41:00.000-06:00

This post will give you an overview of the many music and systems available through the Wii Web Browser.

So you may have heard about BrowseAmp which will allow you to browse and control Winamp from a wii compatible webpage. Well there is one step up from that called AjaxAMP

You will also be happy to know that the latest version of Winamp has streaming services built right in. Ben has written an article on how to use Winamp Streaming Services on the Wii

As discussed in a previous post. Orb Streaming Audio definitely works, some people have reported problems with certain video files. Likely that the problem is the Wii can not handle a large amount of data. The WiiCR needs to split video files into pieces and then generate a playlist to work around the problem.

If you are still having problems with ORB, you can also try this tip from one of our readers, David:

ORB streaming problems can be fixed by deleting a registry key. Here are the steps: - run regedit.exe - find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Orb Networks/Orb/OrbStreamer - File | Export (make a backup of this reg folder) - delete the key HQFLASH This modifies the flash encoding to use a lesser-quality which is compatible with Opera-Wii

I suspect the same Windows iTunes streaming tricks that work for PSP will work with the Wii as well, though not confirmed

OSX users, the first solution I found was this article to control iTunes from the Wii, but then MaxConsole pointed out that DOT.TUNES is also Wii compatible and it streams.

Wii Media Center X has software for both PC and Mac, but the software is still in it's Alpha stages and not quite ready for prime-time yet.

If you want to go through the trouble of installing apache, php, mysql, etc.. try one of the web server based solutions below..

You may also take a look at Jinzora which is a web based PHP/Apache/Mysql/Flash Music System. One of the founders, Ben is working on a Wii Compatible frontend skin (not released publicly yet) . There are several actual flash players that you can use with Jinzora and all come bundled with the installation. I've also used Jinzora to stream MP3's to my phone and it has been working great! Definitely check it out if you looking for a customizable PHP based music server platform.

Please post in the comments with your experiences, good or bad with any of the above programs, along with any specific settings you needed to change to get it working on the Wii. Also let me know if there are other programs that you have found to add to this list. Thanks!

WiiPress - Wii Plugin for Wordpress blogs

2006-12-27T20:57:00.000-06:00

Attention bloggers, this one is for you...

The WordPress Wii Edition Plugin is a plugin that automatically renders an optimized version of your blog when visitors come to your blog on a Nintendo Wii running the Opera browser. Wii’s are automatically detected, there is no configuration needed.

Why is this plugin useful?
Webpages on the Wii are hard to view on default zoom and on many pages (designed wider then 800 pixels) you will have to scroll from side to side. In addition, font sizes that work on a computer screen don’t render well on a TV screen. As such we put together this plugin to make our favorite blogs a bit easier to read.

Download WiiPress

--

Hmm anyone know how I can achieve the same thing with the new Blogger beta?

Mii Mega-Mall - Mii Download Application

2006-12-26T11:05:00.000-06:00

SwiitPii has released his latest edition of Mii Transfer utilities... The Mii Mega-Mall.

This one has download abilities built right in, so you only need 1 application to load up celebrity Mii's to your wiimote to bus them over to the wii. Check out WiiDomain.net for more info.

The Mii Mega-Mall is an integrated approach to Mii sharing. What does that mean? It means that, now, instead of having to use many separate processes to get those adorable Mii off the Internet; you can use a single, streamlined approach through this one tool.
The Mii Mega Mall provides a single access-point, with a unified, consistent interface for sharing and retrieving Mii over the Internet. Everything that you need is included. It features
Built-in RSS capabilities
Download Mii from the Mega-Mall
Multiple simultaneous downloads
Transfer downloaded Mii to your wiimote (using Bluetooth)
Copy Mii from your wiimote to your PC (using Bluetooth)
Upload your own Mii to the Mii Mega-Mall to share with others

Download it from WiiDomain.net

Enable Tabs in the Wii Web Browser

2006-12-26T03:09:00.000-06:00

TeamDSX Writes:

The future version of Wii Tabs will have bookmark capabilities, and maybe a weather bug type feature in the bar.

There may also be customizable skins or something like that so it'll match the Wii.

Wii Tabs support can be found at http://teamdsx.net/wiitabs/support and you can post a comment on your problem.

Here are some of the things people have been saying about our Beta release so far:

Kotaku - "Pretty nifty tool, just be sure to favorite that site as you will have to visit it first to enable the tabbing."

Go Nintendo - "Awesome find, I just added this to my favorites!"

Play-Nintendo - "have come out with some handy tabs for the internet channel on the Wii!"

Max Console - "All you have to do is visit http://teamdsx.net/wii with your Wii and click on the tab that will pop up! It is just that simple."

Wii-Volution - "This is a rather important feature I felt was missing for the Opera Browser."

So thank you everyone for your support. If you like what we do then you can support us by donating OR if you don't want to do that, then you can vote for us on a bunch of Topsites that reset monthly. The vote page is http://teamdsx.net/vote

Don't forget to spread the word on Wii Tabs. A video demo will be made also for people that need to figure out how it works, or are confused about something.

