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Wii Homebrew Takes Several Leaps Forward

Croakyvoice writes "Fans of Homebrew on the Nintendo Wii can celebrate with an explosion of releases today, in just a few hours there has been a release of a proof of concept version of Linux for the Wii, an MP3 Player, the Super Nintendo emulator Snes9X has been ported and a converter that converts Gamecube Dol files into Elf for usage on the Wii (Which opens up a multitude of emulators and homebrew games and applications). A tutorial on how to get homebrew working with the Twilight Hack will help those interested."

275 comments

  1. Wii Homebrew Takes Several Leaps Forward by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I understand Grandpa brewed his own during prohibition, and though he heard rumors that the police were polluting some brewer's beer with Wii, he said tey never got hold of his brew.

    Can you Wii while you're leaping? I mean, without getting wet?

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    1. Re:Wii Homebrew Takes Several Leaps Forward by sm62704 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh hell I made first post. What's worse, it makes reference to... I can't beer to say it...

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  2. nintendo by Freeside1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nintendo is sure to be pissed, or wii'd?

    1. Re:nintendo by LecheryJesus · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you are wii'd on then you'd probably be pissed off

      LJ

      --
      Jesus was an invention of the Romans - watch "The Pharmacractic Inquisition" for something more credible...
    2. Re:nintendo by Chode2235 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      "If I were that close to a horse's wiener, I be worried about getting pissed on."

    3. Re:nintendo by Neuticle · · Score: 1, Informative
      Mod gets a -1, Fail

      It's a Mel Brooks and Dave Chappelle combo reference: it's the punch-line to the GP's ending words, and it fits in fine with the topic of Wii-jokes.


      It's better to mod up than down, unless it's truly egregious.
      Please, save your points: don't mod down if you don't get the joke

      --
      "Cheeze it!" - Bender
    4. Re:nintendo by bliz1985 · · Score: 1

      I doubt nintendo will be pissed. They may in fact be secretly pleased as it means additional reason to get a wii -- remember xbox-linux?

    5. Re:nintendo by Neuticle · · Score: 1

      I commented on what I believe is a poor moderation by some grumple-puss who didn't get the parent's Wii joke on a thread about the Wii.

      I would think that explaining an on-topic joke that got missed counts as on-topic, but I didn't count on that same humorless dbag having left-over mod points for vengeance.

      If you don't like Slashdot humor, what are you even doing here? I can burn Karma faster than you can get mod points, I reckon, and meta-moderation will probably vindicate me.

      --
      "Cheeze it!" - Bender
  3. Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 0

    In regards to the Linux, I just have to wonder at the utility of it all... I've got some old slot 1 Pentium 3s in my garage that would provide more 'oomph' then the Wii can provide. Mostly due to increased memory, available agp slots and ease of use. However I always applaud these kind of modifications to CEs.

    --
    I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    1. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Abcd1234 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Linux + mythfrontend + wiimote sounds like a pretty killer multimedia option. And that's just the first thing that came to mind.

    2. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, if you're jonesing for standard resolution videos only. How, um, killer. Even if you could somehow manage to come up with a HD codec that the Wii could handle, it can't output it.

      The wiimote works great without a Wii.

    3. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by nine-times · · Score: 1

      I've been considering trying to hack my Wii just to get DVD playback. It's a nice little box already hooked to my TV with a DVD drive. I don't know why Nintendo won't do it in a legit way. I'd even be willing to shell out a couple dollars for it.

    4. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Abcd1234 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, if you're jonesing for standard resolution videos only

      Sounds great to me. I don't have HD, nor do I plan to upgrade any time soon (I have no desire to have my livingroom dominated by a 40"+ monster, and given the viewing distances in my livingroom, HD would be a waste on anything smaller).

    5. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but the Wii looks a lot nicer than most old computers.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    6. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Sangui · · Score: 1

      If you put in a hardware modchip, there's stuff that allows you to playback DVD's, but it'll kill the laser. Wii wasn't built for constant reading of a disk.

    7. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      I'm going to have to agree with you. The improvements provided by 40"+ TVs and 1080p resolution have been negligible at best (IMHO). Only gaming really benefits at this point, but that's why I have a PC and a 360 hooked into my "HD" monitor.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    8. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by xtracto · · Score: 1


      Linux + mythfrontend + wiimote


      Or you could you know, just use the wiimote in any linux distribution... just as a standard bluethoot device...

      I *knew* someone would post something among those lines... hehe

      --
      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    9. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but the Wii looks a lot nicer than most old computer cases. There fixed that for you.

      In fact I've got a socket A SDRAM based microatx board I've been eyeing on putting into an old NES shell. Granted, it won't fit perfectly, might have some junk in the trunk... Maybe a 2600 shell would be better, meh. The point being you can put that old hardware in anything you like.
      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    10. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by meringuoid · · Score: 3, Informative
      In regards to the Linux, I just have to wonder at the utility of it all... I've got some old slot 1 Pentium 3s in my garage that would provide more 'oomph' then the Wii can provide.

      It has built-in wireless, comes with a remote control, is small and pretty, and now with a bit of luck hopefully it can run mplayer. That means DVD and stuff from your media server. I have a whole bunch of anime on my PC upstairs which I'd prefer to watch on the big screen from the sofa instead. Linux on Wii will make that possible.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    11. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by timmarhy · · Score: 2

      higher res tv is much better to watch no matter what the viewing distance. wether the price tag on current sets is worth it to you is a different matter.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    12. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      A properly configured microatx board destined for recycling would do all that and more with a few addins and a nice case. Hell my 360 pulls all the media files I need from my PC in the office, all with no modifications. Like I said, I applaud the work. But I still fail to see Wii as viable for playing anything but games.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    13. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Abcd1234 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "higher res tv is much better to watch no matter what the viewing distance"

      If you believe that, you don't understand the physics of human vision.

    14. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by wozzinator · · Score: 1

      In regards to the Linux, I just have to wonder at the utility of it all... I've got some old slot 1 Pentium 3s in my garage that would provide more 'oomph' then the Wii can provide. Mostly due to increased memory, available agp slots and ease of use. However I always applaud these kind of modifications to CEs. I lol'd.
      --
      BSD is for people who love Unix, Linux is for people who hate Microsoft.
    15. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      Why lol'd? A 550 P3 with 1gb of ram and a 7xxx nvidia card should easily be able to surpass whatever Wii could accomplish on running linux/media center kit. Unless of course I'm vastly over estimating the video acceleration from nvidia.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    16. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by RedWizzard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A properly configured microatx board destined for recycling would do all that and more with a few addins and a nice case. Yes, but I already have a Wii. Why the hell would I want to add another box if the Wii would serve?
    17. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's not the laser that would die, it's the motor. Normal DVD reading requires that the motor step up and down its speed depending on the track being read. The Wii works differently. Instead of stepping up and down the disc velocity, it keeps the disc speed constant and steps up/down the decoding rates on the disc. As a result, GameCube and Wii games get a higher transfer rate near the edge of the disc.

      (My understanding is that one of the classic optimizations for the GameCube was to organize the data on the disc to provide the highest transfer rates during game loading.)

      This design is why GameCubes had very few drive failures in comparison to the PS2. Nintendo builds systems like tanks. ;-)

    18. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by timmarhy · · Score: 1
      unless your 1/2 blind, standard def is not as good as high def. end of story.

      no strawman arguements like "if i view a 51cm screen from 10m away it looks the same".

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    19. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      because its easier to slap together old kit? lol

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    20. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Scyber · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I am not questioning your desire to get a new TV, but I find it somewhat contradictory to think that your living room would be "dominated" by a 40+" TV, but yet the room is too large to get any benefit from HD on a smaller TV. Especially in my experience where I went from a 27" SD set to a 46" HD LCD and the TV is actually less "dominate" than the old TV. It is pretty amazing how the flat panels can actually blend right into a room, much moreso than older CRTs.

    21. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by rundgren · · Score: 4, Informative

      Interesting.. I guess this is what's called Constant Angular Velocity

    22. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      I guess this is what's called Constant Angular Velocity,
      Correct. I used to give the names and Wikipedia links, but I got tired of dragging them out every time I explained the difference between CAV and CLV (Constant Linear Velocity). :-)
    23. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by nuzak · · Score: 1

      > Linux + mythfrontend + wiimote sounds like a pretty killer multimedia option

      Assuming a decent radial menu system, maybe. Most uses of the Wiimote I've seen in games have treated it like a mouse, making you aim at buttons, which is about the last thing I want in a remote.

      --
      Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    24. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by wozzinator · · Score: 1

      A P3's bus speed and clock speed would bottleneck the hell out of the video card and 1 gb of memory. I'm just saying that although the WII's hardware stats don't seem all that great its actually pretty powerful with its IBM PPC Broadway core and ATI Hollywood gpu.

      --
      BSD is for people who love Unix, Linux is for people who hate Microsoft.
    25. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by RedWizzard · · Score: 1

      because its easier to slap together old kit? lol No, it's not. I don't have a MicroATX board or case sitting around. I have a Wii. All I have to do with the Wii is setup the software. That might be more difficult than setting up the software on some homebrew system, but with the homebrew system I'll have to research, purchase, and assemble the components. Why would I want to do that and add another box to the pile beside the TV if the Wii will do the same job?
    26. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by nuzak · · Score: 1

      Argh ... that's most uses i've seen in non-games. Like pre-game UI stuff, or browsing. Most of the UI elements don't even obey fitt's law, so you have to make sure you fit the cursor arrow inside the button box. Awfully clunky compared to just pushing a button.

      --
      Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    27. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by gallwapa · · Score: 1

      Uh, 40" negligible?

      I've got a 50" 720p and it looks better by a LOT. Even bluray stuff (1080p source downscaled) looks wonderful. Once you go blu....

    28. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but I already have a Wii. Why the hell would I want to add another box if the Wii would serve?


      Well ... there IS the little matter, that Nintendo might block this functionality in the next hardware update, so the choice might be "keep this sort of an update" or "miss out on new features from Nintendo" (or, and this is the scary choice, get an update that breaks your Wii, so you can't do anything with it, because the update interacted with unofficial hacks, badly).
    29. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      true, dat. Just last night, I put a mighty mouse up my ass.

    30. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by 644bd346996 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Since when is debunking hyperbole a straw-man attack? And why do so many /. trolls think that calling something a strawman is the equivalent of an anti-Godwin automatic win?

    31. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

      That depends a lot on how you define 'not as good.'

      There is so little being produced on television that I would want to watch that it's irrelevant to me. Maybe in a decade or so there will be enough _good_ HD content to make it worth the investment. For now, I'll let the 'early adopters' subsidize development.

    32. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      A P3's bus speed and clock speed would bottleneck the hell out of the video card and 1 gb of memory. Well what exactly are you trying to do here, those bottlenecks are going to effect any media playback or general computer tasks. A Wii is going to be superior for gaming yes, that's a given. But I still hold forth that old hardware (I threw the p3 out there cuz thats what I'm playing with right now) is better for media center or computing tasks then mucking about with your Wii. Although I still like projects such as that.
      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    33. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      I have a 42" screen which i sit about 5 feet away from, and i also have a projector which can make a much bigger display (never measured it)...
      I can sure notice the difference between regular TV, the interlacing is horrible and deinterlacing can cause artifacts... 480p looks a lot better, but it still looks a little blocky even from 5 feet away.... 720p looks nice, and i cant tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at that distance. I refuse to try 1080i as i hate interlacing.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    34. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      Yes, yes it is. If you don't have old kit lying around two things come to mind, go ahead and use your Wii like that and what the hell kind of /.'r are you? I kid, I kid... :)

      But if you do have old kit, such as I do, enough to build 3-4 computers. Then it makes much more sense to build a dedicated media center or linux box out of that.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    35. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by wozzinator · · Score: 1

      well with that ideology then they'd both do fine as general computers.

