news via 4 color rebellion

There is always that group of people that has to tinker with every gadget they get. People have been able to hack every game system out there today. How many of you have a flashed DS or have been affected by some hacker while playing an online DS game? Anyways, it seems that the Wii homebrew scene has already been started. A Nintendo geek has started a project named Wiili for his final year in college, aimed at bringing Linux to the Wii.

He seems to be making this piece of software into a free live DVD based on Mandriva. What this means is that basically you put a DVD into your drive and it temporarily loads the OS. Once you turn the computer off, the Wii acts like it has never been touched by the disc. Well that is basically how it should work in theory(think of it like a game or the Opera DS browser). Anyways the author is unable at the time to verify that the this will actually work, but he conjectures that since it is based closely on the Gamecube hardware, it shouldn’t take too much for it to work on the Wii. It seems like a pretty nifty little thing to play with the Wii. He aims to have the following features available on Wiili.

Surf the Internet (using the control as a mouse pointer)
Wii Media Extender, Stream moves, music, etc, from a PC to a TV using WiiLi and the Nintendo Wii in the middle. Think Apple iTV for free.
Write a document with a regular USB keyboard and print it with any USB printer.
Email and chat with your friends.
Use an external USB storage device to backup and play your movies, games, mp3’s, etc…
Play old classic games using the MAME console emulator.
Develop your own programs and games.
Control WiiLi from your PC using the WiFi connection.
Use Willi and the Wii as a Network Attached Storage (NAS) by connecting it to an external USB HD.
Anything you could possibly do with a regular computer.

Wow, what a list, this sounds like more of a computer than our revolutionary game console. If this software ever gets out, this could be described as no other word other than awesome. But then again that is a big “if”. The Wii isn’t out yet and these are some pretty bold claims about what the software should be able to do. Also, how legal would this actually be? The author plans to make this Open Source, which means that anyone would have the access to the code of the software. Shouldn’t this be a property of Nintendo? Isn’t there something that would prevent this developer from releasing the code to Nintendo hardware? Right now, I’m a bit skeptical at the prospect of being able to develop and release such a piece of software. The project seems really new and not too much documentation seems to be available on the site put up. However, I am rooting for this developer, for this could change the way everyone uses the Wii. Besides, someone will probably be able to hack the Wii someday, right?

it will be interesting to see how this develops as this could mean homebrew on the wii ...

news via 4 color rebellion

There is always that group of people that has to tinker with every gadget they get. People have been able to hack every game system out there today. How many of you have a flashed DS or have been affected by some hacker while playing an online DS game? Anyways, it seems that the Wii homebrew scene has already been started. A Nintendo geek has started a project named Wiili for his final year in college, aimed at bringing Linux to the Wii.

He seems to be making this piece of software into a free live DVD based on Mandriva. What this means is that basically you put a DVD into your drive and it temporarily loads the OS. Once you turn the computer off, the Wii acts like it has never been touched by the disc. Well that is basically how it should work in theory(think of it like a game or the Opera DS browser). Anyways the author is unable at the time to verify that the this will actually work, but he conjectures that since it is based closely on the Gamecube hardware, it shouldn’t take too much for it to work on the Wii. It seems like a pretty nifty little thing to play with the Wii. He aims to have the following features available on Wiili.

Surf the Internet (using the control as a mouse pointer)
Wii Media Extender, Stream moves, music, etc, from a PC to a TV using WiiLi and the Nintendo Wii in the middle. Think Apple iTV for free.
Write a document with a regular USB keyboard and print it with any USB printer.
Email and chat with your friends.
Use an external USB storage device to backup and play your movies, games, mp3’s, etc…
Play old classic games using the MAME console emulator.
Develop your own programs and games.
Control WiiLi from your PC using the WiFi connection.
Use Willi and the Wii as a Network Attached Storage (NAS) by connecting it to an external USB HD.
Anything you could possibly do with a regular computer.