Great work guys, looking forward to the new features!

Wii Remote C++ Communication API for Windows

2006-12-25T22:59:00.000-06:00

Wiim ("whim" or "wheem", if you prefer) is a simple set of C++ classes that allow you to connect to your Wii remote through Windows' HID interface to send and receive commands. Right now you can receive button presses and motion data as well as set rumble and LED status. There's no support for IR or any extension devices yet. Miis are another possibility, but they're already well supported elsewhere.

Check it out at:
http://digitalretrograde.com/projects/wiim/

New Version of WiinRemote posted

2006-12-25T22:34:00.000-06:00

The latest version of WiinRemote can be downloaded from:
http://onakasuita.org/wii/index-e.html

What's new:
added Assign for Cursor Move,Execute. and some options

Also, I noticed there is now a Source Code link. If you are a Delphi programmer and looking to get into programming for the wii-mote for windows, this is a great way to get started.

--

I'm interested to see what can be done with the new 'execute' function. It looks like you can launch an external program. Something tells me that can be useful... but i'm not sure how yet.. anyone have any ideas?

Nintendo Wii Controlled Smarthome

2006-12-23T16:04:00.000-06:00

This is my Nintendo Wii Controlled Smart Home. Using the Wii-Mote and my Nintendo Wii, I have an onscreen Flash User Interface that lets me control the following aspects of my home: Lights, Thermostat, Security Camera, Music Playback, Cable DVR, and more.

Watch the Video:

Q: How did you do this?
The heart of this control system is a custom script written in PHP that does all of traffic directing. A mysql database holds command sets and ip addresses for each device, and forwards the appropriate status signals to the Flash GUI. Simple button press events in flash trigger PHP scripts which blink the IR emitters, and communicate with the lighting controller.

Q: What gear did you use?
Smarthome Insteon Lights w/ ControlLinc
Aurora Multimedia WACI NX
Debian Linux PC running LAMP services
AXIS PTZ IP Security Camera
Proliphix IP Thermostat

Controlling the lights:

Controlling the A/V equipment:

The same interface that works on the Wii can also used on a Nokia 770

-----------------

These pictures are from an older interface I created to control everything wirelessly from the PSP.

By using a controller device called the WACI NX I can make a macro to turn on the TV, turn on the XBOX, switch to the correct input on the TV, and send the PLAY command to XBMC all in 1 button press .

So far I have the ability to turn my lights on and off. Have full control (Play, Stop, Pause, Menu) of my DVD player, TIVO, and High Def TV, all wirelessly from my PSP. I can also send commands to my PC running Winamp to tell it to Play Stop and Pause my music, or even browse my playlists.

To do most of the controlling I used this tiny little web server control box called the WACI NX. It's great because it has an HTTP and FTP server and uses regular HTML to issue the commands making it the perfect match for my PSP, Wii, or just about any other web browser enabled device. The PSP or Wii talks to the WACI NX via wifi through the network. In turn the WACI emits the IR signal to the TV through one of my IR Emitters, just as if I had pressed the button on the remote.

The WACI NX has a built in IR Learner so you can grab all of your remotes, learn all the button commands, and save them in the WACI to be played back and emitted later. You could even do macros so it sends out a sequence of button presses with a specified delay between each button press.

So for example, a single button press can: Turn on TV, wait 2 seconds, change input, turn on dvd player, wait 5 seconds, press play on dvd player. In 1 button press your TV is on with the DVD playing.

The actual links are name value pairs going to a script I made on the WACI NX. http://192.168.1.102/ rpcpost.asp?method=IRSend&amp;amp;amp; Param1=1&Param2=DVD&Param3=Play
That script is written to execute the IR Send then report back it's status. To change which command I run, I just change the url string in my link.

I'm sure that if you rigged something up you could do something similar with special software that runs on your PC. However, by using the WACI I have a dedicated piece of hardware that's only function is to send commands to my stuff no matter which interface I create to control it. If you are looking into going into home automation you should check out some of the open protocols which you can access from just about any web programming language. I can program the same home automation scripts using, Flash, ASP, HTML, Javascript, C#, C++, and Java. It's great for developers, and fairly simple to get started using the provided sample code from Insteon or one of the other do-it-yourself home automation packages. For more info on home automation you can check out:

Techmall SmartHome Forum
CocoonTech

$120 Mini PC that will run LAMP
Global Cache Ethernet -> Ir & Serial Devices
SmartHome Insteon Lighting

HomeToys Links
Home Automation Links Directory
Linux Home Automation

If you are a PHP/AJAX developer and interested in home automation, send me an email (liquidice629 at gmail).
I could also use some help taking this project to the next level. Contact me to discuss.

Feel free to leave me any questions and feedback in the comments of this post. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...

More Pictures:

Wii Media Center - Play your videos through Opera

2006-12-22T16:41:00.000-06:00

I came across an app called Wii Media Center. It is made by the same author that wrote Wii Video 9, an application that converts your video files to motion jpeg movies that are viewable in the photo channel.

