Ken Moore likes to fiddle around with things. His latest project turns the Wiimote into a theremin, which is one of the earliest electronic instruments and the first that is actually played without touching. Above, you'll see a video of Ken providing a tech demo and brief history lesson on the instrument. Past the break, you'll see Ken attempt to do the theme for the original Star Trek show.
Posts with tag hack
Ken Moore goes where no man has gone before, turns Wiimote into theremin
Ken Moore likes to fiddle around with things. His latest project turns the Wiimote into a theremin, which is one of the earliest electronic instruments and the first that is actually played without touching. Above, you'll see a video of Ken providing a tech demo and brief history lesson on the instrument. Past the break, you'll see Ken attempt to do the theme for the original Star Trek show.
Continue reading Ken Moore goes where no man has gone before, turns Wiimote into theremin
Wiimote helps man rock out
While some musicians might snobbily mock those who spastically flail around on Guitar Hero's plastic controller ("Like, lol, why not just learn to play a real guitar?" is something we read far too often), others embrace our hobby, and use elements of it to further their own music.
Rob Morris is one such person. According to his collection of YouTube videos, Morris regularly performs with a Wii Remote duct-taped to his Stratocaster, where it doubles up as a whammy bar. This in turn allows him to add tremolo, or bend the pitch of his notes by up to an octave -- all by using the attached Wiimote's accelerometer. And look, here comes the science: this is achieved by "sending the Wiimote data to a computer running Max/MSP, which then sends data via MIDI to a Digitech pedal."
Ooookay. It's another Wiimote hack that we don't really understand, but it sounds pretty cool!
[Via Music Radar]
Yarr! New homebrew program runs DVD game backups
If you're a lawyer for Nintendo and your spidey senses are tingling, we may have an explanation. "Wii Backup Loader" is exactly what this (highly convincing) video suggests: a program which allows the Wii to play DVD game backups, in the form of modified ISOs. It runs from the Wii Homebrew Channel.
News of the program broke from the forums at tehskeen (note: we've linked to a related article due to tehskeen being down), though we'd expect this to hit peer-to-peer networks in the not-too-distant future, if it hasn't already. Just remember, kids: winners don't do piracy.
Illegal as this may be, there's plenty of other very cool and very legal things you can do through homebrew. Care to watch DVD movies on your console? How about some original games, like Masteroids or the shmup OpenTyrian? And it doesn't stop there. Our own Mike Sylvester also likes to see what he can come up with in his bi-weekly column Revolutionary.Mario Kart cheat allows unlimited blue shells
Apparently, we're late to the party on this one, as folks have been steaming mad over a hack that allows players to toss an infinite number of blue shells during online races. While the video above does not show you the code, it does show you the damage that can be done. We've got a solution, however. Play Mario Kart Wii with us at Game Night!
Having run Game Night for almost two years now, we can safely say nobody there cheats. We all enjoy multiplayer games together, the way they were meant to be played. So check it out!
Gallery: Mario Kart Wii
[Thanks, Rengifo!]
A fan of Mario Kart Wii? Us too, especially the tournaments, which there have been quite a few of. To check out the previous tournaments, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. And if you fancy yourself a good karter, check out Game Night for some of the community's best competition.
Balance Board Roomba hack floors us
We had two questions upon watching this footage of a Roomba being controlled by a Balance Board:
- What the heck is a Roomba?
- Why?
We especially like how "Surfin' USA" is played in the background while Ron wobbles away, just to make it really feel like actual surfing.
Gallery: Peripherals that paved the way for the Balance Board
[Via Balance Board Blog]
Join us in exploring things to do with the Balance Board that aren't Wii Fit. Walk the world! Drive a car! Weigh a cat!Walking the streets with the Balance Board
Going outside? Let the common man do that, as tech-savvy folks can just navigate the outside world within the comfort of their own home, with little more than a Balance Board and Google Street View. It's kind of similar to the Google Earth thing we presented back in May. In the least, it's got to be a cheap and easy way to travel to those cities you always wanted to visit, but couldn't afford to go to.
[Via Balance Board Blog]
The homebrew community has been hard at work creating wonderful experiences for you to enjoy with your Wii. Did you know about homebrew game Masteroids? Or how about the shmup OpenTyrian? Outside of games, people have been using the Balance Board to come up with some really neat stuff. Also, if you wanna watch movies on your Wii, be sure to check out our step-by-step guide. Keep up with the homebrew scene by staying current with our Homebrew category!Friday Video: Power Pad hack is music to our ears
Seth Sternberger is responsible for the awesome video above, which brings back memories of Big, for some odd reason. It's just pure awesome. The specifics of how he completed this are a tad bit of a mystery, but Seth has some musical chops. Not only did he complete this, but he's also part of the chiptune outfit 8 Bit Weapon. We salute you Seth! Keep up the good work.
[Via Engadget]
Each week, our Friday Video segment takes a look at the gaming landscape online and brings forth an interesting video that (hopefully) gets the dialog started. Other cool hacks featured have included the GameCube clock and a Nunchuk-controlled camera.Mod plays NES in a NES cartridge
Darkeru from the Ben Heck forums came up with the idea for this beauty, and after months of "careful planning," finally finished his creation. It's exactly what you think it is; a mod that plays NES games on a NES game cartridge. What an ingeniously simple idea (though if we really think about it, our brains might implode).