      --
      BSD is for people who love Unix, Linux is for people who hate Microsoft.
    36. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      Yes I find HD content to be very negligible in terms of improved picture quality with currently available media and broadcasts. Keep in mind this is all very subjective. But I still stand by my opinion that HD video content only becomes worthwhile at 40"+. And even then I don't find it to be all that much better. With the exception of NFL games, which I don't watch very often anyways.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    37. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Or physics in general, for that matter.

    38. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by eudaemon · · Score: 1

      I have an admittedly low end "HD" display in that it is 32" and 720p. Content from an upscaling DVD
      player or my Media Center box both of which have HDMI connections looks pretty good.
      I was stopped in my tracks at Fry's this weekend by a Sony 52" 1080P LCD display
      connected to a Bluray player. That stupid tap-dancing penguin movie literally looks
      like an entirely new title. And this is one day after seeing a friend's similarly sized
      Sony LCD projection display with HD-DVD content. There is no comparison. The latest gen
      high contrast LCD flat panel are totally teh seksay. Now to spend my tax refund on it before
      the wife can protest.

    39. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by MikeBabcock · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sure, the poster was wrong about the distance issue, but in normal viewing situations, HD resolutions make a lot of sense for TV and movie watching (not to mention the increased audio quality).

      I've seen the charts that show the supposed ability of the human eye to distinguish certain resolutions, and they all fail to take into account how the brain processes the signal over time as your eye moves (giving you a much higher resolution of vision).

      Sure, if you watch a 17" screen from 10' away, its doubtful you can tell if its running at 640x480 or 1920x1280, but you wouldn't watch TV like that in the first place, would you?

      Under most circumstances, I can't imagine (these days) configuring myself a MythTV like box without HD output capabilities.

      PS, I use a PS3 with its DLNA UPnP features to watch my downloaded / ripped shows and movies in HD or upscaled on a 30" 1080i CRT.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
    40. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      true, but you could have said it in a way that doesnt make you sound like an arrogant prick...

    41. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by JWW · · Score: 1

      Fine with me. I haven't yet laid out the piles of money I'd need to upgrade my mythbox to HD. But I do have a Wii :-)

    42. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by lindseyp · · Score: 1

      That's the exact same reason I refuse to wear glasses. With my 20/25 vision I can see just fine at reading distances.. I sit only 5ft from the TV, and I can see roadsigns just fine to just within the legal mandated viewing distance. Sure, they tell me I'd see 50% better with correction, but in my view it'd just be a waste.

      --
      j'ai découvert une démonstration vraiment admirable (de ce théorème général) que cette si
    43. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by iamstretchypanda · · Score: 1

      Tell us then, why wouldn't they?

    44. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      And I'd have to buy a PC, get a video card with TV-out, get that working with my TV which means fiddling around with modelines and god knows what else, and in the end, to get a cool, low-power, fanless setup, it'll probably cost more than a Wii.

      I *knew* someone would reply with something like that. :)

    45. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Abcd1234 · · Score: 2

      I am not questioning your desire to get a new TV, but I find it somewhat contradictory to think that your living room would be "dominated" by a 40+" TV, but yet the room is too large to get any benefit from HD on a smaller TV.

      Simple:

      a) My livingroom isn't just for watching TV, therefore I don't want it taking up a large amount of space.
      b) The layout of my livingroom is such that the viewing distance from the couch to the TV is large, while the actual available space for the TV is small, thanks to things like a fireplace, and pieces of furniture other than a TV and couch (yes, believe it or not, some people have livingrooms like that!)

    46. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see you fit that old hardware, including a DVD drive, in something the size of a Nintendo Wii. The Wii is about the same size as most PC DVD drives, not even counting room for the actual motherboard, and power supply.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    47. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Malevolyn · · Score: 1

      Everything linked in TFA has been out for a while, now. As in, I remember reading about all of them... the soonest would be about 3 days ago. And they were all relatively old then, too. I did the Twilight Princess buffer overflow on my Wii last week just for fun.

      --
      Your ad here.
    48. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      Good lord, 5' from a 42" TV? Yikes... I sit a good 10-12' from a 27" TV and that's plenty close enough for me, thanks. Are you one of those guys that likes to sit up front at those giant-screen megaplex theatres, too? :)

    49. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      can you even see the entire 42 inch screen from 5 feet away? That's like sitting front row in a movie theatre. How is that even comfortable for you?

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    50. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      I guess that's why GameCube has so much better load times than PS2 and XBox. Being the owner of a GC, I don't know how anybody put up with the atrocious load times of the PS2.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    51. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by RedWizzard · · Score: 1

      If you don't have old kit lying around two things come to mind, go ahead and use your Wii like that and what the hell kind of /.'r are you? I kid, I kid... :) As it happens I do already have a MythTV box so this Wii hack isn't something I need. But the OP I first replied to seemed to be of the opinion that this hack is worthless to everyone. That's clearly not true. There will be people who don't want to build a separate box (due to cost, or because they only want one box by the TV, or who simply don't need the extra functionality a dedicated box could provide), but who would be happy to use their Wii this way.

      But if you do have old kit, such as I do, enough to build 3-4 computers. Then it makes much more sense to build a dedicated media center or linux box out of that. The point is that even if someone has all the parts on hand (and I doubt many people have a case as nice as the Wii's just lying around), they still might not want yet another separate box sitting by the TV. Some people prefer convergence, even if it costs them functionality.
    52. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by aztracker1 · · Score: 1

      Dunno about that, XBMC (XBox Media Center) is a pretty cool thing, and would love something similar for the wii... I don't want to replace the Wii OS, but to be able to port some online games, like super mario war, or other stand alone games in a linux boot dvd, for use on the Wii would be pretty cool.

      --
      Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
    53. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Rinikusu · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah? I don't even HAVE a TV!

      --
      If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
    54. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Nintendo builds systems like tanks

      I was worried about how small children would handle a DS but it appears that the normal failure mode for the things under rugged conditions is theft.

    55. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by tepples · · Score: 1

      Or you could you know, just use the wiimote in any linux distribution Which brand of set-top Linux box with a good composite, S-video, and/or component output do you recommend?
    56. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Millennium · · Score: 2, Insightful

      unless your 1/2 blind, standard def is not as good as high def. end of story.

      No, not end of story. Human vision doesn't work that way.

      no strawman arguements like "if i view a 51cm screen from 10m away it looks the same".

      If I view a 60cm screen from 3m away it looks the same, and that's a far more realistic scenario than the one you describe. HD is a waste for most of the population: anyone who isn't a home-theater nut.

    57. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Thugthrasher · · Score: 1

      A-hem. Go to someone's house who has, say, a 32" HD LCDTV (or Plasma). Look at something that is NOT HD on the television. Now, play something that IS in HD (a Blu-ray disc, HDTV channel, whatever). Now, within any REASONABLE distance, if you don't have terrible vision (like, needing -4.0 or more contacts and not having them)...you WILL notice a difference. And I know he said "no matter what the viewing distance"...but let's just do it in reasonable distances...unless your living room is HUGE then you won't be viewing it from far enough away to be considered unreasonable, and if your living room IS that big, then go ahead and buy yourselfa 60+" television because you have the room for it.

    58. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Samah · · Score: 1

      If you're not worried about HD then, an Xbox running Xbox Media Center with the MythTV addon script and the standard Xbox remote will do you quite well. Modded Xboxes are so cheap now it's ridiculous.

      --
      Homonyms are fun!
      You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
    59. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Dannkape · · Score: 2

      Sitting 6 feet away from my 40" TV is about the equivalent of sitting in front of my 20" PC monitor in terms of filling my vision. It's nice if you like to enjoy a good movie, especially in HD...

      But if you move up to 3 feet, a 40" would sure be like a cinema front row. (I ended up with front row at one of the Star Wars S.E. and I couldn't see both edges of the screen within the frames of my glasses. It was surprisingly cool, given that it was an eye-candy loaded movie that I'd seen before, but I clearly prefer a bit further back if possible...)

    60. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Dannkape · · Score: 1

      If you can even stand watching a screen larger than 28" in SD, you must either be in Europe, or blind.

      A few years ago, visiting the US, I walked into a few electronics stores. I couldn't believe how horrible the picture look at anything above a certain size (about 28-30"). I mean, the individual lines on the screens were clearly enough visible for easy counting!

      Of course, a LCD/Plasma could help with the visible-line issue, but those weren't common at the time.

      (Now, 720p vs 1080p is another story, except for games that needs lots of space for HUD/etc...)

    61. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Techman83 · · Score: 1
      We are all forgetting one major point in this futile argument.

      Why? What's the point, it can't do X. Recylced microatx... PIII with more.... Why??
      Because wii can!

      This whole thinking for everybody is getting hard, have enough trouble thinking for one! /joke
      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i cat
      Damn, my RAM is full of cats. MEOW!!
    62. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by LKM · · Score: 1

      I don't know, I think that actually works a lot better than pretty much any other remote control scheme. No need to look at the remote, you've got all the controls on the screen.

    63. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by TimboJones · · Score: 1

      Well... loading up Twilight Princess to hit a buffer overflow before you can boot the machine or switch between Wii games and media library is damn inconvenient.

    64. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by dintech · · Score: 2

      Because crying "straw-man" is fad used by unfortunate individuals trying desperately to sound intellectual. It's a term that is used mostly by people who don't appreciate the meaning. Those who do, rarely see the need to bother.

    65. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by grimner · · Score: 1

      HD is a waste for most of the population: anyone who isn't a home-theater nut. There is a very clear difference between HD and SD tv, a difference that anyone can see. HD has more detail and colors are more vibrant. Anyone who claims there is not difference is clearly incorrect. The point of contention is do most people care, which is probably your point.
    66. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by scheller · · Score: 1

      Exactly my problem! I have a very long living room, whith one side being made up my panorama windows. After trying a huge number of configurations, I ended up with a solution based on a projector that projects a 90" image - but I'm viewing it from my couch at a distance of 7 meters. I don't believe for a second that a HD projector would give me a significant improvement in image quality.

    67. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by darthnoodles · · Score: 1

      colors are more vibrant
      The colour space in SD is identical to the colour space of HD. You're just noticing improved viewing and/or transmission technologies.
    68. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by kellyb9 · · Score: 1

      True - this would be a pretty interesting in theory, but overall, I can imagine this would be much better if it were homebrewed on 360 or PS3, just because the hardware is far superior. I like the Wii, I own a Wii, but I have to admit, it isn't nearly as powerful as its competitors. Good thing It doesnt have to be :-).

    69. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      A-hem. Go to someone's house who has, say, a 32" HD LCDTV (or Plasma). Look at something that is NOT HD on the television. Now, play something that IS in HD (a Blu-ray disc, HDTV channel, whatever). Now, within any REASONABLE distance, if you don't have terrible vision (like, needing -4.0 or more contacts and not having them)...you WILL notice a difference.