Now he has created software that will generate nice looking webpages to browse through all of the media on your hard drive. Once the transcoding capabilities of Wii Video 9 and the website abilities of Wii Media Center are combined, we will be looking at a really solid platform for hosting video, audio and other media for the Wii.

Although there are still a few hurdles to get by, I have no doubts these issues will be solved soon.. Red Kawa, it's author, had this to say:

Now that the Wii Opera Browser has finally been released, we were finally able to test Wii Media Center X on the Wii and like a lot of you have mentioned, we've also noticed that there are major issues.

Since the Wii browser only supports Flash 7 and does not support LiveConnect, you will most likely encounter problems using the slideshow or my music features. Also there are reports of choppy video in the My Video's section.

We wanted to let you know that we are aware of these issues and are working on fixing them. Our plan of attack is to first get the Video section working well and then move onto the other sections.

So, it looks like they are making good progress, but it's just not quite there yet. For now you will want to try ORB.com which has been confirmed working on the Wii Web Browser.

Wii Browser Details and Tricks

2006-12-22T03:55:00.000-06:00

After downloading a 26mb file, which will use up 230 blocks on your wii, the browser channel will show up in your wii menu.

Once you launch it you are presented with a window where you can type in any url, or navigate to your favorites.

Controller Buttons:
You can get to the favorites page by pressing the 1 button on the wii-mote.

The 2 button on the wiimote puts the browser into a large text viewing mode. it reformats the pages so that it is readable and fits on the tv.

The browser supports Flash. It is a version of Flash player 7, and it supports sendAndLoad(). This means lots of fun client/server flash applications can be developed.

Both YouTube and Google Video play on the Wii Web Browser Internet Channel.

I have gotten audio streaming with orb.com but the flash video from there does not seem to work yet. I will keep trying. The author of WiiCR is also making improvements to his software to allow realtime transcoding of your video files to a flash format that is compatible with the wii web browser. Expect an update on that later today.

This browser is sure to open up a flood of new and fun homebrew games, apps, and proof-of-concept projects. I want to hear about them all. Post in the comments if you have something cool that you want to share with the wii hacking community. Is your site ready for Wii?

UPDATE: I have created a quick portal page to get to all of the Wii Compatible websites without having to type in long urls. All you need to do is type in this URL once then bookmark it:

http://tinyurl.com/vcr8m

If you have additional links you would like me to add to the page send them my way!

See the Wii Web Browser in Action:

Opera Web Browser "BETA" is nerfed?

2006-12-21T21:25:00.000-06:00

To get you caught up here's the latest on the Wii Opera Browser...

Nintendo announced that a BETA of the Opera browser will be availible for download from the Wii Shop for FREE starting on December 22nd.

This was very exciting news, because there are lots of cool and fun flash projects in development that are hoping to take advantage on the Wii's onscreen and pointing abilities to create their own content.

Some examples of sites that are being developed for the Wii include:

WiiCR
Flash based media player

WiiFii
Wii Menu for Flash Games

WiiX
Javascript based Wii Menu system

Other Flash game sites that may work with Wii (Source: X-Scene)
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/wii/
http://wiicade.com/
http://www.wii2d.com/

Katamari Damacy clone
http://www.gamesforwork.com/games/swf/katamari.swf

http://www.homestarrunner.com

Now for the bad news. A site called Skeptical Gaming has posted an article which reads:

"A source close to the Wii Opera project", as they've wished to be identified, has given yours truly a little bit of info on what you'll be able to expect from the trial version of the Opera browser that's being made available to Wii owners this Friday.

...

Several key features are expected to be nerfed from the trial build. Most notably, full Javascript support. From what we've heard, part of the Opera Wii Browser QA issue is that several areas in the Wii's architecture can be exploited through Javascript, and Nintendo wants Opera to patch that before any release. Nintendo's so worried about potential violations and exposures of the Wii software, they're playing it safe.

...

Other things you'll notice with the trial version: Flash may not work correctly. It appears that Opera is custom building their Flash plug-ins to limit the security exposures that the plug-in presents. And while that's great from a control standpoint, it's expected to cause some compatibility issues. You'll have problems accessing some sites that utilize Flash.

Widget support is being hurriedly rushed in a desperate attempt to get it included in the Wii Browser on Friday, but it's not expected to be made available. Support for the Ajax technology is expected to work fine, however.

Source: Skeptical Gaming

You can also read more comments on the subject over on digg

Most people are calling this guy out saing it's BS. The article says there is no Javascript, but it fully supports AJAX?! Some things don't add up, so for now all we can do is wait and see what Nintendo delivers to us in the next few days... Check back soon for a full update on the capabilities of the Wii Web Browser once it has been released!

UPDATE: It has been reported that the browser has been released in Europe and Australia, but not in the United States yet. Most people are confirming that it is a full browser, supports flash, ajax/javascript, loads youtube perfectly, and even passes the acid2 browser test.