Wow, what a list, this sounds like more of a computer than our revolutionary game console. If this software ever gets out, this could be described as no other word other than awesome. But then again that is a big “if”. The Wii isn’t out yet and these are some pretty bold claims about what the software should be able to do. Also, how legal would this actually be? The author plans to make this Open Source, which means that anyone would have the access to the code of the software. Shouldn’t this be a property of Nintendo? Isn’t there something that would prevent this developer from releasing the code to Nintendo hardware? Right now, I’m a bit skeptical at the prospect of being able to develop and release such a piece of software. The project seems really new and not too much documentation seems to be available on the site put up. However, I am rooting for this developer, for this could change the way everyone uses the Wii. Besides, someone will probably be able to hack the Wii someday, right?

it will be interesting to see how this develops as this could mean homebrew on the wii ...

news via pc world



Members of Nintendo's huge, vocal fan base have been salivating in anticipation of the Wii for some time. But the curious and appreciative onlookers that I've noticed during my recent testing of a retail unit suggest that the Wii's appeal may well extend beyond the Nintendo faithful. The Wii seems poised to make console gaming more social, immersive, and--most importantly--fun than it has ever been.

Nintendo has announced that more than 1 million units of the $250 Wii will be available when the model makes its official U.S. debut on Sunday. So your odds of getting your hands on a Wii in the near future are better than your odds of snagging a PS3. Cryogenically freezing yourself to avoid the wait, as one of the characters in South Park did recently, won't be necessary.

Below is a video of the Nintendo Wii in action. To view it, you'll need to have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed.


Out of the Box

The Wii is the most compact of the next-generation consoles. It weighs just 2.7 pounds and measures 8.5 inches long by 6 inches wide by less than 2 inches thick. It has clean, sharp lines and an Apple-like glossy white finish, though we'll undoubtedly see units in black and possibly other colors at some point.

Like the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, The Wii can be oriented horizontally or vertically, thanks to its angled plastic stand. Once you've positioned it, your next step is to plug in the power supply (which is about the size a laptop brick), and connect the bundled composite audio/video cables to your television. To output content at the Wii's maximum 480p resolution in 16:9 wide-screen format, you'll have to purchase the optional component cable separately.

Next you must set up the included controllers: a Wii Remote and a Nunchuk--a joystick-style controller that connects to the remote for additional game control. I first hooked up the supplied sensor bar to the console and placed it just under the display of my TV. The sensor bar allows the console to communicate wirelessly (via Bluetooth) with up to four Wii Remotes at a time. The Wii Remote works for games within a radius of about 30 feet and functions as a cursor-type pointing device within about 15 feet. In my testing, the on-screen pointer jittered slightly when I tried to use it from farther away.



The final setup steps are to place two AA batteries into the Wii Remote, rearrange your furniture as necessary to clear plenty of space in front of the TV (to avoid any "Wiinjury"), and fire up the console.

Our colleagues over at GamePro have scanned in the Wii's manual, and it's worth a look to get an even more complete idea of the Wii's setup routine and overall features.

PC World also has a detailed account of a test drive of the PlayStation 3; and a review comparing the PS3 and the Wii.
The Wii Menu and Online Features

The first time I powered up the Wii, I had to create a gamer ID, which the system uses to save your games and also to identify you online. After creating my log-in and entering the date and time, I was presented with the Wii Menu. This interface, which uses a television/channel metaphor, is where you access the Wii's mostly free online features.

The first thing I wanted to do was jump online. I was particularly interested in the "sleepless" WiiConnect24 service that lets the console automatically download information, even when it's on standby.

The Wii includes a built-in 802.11b/g wireless network adapter, but you can also go online by using extra-cost options such as a LAN adaptor or a Wi-Fi USB adaptor that shares a PC's Internet connection. I tested the integrated Wi-Fi, and setup was a snap. The Wii scanned for and found my wireless ADSL router, and it let me type in the network's WEP key via an on-screen keyboard. I found that I could select letters and move around the Wii Menu using the Wii remote in the same way that I'd use a computer mouse. The remote even vibrated subtly in my hand as I hovered over menu options. Tactile feedback: great!

