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The Wii Disassembled
mrmcgeeber writes "There are two ways to take apart the Wii. The first, as demonstrated by Popular Science, involves breaking the Wii open due to a lack of tools. The second method is a more formal Wii disassembly guide, which is provided by InformIT.com. Either way, you can see some detailed pictures of the internals of the Wii and how the parts are laid out. The InformIT.com version also includes an eight minute teardown video."
Many consoles employ ways of ensuring you can't disassemble them without causing breaking warranties. Even without that being someone who's spent time repairing various laptops I know first hand that it can be tricky figuring out how to take electronic devices apart without damaging them by snapping a piece of plastic or some such.
The news isn't just that it can be taken apart, that'd be silly, pretty much everything can be taken apart some way or another. The news is that someone has provided an article to do it properly and some people like to see what's inside without taking their own system apart also. It's a guide for people who like modding their systems which is a hobby many people enjoy, particularly amongst those of us who like to see what makes things tick.
It might not be news, but seeing the internals of new hardware is always interesting. At least, on a geek site it usually is. I thought it looked pretty neat... looks like it will be as quiet and cool as the GC. I hate the noise the PS2 and the Xbox make.
Would you begrude the same people who like to tinker in their car's engine or even people who enjoy cooking?
It's also worth nothing that not all of the hardware specs had been released, and the article fills in the gaps in what Nintendo released. It may not be of interest to you personally but you can't say it's not news.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
I hate the way some companies use oddball screws to try and stop people taking the device apart. It doesn't work - those who really want to take it apart will find the tool or improvise, and it merely annoys them. Those who don't want to take it apart wouldn't even if you used screws that could be undone with the tip of a steak knife.
It's like a wall-wart I have at home - I want to get the case off it to salvage the transformer for other projects, yet they use these nasty 'interrupted flathead' screws (two slots opposite each other on the screw head) which now means I have to buy or make a special tool *just* for this one device. Grrr. Eventually the tool will become common (just like Torx bits have become common, that was the last shenanigan they tried to stop people from taking something apart) and they will change to another infuriatingly uncommon screw type.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
The fact you can disassemble the Wii is news how exactly?
Would you rather read about the latest Google acquisition? Or how about yet another evolution/ID troll? Oh I see let's talk about the RIAA again...
THIS my friend, is news for nerds. Someone took apart their Wi, and you can see the porno-grade pics. Who else on this planet, apart from nerds, would be interested in THAT?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
And if you opened the case of your next (working) computer and only found a few LED's I suppose you would be equally dismissive, eh?
Sometimes the revolution is about what isn't there, not what is there.
I'm not an electronical engineer but I do believe that traces are layered. Typical PCB's in production hardware like computer motherboards have I think at least 3 layers. Although this is all up to the complexity of the hardware as well as who designed it. I know they can have less and I dont see why they couldn't have more layers. Some of the more intricate traces may be hidden. Either that or Nintendo has received hardware specifications from aliens ;)
I will forever be a student.
I haven't a clue why people would want to do this, but its their money being wasted.
Yes, using a game console for entertainment is clearly a waste of money.
On Smashmyps3.com video the people in line were horrified, they almost cried. The people in the Wii line were excited and said "Thats awesome!"
Thats because very few people who were buying a Wii were planning on spending this month's rent on a get rich quick scheme; also, as I noticed on Sunday, most of the people who didn't get a Wii were pretty optimistic about getting one before Christmas so there isn't the panic that the PS3 had about it.
That's not true at all. Although the chart doesn't say anything about whether the classic controller can be used for gamecube games. Given that you can use both the gamecube and classic controller for most of the same VC games i'd be surprised if the classic controller didn't work for gamecube games. In fact, hold on....
Ok, i stand corrected, i can't get the classic controller to work with Star Wars Lego 2. In fact the remote doesn't work at _all_, meaning there's no way to get back to the Wii menu once you've started a gamecube game without manually reseting the system as far as i can tell. Hopefully both of those issues will be fixed by a patch at some point.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Doesn't this give N an opportunity to save money on the systems shipped, since they have to pay a lisence for the decoding capabilities? This way, they can sell the DVD software seperately via the marketplace, and only have to cover the lisence for those who actually plan to watch DVD's on the system.
The original Xbox was like this as well, requiring an additional purchase to unlock DVD playback.
I'm waiting for smashmyH2.com. I'd cheer and even donate cash to take a few whacks with the sledgehammer myself.
Yes, I know the site exists, but it's not what I hoped it would be.
"I'm The Bounty Bear. I will find him anywhere. I'm searching."