Other Features / Limitations:
Opera can only store up to 21 bookmarks
Flash Player 7 - [ Your Player Version: WII 7,0,70,0 | Operating System: Nintendo Wii | Debug Player: No | Video Encoder: No] (thx linFox)

This is great news! Stay tuned for a full update later.

Wii Hacks Blog Updates

2006-12-21T13:37:00.000-06:00

I have updated the layout of the site a bit. What do you think?

I am very impressed with the new Blogger. The site has been stable after switching over, and the new features are very helpful. This site has been on digg.com a few times now, and Google's servers handle the traffic without a problem. Props to the Blogger team for creating such a great product, and congrats on finally coming out of beta!

If you can no longer view this site correctly, please post here with your browser version, resolution, and OS and a description of the problem you are having. Thanks!

The Wii utilizes the Weather Channel in gameplay

2006-12-21T13:00:00.000-06:00

WIIREVOLUTION1 posted this on the Official Nintendo Forums:

Look at the Weather Channel! Now switch your regoin to a snowy region or rainy region.

Now go play Madden & look at the weather...it WILL BE THE SAME AS WHAT THE WEATHER CHANNEL IS!!!

Another Wii Gamer figured out that the background stars shown in the globe view of the new Wii Forecast Channel are not just random--they are the accurate positions of real stars, with the proper relative magnitude and color. See screenshots here

I wonder what other types of integration the Wii games will have with real world events, data, and stats.

Wii-Mote Firmware Dumped

2006-12-20T08:53:00.000-06:00

SparkFun has ripped apart their wiimote and was able to dump the data on the EEPROM. Here is what they had to say:

We hot-aired off the EEPROM and soldered it down to our SSOP breakout board. We then hooked up the unit to an AVR micro that could handle the I2C communication and clocked out all the I2C data from the M24128 into the AVR and down the serial pipe to the computer and captured it. My bet was that the EEPROM contained all constants like Bluetooth ID, firmware revision, etc. And that all the fun Wii Remote functionality was burned into the Broadcom part. David's bet was that the Broadcom part was just the Bluetooth HID stack and protocol and that it pinged the EEPROM during boot up for actual Wii Controller firmware. We were both right!

Looking at the binary file, the fun thing to note is the word 'Nintendo' a couple thousand bytes into the file. Boy would that be fun to alter. The real kicker was that we found unencrypted 8051 code in the file. We don't know if it is checksumed or anything, but you should be able to hack away. This seems to indicate that the entire Wii Remote functionality is contained on this M24128 EEPROM. Nifty.

For more close up pics of the wii mote and an in depth description of all of it's chips and traces visit SparkFun

GlovePIE Initial Support For Nunchuk

2006-12-19T12:30:00.000-06:00

Carl Kenner is at it again! He has updated his GlovePIE software to support the Nunchuk. On the WiiLi forums he writes:

Ok, GlovePIE 0.27 is now uploaded. It has full nunchuk support, except it has no calibration.

Hopefully it works on Wiimotes and Nunchuks other than my own, because the Nunchuk data was in a rather weird format with lots of bits needing to be reversed. I'm hoping that is consistant behaviour, not just my device.

See the modified TestWiimote.PIE file which is included.

NOTE: There is NO classic controller support yet! I don't own a classic controller, and there was nothing on the Wiki about it. BUT you may be able to work out how to access Classic Controller buttons based on the values in Wiimote.Nunchuk.Byte0 to Wiimote.Nunchuk.Byte15. Note that some of the bits are probably backwards for classic controller too.

Also remember that since version 0.26 other adapters should now work if you access the TroubleShooter > Bluetooth Fix menu.

Download the latest GlovePIE version .27 from the Official GlovePIE website

Wii-Mote Control Car

2006-12-19T12:28:00.000-06:00

Check out this video of a remote control car being driven with the Wii-Mote.

Initial data for communicating with the Nunchuck

2006-12-18T23:30:00.000-06:00

Cadex has documented his findings on the nunchuk in the wiili wiki. He is able to get some of the status from the controller expansion device . He writes:

I found the first piece of the expansion port communication puzzle, I'm able to get at least parts of the status of an attached Nunchuk controller. This is really just a first step, but by telling you what I found out, probably other people will soon find out more

The data at 0x04A4000A-0x04A4000C seems to be acceleration data (values "85 D9 61" in the hexdump above). These values seem to be similar, but still a bit different from the acceleration values provided by the Wiimote (values seem to jump when certain boundaries are reached)
Bit 0 of the byte at 0x04A4000D shows the state of the "Z"-button; the state of the "C"-button does not seem to be contained in that byte though.
The byte at 0x04A40008 seems to contain the X value of the Nunchuks joystick, 0x04A40009 the Y value
Data seems to get repeated every 0x100 bytes (see example), so probably bits 8-15 of the address (= the third byte) is ignored when reading from the Nunchuk, only addresses 0x04A40000-0x04A400FF are relevant (see example)
It seems to make a difference at which address one starts to read the data. Reading 0x10 bytes starting at 0x04A40000 will contain the interesting values, whereas reading 0x10 (or 0x0F) bytes starting at 0x04A40001 will return completely different data.
Writing an other value than 0x01 or writing to a different address in the 0x04A4004- region changes the middle part of the data being returned.

