New Wii this Autumn?

[tomqman]

wii phone?

now that looks nice i want 1 lol

 

[KrisKhaos]

What do people talk about things of which they have no solid knowledge. Wii games are DVD disks, so all you need is a software decoder to play movies. 'Wii doesn't read DVD'... sheesh.

Actually, the Wii uses an optical disc drive LIKE DVD, however the bit arrangement is NOT DVD. Yes, it's the same laser width and everything, however the bit encoding is in fact different and the controller cannot be bypassed without a hardware mod.

Understanding WII/Gamecube Optical Disks

I forget who owns the patent rights to the DVD format, however instead of paying royalties the the DVD format owners Nintendo went with a generic format instead. The Wii's drive CAN read DVD discs when the on-board controller is bypassed, since hardware wise they are compatible and which is partially how mod-chips work (and able to provide DVD playback), however the factory default Wii relies on this controller for it's data. The controller on the typical default Wii cannot be flashed, therefore without that hardware modification they cannot change the way the controller reads the disc's bit encoding. This is generally why Nintendo says they need more than a firmware update to add DVD support.

 

[Flabby Hero]

new colors

the black wii looks fake, has the new colors been confirmed

i have been wondering what this picture was all about for the longest time..

i like the white personally, but the new colors all look really good. as for the DVD player being added, i currently have 3 DVD players in my basement, PS2, actual dvd player and my surround sound reciever has a dvd player..
i dont need a fourth but ill probably download it just to say i have it.

 

[Master Foot]

I'm personally not too excited about DVD playback. I play DVDs on my PS3 since there's pretty much nothing else to do on it. This would be a good time for Nintendo to address the original flaws that plagued the Wii, for example the paltry, insignificant, microscopic 512MB flash memory. Who knows how much that boils down to after formatting and firmware. If apple can get a 80GB HDD in the ipod video, then Nintendo can do it. Unfortunately you would run into proprietary hardware territory, which no gamer likes (COUGH Microsoft overpriced 120GB HDD COUGH COUGH). As much as I really like the Wii, it was outdated the moment it was released because of the storage space. DVD playback is cool, but since the Wii is still selling like hotcakes, there's nowhere to go but up. Look at it this way, if you REALLY need a DVD player pick up a BluRay/DVD/media/music/PS3 player. Now, there's a case of paraois schizophrenia.

 

[KrisKhaos]

the black wii looks fake, has the new colors been confirmed

From what I understand, yes, they've been confirmed. However they will not release them until suppy issues have been resolved. With that in mind, they are talking about another sell-out holiday season with the Wii remaining in short-supply and "hard to find" status. (Basically, buy them if you find them now. Store them until after "Black Friday" and post them for sale on eBay. )

So, I don't expect to see any changes to the Wii until sometime next year. If Nintendo can figure out a way around it's optical drive's controller limitations and able to create a "bit flip" converter of sorts we may still see DVD playback via WiiWare, who knows.

The other thing that gets me is that they've flat out shot down the idea of a hard drive add-on, which makes little sense. With Neo-Geo and even Turbo-Grafx16-CD to hit WiiWare, that 512mb flash is going to be horrible. I know the Wii has the SD slot, but has anyone actually tried removing the card once it's put in there? I've got small hands and even I had trouble with the way they've designed it, so swapping SD cards regularly is a pathetic means to offer a storage solution.

 

[zxzxander]

here are some of the "new" wiis and accessories(fake?)

chrome wii

chrome wii? >

 

[Chewtoy]

I'd rock a Black Chrome one! The power glove! Lol I used to have that for the NES, it was pretty gay...

 

[Elfman]

Actually the chrome plated Wii is a case...

 

[zapasant]

its doesnt really grab my attentionm

 

[KrisKhaos]

wii powerglove

I love this thing, it's creative engineering of retro hardware. Yes, it's the original NES Japanese Power Glove where someone has removed the original code entry joy-pad and replaced it with a matching black Wii-Remote. It's great.

My favorite however would have to be this one...
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX5MsaHqzG0[/MEDIA]

 

[Chewtoy]

I love this thing, it's creative engineering of retro hardware. Yes, it's the original NES Japanese Power Glove where someone has removed the original code entry joy-pad and replaced it with a matching black Wii-Remote. It's great.

Yeah, pretty obvious with the bolts sticking out of it and everything! Lol

 

[vtrider159]

That is still a great idea..I think I might actually have a glove somewhere....hmmm maybe a new project or ebay sale.

 

[highroller]

I know the current wii is capable of playing at least single layer DVDs.

Our beloved Wii games are DVD discs, and to play them the Wii needs to read the DVD. So a DVD player in my opinion is possible with a firmware upgrade that adds a new channel.

You can even make a copy of the dvd game into a blank dvd ( it won't play in non modified Wii's) but it is a DVD for sure

 

[KrisKhaos]

Our beloved Wii games are DVD discs, and to play them the Wii needs to read the DVD. So a DVD player in my opinion is possible with a firmware upgrade that adds a new channel.

Wii game discs are Optical Discs like DVD discs, and they use the same laser and wavelength, however there bit arrangements are different from each other.

What does that mean? It means that DVD format is more than just the laser's wavelength and layers on a disc, it is also means that those engraved notches, those 1's and 0's we call bits, are arranged in a format that the drive controller arranges into "sectors" to be delivered to the calling software. The optical medium is the same, but the bit/byte arrangement is different. Keep in mind that the drive and it's controller is separate hardware from the Wii console, and some sort of medium to communicate between the two, so generally the only way to update a drives controller is by flashing the drive itself. something that to my understand the Wii's optical drive did not include as an option for obvious security reasons.

So why did Nintendo omit true DVD functionality? DVD hardware is cheap as it is overly-massed produced, however the DVD format is patented and requires license to use, that is right, those who invented want compensation for it's usage. To save production costs, the idea was to continue to omit the DVD format, as done with the GameCube, from the drive's controller upon launch of the Wii.

You can even make a copy of the dvd game into a blank dvd ( it won't play in non modified Wii's) but it is a DVD for sure

Yes, the Computer's DVD-ROM's are optical disc drives, and most modern computers contain awesome flash upgradeable options and advanced calls to there controller to allow almost unlimited functionality.

The Wii's optical drive does not allow such flexibility, as it could be used to pirate software more easily, and it's design intended to make a pirates life as difficult as possible. With that in mind, The Wii mod-chips are soldiered to the drive itself, using a hidden "backdoor" that allows more direct access - almost identical to that of the GameCube. This means that since we have direct access to the hardware we can read the bit arrangements into any sector format the mod-chip can conceive, and thus you have DVD functionality. This is why Nintendo claims to need more than a firmware update to add DVD playback, because access to this "backdoor" isn't easily obtainable by software and requires the drive itself to support the DVD format.

Simple said, same hardware different format, and unless someone can figure out a hack to bypass the limitations of the current drive controller or Nintendo releases Wii with DVD playback built-in - it's just not happening at this time.

 

[oxhaker]

Whens the dvd playback coming out? I have 4 dvd players in my house (two built in, blu ray, and the crappy one next to my wii), but mine is from like 98 next to my wii.