Unfortunately, since Nintendo's servers won't be up and running until the Wii launches, my online experience was limited. But the Wii will link to a lot of online elements after launch:

Wii Shop Channel (and Virtual Game Console): Nintendo's online store will eventually offer various extras to download, but the most notable one at launch is the Virtual Console, which will allow gamers to download and play games from past consoles such as the Nintendo 64, NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx16. Nintendo will offer 12 classic console games at launch, including Donkey Kong (NES), SimCity (SNES), Super Mario 64, Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis), and Bomberman '93 (TurboGrafx16). Some 30 virtual console games should be ...

news via pc world



Members of Nintendo's huge, vocal fan base have been salivating in anticipation of the Wii for some time. But the curious and appreciative onlookers that I've noticed during my recent testing of a retail unit suggest that the Wii's appeal may well extend beyond the Nintendo faithful. The Wii seems poised to make console gaming more social, immersive, and--most importantly--fun than it has ever been.

Nintendo has announced that more than 1 million units of the $250 Wii will be available when the model makes its official U.S. debut on Sunday. So your odds of getting your hands on a Wii in the near future are better than your odds of snagging a PS3. Cryogenically freezing yourself to avoid the wait, as one of the characters in South Park did recently, won't be necessary.

Below is a video of the Nintendo Wii in action. To view it, you'll need to have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed.


Out of the Box

The Wii is the most compact of the next-generation consoles. It weighs just 2.7 pounds and measures 8.5 inches long by 6 inches wide by less than 2 inches thick. It has clean, sharp lines and an Apple-like glossy white finish, though we'll undoubtedly see units in black and possibly other colors at some point.

Like the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, The Wii can be oriented horizontally or vertically, thanks to its angled plastic stand. Once you've positioned it, your next step is to plug in the power supply (which is about the size a laptop brick), and connect the bundled composite audio/video cables to your television. To output content at the Wii's maximum 480p resolution in 16:9 wide-screen format, you'll have to purchase the optional component cable separately.

Next you must set up the included controllers: a Wii Remote and a Nunchuk--a joystick-style controller that connects to the remote for additional game control. I first hooked up the supplied sensor bar to the console and placed it just under the display of my TV. The sensor bar allows the console to communicate wirelessly (via Bluetooth) with up to four Wii Remotes at a time. The Wii Remote works for games within a radius of about 30 feet and functions as a cursor-type pointing device within about 15 feet. In my testing, the on-screen pointer jittered slightly when I tried to use it from farther away.



The final setup steps are to place two AA batteries into the Wii Remote, rearrange your furniture as necessary to clear plenty of space in front of the TV (to avoid any "Wiinjury"), and fire up the console.

Our colleagues over at GamePro have scanned in the Wii's manual, and it's worth a look to get an even more complete idea of the Wii's setup routine and overall features.

PC World also has a detailed account of a test drive of the PlayStation 3; and a review comparing the PS3 and the Wii.
The Wii Menu and Online Features

The first time I powered up the Wii, I had to create a gamer ID, which the system uses to save your games and also to identify you online. After creating my log-in and entering the date and time, I was presented with the Wii Menu. This interface, which uses a television/channel metaphor, is where you access the Wii's mostly free online features.

The first thing I wanted to do was jump online. I was particularly interested in the "sleepless" WiiConnect24 service that lets the console automatically download information, even when it's on standby.

The Wii includes a built-in 802.11b/g wireless network adapter, but you can also go online by using extra-cost options such as a LAN adaptor or a Wi-Fi USB adaptor that shares a PC's Internet connection. I tested the integrated Wi-Fi, and setup was a snap. The Wii scanned for and found my wireless ADSL router, and it let me type in the network's WEP key via an on-screen keyboard. I found that I could select letters and move around the Wii Menu using the Wii remote in the same way that I'd use a computer mouse. The remote even vibrated subtly in my hand as I hovered over menu options. Tactile feedback: great!