Source: Wiili.org

Wii Compatible Wired USB Ethernet Adapter

2006-12-17T00:44:00.000-06:00

The Wii has built-in wireless, but if you don't have wifi, or the signal is not good where the Wii is located, then wired ethernet is your only alternative. Nintendo can't seem to produce a consistent supply of USB ethernet adapters for the Wii, but someone else has found a cheap alternative usb device that IS compatible.

KINAMAX NT-USB20 NETWORK ADAPTER - $20 on newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812203024

Source: Wii-Volution

If you have a Japanese Wii, you can get a wired Ethernet Adapter for Wii here:
PlayAsia

Wireless Wii Sensor Bar - uses 9 volt battery

2006-12-16T23:14:00.000-06:00

Wireless Wii Sensor bar is for sale for $25 plus shipping. On/Off switch, Uses a 9 volt battery and has 48+ hours of gameplay.

Perfect for anyone with a Projector or home theater where the Wii is not located near the display, of if you need a sensor bar for your computer and are too lazy to make one yourself.
Source: http://www.wirelesssensorbar.com/

Newbie's Guide to the Wii Remote on Windows

2006-12-15T00:49:00.000-06:00

So you just got your greasy hands on a wii-mote. What can you do with it? You may have heard about people doing crazy things like playing the drums with it, and you may have seen videos on youtube of nerds using it to control their PC mouse. Despite all of the comments you may read below the videos on youtube, most of the videos are not fake. There are really people playing electronic instruments, playing half-life, controlling emulators, navigating google earth, and even more stuff I promised not to show you yet...

This post is all about Wii-Motes and Mii's. If you still have not gotten your Wii-Mote connected to your computer now is the time to get a known working wii compatible bluetooth adapter and join in on all the fun. Once your bluetooth adapter is connected, follow these simple instructions to connect the wiimote to your bluetooth adapter.

Once you have a driver installed and your wiimote's HID device is connected, you are ready to download some apps.

Wii-Mote Apps for Windows
For Windows you will definitely want to check out GlovePIE along with a host of other scripts.
These scripts will allow you to control all kinds of applications. GlovePIE is really a great program because it allows you to map buttons and values on the wii-mote to trigger keypresses in other applications.

Another great program for Windows Mii-Mote users is BigRedPimp's Wii-Mote App

Not to be left out:
OSX users should check out DarwiinRemote or learn how to use the WiiMote with FrontRow
And, For Linux wii-mote adventures WMD by e-Hernick is the way to go.

Transferring Mii's
A new version of MiiTransfer has been released. MiiTransfer 0.9.1 (released 12/13) should work with most, if not all, BT stacks.. The original version only supported the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. Download the latest bins and source code here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wdml/

Even better, one of the visitors to this site has created a GUI to make using MiiTransfer even easier. SWiitPii was so kind as to give me all the credit, but the truth is, I did not write a line of code for this program. In any case you can download the MiiTransfer Gui Kit here. I have tried it myself and I was able to easily transfer about 20 Celebrity Mii's from WiiModWii Transfer Station to my Wii in a few minutes. It is basically the .0.9.1 version of the MiiTransfer binaries from sourceforge along with another .NET program that runs the correct command line parameters for you. It works great, thanks for the software SWiitPii! If you need help with this app there is a support forum here

MiiPlaza.net is now hosting Mii's. They have a large community of people, and I see good things coming from their site real soon. If you can't wait and just want to download as many Mii's as possible, then head on over to WiiModWii's Mii Transfer Station to download the latest celebrity mii's and other user submitted Mii's. Otherwise if your picky of what Mii's go into your Wii, and you need to see pictures of them before you download, goto MiiPlaza.

You can not break your wii by uploading Mii's from the internet. Any corrupted bits in the .mii file and the Wii won't even display it. Have fun!

Play the Guitar with Wii Remotes

2006-12-14T23:59:00.000-06:00

Jordan Sanborn has posted his application that allows you to play the guitar with the Wii-Mote.

To control the frets, start by holding wiimote 1 flat for the first fret,
then for each consecutive fret, tilt it slightly more towards vertical.
There are 5 possible frets.
The 4th is vertical, and the fifth is tilted slightly forward from vertical.
For no fret, hold the "B" button.

To pick, hold down a button on wiimote 2, and flick your wrist.
The string keys is as follows:
B - low E string.
A - A string.
Down - D string.
Left - G string.
Right - B string.
Up - high E string.

Get the GlovePIE Script and application here.

Watch the video of Wiitar! 2.0 in Action:

Source: WiiLi

Wii-mote 'driver' for linux updated

2006-12-13T21:18:00.000-06:00

WMD is a python script for linux that will allow you to comminucate with the wiimote and fully supports motion data, IR pointer functionality and button presses. e-Hernick, the WMD author can explain it better:

actually there is a lot more..