      Uhuh. Let's see, I went here, threw in a 32" TV, and according to it, the "Maximum Viewing Distance for HDTV(Fully resolved 1080i; 1920 x 1080)" is... drumroll... *4 FEET*. Yeah, that's right, the furthest you can sit from your TV is four feet if you want to fully resolve, and thus actually see, a 1080i picture.

      Sorry, that ain't happening. The viewing distance from my couch averages around *10* feet, and to fully resolve a 1080i image, I'd need a *72* inch TV, at least. Of course, one doesn't need to *fully* resolve the image, but I'd still need something far larger than I would ever tolerate in a space that is *not* meant to be solely dedicated to television watching (nor does it have the space for anything much larger than a 36" widescreen TV, in any case, due to the way the space is laid out, not to mention the presence of things *other* than a TV).

    70. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Millennium · · Score: 1

      There is a very clear difference between HD and SD tv, a difference that anyone can see.

      Only on very large screens at relatively short distances.

      HD has more detail and colors are more vibrant.

      The colors in HD are not inherently more vibrant. What you are seeing is either a result of proper screen calibration, digital transmissions (something not unique to HD), or a simple placebo effect. To be perfectly honest, I suspect it's a combination of all three, and something easily doable in SD.

      As for "more detail," again that only matters for very large screens at relatively short viewing distances. With a longer viewing distance or a smaller screen, the added details are too small for the human eye to recognize. While this is not exactly basic biology or optics, it's still not outside the realm of a high-school course.

    71. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Chode2235 · · Score: 1

      Wasn't HD invented specifically for use in smaller Japanese living quarters where the viewers typically sit closer to the TVs that we do our here in the US?

      Pretty sure that is somewhere in the general narrative of HD.

    72. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Chode2235 · · Score: 1

      Also, now that HDTVs are 16:9 the diagonal measurements are so different than the old 4:3s that it is almost worthless to compare.

      For instance my 50" HDTV is really only 36 or so inches tall. Where as the old 4:3 TVs it would be like 50" tall.

      Its like apples and oranges. People get scared off by the size, but they aren't really appreciating the perspective.

      You also are right on when you talk about the ambiguousness of a LCD or plasma TV at home on the wall. They days of the room filling home theater are long gone.

    73. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by spun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Really? Because I've mostly seen it used appropriately here. And it is appropriate, in a debate, to point out when the other side is unfairly depicting your position. Whining about other people's use of the term 'straw-man' is a fad used by unfortunate individuals whose argumentation strategy consists of little more than straw-men, improper generalization, and ad-hominems.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    74. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by morari · · Score: 1

      I run an s-video cable out to my television for when I just can't be bothered to burn something onto DVD. Most any videocard nowadays seems to have s-video output.

      --
      "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
    75. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Thugthrasher · · Score: 1

      I never said that you would fully resolve the distance of a picture. I just said to see a noticeable difference. And trust me, at 10 feet, you can STILL see a noticeable difference. I promise. I've done it, on more than one occasion.

    76. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by randyest · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the fact that a P3 system will use up to 30W just for the CPU (depending on clock speed), probably as much as 100W or more depending on the components inside, whereas the wii maxes out around 18W and can sleep at almost nothing and resume instantly.

      --
      everything in moderation
    77. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by sdsucks · · Score: 1

      I sit about 6ft away from a 46". Its very comfortable to watch :)
      Not even close to "sitting front row in a movie theater". I'd say it's just about right actually.

    78. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by sdsucks · · Score: 1

      I'll second that... XBMC rocks, though I rarely use it these days. (Mostly due to the fact that I've invested over $4k into my "toy" pc that is now hooked up to my TV/media center)

      XMBC can play HD however, and the xbox can do HD (At least 720P) however the poor old 733MHz processor can have trouble decoding some formats in HD.

    79. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by ncryptd · · Score: 1

      That's the same way the Dreamcast's GDROM worked. Same with the optimizations -- I remember that if you burned your pirated games incorrectly, you'd end up with a poor-performing game...

      Those were the days, backing up my Dreamcast games over a serial connection... waiting 4 days or so for a transfer to complete... walking in the snow up hill both ways...

    80. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      I remember that if you burned your pirated games incorrectly, you'd end up with a poor-performing game...
      I think you're confused. The Dreamcast pirated games were standard CD-ROMs that used a special multimedia extension (i.e. a backdoor) to boot. That's why some of the pirated games didn't fit without having their sounds or graphics downsampled.

      While the system did use CAV for GDROM discs, the real secret to GDROM was that it was just a CDROM with no error protection. By reclaiming the extra bits normally used to recover from scratches and smudges, GDROM discs were able to hold a lot more data than regular CDROMs. Of course, they were also one of least resilient media EVER created. There are games that practically have to be pirated because it's too hard to find an original disc.

      GDROM was quite possibly one of the worst formats ever. And I say that as a Dreamcast fan. :-)
    81. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, they tell me I'd see 50% better with correction, but in my view it'd just be a waste.

      A waste of what exactly? Fashion? Pride? Certainly not a lot of money...

      You can get a basic eye exam and TWO pairs of cheap-ish, no frills glasses for around $250 (cash, without any insurance coverage whatsoever) Glasses can last for a decade or more if cared for.

      Most states laws set the legal limit at 20/40 for uncorrected vision, any higher and you can't drive without glasses/contacts. If you can make out signs "just within the legal mandated viewing distance", then you don't have 20/25 vision, and you are missing out on a lot, visually.

      I held off getting glasses for a long time myself, as a child I fought it tooth and nail. The brain accommodates visual deficits AMAZINGLY well, and you literally don't realize what you are missing. Try the glasses and walk around- outside where the far vision is more prominent.

      Yeah, it's off topic, but it's AC

    82. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The size of the screen is still measured by the diagonal. That means your 50" 4:3 screen would be 30" tall, not 50". And your 50" HDTV with a 16:9 aspect ratio would be ~24.5" tall.

    83. Re:Get 'em Tiger! by gallwapa · · Score: 1

      If you're looking for cost effectiveness you might take a look at DLP tvs. I've got a rear projection DLP. $900 (+$100 rebate to nflshop.com) for 50" of 720p goodness.

  4. Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloader by Channard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    .. it wouldn't surprise me if their next system update doesn't block this too. Though the main difference between this and the 360 exploit would seem to be that the Wii doesn't, as yet, force you to update in order to get online. The part of this that interests me the most is the SNES emulator - hopefully this might cause Nintendo to look at their pricing plan for the Virtual Console games. Seven quid for an unenhanced SNES game seems a bit pricey.

  5. Great, now the Twilight Princess Team will... by Leptok · · Score: 3, Funny

    Have to commit Seppeku.

    1. Re:Great, now the Twilight Princess Team will... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, I can't seem to find that word in my dictionary.

    2. Re:Great, now the Twilight Princess Team will... by Loibisch · · Score: 1

      That's because it's called Sepuku

  6. Slowly but surely... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...they're getting there. Meanwhile, game programmers have been working with the (admittedly limited) Opera Browser to produce games designed for the Wii. WiiCade is even paying for games now, something which you won't find out of other homebrew ventures.

    It's not a perfect solution, but it does work, and it works well enough to play some pretty cool stuff. And you can even get paid to perform your hobby! How cool is that? :)

    Disclaimer: I am associated with WiiCade. So take this with a grain of salt.

    1. Re:Slowly but surely... by NullProg · · Score: 1

      Ok, I just got off Wiicade (with our Wii). My thirteen year old said it was OK. He wasn't impressed by the games.

      I thought the Games/Gameplay was alright but the videos seem a little slow (compared to youtube under Verizon Fios). Can the site handle the load if it becomes popular?

      I added your website to our Wii Favorites.

      I'm still waiting for Java support in Wii Opera. My younger son wants to play Runescape and I'd like it so I can view/animate the local NOAA weather radar.

      Keep up the good work.

      Enjoy.

      --
      It's just the normal noises in here.
    2. Re:Slowly but surely... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      My thirteen year old said it was OK. He wasn't impressed by the games.
      FWIW, they're not going to compare to the latest blockbusters. While WiiCade is trying to improve the quality of the games (thus paying for high quality ones), many of them are most fun when played with friends. For example, Newgrounds Rumble is fun as a single player game, but it's TONS more fun when played against friends. Up to four players! Wiimote Wars, Wiimote Wars 2, and Slipstream are all the same way.

      Some of the fun one player games are Key to Adventure, Dice Wars, Paintball, and Double Wires.

      the videos seem a little slow (compared to youtube under Verizon Fios)
      The Wii Browser is pretty slow at rendering, I'm afraid. WiiCade has spent a lot of time working to improve the performance of games, thus why they tend to play reasonably well. It's actually possible to make the videos play faster as well, but they haven't received nearly as much attention as the games have. I imagine that will change sometime in the not-too-distant future.

      I'm still waiting for Java support in Wii Opera.
      Unfortunately, that is one thing that is unlikely to happen. Java hasn't been optimized for smaller machines since the 1.1 days. These days it's built to do complex desktop and server applications. A proper J2SE VM is simply too heavyweight for the Wii's 80MB RAM + 512MB of flash disk.

      Keep up the good work.
      Thank you! I will continue to do what I can to help improve things. :)
  7. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't care about an SNES emulator. I just want a Divix player.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  8. At last, a use for my copy of Twilight Princess by xtracto · · Score: 1

    I bought that Zelda game along with Red Steel when the Wii came out (yup, i preordered in a COMET in the UK). I played it for maybe 5 hours (not straight, at different times) and got really bored. The first two hours is a really boring tutorial and the next hours are so monotonous that I just stopped playing it. It has been gathering dust since then. I was thinking of trading it but with these news I do not think so!)

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    1. Re:At last, a use for my copy of Twilight Princess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good for you. Meanwhile, a few hundred million people around the world are really enjoying their Wii and play it at least a few hours a week.
      And guess what. We care about their gaming habits more than yours.

    2. Re:At last, a use for my copy of Twilight Princess by arb+phd+slp · · Score: 1
      Agreed. Twilight Princess doesn't start getting really fun until at least 10-15 hours in when it finally lets you run around and do whatever you want. The tutorial/linear part of the game is way too long.

      I actually put it aside and did a complete play-through of Zelda Phantom Hourglass and Link to the Past on virtual console in the middle of Twilight Princess.

      --
      There's a perfect xkcd for my sig but I'm too lazy to look it up. sudo someone go find it.
    3. Re:At last, a use for my copy of Twilight Princess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's only one system that's sold a hundred million units. The all mighty PS2. Hail the PS2 in all of it's glory.

    4. Re:At last, a use for my copy of Twilight Princess by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      I personally loved Twilight Princess. Played it on the GC, although I'm pretty sure it's the exact same game. I don't know why people found the game so boring. I loved it. Seems the consensus based on user reviews, and the website review are that the game was pretty good.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    5. Re:At last, a use for my copy of Twilight Princess by damiangerous · · Score: 1
      a few hundred million people around the world are really enjoying their Wii

      Considering the Wii has sold just over 20 million consoles worldwide as of the end of 2007, I'd consider that pretty unlikely. The best selling console of all time, the PS2, has "only" sold 120 million over its lifetime.

  9. Unfortunately by Sabz5150 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It seems that their attempts to host a website on a Wii has failed.