Unfortunately, since Nintendo's servers won't be up and running until the Wii launches, my online experience was limited. But the Wii will link to a lot of online elements after launch:

Wii Shop Channel (and Virtual Game Console): Nintendo's online store will eventually offer various extras to download, but the most notable one at launch is the Virtual Console, which will allow gamers to download and play games from past consoles such as the Nintendo 64, NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx16. Nintendo will offer 12 classic console games at launch, including Donkey Kong (NES), SimCity (SNES), Super Mario 64, Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis), and Bomberman '93 (TurboGrafx16). Some 30 virtual console games should be ...

news via pc world



Members of Nintendo's huge, vocal fan base have been salivating in anticipation of the Wii for some time. But the curious and appreciative onlookers that I've noticed during my recent testing of a retail unit suggest that the Wii's appeal may well extend beyond the Nintendo faithful. The Wii seems poised to make console gaming more social, immersive, and--most importantly--fun than it has ever been.

Nintendo has announced that more than 1 million units of the $250 Wii will be available when the model makes its official U.S. debut on Sunday. So your odds of getting your hands on a Wii in the near future are better than your odds of snagging a PS3. Cryogenically freezing yourself to avoid the wait, as one of the characters in South Park did recently, won't be necessary.

Below is a video of the Nintendo Wii in action. To view it, you'll need to have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed.


Out of the Box

The Wii is the most compact of the next-generation consoles. It weighs just 2.7 pounds and measures 8.5 inches long by 6 inches wide by less than 2 inches thick. It has clean, sharp lines and an Apple-like glossy white finish, though we'll undoubtedly see units in black and possibly other colors at some point.

Like the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, The Wii can be oriented horizontally or vertically, thanks to its angled plastic stand. Once you've positioned it, your next step is to plug in the power supply (which is about the size a laptop brick), and connect the bundled composite audio/video cables to your television. To output content at the Wii's maximum 480p resolution in 16:9 wide-screen format, you'll have to purchase the optional component cable separately.

Next you must set up the included controllers: a Wii Remote and a Nunchuk--a joystick-style controller that connects to the remote for additional game control. I first hooked up the supplied sensor bar to the console and placed it just under the display of my TV. The sensor bar allows the console to communicate wirelessly (via Bluetooth) with up to four Wii Remotes at a time. The Wii Remote works for games within a radius of about 30 feet and functions as a cursor-type pointing device within about 15 feet. In my testing, the on-screen pointer jittered slightly when I tried to use it from farther away.



The final setup steps are to place two AA batteries into the Wii Remote, rearrange your furniture as necessary to clear plenty of space in front of the TV (to avoid any "Wiinjury"), and fire up the console.

Our colleagues over at GamePro have scanned in the Wii's manual, and it's worth a look to get an even more complete idea of the Wii's setup routine and overall features.

PC World also has a detailed account of a test drive of the PlayStation 3; and a review comparing the PS3 and the Wii.
The Wii Menu and Online Features

The first time I powered up the Wii, I had to create a gamer ID, which the system uses to save your games and also to identify you online. After creating my log-in and entering the date and time, I was presented with the Wii Menu. This interface, which uses a television/channel metaphor, is where you access the Wii's mostly free online features.

The first thing I wanted to do was jump online. I was particularly interested in the "sleepless" WiiConnect24 service that lets the console automatically download information, even when it's on standby.

The Wii includes a built-in 802.11b/g wireless network adapter, but you can also go online by using extra-cost options such as a LAN adaptor or a Wi-Fi USB adaptor that shares a PC's Internet connection. I tested the integrated Wi-Fi, and setup was a snap. The Wii scanned for and found my wireless ADSL router, and it let me type in the network's WEP key via an on-screen keyboard. I found that I could select letters and move around the Wii Menu using the Wii remote in the same way that I'd use a computer mouse. The remote even vibrated subtly in my hand as I hovered over menu options. Tactile feedback: great!