It has advanced, multi-mode, adaptive, distance-dependent, predictive, smoothed pointer control.

It has advanced, fully scriptable graphing capabilities for accelerometer data

As well as primitive motion analysis

The ability to map any Wiimote button to any key, key combination or mouse button.

The ability to configure all the parameters that tweak every algorithm

Also from the website:

-WMD is a Linux Driver for the Nintendo Wii Remote
-WMD lets you use the Wiimote as a mouse
-WMD lets you use the Wiimote as a keyboard
-WMD lets you use the Wiimote as a vibrator
-WMD is dangerous and experimental
-WMD could make your Wii explode!

WMD has been greatly improved over the last few days, with live graphing and gesture graphing support! Get it now at http://www.ForTheWiiN.org

Sounds great! Thanks for all of your hard work e-Hernick!

WiiAction - Input Library for Game Developers

2006-12-13T21:00:00.000-06:00

One of the Authors of the WiiAction Input Library gives us a video demo on the upcoming software library called the WiiAction Input Library. This will allow game developers to easily integrate wii-mote control into their games with code that will be familiar to existing DirectInput programmers.

Wii Case Mods - Hands on Review of DecalGirl Wii Skins

2006-12-12T16:41:00.001-06:00

I decided to try out these Nintendo Wii Skins from decalgirl.com to make sure that my visitors were not getting ripped off.

I have to say that I'm very impressed with the quality and the simplicity of applying a skin to my Wii.

I took pictures of the process, which reminded me of those things called 'Colorforms' that i used to play with when I was a kid. The decals come printed out on a sheet already precut to fit the wii perfectly. All of the notches lined up without a problem. The decal is sticky but not THAT sticky, meaning if you mess up, you can easily peel it off and start over.

I applied the pieces one by one to the Wii, then

HOWTO: Transfer a Mii from your Wii using bluetooth and the wii-mote

2006-12-11T23:00:00.000-06:00

MiiTransfer is a small application for reading and writing data to the internal memory of the wiimote. Using this app you can easily transfer mii's from your wiimote to your pc, and back to your Wii.

This is exciting, because now Wii hackers can begin trading Mii's using sites such as WiiModWii's Mii Transfer Station:
http://www.wiimodwii.com/miis/

This was all made possible due to efforts by marcan and the author of WDML (WiiMote Data Management Library).

Here is how to transfer Mii's from your Wii to your Wii-Mote to your computer. Once on your computer you can upload and download Mii's from the internet, then transfer them back to your wii-mote and back into your Wii.

First you will need a bluetooth adapter and a Wii-mote.
The first release of MiiTransfer ONLY works with the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack. Yes this is the same MS Stack that will NOT work with GlovePie or many of the other wii-mote apps. If you are using another BT you need to go into device manager and update the driver. The next version of MiiTransfer should be more compatible with other Bluetooth Stacks.

If you can not wait for the next release here is how to change you bluetooth stack: Open Device Manager and goto your bluetooth adapter. Right click and goto properties. Goto teh Driver tab and press Update Driver. Select 'Install from a list' then 'Don't search i will choose a driver', now uncheck the box that says 'Show compatible hardware' and find the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack. Select it and press next until it's finished installing. It may tell you to reboot, but I did not need to, just unplug and replug the USB Bluetooth dongle.

Now you should have the Microsoft BT icon on the task tray. Open that icon, and start the BT connection wizard. Have it search for devices, and press buttons 1 and 2 on your wiimote to ut it into discover mode. After it finds the wiimote, you may need to press buttons 1 and 2 again to finish the bluetooth connection process. If it asks you to use a passcode press 'skip' or click the bubble that says not to use a passkey.If everything went well you will now be connected to the Wii-Mote.

You are now ready to launch the Mii transfer program. Download it from here and extract it. There are a bunch of batch files included in the download archive. Simply run the readslotALL.bat file to read all of the mii's from your wiimote.

Next goto the Mii Transfer website and upload your Mii's or download new Mii's you want to put into your Wii. Once you have these Mii's on your computer, transfer them back to the wii-mote using the writeslotX.bat files.

You will need to manually rename each mii to mii0.mii, mii1.mii, etc and put them in the same directory as your batch files.

Finally go into the Mii channel, hit the icon of the wii-mote on the right, and unload all of your new Mii's into your Mii Space.

Please upload your best Mii's to the Mii Transfer Station. They would like to build up a large database of Mii's and eventually have an online Mii generator.

Also, in case you are interested, Mii Data structure can be found here.
It would be nice to have a little editor app to modify the .Mii files from the PC.