    --
    "Who modded this informative? Whoever it is must've been smokin' some of that martian pot!"
    1. Re:Unfortunately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where does it say they did?

  10. Nintendo will be happy by Lewrker · · Score: 1

    that the users can finally play games for their vintage gaming systems free of charge.

    1. Re:Nintendo will be happy by hedwards · · Score: 1

      We could already do that. I've been playing my old NES, GB and GBC games on my GBA for quite a while. Overall, it actually works out pretty well in most cases. Except for the GBC games, all the others can be saved at arbitrary points. I loaded every game I have onto one cart, which is now the only cart that ever goes into that handheld.

      I don't mind paying for vintage games, as long as there is a compelling reason to do so. Make it look proper on the new system, save games fix any relevant bugs and make it work well on the new system. I'm not really interested myself in paying for games that I already own a second time, but if I didn't own the original version, I don't mind paying for a refresh.

    2. Re:Nintendo will be happy by xenocide2 · · Score: 1

      You know, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the VC was using an open source emulator or two. They used PocketNES for the NES classics released on the GBA. And completely in line with the BSD style license.

      --
      I Browse at +4 Flamebait

      Open Source Sysadmin

    3. Re:Nintendo will be happy by tepples · · Score: 1

      They used PocketNES for the NES classics released on the GBA. Atlus and Jaleco did, but Nintendo didn't. For NES games in e-Reader, Animal Crossing, and Classic NES Series, Nintendo used its own emulator that the scene has called "acNES". But acNES did borrow its screen scaling technique from PocketNES.
    4. Re:Nintendo will be happy by xenocide2 · · Score: 1

      Ah, thank you for reminding me. That's right it Jaleco that used pocketSNES.

      --
      I Browse at +4 Flamebait

      Open Source Sysadmin

  11. wii-linux.com message by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There seems to be a weird message on http://wii-linux.com./ Anything related?

  12. bottom line by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bottom line:

    How much will it cost me to run homebrew games on the wii?
    Will it void my warrenty?

    How about a homebrew friendly game console?

    1. Re:bottom line by Sangui · · Score: 1

      If you want to run HOMEBREW games, and not downloaded pirated Wii games, then 50 bucks for an SDGecko + the cost of an SD card. No it won't. Get an Xbox(Original, not 360) or PSP if you want a system with an active homebrew scene already established.

    2. Re:bottom line by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 1

      How about a homebrew friendly game console? XGameStation

      --
      "The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
  13. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by flynt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If 7 dollars is too much for an unenhanced SNES game, what do you think a fair price is, 6 dollars? They can only go so low. I spent 7 dollars on a McDonald's value meal at O'Hare this weekend. I spent 6 bucks on a coffee this morning. THOSE are outrageous prices. Getting to play ActRaiser/SMW/Mario Kart/etc. again sure as hell gives me more value for my dollar than that Big Mac did. If you won't get 5-7 dollars worth of enjoyment out of it, don't buy the game.

  14. SDGecko by Sangui · · Score: 2, Informative

    I won't care until I can run this off of my SD card plugged into the Wii, as opposed to needing an SDGecko to go through my Gamecube Memory card port. Until then, ZZzzzZZZzzzzzZZ

    1. Re:SDGecko by Mr.+Roadkill · · Score: 1

      I won't care until I can run this off of my SD card plugged into the Wii, as opposed to needing an SDGecko to go through my Gamecube Memory card port. Until then, ZZzzzZZZzzzzzZZ
      Given that you can get an SDGecko or knock-off for under USD$7 including postage from a few reasonably reliable Hong Kong suppliers, it's not that much of an impediment. Also, because of the nature of the attack, it's unlikely that that hack will get direct to the Wii's SD slot - it's more likely that a loader program in the SDGecko would attempt to boot code from the Wii's own SD slot or USB port or off the network. I'd be really happy to be proven wrong, though.

      Launching stuff through the Twilight Princess hack is great for geek cred, but not something the rest of the family can necessarily enjoy. The real holy grail is finding a way to boot Wii-mode homebrew from discs in modified consoles. GCLinux on the Wii in Wii mode (complete with working wifi or a USB ethernet adaptor) would make a really nifty media centre - stick the disc in as you would with any other disc, start it in the usual way, then watch whatever you've recorded off-air to the server in the back room. I want something my wife and kids can drive, and it's not quite there yet. I also don't want a half-dozen consoles lying around to do different things - I could do that kind of thing with a cheap second-hand X-Box right now, but there IS such a thing as too many consoles and too much clutter.
    2. Re:SDGecko by Sangui · · Score: 1

      I've got a modded console. I'm content to wait for the scene to be able to sign their own disks so I can just play a burned dvd/do something like the independence exploit for the ps2/custom firmware like the psp

  15. Simon says take two steps back by SleptThroughClass · · Score: 1

    "Wii Homebrew Takes Several Leaps Forward" ... I was expecting a footwear-related hack.

  16. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by chromatic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I spent 6 bucks on a coffee this morning.

    I think you mean "milkshake".

  17. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by kurokaze · · Score: 1

    I'd be happy to play regular DVDs on my Wii. A DivX player is icing on the cake for me!

  18. I didn't say dollars.. by Channard · · Score: 3, Informative

    .. I said 'pounds'. The actual cost of buying a SNES from the Virtual Console, if you're in the UK, works out as a total of eleven dollars. So we're paying over the odds compared to the US anyway.

    1. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by HAKdragon · · Score: 1

      Quid = Pounds, much in the same way that Buck = Dollar.

      --
      "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
    2. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have some good news! You're not allowed to post anymore, due to ignorance, poor spelling and grammar, and crappy logic skills! Congratulations!

    3. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Braino420 · · Score: 0, Troll

      no, you said quid(whatever the hell that is)
      You, sir, are a moron. First off, most everyone knows that quid=pound. Everyone who didn't know that knew they could find the answer from google. Slashdot ID revoked.
      --
      They call me the wookie man, I guess that's what I am
    4. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or he could be from the US, and have never heard the term.

      Wait, you already called him a moron, I'm just being redundant. Sorry.

    5. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by lubricated · · Score: 1, Redundant

      >> I have some good news! You're not allowed to post anymore, due to ignorance, poor spelling and grammar, and crappy logic skills! Congratulations!

      Says the AC.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    6. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by lubricated · · Score: 1, Troll

      >> You, sir, are a moron. First off, most everyone knows that quid=pound.

      Ok, so I'm a moron, let me know if responding to me made you feel better.

      >> Everyone who didn't know that knew they could find the answer from google.

      Everyone that didn't know and cared.

      >> Slashdot ID revoked.

      let me know how that's working out for you.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    7. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by pembo13 · · Score: 1

      Not to be funny, but how many hamburgers is that?

      --
      "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
    8. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's cool man, instead of using my mod points on this topic, I just looked up all of your posts and marked you overrated. Have a nice day.

    9. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      awww, stung by a bunch of island monkeys.

    10. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by lubricated · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Here's another one, bang away. Let me know, I wouldn't want you to have any spare mod points.

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    11. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's called blockquote jackass, look it up (the aforementioned google should do nicely). Oh ya, pretend that you don't care enough to look it up, but care enough to, not only reply, but to also reply to the person calling you a moron. Keep replying though, please, it makes me smile. This is why I wish /. had a forum, so your wonderful insights can go on indefinitely.

    12. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You actually said 'quid'

    13. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by xenocide2 · · Score: 1

      Well, 7 pounds, times 4 quarter pounder's per pound = 28 hamburgers?

      --
      I Browse at +4 Flamebait

      Open Source Sysadmin

    14. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, so I'm a moron, let me know if responding to me made you feel better.

      it made me feel better, as did all the AC comments.
      hell im only posting this AC so i can finally get some karma and have my moronic posts read by people, your my idol!

      p.s the American quote by AC was just too funny
    15. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by ResidntGeek · · Score: 1

      That's a strong candidate for the worst rebuttal I've ever heard.

      --
      ResidntGeek
    16. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's cool man, instead of using my mod points on this topic, I just looked up all of your posts and marked you overrated. Have a nice day.

      I'm an interested observer, with a bunch of mod points, and thanks for giving me an idea what to do with them. I'll use them to counteract abuses like yours.

      Braino420 right? Oh, a pot reference in your nick. Clever.

    17. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      I only know the continental prices but a BigMac is 3 Euros, a Whopper 4, IIRC. A SNES game is 8. Of course the really cheap hamburgers are 1 Euro a piece but those are so tiny you have to eat two. Still, VC games are less of a ripoff than retail games which cost 10 Euros more than a 1:1 conversion (50$ -> 60€, 20$->30€, ...) and importing, including shipping and duty/taxes, still ends up cheaper than a game sold at retail. Even more if the game is budget priced in the US since those usually end up being priced at the full 60€ here anyway.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    18. Re:I didn't say dollars.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Technically, you said "quid" not "pounds".

  19. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by webrunner · · Score: 1

    360s support divx natively as of the latest Dashboard update, so if you want a Divx player one of the easiest thing to right now is to just buy a cheap 360 (about the same price as a wii) and stick em on a USB flash drive or external HD or something.

    --
    ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
  20. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    Not me. I have 3 DVD changer, a PS2, and an HD-DVD player.. Yea I know but I got it for $98 and it is a really nice upconverting DVD player as well.
    The last think I need is to play DVDs on the Wii. None of my players play DivX so that is the functionality I want. If it could play them over the network even better!

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  21. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by scuba0 · · Score: 1

    You mean like any ~$50 regular DVD-player that already does DivX. Why spend 3 times as much on something the person obviously is not interested in?

  22. Yes, but... by Wandering+Wombat · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... can it run Vista?

    No?

    Awesome.

    --
    I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
    1. Re:Yes, but... by lenwar · · Score: 1

      Well duh...

      Did you find a Vista Capable sticker on the box?
      Sheesh!

      --
      If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough
  23. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by edwdig · · Score: 1

    How are they going to stop it? It's a exploting a buffer overrun in the Zelda save game loading code. What are they going to do, issue a firmware update that prevents the Wii from storing Zelda saves?

  24. That's great and all by CSMatt · · Score: 1

    But does it run ...

    It does? Sweet.

  25. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    He did say "quid", which would put it at more like $14 USD.

  26. Smash Bros by Applejoint · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wonder if the twilight hack can break region locking so euros can actually get Smash Bros Brawl this year!

    1. Re:Smash Bros by tepples · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Wonder if the twilight hack can break region locking so euros can actually get Smash Bros Brawl this year! Citation needed that the version for Europe has been pushed back to 2009 or later.
    2. Re:Smash Bros by satoshi1 · · Score: 1

      I believe I read on Kotaku that it's coming out in Fall of this year.

    3. Re:Smash Bros by richy+freeway · · Score: 1

      The JPN version of SSBB runs fine on my UK Wii...

  27. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by nanoakron · · Score: 1

    Uhh...he said 'quid' - common parlance for 'uk pound sterling'.

    Seven of whch equal around 13.50 of your US dollars...so yet again we are being ripped off royally over here on 'treasure island'.

  28. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    £7 is $14 is about four times what I'd spend.

