Yesterday's jaw-droppingly comprehensive Wii Menu hack, which enables cross-region Wii, Gamecube, and downloadable games, as well as various display and UI tweaks, was unavailable to the public when the video (encore presentation above!) was released. But today creator Crediar has released the files for use on your own Wii.
We're very interested in opening up our Wii systems, but at the same time, we're ... going to hold off until we hear some feedback about this. Something as drastic as this HackInstaller seems like it could carry a high risk of Wii brickage. If it ends up being a Wii killer, we're sure we'll hear about it in the next week or so.
Homebrewer Crediar has recorded a video of a truly epic series of Wii Menu hacks that pretty much bust the system open. All kinds of hacks are on display, both cosmetic and substantial.
Most notably, Crediar has opened up the system not just to discs from every region, but channels (which suggests Virtual Console games), and, according to the text included with the video at DCEmu, GameCube games as well. The Wii's "rescue menu" (used to boot diagnostic discs, apparently) can now be used to boot all discs. And then, for fun, the health warning and the background music were disabled. Now that's just showing off.
Depending on what you download, you might have quite a few channels on your Wii. Aside from the Disc, Mii, Wii Shop, Photo, Weather, and News channels (which can't be deleted), you might also have the Nintendo, Check Mii Out, and Everybody Votes channels hanging around on your menus.
Then, there's the Internet Channel, not to mention whatever VC or WiiWare titles you've downloaded. Some games even have their own channels, like Mario Kart and Wii Fit. Then, it's possible you have some unofficial ones lying around, too.
How many channels do you have on your Wii? Which ones do you utilize the most, and which do you utilize the least? Are there any channels you wish to see from Nintendo in the future?
The latest Nintendo of Europe release schedule contains fairly awesome news for the neglected continent, as there's finally a concrete release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nintendo's wildly popular fighter is hitting stores in the region on June 27th, and there's more happy tidings, with WiiWare and Nintendo Channel set to launch on May 20th and May 30th respectively.
There's little else in the list that both interests us and has a specific date (de Blob and Blast Works have both had a vague "Q2 2008" slapped next to them, though it appears that Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors will be out on May 9th), but heck, why are we yammering to you about this? Check out the latest European dates for yourself past the break!
We've been waiting pretty much forever (since November, but we're mental goldfish) for the Everybody's Nintendo Channel to launch over here after seeing how cool the Japanese version is. Nintendo has announced that the Nintendo Channel, which offers DS demo downloads, user-submitted game reviews, and exclusive video content, will be released in the U.S. on May 12th, the same day WiiWare launches.
Users will be able to submit reviews of their WiiWare games after playing for the industry standard time (joking) of one hour. We really hope that the same kind of cool DS downloads and video material is available for us as there is in Japan.
We didn't really expect Mario Kart Wiito have much in common with Wii Fit other than sales, but that's the approach Nintendo is taking with the kart racer's online features. Nintendo previously announced that Mario Kart Wii will use a "Mario Kart Channel" that, like the Wii Fit Channel, stays accessible from the Wii Menu even when the disc is not in the drive. You can use this Channel to view and download ghost data of other players and race against them (presumably you'll need the disc for the racing parts). Nintendo has released additional information about this Channel which reveals just how useful and smart their detached Channels can be.
The Channel lets you register friends and check their online status (awesome), look at rankings, and view the current Competition. What's a Competition? "Nintendo will on a regular basis invite players to speedy challenges similar to the Missions of Mario Kart DS." It kind of sounds like Nintendo is actually encouraging online play for once.
The latest Wii channel popped up in Japan tonight without warning, ready to serve videos and demos. The Minna no Nintendo Channel (Everybody's Nintendo Channel) is the DS demo channel we've heard about, but also includes Wii videos, releases lists (uh-oh!) and the capability to recommend games you own to Wii friends. These recommendations are also collected en masse to be tabulated in December.
The channel currently offers just a few DS downloads, including demos of some training games and a patch for the Japanese version of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The demos stream from Nintendo rather than being saved, and are accessed on the DS via Download Play. The video section offers trailers and commercials for new and recent games, including Wii Fit. According to NeoGAF's john tv, the videos keep playing in a corner if you exit the video menu. Check NeoGAF for frequently-updated impressions from the international gadflies who post there. Really, it sounds like the current content is less enthralling than the promise of future content.
As anniversary week winds down, we can't help but wonder: what's next? One good year for a video game console means nothing if it's followed by some not-so-great years. Fortunately, there are many fun things in store for the Wii, so we've decided to create this little guide to show you what exactly there is to look forward to.