Mii Data Injection / Modification

2006-12-10T14:16:00.000-06:00

Here is some info on the Mii data that is found in the wii-mote. There are 2 blocks of Mii Data, but we're not sure if it alternates between the two, or if it uses both. The data is a hash, so it's not as simple as changing the hex bits to change the look of your Mii. There is a way to update the CRC on the data and it's being investigated now. Here is some Mii Data from the WiiBrew Wiki thanks to Marcan and other hackers on IRC EFnet #wiidev:

Block format

Each block begins with a four-byte magic number / ID code 'RNCD'. Six unknown bytes (mostly zeroes) follow. Then follow the individual Mii data blocks. The last two bytes of the block are a CRC-16 CCITT of the previous 750 bytes (polynomial 0x1021, starting value 0x0000). C code to update CRC

Mii format

Strings are apparently stored in Unicode format (UTF-16), big-endian. Each Mii is 0x4a bytes:

2 unknown bytes (sometimes zeroes)
10 wide chars Mii Name (zero padded, non-terminated) (20 bytes)
32 bytes Mii settings and info (not yet figured out)
10 wide chars Mii creator (20 bytes)

You can test these codes using Simple HID Write. It's some sample program for Delphi programmers, but until someone else writes a more specific app for doing this stuff, it works. You can download it from here if you want to check out what your Wiimote's Mii data looks like.

To read Mii Data block 1:
Report ID: 17
Command: 00 0F CA 02 EF

To read Mii Data block 2:
Report ID: 17
Command: 00 12 BA 02 EF

Info for writing the data block is here:
http://www.ch0p.com/wiiki/index.php?title=Wiimote#Reading_and_Writing

Can someone put together a quick app that will read and write data from the wiimote mii data storage to a file on the computer? Big Red Pimp posted this Wii-Mote Test app which is close, but still does not fully support Mii Data.

Next step: figure out how to rewrite the hash to make our own mii with the info here, but this comes much later, for now it would be neat to be able to trade mii data block with other wii hackers as an easy way to bus multiple wii's around to other wii consoles without messing with friend codes and emails.

UPDATE: WDML Has cracked a good chunk of the Mii Data format off the Wii-Mote

Mii Data Structure (work in progress):

typedef unsigned char  u8;
typedef unsigned short u16;
typedef unsigned int   u32;

#define MII_NAME_LENGTH   10
#define MII_CREATOR_NAME_LENGTH  10

#define MII_HEIGHT_MIN   0x00
#define MII_HEIGHT_MAX   0x7F

#define MII_WEIGHT_MIN   0x00
#define MII_WEIGHT_MAX   0x7F

typedef struct
{
// addr: 0x00 & 0x01
u16 invalid:1;
u16 isGirl:1;
u16 month:4;
u16 day:5;
u16 favColor:4; 
// 0 - 11 (changing to 1111, along with setting the preceeding bit                                   
// results in a grey shirt, some values over 11 will crash the Wii
// when trying to change the favorite color).
u16 unknown:1;

// addr: 0x02 through 0x15
u16 name[MII_NAME_LENGTH];

// addr: 0x16
u8 height;

// addr: 0x17
u8 weight;

// addr: 0x18 - 0x1B
u8 miiID1;  // Unique Mii identifier
u8 miiID2;
u8 miiID3;
u8 miiID4;

// addr: 0x1C & 0x1D & 0x1E & 0x1F
u8 systemID0; // Checksum8 of first 3 bytes of mac addr
u8 systemID1; // mac addr 3rd-to-last byte
u8 systemID2; // mac addr 2nd-to-last byte
u8 systemID3; // mac addr last byte

// addr: 0x20
u16 faceshape:3;
u16 skinColor:3;     // 0 - 5
u16 unknown:?;
u16 facialFeature:4; // 0 - 11

// addr: 0x22 & 0x23
u16 unknown:7;       // Hair type falls in here
u16 hairColor:3;
u16 hairPart:1;

// addr: 0x24 & 0x25
u16 unknown:?;       // Eyebrow type falls in here
u16 eyebrowrotation:?;
u16 unknown:?;

// addr: 0x26 & 0x27
u16 eyebrowColor:3;
u16 eyebrowSize:5;  // min 0, max 16 (depends on eyebrow type?)
u16 eyebrowVOffset:?;
u16 eyebrowSpacing:?;

// addr: 0x28 & 0x29
u16 unknown:8;        // Eye type falls in here
u16 eyeRotation:3;
u16 unknown:1;
u16 eyeHeight:4;      // 12 == mid, 0 == highest

// addr: 0x2A & 0x2B
u16 eyeColor:3;
u16 unknown:13;

// addr: 0x2C & 0x2D
u16 noseType:4;   // 0 - 11
u16 noseSize:4;   // 0 - 8
u16 noseHeight:4;  // 0 - 9?
u16 unknown:3;

// addr: 0x2E & 2F
u16 lipType:5;
u16 unknown:11;

// addr: 0x30
u8 unknown:1;
u8 glassesType:3;
u8 glassesColor:3;
u8 unknown:1;

// addr: 0x31 & 32
u16 glassesSize:3;
u16 unknown:1;
u16 glassesHeight:4;
u16 mustacheType:2;
u16 beardType:2;
u16 facialHairColor:3;
u16 unknown:2;

// addr: 0x33
u8 mustacheSize:3; // 0 (max) - ? (min)
u8 unknown:1;
u8 mustacheHeight:4; // 0 (high) - 16 (low)

// addr: 0x34 & 0x35
u16 moleOn:1;
u16 moleSize:3;   // ? - 8
u16 moleHeight:5;  // 0 -
u16 unknown:4;
u16 moleHorizontal:3; // 0 (left) - ? (right)

// addr: 0x36
u16 creatorName[MII_CREATOR_NAME_LENGTH];

} MII_DATA_STRUCT;

Wii Hackers Scammed by Wii Linux Project?