  29. PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Informative

    The PS3 has been running Linux on its Cell CPU's PPC core for several releases now, including several official Ubuntu PS3 releases. Sony does lock out the RSX graphics chip to Linux, but the Cell's 6 SPUs (pipelined DSPs) are wide open for development. And now that developers have ported video drivers to the SPUs, the PS3 is a hot little multimedia PC. I watch downloaded 1080P HD videos (and regular upsampled MPG/WMV/AVI/etc) right on the same 50" HDMI TV I surf the web (and watch Blu-Ray discs) and program with. And when Sony releases the PlayTV 2-channel DVB TV tuner for PS3 next month, I expect my Linux PS3 will beat TiVo at its own game, too.

    The Wii is just getting started as "homebrew". Its HW isn't nearly as screaming as the PS3, nor as designed to be open for Linux. Hacking it sounds like a fun toy, which is why people buy the Wii. But the PS3 is already starting to be a Linux platform more interesting than even its gaming. A few more leaps forward on the PS3 and the Wii will look so 21st Century.

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    1. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Gizzmonic · · Score: 1

      Doc Ruby,

      Thanks for the ubuntu links. I have a couple questions for you if you don't mind-

      What codecs are the 1080p videos using?

      Have you had any luck with Matruska/x264 videos?

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      (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
    2. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      I don't know which codecs. The MPG, WMV and AVI files I've test have all worked. The HD files come from ftp://mpeg:mpeg@ftp.cmf.nrl.navy.mil/pub/iHDTV/MPEG/. The SPU driver developer's latest notes indicated they're working on x264 right now, so maybe they don't work yet, but the developer is really fast at this stuff when they're working on it.

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    3. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by pembo13 · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure Fedora was running on it even before Ubuntu.

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      "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
    4. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      That's nice, except that it involves buying a PS3, which most Slashdotters won't do due to the boycott on Sony products in response to the root-kit and Blu-ray DRM fiascos. Or would, if Slashdotters weren't so infatuated with shiny things.

      Getting Linux to work on the Wii is a fairly impressive hack. Getting it to work on the PS3 isn't a hack at all, it's a worthless feature that no one actually uses. Sort of like the ability to play games, given the figures as high as 90% for PS3s being used as Blu-ray players.

      And when Sony releases the PlayTV 2-channel DVB TV tuner for PS3 next month, I expect my Linux PS3 will beat TiVo at its own game, too. Well, probably, since my understanding is that TiVo isn't available in the regions where the PlayTV is. PlayTV is currently a European exclusive. (Plus Australia and New Zealand? I'm not sure.)

      The Wii is just getting started as "homebrew". Bullshit! First, you're ignoring the Wii Browser, which people have been creating games for since release. Secondly, unlike Sony, Nintendo is releasing a development kit to allow third-party developers create downloadable games via a new "Wii Ware" channel. Nintendo is embracing homebrew content.
    5. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Punto · · Score: 1

      the wii has fun games

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      Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!

    6. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Big+Boss · · Score: 1

      Have you tested it with 720P and/or 1080I MPEG2 files like those one would get from an ATSC tuner? That's what I need in a Myth frontend. I use a AMD X2 box to do it now, but if I can make a PS3 do it well, I would buy one. With blu-ray and games available in the same box, that's worth $400 if they can get Myth playing ATSC files deinterlaced with a 720P output.

    7. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by snuf23 · · Score: 1

      "Nintendo is releasing a development kit to allow third-party developers create downloadable games via a new "Wii Ware" channel. Nintendo is embracing homebrew content."

      3D party game development is not the same as homebrew hobbyist game development. I'm sure each game offered on Wii Ware will be done through an agreement with Nintendo requiring approval and some financial sharing. This isn't the same as somebody making a game on their own and offering it (typically) for free or donation.
      Many homebrew games such as remakes of old games could not be released as commercial efforts due to copyright issues.

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      Sometimes my arms bend back.
    8. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      There's no Slashdot boycott of Sony products. That's just some Anonymous blathering Coward yammering that nobody actually does.

      I didn't say that Linux on Wii isn't an impressive hack, or worth doing if you want to just hack something, which is perfectly admirable. Wii homebrew is certainly just getting started, if Linux doesn't even run on it already. It's been just getting started for a while now. Sony doesn't need to release an SDK, because Linux is the SDK (along with the IBM and other Cell SDKs that come with the PS3 Linux). And that "channel" is called the Web.

      Like I said, PS3 is wide open. Even the lockouts of the RSX don't really matter, because the rest of the HW is open, and powerful enough that the RSX isn't missed. A PS3 already looks like a great PVR platform just using USB tuners, and the PlayTV will indeed probably beat TiVo at its own game. The unavailability of TiVo in Europe means that beating that game is even more important there, because that game will be between Sony's PlayTV and the Linux PlayTV (and other PVRs, even USB on PS3). It's the game that counts.

      And there are different games. If the game is just getting Linux up and running, you've got to play that one on Wii. Because it's already won on PS3. If the game is using the console for more entertainment than just an impressive hack, the PS3 runs Linux and multimedia. If you want both, you can help make the SPU multimedia support more complete. Which, when won, will allow playing all kinds of other games, including making PS3 games. Well before that's available for the Wii, and with a much more impressive platform.

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    9. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      When Sony released the PS3 in November 2006, Yellow Dog Linux was ready to run on it.

      But Ubuntu is a better Linux for desktops, and it's more popular than YDL. Plus, I like the idea of a Linux that's not so closely connected to Sony, and still works well.

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    10. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Brain+Damaged+Bogan · · Score: 1

      considering that the Wii costs a mere fraction of what a PS3 costs... being able to run linux means all you need is myth front end running on the Wii plus a cheap box with plenty of hard drive space and a hdtv tuner to host the myth backend and you'll still have plenty of money left over to buy games... games that are much more fun than the "multimedia driven" PS3...

      the Wii's pricetag is certainly in the 21st century, the PS3's pricetag is somewhere in the realm of 24th century

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    11. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      a fun toy, which is why people buy the Wii

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    12. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by NullProg · · Score: 1

      The PS3 has been running Linux on its Cell CPU's PPC core [psubuntu.com] for several releases now

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Sony partner with Yellowdog to get Linux working on the PS3? Thats not a hack and like you said, you can't access the graphics chip (as of yet).

      The Wii Zelda Hack allows us to control the machine in ways Nintendo doesn't approve of.

      Don't get me wrong. I'd love to have a PS3. I just can't justify the expense with the wife right now.

      Enjoy,

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      It's just the normal noises in here.
    13. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by manekineko2 · · Score: 1

      Do you have any links that concisely summarize turning the PS3 into a versatile media center? Or are you just talking about the out of the box functionality?

      I looked at the news sites for console hacking and didn't see much. Linux access to the RSX but nothing really far developed.

      Is there an easy way to turn the PS3 into a replacement for my Xbox Media Center on my Xbox 1?

    14. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, no, you're all wrong here. See, around here, SONY is evil, nothing they do is good, and Nintendo is the beloved benevolent fun corporation with the Midas touch.

      Or did I miss the newest /. public opinion update?

    15. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      Linux access to the RSX is a dead end hacking safari that Sony seems committed to stopping. The SPU acceleration that's now available is plenty good enough.

      The PSUbuntu site I linked to has howtos and other good advice. It's not exactly "concisely summarized", but it's got the info to make PS3 a Linux media center, often collected into one place. But it could use some help. Why don't you help out, maybe making a bunch of .deb packages out of what are still just HowTos and components of the complete solution?

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    16. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Kamineko · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sony does lock out the RSX graphics chip to Linux


      Not that wide, then.
    17. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      You are correct. Though at $500 the PS3 is pretty cheap, considering it includes a Blu-Ray player, HDMI output at 1080P, WiFi/Bluetooth, and a popular game console.

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    18. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      I don't know what you're talking about. The Wii costs $400. The PS3 costs $400.

      Also, if you're not running Linux on the Wii (which you're not), then you're not able to run Linux. That'll be true in the 24th Century, too.

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    19. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      1080P MPG4 (and WMV) is working well, though the actual driver has some reported instabilities, and isn't integrated with X yet. However, the developer is wrapping them up, and by the time you get one and get Ubuntu installed on it, it'll probably be ready. Or a few weeks later. Check the links I included to PSUbuntu and jump when you think it's ready.

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    20. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      but the Cell's 6 SPUs (pipelined DSPs) are wide open for development.


      Pretty wide.
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    21. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But the PS3 is already starting to be a Linux platform more interesting than even its gaming. A few more leaps forward on the PS3 and the Wii will look so 21st Century.


      While I completelly agree with the first statement, I must disagree with the second (unless my English comprehension is as bad as I suspect it to be). At least if what I read on the web is true (and it doesn't seem that unreasonable), the PS3 power consumption is around 10x as much as that of the Wii (idle, average or max power).

      Good hardware, for me, also means very low power consumption. While a mini-itx solution does sound interesting for a home server, I see no reason I should bother buying one if I can spend all my money in a little box that already comes with all the required hardware for the job, makes little to no noise and plays games everyone in my house is interested in.

      A USB IDE case, a relatively new-but-unused 320GB disk and a wii would make a very good torrent and/or ed2k client without the 200W (perhaps 30W, instead?). Yes, the downloads would have to be stoped while playing. But that's no more than 6 hours/day max here. Being able to use my bandwidth for any reason I see fit while I'm not awake *and* doing that without having any of my machines on would drastically reduce power usage and noise at night.

      I probably wouldn't bother using it as a media center, however. And wouldn't bother buying it for the linux capability. Just like I wouldn't run linux on the PS3 expecting the RSX to be fully operational at all times.

      I still have doubts whether it is possible to run those without having to constantly repatch against firmware upgrades from the game companies.
    22. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      It takes a lot more HW than that available on mini-ITX to cleanly display 1080P HD on HDMI, and the Cell does that nicely. Especially since the only drivers for those mini-ITX machines that do HD are proprietary, running only under Windows (not Linux). The next generation of PS3, probably out for Christmas, will use the new 45nm Cell process which cuts power quite a lot. Newer PS3s already eliminated PS2 and PS1 chips and their power consumption. In fact, the Cell has better performance per watt than x86 chips (or GPU chips) do.

      Also, PS3 Linux is officially supported and encouraged by Sony, as is using the SPUs for, say, video drivers, as I mentioned. No firmware patches are necessary (except for what they add/fix in the user's interest).

      Maybe there are better machines for torrent clients. But for HD playback, the PS3 is really good, and getting better. Especially if you want to watch a Blu-Ray disc.

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    23. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by zensonic · · Score: 1

      Except that the PS3 consumes anywhere from 120W to 300W depending on version and usage. The wii will stay below 20W at all times. If you can live with the non-HD output of the wii it will make a fine mediacenter, IMHO.

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      Thomas S. Iversen
    24. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You would be incorrect. Wii is available at retail for an MSRP of $249.99. PS3 is not.

    25. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Have you tested it with 720P and/or 1080I MPEG2 files like those one would get from an ATSC tuner? That's what I need in a Myth frontend. I use a AMD X2 box to do it now, but if I can make a PS3 do it well, I would buy one. With blu-ray and games available in the same box, that's worth $400 if they can get Myth playing ATSC files deinterlaced with a 720P output.


      You can, but don't expect Linux to do it. If your Myth box can do DLNA and export compatible h.264 videos, it'll stream over the network just fine.