Nintendo has transcribed a Financial Results briefing given by president Satoru Iwata. Being a Financial Results briefing, it of course focuses on sales history, but it is also loaded with information that may be of interest to you beyond the charts and graphs detailing how awesome Nintendo is.*
This includes Iwata's new philosophy of the roles of Nintendo's gaming systems. The DS is now being seen as a "machine to enrich its owners' lives," in ways beyond gaming. Nintendo's plan for new DS-based utilities is an instantiation of this idea, allowing users to carry their DS systems around for many purposes, improving the quality of their lives. The Wii, on the other hand, is seen as the "Machine to put smiles on people surrounding it," meaning that entire households should be encouraged to interact with the Wii, even when not playing games. You are free, of course, to moan about this being the death of gaming or whatever.
Spreading happiness is the goal of the two new updates headed to the Wii. Check pages 6 and 7 for video of the gift-giving function of the Wii Shop Channel, which will work for both VC and Wii Ware games, and a demonstration of an early version of the TV Program Schedule Channel. It allows users to search by genre or keyword, and to mark their favorite programs with a color code.
*For an analysis of the charts and graphs detailing how awesome Nintendo is, check out this Gamasutra feature from our own Eric Caoili!
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
With the release of the 3.0 system update and the Metroid Prime 3 preview, it became evident that there are plenty more possibilities to be explored in the ongoing development of the Wii's channel interface. Based on what we've seen so far, I'd like to postulate on what more they could potentially deliver.
Two more Metroid Prime 3: Corruption videos are now available for download. We just went to check them out and the first video got stuck buffering for an inordinately long amount of time. Luckily, for emergency non-Wii-loading video situations, there's good old YouTube.
The first video describes the Phazon Enhancement Device, which GF Marines use to boost their abilities temporarily. Basically, it's like Bane's Venom tube thing, or some kind of spinach delivery device. The other video, Air Assault, contains gameplay footage of what looks like a boss battle. The antagonist is airborne, and shoots stuff at Samus! It's really quite an invigorating way to start your morning.
We were sitting in our sound-proof Concentration Room, just pondering stuff, when we had a thought: why did we have this room built? Immediately following that, we had another thought: where was Wii Ware at E3? There was this huge trade show for video game companies to show off their video games, which Nintendo totally did, and they didn't mention Wii Ware at all.
In fact, other than a single game announcement immediately before E3, we've heard shockingly little about what should be a very big deal. What's your take on Nintendo's silence? Why didn't they show any Wii Ware stuff at E3? Maybe there wasn't enough to show. Or maybe what there is will completely upstage boring, everyday stuff like Super Mario Galaxy.
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
When WiiWare was announced, it seemed like a godsend for the garage developer wishing to make Wii games for mass appreciation. But details on how to get your hands on a WiiWare development kit and the costs involved are not public knowledge, and the official launch of the distribution channel (on the Wii Shop Channel) isn't going to be happening until some time next year. So what's a Wii-loving, budget-restricted developer to do in the meanwhile? Making games for Wii's Opera Browser is one option.
8Bit Joystick has a very real problem on their hands, one we suspect will be affecting us in a week or two. See, their Wii is full from all the VIrtual Console games they purchased. Since we like to cover Virtual Console games as well, we can understand where they're coming from. The solution, as you may already know, involves a lot of copying to the SD card slot and deleting the games from the Wii's included 512mb of space, freeing up those Channel slots.
Have any of you filled up, or come close to filling up, your Wii with Virtual Console games?
Posted May 29th 2007 9:45AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Chris Kohler of Game|Life interviewed Nintendo of America VP George Harrison about the future of the Wii system, and his responses were, well, generally unsurprising. We wouldn't expect Nintendo to suddenly change their strategy in the midst of such success.
Harrison said that because of the high prices of the Wii's competitors, he expected the Wii to have a lifecycle longer than the traditional five years. (Would that mean more than 35 million installed units in the US?) And it'll continue to have a pack-in for some of that lifecycle, since Wii Sports is a "cultural phenomenon" that is helping to draw people in to the system.
Harrison also mentioned that more Wii software targeted at Nintendo's new "expanded" audience would be revealed at E3, and that a game download channel is in development.
There's more, including some weird comments about localizing Virtual Console games and a response to the continuing shortages. Go read the whole thing, if you are so inclined.
We were sitting in our sound-proof Concentration Room, just pondering stuff, when we had a thought: why did we have this room built? Immediately following that, we had another thought: where was 