Unfortunately, since Nintendo's servers won't be up and running until the Wii launches, my online experience was limited. But the Wii will link to a lot of online elements after launch:

Wii Shop Channel (and Virtual Game Console): Nintendo's online store will eventually offer various extras to download, but the most notable one at launch is the Virtual Console, which will allow gamers to download and play games from past consoles such as the Nintendo 64, NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx16. Nintendo will offer 12 classic console games at launch, including Donkey Kong (NES), SimCity (SNES), Super Mario 64, Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis), and Bomberman '93 (TurboGrafx16). Some 30 virtual console games should be ...

news via psp fanboy

The PS3 and PSP are going to be great friends. Sure, they won't be able to play with each other when the PLAYSTATION 3 comes out, but they will in the future, and the possibilities are exciting. chubgians, IGN's ultimate PSP fanboy, recently wrote a massive essay on how PS3-PSP connecitivty can succeed where GCN-GBA has failed. Some of the key points to note:

* The two systems were made to work with each other: look at the XMB. Also, there's no extra cables to buy: just use the PSP's wi-fi connection, or the USB cable that's connected to the controller.
* Even without any software, you can access content on the PS3 from your PSP. With the Gamecube, your GBA cables were useless unless you had a game that supported it... and those were quite few in number.
* Accessing the Friends feature of the PS3 from the PSP will be incredible: imagine, a universal play experience on your PS3 and PSP. It's starting with games like Cash Money Chaos. ...

news via psp fanboy

The PS3 and PSP are going to be great friends. Sure, they won't be able to play with each other when the PLAYSTATION 3 comes out, but they will in the future, and the possibilities are exciting. chubgians, IGN's ultimate PSP fanboy, recently wrote a massive essay on how PS3-PSP connecitivty can succeed where GCN-GBA has failed. Some of the key points to note:

* The two systems were made to work with each other: look at the XMB. Also, there's no extra cables to buy: just use the PSP's wi-fi connection, or the USB cable that's connected to the controller.
* Even without any software, you can access content on the PS3 from your PSP. With the Gamecube, your GBA cables were useless unless you had a game that supported it... and those were quite few in number.
* Accessing the Friends feature of the PS3 from the PSP will be incredible: imagine, a universal play experience on your PS3 and PSP. It's starting with games like Cash Money Chaos. ...

New release via Access_Denied

Well, here it is. A password protection program for the PSP. After a coldboot it automatically boots a password Program. There is no way to exit the program without the password. That's why that as of now, there is no way to change the password. I have left this out for pretty good reason. But if there is enough feedback about it, I will add it in. The universal password is 8314. Note that this REQUIRES 1.5 to get the full functionality. If you have a custom firmware, you MUST remove it as this program requires a certain custom firmware. After removing it, run the three flashers that come with the download. You may delete them afterwards except keep the config file flasher, as you might need it later.

*You are using this at your own risk. I am not responsible for ANY damages. Although I have personally tested this on my PSP, there is a chance something could happen. It's not my fault.*

UPDATE: I have attached an UN-flasher for this. It removes the custom firmware, the EBOOT.PBP and the config.txt. It's a slightly modified version of Slasher's custom firmware remover. Thanks Slasher. REMEMBER, use at your own risk!

download and give feedback via comment
via accessdenied ...

New release via Access_Denied

Well, here it is. A password protection program for the PSP. After a coldboot it automatically boots a password Program. There is no way to exit the program without the password. That's why that as of now, there is no way to change the password. I have left this out for pretty good reason. But if there is enough feedback about it, I will add it in. The universal password is 8314. Note that this REQUIRES 1.5 to get the full functionality. If you have a custom firmware, you MUST remove it as this program requires a certain custom firmware. After removing it, run the three flashers that come with the download. You may delete them afterwards except keep the config file flasher, as you might need it later.

*You are using this at your own risk. I am not responsible for ANY damages. Although I have personally tested this on my PSP, there is a chance something could happen. It's not my fault.*

UPDATE: I have attached an UN-flasher for this. It removes the custom firmware, the EBOOT.PBP and the config.txt. It's a slightly modified version of Slasher's custom firmware remover. Thanks Slasher. REMEMBER, use at your own risk!

download and give feedback via comment
via accessdenied ...