      The problem is, everyone thinks PS3-Linux runs "on bare metal" when it's really running on a virtual machine. The VM allows access to 6 of the 7 available SPEs (PS3's OS reserves one for its purpose, and one of the SPEs is disabled in the silicon). The VM disallows access to the RSX chip - it's a rather expensive framebuffer operation to update the screen (update memory, trigger interrupt to get VM to update RSX's framebuffer). Hard drive, card slots are virtualized, as well. Access to Bluetooth and WiFi are disabled. Access to the Blu-Ray drive is limited to insecure ATA commands only. Hard drive (SATA), Blu-Ray drive (IDE) and card slots are exported as standard SCSI devices without using any IDE-SCSI type emulation. A bad sector on the disk leads to strange errors (I know - my first drive upgrade had a bad sector, and the disk kept giving me strange ext3 errors).

      Stupid framebuffer kernel thread also runs all the time...

      I can't get the PS3 to play back a DVD upscaling to 1080p without Xine complaining that it has to drop frames. The X server is the Xfb framebuffer server. Xrandr, yes, Xv, no.
    26. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

      I am under the impression that XBMC for PS3 has been postponed or cancelled due to the lock out of the RSX processor actually, so if what you claim about using the SPE's for the driver performance boost is true, this could be a good thing.

      I know few people have tried XBMC but those lucky enough to have put in the time and effort to get it working are very well rewarded.
      It is an absoloutely fantastic application and one of the few things I've been willing to donate towards on the internet, it's only real failure is sadly the lack of HD output which is what the PS3 could overcome.

      Initial versions of Xbox Media Player (original title) and XBMC were unstable but now it just plain works and works well.
      Some argue that the X360 and PS3 can play media divx over lan now using a Windows Media Player sharing system, I've tried this and found it to be unreliable and difficult to navigate compared to a standard SMB share, further to this many many divx files are simply incapable of being played.
      I can chose my audio channel if it supports multiple channels along with subtitle selection and so on, it even 'upscales' DVD to 720p or 1080i and just plain looks nice.

      I really do hope that development continues to port it to the PS3 sometime soon, it's actually part of the reason I purchased the PS3, the slim chance it could one day replace my Xbox 1.

    27. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Sangui · · Score: 1

      $500? Don't you mean $400?

    28. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      Unless you want to play Blu-Ray discs, which is the HD.

      Also, it's not able to be a mediacenter right now, not like a Linux PS3. By the time Wii has the Linux features of PS3, the PS3 version will consume a lot less power, as it's dropped chips and gone 45nm.

      That power isn't just wasted (unless you're just playing MP3s). The higher power consumption is the greater processing, which is the more multimedia.

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    29. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      Link?

      FWIW, a $150 diff isn't much, when games cost $40-50. And the higher PS3 price, if true, still gets you more HW, including a Blu-Ray player.

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    30. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      Windows Media Center Edition has problems, especially with DRM, that prevent it being any good as a a real home media center. Does XBMC have those problems?

      In the meantime, I think the dream project you're looking for is LinuxMCE. It should run on PS3s soon, now that PS3s are finally more than a toy since they can harness the SPUs for media. And 1080p, not just 1080i. As Linux, it's a lot more flexible, and a new UI is in design now (but the architecture is open for any UI people want to make).

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    31. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      At $500 it's "pretty cheap", at $400 it's super cheap :).

      The prices dropped while I wasn't looking, until someone else said the Wii is much cheaper.

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    32. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      And when Sony releases the PlayTV 2-channel DVB TV tuner for PS3 next month, I expect my Linux PS3 will beat TiVo at its own game, too.

      It's been a decade and there's still nobody that can be TiVo at its own game. Not ReplayTV, not Windows Media Center, and as much as I like it, not even MythTV.

      The tuner may turn your PS3 into a competent little PVR -- if you live in a place where DVB transmission is standard -- but I doubt it will be an EXCELLENT PVR like TiVo's.

      A few more leaps forward on the PS3 and the Wii will look so 21st Century.

      And I'm sure Wii homebrewers would be fine with that, considering that it IS the 21st century right now.

    33. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by TheCRAIGGERS · · Score: 1

      How nice of them to give you access to the CPU. ;-)

    34. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by bagofcrap · · Score: 1

      To be pedantic, while it is true that PS3-Linux does NOT run "on bare metal", it is not limited as you describe.

      There is some access to the registers on the RSX chip itself, which is to say, while there isn't an X driver that takes advantages of it, there are simple demos that demonstrate that there IS access beyond a simple fb driver to the graphics chip.

      The hard drive may 'virtualized' but the data iself isn't encrypted. Take the hard drive out, and skip the first 10G or so (depending on how your linux partition is setup) to where your Linux partition should be, and you have your ext3 (or whatever) partition unencrypted. (Thus avoiding known-plaintext attack on the hard drive's encryption.)

      Bluetooth can be accessed via Linux and is supported by the generic hci_usb driver. pascal@pabr.org also has patches that let you use the SIXAXIS with the PS3 under Linux. (Similar to the USB patches that Sony released just prior to launch.)

      WiFi can also be access via Linux, or at least Yellow Dog supports this.

      There is enough access to use dd to dump the entire blue-ray disc. Any security on top of that is not covered. They are useless for pirates, but I've heard there are torrents are out there.

      Rumor has it that if the people working on the RSX X driver for Ps3-linux could do a clean room implementation on the usage of the RSX chip, then Sony would be free to actually release an X driver.

    35. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      And when Sony releases the PlayTV 2-channel DVB TV tuner for PS3 next month, I expect my Linux PS3 will beat TiVo at its own game, too.


      It's been a decade and there's still nobody that can be TiVo at its own game. Not ReplayTV, not Windows Media Center, and as much as I like it, not even MythTV.

      The tuner may turn your PS3 into a competent little PVR -- if you live in a place where DVB transmission is standard -- but I doubt it will be an EXCELLENT PVR like TiVo's.


      So because there hasn't been anything better than TiVo, there won't be? Even when Sony, the consumer electronics giant that people like because its products are easy to use, finally offers one? Or when all the different ways of doing it that regular people try have a chance in an open architecture. I guess that the only good PVR possible has already come in the TiVo, so everyone should just buy one.


      A few more leaps forward on the PS3 and the Wii will look so 21st Century.


      And I'm sure Wii homebrewers would be fine with that, considering that it IS the 21st century right now.


      Whoosh...
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    36. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The WiFi is not disabled. It's my main connection on my PS3 booting yellowdog linux.

    37. Re:PS3 Linux Wide Open by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Access to WiFi is -not- blocked. Get your facts straight.

  30. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by inio · · Score: 1

    The firmware gets involved when the save file is copied from the SD card to the internal memory. Since the save can't be copied off the SD card directly, they can just verify the save before they copy it. Alternately, the games probably use an API from firmware to access save data. They could special case accesses from RZD* and verify at that point.

  31. Go get em XBox one by Werrismys · · Score: 1

    No, Xbox1 and XBMC was the killer app. Wii cannot compare with what XBMC was 3 years ago.

    --
    'Once scientists, even the dim-witted social scientists, get muzzled, the Western Civilization is finished.' - oldhack
  32. $7 value meal? You are an idiot. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A fiscal idiot. Seriously. You should have stopped beforehand at a Burger King and gotten a Whopper (a real one, not a "Whopper Jr.), fries and drink for $2. I do it all the time.

    And who the fuck pays $7 for a coffee? Cappuccino at Exxon: 77 cents.

    1. Re:$7 value meal? You are an idiot. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They don't have Burger King's in O'Hare (airport in Chicago) and if they did, I guarantee that same meal that you pay $2 for would cost about $7. O'Hare (and airports in general) are ridiculously expensive.

    2. Re:$7 value meal? You are an idiot. by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 1

      What the fuck Burger King did you find that you can get a Whopper, fries and a drink (was it water?) for $2? That goes for around 5-6 dollars in Colorado.

  33. 19 Watts by frieko · · Score: 1

    As I recall the P3's weighed in at around 60-80 watts at the wall. The Wii uses 19 watts at full load.

    1. Re:19 Watts by milsoRgen · · Score: 1

      It looks more of a range 13 to 34 watts across the entire line. Granted that doesn't include the other hardware you include, but still. Resurrecting old kit to run linux/media center stuff seems a lot easier and better suited to the task then a Wii.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    2. Re:19 Watts by frieko · · Score: 1

      Granted that doesn't include the other hardware you include Right, and when you add all that in you get 60 to 80 watts, just like I said. Bust out a kill-a-watt (or an ammeter and Ohm's law) if you don't believe me.
  34. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by vertinox · · Score: 1

    If 7 dollars is too much for an unenhanced SNES game, what do you think a fair price is, 6 dollars?

    If shipping and handling of a physical product were involved, I would say no. However, we are talking about ROMs that are a fraction of the size of songs that you would find on iTunes that apparently make Apple and others money at being sold at $.99 a pop.

    Obviously, bandwidth isn't the issue here.

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    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  35. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by powerlord · · Score: 1

    Yeah, its nice how DivX has finally gotten some love. The latest PS3 update also turned on DivX support (can stream it from a DLNA compliant server also :) ).

    --
    This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
  36. Screw Pricing, How about Availability by cappadocius · · Score: 1

    The part of this that interests me the most is the SNES emulator - hopefully this might cause Nintendo to look at their pricing plan for the Virtual Console games. Seven quid for an unenhanced SNES game seems a bit pricey.

    I could give a rat's ass about the price of the Virtual Console games. I bought a Wii so I could play the old games from my childhood, and I knew the price points when I bought in. What I didn't know was how pathetically slow the release of classic games would be. I really don't care about some obscure NeoGeo game, Nintendo, just hurry up and release all the best selling SNES and N64 games.

    Now that there is an emulator on the Wii, maybe Nintendo will get the message that if they don't hurry up and release the games I want, I'll just pirate them.

    Seriously, when will media copyright holders learn that if they want me to buy their products legally, they need to actually sell them when I want them? I mean, seriously, the least give release dates so I know that I'm not waiting in vain.

    --

    omnia tua castra sunt nobis

    1. Re:Screw Pricing, How about Availability by nintendo_is_a_cereal · · Score: 1

      I doubt it. The best roms will be saved for slow periods/special events. Anyone who went in thinking otherwise was fooling themselves or simply ignorant of Nintendo's release practices. As long as they're making the same kind of money on over priced roms as they currently are there's no way they'll change this.

    2. Re:Screw Pricing, How about Availability by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      They said they do it to keep the service alive. The logic is sound, if all the good games were available already you'd go through, download them and then forget about the service, if new games keep popping up you'll at least have a reason to look at it again.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  37. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by lo5 · · Score: 1

    Your money well spent? $7 leads to a lifetime enjoyment video game. Or $7 which leads to a heart burn that turns into a heart attack and diarrhea from Mickey-Dees.

  38. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    Well for one I have a Wii already. Also I don't want any more devices hooked to the TV right now.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  39. Why do they need some savegame hack? by Punto · · Score: 1

    wasn't there a guy right before new year who was able to sign his own code? (something about transfering all the ram through the controller ports).

    Why hasn't there been any news on that?

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    Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!

    1. Re:Why do they need some savegame hack? by Hoch · · Score: 1

      The dumping code was gamecube code. The dumper has been released, but you have to use a hardware hack to get it to work. From there they figured out how to get code to run through burnt discs. This required a drive chip. The guy who figured that out did not want it publicly released because he wanted a backup hack so that they can run code on future updated systems to find exploits. From reading tmbinc's blog at http://debugmo.de/?m=200801 , I think that this hack will escalate into a firmware hack, as it sounds like they found a bug in the firmware authentication.