2006-12-09T12:04:00.000-06:00

Tuxido, the owner of wiili.org has gone missing with over $450 of donations.

Wiili, a project to get Linux running on the Nintendo Wii Game Console, has been mentioned several times over the last few months on digg.com and Slashdot. Not being able to withstand the influx of traffic, their servers started to give, and the site started going down a lot. Donations were being collected to help pay for a new dedicated server through a service called ChipIn. As of Wednesday of this past week, the wiili server and all of it's files disappeared off the internet.

WiiLi was also the keeper of lots of hardware information about the Nintendo Wii which hackers have been compiling since it's release. This information is no longer accessible and it's slowing down progress of the Wii Modding community. Some of the wiki information has been recovered and reposted to another wiki. If you have a cached copy of the other information that is missing please post it there.

For other wii hack forums you can check out WiiModWii and other sites listed on the left sidebar of this page, or just let me scan the forums and post what new right here, on this site, as it's happening. BTW, Have you bookmarked this site yet?

The current status of WiiLi is unknown, the webmaster is gone, the site is down, and nobody knows if he cashed out the donations from ChipIn. He could be sick, on vacation, lost in the woods, taken out back by some thugs from Nintendo, who knows... But for now any attempts to access with wiili website result in a 'Index of /' page with no files in it. If anyone has information on how to find Tuxido, please post to this thread or come to IRC channel: #wiili on irc.freenode.net

UPDATE: Tuxido is back!

Looks like the site will be back up by Monday on it's dedicated server. Here is what has been posted on the server:

We are now on a dedicated server at hivelocity.com. I'll post details of the server setup on the forums as soon as they are back online. I'm moving the DB now.

This is going to be a long night but I won't leave my computer until everything is back to normal. Thanks for your support.

Please keep secret the IP until everything is working. And please all the folks saying I ran away with donations, clean up what you did.
Contrary to rumors, apparently Tuxido didn't steal the donations, get beaten up by Nintendo thugs, or have an accident. Yay!

A few things are still broken, please post any bugs on the forum.

The site will go back live with it's domain this Monday.

I'm cleaning all the vandalism and improving security on the server.

Sorry it took so long (security), we are now into a dedicated server.

Glad to hear everything is ok, and WiiLi will be back soon!

UPDATE: Windows Wii-Mote Scripting

2006-12-08T23:44:00.000-06:00

vkapadia has posed several scripts for GlovePIE, a Windows program which lets you use the Wii-Mote as your mouse, or to control games on your PC. You will need to successfully connect the WiiMote to your PC using a compatible bluetooth adapter first. There are detailed instructions posted here. Once you have GlovePIE and the wii-mote successfully connected, download one of the following scripts (right click and save-as) and then load it into GlovePIE.

Scripts for using the Wiimote in Windows with GlovePIE:

WiiMouse IR
Point with your Wiimote and click! REQUIRES SENSOR BAR
Chances are, this is the one you want.

WiiMouse Accel
Tilt and rotate the Wiimote to control the mouse.

WiiMouse IR Relative
Moves the mouse based on the Wiimote's position relative to the center of the screen.

Two WiiMice
Connect two Wiimotes to control two mice. REQUIRES SENSOR BAR

WiiMouse IR Odd Bar
Before version .24, some sensor bars were not functioning properly. REQUIRES SENSOR BAR

Generic Joystick Driver
This uses the tilt/rotate as two axes, and all 11 buttons to emulate a joystick. REQUIRES PPJOY

Nintendo 64 Emulator - Ocarina of Time
A little awkward, but not too bad.

Nintendo 64 Emulator - Goldeneye (basic)
All buttons are digital in this script.

Nintendo 64 Emulator - Goldeneye (advanced)
In this, there is analog control support.

Nintendo Entertainment System Emulator
Basic controls for an NES emulator. Turn the Wiimote sideways for this one.

PulseVU - Nintendo Wii Hardware Mod - Custom LED Effects

2006-12-07T23:12:00.001-06:00

This is one of the first hardware mods I have seen for the Wii. These guys have created a little module that does different effects with the blue LEDs on the Wii Disc Drive such as playing along with the music. Maybe this video explains it better:

From their website: SICKmods

How can I install a PulseVU into my Wii?

We will be selling manufactured units at this site by the end of the weekend, for just $20. If you're a programmer, you can instead build your own with the soon to be released source code and schematics.