The games are built into the portable -- ninety-nine of them, in fact -- which sounds pretty convenient. Other than that, we have nothing to say except that we're still gawking at this thing. Oh, and do want.
Gallery: Retro Mods
[Via Engadget]
We're always talking about Mods here at Wii Fanboy. Have you seen the Super Mario Galaxy mod? How about the homage to the original Super Mario Bros? How about this air-brushed Twilight Princess mod? Keep up with the modding scene by staying up to date with Wii Fanboy! 
Bodysurf: Audiosurf meets the Balance Board
Those of you who aren't big PC fans might not know what Steam is. It's Valve's distribution service for PC games, demos, and has quite the large community of gamers supporting it. If your PC can handle it, we suggest you check it out.
One of its most popular titles available is Audiosurf. We've touched on the game before, but never really went in-depth with it. Now, Evan Jones has gone ahead and hacked the game to include support for the Balance Board. It's pretty damn cool, if you ask us. Check out his work in the video above.
[Via Joystiq]
WiiPlayer optimizes iPlayer for Wii
Not only that, but the iPlayer on the Wii is hardly user-friendly. Text is so small that it's almost unreadable, loading times are hardly ideal, and the low resolution of the Wii's browser makes navigation awkward. Cue the intervention of WiiPlayer, a hacked version of the iPlayer that has been optimized for Nintendo's console, and is now available for use at http://defaced.co.uk/wiiplayer.
It won't work on your PC, and it goes without saying you'll still have to reside in the UK to use this, but WiiPlayer does do a sterling job, replacing the iPlayer's teensy text and browser-taxing layout with pleasingly chunky, Wiimote-friendly icons and a cleaner, less cluttered appearance.
Gallery: WiiPlayer
[Via Tech Digest]
WiiWare games hacked, pirated, and brought to North American Wiis
Only a few weeks after pirates figured out how to install Virtual Console games on their Wiis for free using the Twilight Hack, a clever trick for running unofficial code on an unmodded systems, hackers have expanded their counterfeit offerings to allow bootleg copies of WiiWare titles.
We're not yet sure if online modes are working, but the fact that pirates can install Japanese WiiWare ROMs/WADs on a US system, as shown above with Family Ping Pong, is impressive (and criminal!). Considering how fast the Wii's piracy scene has been moving, someone will likely soon release instructions on how to bypass microtransactions and install downloadable content updates for free, too.
How long will it be before Nintendo steps in to end these shenanigans? Will that mean the end of Wii homebrew, as well? See, this is why we can't have nice things.
Did you just copy a Virtual Console game?
One person has apparently created a hack for the Wii, allowing for the transport of the Virtual Console games from one system to another. As you can see in the video above, the process does not look all too difficult, however there is room for discrepancy. The video was uploaded to YouTube by user dannyml, and merely says "Hacked The Virtual Console." And there is a noticeable lack of seeing the copied game run for us to be comfortable labeling this as believed.
So excuse us while we go hang on a fence.
[Thanks, craig!]
Get your body into it: W_space
For us, music is little more than something that plays in the background during the massacre of endless enemies. It is a trumpet's call, heralding our arrival in a virtual world where we call the shots. Outside of those worlds resides the music of man, which we cannot attest you knowing that much about.
When you use an entire, custom-made outfit (which proudly sports eight Wiimotes) and your body to create and manipulate music in real time, however, then you deserve the lowly props that come from being featured on a video game blog read by a record seven mothers. They've seen this video and agreed: people need to watch this brilliant use of technology in action. So listen to them and hit up the above video already.
Learning quantum mechanics with Super Mario World
We love science, even if it totally creeps us out sometimes. Take, for example, this video explaining quantum mechanics and parallel universes via Super Mario World. Maybe Tyler Durden was right and we aren't unique snowflakes, after all. (It's okay, we're trying to hold back the tears, too.)
Still, we love when science is dumbed down to our level (that is, explained using video games we know and love). This video, for example, teaches Hugh Everett's multiverse concept, using 134 overlaid playthroughs of a Super Mario World hack.
We now conclude your Nintendo Wii Fanboy lesson for today (brought to you by the folks at PopSci); make sure to run off and tell your mothers what you've learned.
[Via Gemaga]
Still, we love when science is dumbed down to our level (that is, explained using video games we know and love). This video, for example, teaches Hugh Everett's multiverse concept, using 134 overlaid playthroughs of a Super Mario World hack.
We now conclude your Nintendo Wii Fanboy lesson for today (brought to you by the folks at PopSci); make sure to run off and tell your mothers what you've learned.
[Via Gemaga]
'Twilight Hack' now supports SD loading
For those you in the know (see: you, because you read Wii Fanboy), the "Twilight Hack" has been behind the recent influx of wonderful homebrew we've seen for the Wii. Whether it's just some basic Tetris, or running something entirely new, the homebrew community has had their hands full as of late. Those who were running the exploit before needed a GameCube memory card adapter. That is not the case anymore, as the hack has been updated to support SD loading.
For those who need a visual walkthrough on the process, head on past the break for a video explaining how to do this.