      --
      2*31*37*263
    2. Re:Why do they need some savegame hack? by bushing · · Score: 1

      wasn't there a guy right before new year who was able to sign his own code? (something about transfering all the ram through the controller ports).

      Why hasn't there been any news on that? Because we'd rather people use this hack. Nothing to see here, move along.
    3. Re:Why do they need some savegame hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You haven't heard about that because it's a legal mess. You can't distribute those keys legally...but you can distribute this game save.

  40. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by omega_dk · · Score: 1

    You know, suprising as it seems, the VC is not actually that big of a rip-off (depending on the title). Cost analysis has shown that it can be cheaper to byt the VC versions than their physical counterparts, especially for rarer titles. So while it seems like they are overpriced, with many exceptions (mainly the popular games), it can be cheaper to buy it off VC than used - not to mention the developers/publishers of the game get some money in that case.

    --
    Just because you don't like the truth, does not make it false.
  41. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't I just not pay anything and just play the thousands of ROMs I have stored on my PC??? I never got excited over the whole Wii virtual console deal, mind you it's great for those new gamers that never played the old games and do not own them, but I still own most of my old SNES and NES games and I have backup ROM files and emulators on my PC that actually can ENHANCE the graphics slightly! Anyone who would purchase those on the Wii has more money than brains. Rant over.
    Btw before anyone says it, ROMS and emulators are 100 percent legal if you own the original game which I do. A few Gb's on the ol' hard disk just takes up slightly less space than thousands of cartridges and a stack of systems and wires which I just keep in storage.

  42. For starters, airport dining is idiocy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously. I know, and EVERYONE ELSE knows that airport prices are usurious. I once had a flight delay, and was given a $15 voucher. WOO HOO i thought, a free meal. So buy a small sub sandwich, fries and a drink, and bill comes out $18!!!!! I still had to shell out some bux.

    So in short, unless you are on some ungodly long transatlantic flight, EAT BEFORE YOU SET FOOT IN THE GODDAMN AIRPORT!!! Or wait till you are out. Are you that weak in withstanding hunger that you cannot wait a couple hours to eat? People in Ethiopia do it all the time, I'm sure you can too. Or are you one of those gluttons that must gorge on food every hour?

  43. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by psychicninja · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't care about an SNES emulator.
    If you'd ever played Secret of Mana you would care.
  44. On HDTV by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 2, Funny

    *the heros won, 1st time round
    *they know why theres a polar bear
    *americas next top models actually comes round your house every week
    *fox news is actually fair and balanced**

    (in order of plausibility)
    Does anybody really think the crap they watch on TV is improved by HD?

    **The only time i want to see bill Oriely in HD is in his coffin (just to be sure the idiot is actually dead)

    --
    IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
  45. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Sancho · · Score: 1

    It's overpriced compared to free, which is what lots of people have had for years while waiting for legitimate ways of playing the older games.

  46. I am amazed by jessecurry · · Score: 1

    As a Wii developer I am amazed by the progress of the homebrew community. It's hard enough to get a devbox up and running with the official Nintendo SDK, complilers, utilities, manuals, and sample code; but to do all of it without any of that information at hand is just unbelievable. On top of all that, using a toolchain that doesn't include a devkit for quickly testing builds must really take a huge amount of dedication. Hopefully Nintendo recognizes the best of the homebrew games and offers authorized developer status to the creators, it'd be great to see the better titles make it to WiiWare.

    --
    Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
  47. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait... what? You said you have an HD-DVD player, so I'm guessing you care about video quality -- so why would you want something that can play DivX? It was a subpar codec at its peak, only popular because software encoders & decoders were free -- but there's no reason today to not use h.264 instead. XviD if you absolutely have to.

    The easiest (well, nerdiest) solution, though, is to just build a MythTV box and use that.

  48. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uh, 7GBP = $14US. So watch out for those £6 coffees, bub.

  49. some of their super nintendo games are fucked too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Samus dissapears completely when you get hit on the wii console version that you buy. That is just a big pain in the ass if you get hit by an enemy and drop 40 feet down. If you are going to offer old games, make them run much smoother with appropriate filters such as Supereagle etc.. The games are just plain choppy too.

    I for one welcome our better SNES alternative than what the people who created the SNES are providing.

  50. ETA for WiiMAME and SCUMMVMii? by whyde · · Score: 1

    Please, oh please, please, puh-leeeeeze, somebody with the free time and passion please port MAME and SCUMMVM to the Wii.
    Now that would rock.

    Perhaps it will beat Duke Nukem Forever.

    1. Re:ETA for WiiMAME and SCUMMVMii? by acidream · · Score: 1

      SCUMMVM would be awesome on the wii. Monkey Island anyone?

    2. Re:ETA for WiiMAME and SCUMMVMii? by chubs730 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps it will beat Duke Nukem Forever. Or someone could just write a Phantom emulator so we can play Duke Nukem Forever.
  51. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Izzy84075 · · Score: 1

    This exploit is equivalent to the MechAssault exploit on the XBox, I believe. The only way to patch it is to release a patched version of the game disc, and even then the old version will still work.

    I could be wrong on this, as I don't know exactly how the Wii's OS interacts with the games, but this is my understanding of the way things work.

  52. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

    That's very true. Go see a movie. That's $12 for 2 hours of entertainment. $10 for a copy of Mario64 or Zedla OOT is a much better deal than most of the other forms of entertainment. It's $5 to rent a movie at most places now. Download Excitebike, and you'll probably get much more enjoyment.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  53. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Moonpie+Madness · · Score: 1

    Of course, the right price is what the market will bear. So by increasing the supply of free games, the market bears only a lower price.

    Sounds unethical, but dammit, I own all the SNES carts I like. some I've bought more than once. I'm not paying $7 for yet another copy. I can play it on my PS3, thanks much, streamed from my media server along with many other games to Ubuntu on the bigscreen. MAME, NES, N64, SNES, Atari, Genesis. Old games should belong to the public domain, not Nintendo. But for the convenience of a fresh copy, I would happily pay $2.

    Granted, I'm not being realistic. And Nintendo is doing a better job than Sony with the old downloadable games. But the PS3 is so much more open than the other systems it's not even funny. Not sure this is helping the bottom line for Sony at all, but it's helping reduce my frown-lines!

  54. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by NevermindPhreak · · Score: 1

    Definitely an awesome feature, which I've used dozens of times since it came out. Great for streaming from the network.

    But, it still has some way to go. FF and RW can stutter off the network, understandably. Worse, the 360 cuts off the edges of anime, regardless of which zoom function you use. I don't know if you've ever watched anime, but the edges are where they put the subtitles, goddamnit. :( I still have to burn my anime and play it on my XviD-capable DVD player.

    I hear X-Box Media Center is great, though.

  55. Speaking of updates... by Neo-Kamek · · Score: 1

    New message from Nintendo -- you can now update your Wii Menu to version 3.2. "Once installed, if a Game Disc is inserted into the Wii console and an update is required, a notification message will be displayed across the Disc Channel alerting you to update your system." "After February 26th, those who have already done the update will not need to update again." Who didn't see this coming?

    1. Re:Speaking of updates... by richy+freeway · · Score: 1

      I've done the update this morning as have many other people. The hacks all still work. The only noticeably difference is when you put a game disc in with an update on the game channel icon notifies you before you enter the game channel.

  56. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by tepples · · Score: 1

    However, we are talking about ROMs that are a fraction of the size of songs that you would find on iTunes that apparently make Apple and others money at being sold at $.99 a pop. There is more music in even a 256 KiB NES game than in the typical 5-minute track on iTunes Store. That's not to mention the graphics, maps, code, etc.
  57. Flash costs big money by tepples · · Score: 1

    WiiCade is even paying for games now, something which you won't find out of other homebrew ventures. But don't WiiCade developers have to pay Adobe $700 plus tax to get started? Or can one develop a competent Wii game using only DHTML?
    1. Re:Flash costs big money by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      But don't WiiCade developers have to pay Adobe $700 plus tax to get started?
      If you want Adobe Flash Studio, yes. But there's more than one way to skin a cat: http://osflash.org/

      The downside is that there's a higher learning curve with OSS flash tools. :(

      Or can one develop a competent Wii game using only DHTML?
      YES! You can! Look for Pentriix and Snakers for examples of DHTML games on the main site. There's also this (never completed) Tetris game I did a while back:

      http://java.dnsalias.com/tetris/ie/

      One of these days, I should really finish this DHTML game:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikwh8bQaW7E
  58. Games for Windows by tepples · · Score: 1

    How about a homebrew friendly game console? Does Dell PC + TV output qualify? If not, why not?
  59. Half the PS3's RAM by tepples · · Score: 1

    Even the lockouts of the RSX don't really matter, because the rest of the HW is open, and powerful enough that the RSX isn't missed. Have PS3 Linux developers figured out how to use the 256 MiB of RAM behind the RSX chip, say as swap space, even if they aren't using the RSX's video rasterizer?

    and the PlayTV will indeed probably beat TiVo at its own game. What game? Patent infringement lawsuits?

    If the game is using the console for more entertainment than just an impressive hack, the PS3 runs Linux and multimedia. Can the Bluetooth driver in PS3 Linux sync with the Wii Remote?
    1. Re:Half the PS3's RAM by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      I believe the RSX RAM hacks against the Hypervisor are a cat & mouse game with Sony winning at the moment. But with the PS3's fast IO, its RAM isn't really a problem is you stream from the network, and don't use the machine as a real desktop - just a media terminal. If you do want it as desktop, then run its X server against X clients on some other machine(s) with lots of RAM and their own CPUs, but let the PS3 do the rendering to your giant TV.

      The TiVo game is "Internet TV". Since Linux doesn't (necessarily) have DRM, it's a much better platform than TiVo for that, once there's a critical mass of developers and audience on good, cheap HW. That's what PS3/Linux/PlayTV will be by this Summer, but even a USB TV tuner will be good if PlayTV is locked down.

      I don't know whether Wiimote will work with standard Bluetooth. Why don't you try to get it working?

      --

      --
      make install -not war

  60. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by marcansoft · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm involved fairly closely with the creators of the original exploit, so I know a bit about Wii security.

    The way it's currently implemented, as soon as we start hacking the firmwares they put out, we've effectively won the battle for current consoles. Wiis contain a separate security ARM processor unofficially dubbed the "starlet". It is here that all of the interesting security takes place, and it is also responsible for most of the wii-specific hardware that the gamecube lacked. Ultimately, the consoles carry an unmodifiable boot ROM which loads an also unmodifiable boot1 bootstrap loader (unmodifiable because, although it sits in flash, it is checked against a hash stored in OTP memory). Boot1 is buggy. Boot1 loads Boot2, and we'll probably start hacking boot2 and the next step (the actual operating system and drivers that run on the starlet). This is going to be similar to the PSP scene, most likely: Nintendo will put out updates, but we'll work around them. We can also modify the existing firmware to prevent updates from happening.

    However, new consoles can come with an updated boot1 (the OPT hash is programmed at the factory). Those might be impossible to hack the same way. However, the OS is buggy and other hacks can be found.

    Their next system update may block this, but people just have to hold off until hacked firmwares come out. Worst case, you can always apply the hack to current consoles by directly modifying the Flash memory in the Wii.

    All this only applies to the security system though, and the bug that was used for the demo at 24c3. It is rather unlikely that Nintendo will patch the Zelda bug (which is what we're using to boot current homebrew, not the meaner more powerful 24c3 bug) from firmware somehow, so there is a very good chance that we'll always have options for booting homebrew. Besides, we can find exploits in other games, easily. The 24c3 bug lets us get total system access, but even if they lock that out in newer consoles, we can still get homebrew running via game exploits.

  61. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by blahplusplus · · Score: 1

    "If 7 dollars is too much for an unenhanced SNES game, what do you think a fair price is, 6 dollars? "

    And this is what I hate about software, I own many said games games already. Technically I still own the liscense to play the game, so why exactly should I have to pay for it if I can provide proof of purchase? Saying Nintendo loses money or some other crap is just a bunch of BS. They have oodles of cash since the Wii is successful, emulation proves people will work and give away their work for free. After all emulators are not easy to make and yet people make them because they are fans and most importantly so that they can have access to the games they purchased if in sometime in the future the hardware company goes belly up or stops selling/supporting replacements.

    Right now consumer rights for digital stuff is in the dark ages, you would never sell someone a car they couldn't fix or modify, yet we do that with software and I hate it. When you see great stuff like Freespace 2 SCP http://scp.indiegames.us/news.php

    It just makes me angry that old games can't be updated to work when they break because of new hardware and newer OS's, etc, because of closed source bs. Hence the emulation seen, there's DOSBOX which has been around for a while, but doing other 'newer' games is more complicated.

  62. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

    Sorry, still to expensive for some of those old games, maybe 10$ for 3 of them would be nice or something.
    They are still getting a 10$ transaction but the user gets to chose his 3 games.

    Sure 7$ a pop is still selling but I'd think they would be likely to sell many more at more reasonable pricing.

  63. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Mr2001 · · Score: 1

    The 360 won't play DivX 3 files, though, and there are plenty of those remaining out in the wild. I had to install TVersity to get my 360 to play all my AVIs, and it's still not as good as Xbox Media Center. XBMC on the Wii would be a killer.

    --
    Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
  64. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by satoshi1 · · Score: 1

    That's what you get for eating at an airport. In Chicago.

  65. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by ecavalli · · Score: 1

    If 7 dollars is too much for an unenhanced SNES game, what do you think a fair price is, 6 dollars? They can only go so low.

    I think you're forgetting the fact that the games put out on the Virtual Console are all ROMs of titles released years and years ago. Nintendo can charge nothing for them if they want and still not lose money on them as they already paid for the games' development (and made profits) back in the day.

    Certainly the titles licensed from people like SEGA and Hudson bring a certain amount of licensing costs that Nintendo's own games don't have, but even those titles are simply digital distributions of code that would otherwise just be lying around on a hard drive taking up space.

    Financially there really is no bottom limit to how much Nintendo could charge, but based on the success of their current VC system, the prices they are currently charging are not too high for the majority of gamers despite the fact that these games can be acquired with little effort for free via piracy.

    In short, don't expect Nintendo to NOT drop prices based on the idea that they can't profit with lower prices for these games, but at the same time, don't expect a price drop in general simply because people find their pricing quite reasonable.
  66. Scummvm by Calathea · · Score: 1

    All i want is Scummvm on my wii then i will be happy.

  67. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    However there's no way they could sell as many ROMs at 1$ a pop as Apple can sell songs at 1$ a pop, a game lasts much longer than a song and you only need a handful of them unfinished. Also the number of games that will sell well is much smaller than the number of songs that will sell well. I'd say every artist releases an album about as often as a game company releases a game, there's both more music artists and dozens of songs per album.

    If every game was 1$ you'd just buy one of those 20$ cards and can buy pretty much everything you care about for that, no?

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  68. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    (you've got thousands of console games in original? Wow, that's a lot of money. Don't go around expecting everyone to have that, though)

    Most people didn't buy all the games or consoles they might have wanted to play and getting them legally now isn't easy or cheap, on fleamarkets you'll easily pay the same for a game as you would for a VC download but the physical cart can end up defective. I got ROMs on the Wii for consoles I haven't even seen in stores. Pretty much anything besides SNES or Gameboy games is impossible to find now (granted, the Gameboy isn't available on the Wii yet). While it's not great if you have everything already the vast majority of people don't have everything.

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  69. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    What license? Did your games come with an EULA or something? Mine didn't, just a notice that the data on the cart is covered by copyrights and trademarks, probably some patents too. This whole EULA bullshit may have made people think of software as licenses but without an EULA you just bought a physical copy you can use, nothing more, nothing less.

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  70. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Thwomp · · Score: 1

    I believe that Nintendo just released a Wii update (v4.3) is this the previous update you're referring to which blocked Freeloader?

  71. Oh man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ok, first of all...the DOL --> Elf convertor doesn't magically let you run Gamecube homebrew in Wii mode. I mean, you can load the resulting ELF, but at the very least you won't be able to control anything (you don't access Gamecube controllers the same way in Wii mode). Apparently it's not so difficult to port Gamecube homebrew, but you can't load up this GCN program with no modification and expect it to all work exactly as it should (though it probably WILL boot up).

    Second, the snes9xGX port isn't a Wii port, it was all a big misunderstanding. It's for Gamecube or Gamecube on Wii, the post on tehskeen predates Wii homebrew by a good lot. That being said, I think someone is trying to port one of the Gamecube versions to the Wii, so I'd keep an eye out for that.

  72. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by elrous0 · · Score: 1

    I always wanted to know what a $6 milkshake tasted like.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  73. ZA WARUDO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TOKI WO TOMARE!
    *throws knives*
    Soshite, toki ga ugoki desu!
    *Steamroller falls*
    WIIIIIIIIII!!!!

  74. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by spocksbrain · · Score: 1

    I know some VC titles are bound to sell extremely well for 7-10 dollars, for example SMB3, mario kart etc... But they could offer some package deals that would attract more buyers to the less popular titles. Maybe packs of 10 snes games for 30 dollars. Even a subscription-based system that would grant access to all VC titles for 8-10 dollars a month might work well.

  75. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Chode2235 · · Score: 1

    "Its just milk and ice cream, right?"

  76. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Bobfrankly1 · · Score: 1
    If you'd ever played Secret of Mana you would care.

    And me without mod points to give a +1 Insightful...
  77. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The copyright should have expired for SNES games after 10 years if our copyright law was implemented properly. These games should all be free, I bought them new 14 years ago, I shouldn't have to buy them again.

  78. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You bought them *all* 14 years ago?! You must have been rich, I wish I was your friend back then.

    What proof do you have that the 'proper' length of copyright is 10 years? Is that some magical universal constant you discovered, or it just fits well with your pet theories?

  79. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by oliderid · · Score: 1

    Why spend 3 times as much on something the person obviously is not interested in?

    DivX is a container format. Codecs are changing rapidly. If you have no possibility to upgrade/download/modify your DixX player you are screwed. Yesterday for example I had to downlad "an upgrade" (?) for the Audio. Don't ask me what, I know almost nothing from that part of the computing world. The "offical" DivX player was installed on my laptop a couple of weeks ago.

  80. Cool, but maybe less exciting than WiiWare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now that Nintendo has announced the expansion of WiiWare to include new games and third-party developers, I'm a little less obsessed with hacking the Wii.

    Although I like the idea of Virtual Console games, I haven't bought any yet... I don't really want to play games with a GameCube or Classic controller, I want to play games with the Wii controller! I've felt for months that Nintendo was squandering some big potential. I think being able to buy games designed for the Wii (using the Wii remote and internet connections and etc.) will REALLY improve the system.

    Of course, I wish all kinds of luck to the hackers. What they are doing will also only make things better... I doubt Nintendo will ever actually give us any kind of real media playing support for example, and homebrewers will hopefully come up with some really cool stuff.

  81. Cool, but maybe less exciting than WiiWare? by nijyusan · · Score: 1

    Now that Nintendo has announced the expansion of WiiWare to include new games and third-party developers, I'm a little less obsessed with hacking the Wii.

    Although I like the idea of Virtual Console games, I haven't bought any yet... I don't really want to play games with a GameCube or Classic controller, I want to play games with the Wii controller! I've felt for months that Nintendo was squandering some big potential. I think being able to buy games designed for the Wii (using the Wii remote and internet connections and etc.) will REALLY improve the system.

    Of course, I wish all kinds of luck to the hackers. What they are doing will also only make things better... I doubt Nintendo will ever actually give us any kind of real media playing support for example, and homebrewers will hopefully come up with some really cool stuff.

  82. It's not an automatic win by geekoid · · Score: 1

    It';s an automatic disqualification of the point, as should any logical fallacy.
    Most people aruond these parts only have one point, so it can default to a win.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  83. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by blahplusplus · · Score: 1

    "Did your games come with an EULA or something? Mine didn't"

    Yes actually they did, you technically don't 'own' the game only the liscense to play it, it's the same thing as a EULA essentially, I know if I dig through my old nintendo games I'll something like the EULA.

  84. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by kurokaze · · Score: 1

    I'm actually looking to consolidate. I don't have an upscaling DVD player currently (just an normal progressive scan one), so I'm not going to miss it if my Wii played my DVDs instead.

    If the Wii did play DVDs, then I can get rid of the stand-alone DVD player and have one less item hooked up on the entertainment stand. I'm all for that :)

  85. Already done! Discs are now signable (for now) by yupiyepa · · Score: 1
  86. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    Interesting, I've never seen any form of contract in any console game except Phantasy Star Online and that was just the online play terms of use. Grabbed the box of Metroid Prime 3 Corruption at random, the manual doesn't mention the word license at all, only says that using the game with illegal hardware voids the warranty and that the game is subject to copyright. Even tells you "thank you for buying this disc". Next sample, Megaman X for the SNES. No license again, only a copyright notice and the warranty again. Where exactly did you see anything like an EULA?

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  87. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by scuba0 · · Score: 1

    Oh, so thats why my 3 year old DivX-movies, and a lot of new ones, still works on my one year old DVD-player. Thats rapid.. Most DVD-players play DivX version 5 which most movies are encoded in, a lot play version 6 which some are made in. Unless you buy a real budget player without checking the versions, you shouldn't have a problem.

  88. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by Laur · · Score: 1

    They can only go so low.
    Why? Surely you are familiar with the economic principle of sunk cost. The games were all written and paid for years ago. The only costs now are essentially bandwidth (very minimal). Nintendo could go as low as they liked, even giving them away for free if they wanted (perhaps to sell more Wiis).
    --
    When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
  89. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by RichiH · · Score: 1

    Chrono Trigger is a close second, but yah, Secret of Mana is, imho, quite literally the Best Game Ever. I haven't played through any other game nearly as often as Secret of Mana. And while an emulator gives you the benefit of speed-up and being able to influence battles to the point of being invincible, having your pro-pad (shorter reaction times & auto-fire ability) on a real SNES is still better. Richard, who taped the music when riding the dragon just before the sky castle appears so he could listen to it more often

  90. Re:Given that Nintendo has already blocked Freeloa by RichiH · · Score: 1

    Note to self: If you c&p text into the browser, make sure you mark it as plain text..