Wii revision to block modchips

Author: Brett Thomas
Published: 30th March 2007
Comments (12) Stumble
The new revision of the Wii won't be black, but it will block your modchips.

The new revision of the Wii won't be black, but it will block your modchips.

Well, we're now already over halfway through March, and if you wanted a Wii, well...we have good news, bad news, and worse news. The good news is that while you've been waiting to find one of the consoles, there have already been two mod-chips released for it. In bad news, they're already being blocked in a new revision. In worse news, you're unlikely to find one anyway, whether you wanted to mod it or not.

Anyhow, back to the modchips. Since January, there have already been two modchips that have hit the street since the start of the year, doing everything from region unlocking to burned discs (though no import support yet). They even allow homebrew GameCube code, which is great.

There's only one thing that's not so great - they're already being blocked. The next revision of the console is modified to make even the new "CycloWiz" modchips useless. The rollout is already underway, and the new versions should already be shipping. For at least another short period of time, the Wii will be modchip free.

Of course, much like Sony and Microsoft have found, it won't stay that way. Most analysts are already expecting a new chip within a month. The "cat and mouse" redesigns of the boards can't go on forever, as redesigns are costly and not all that beneficial to the end product. Console piracy is not a mass-consumer activity to begin with, so putting in the extra effort is usually a wasted expense.

Do you have a thought on the Wii modchips? How about them being blocked? How about where you can even find the bloody console? Tell us about it in our forums.
Quote Duste 30th March 2007, 14:18
Saw this on Digg the other day. I'm assuming this only applies to people that buy Nintendo Wii's from now on? I got one on the release day and am planning to bust out a modchip on it. It'd still work, yes?
Quote Firehed 30th March 2007, 14:23
Likewise, and yes, I think you're right - from what I've heard, there's been nothing to suggest that a firmware update would cause problems with ones where it would work so far. In any case, I think the existing chips still work, you just have to use wires instead of the quicksolder points (I haven't done much research, but from the few snippets I read, it was just a PBC revision). I'm chipping my 'new' xbox first anyways, since its cheaper and more replacable, I want the practice, and I *really* want to be able to run XBMC.
Quote buchans 30th March 2007, 14:58
its not gonna stop mod chip installs but it will stop ppl who dont have the skills todo it screwing up installations they should never have started lol :)
Quote Hugo 30th March 2007, 18:28
You can buy them at Tesco's In Hastings, there's at least 10 on the shelves as of 9:30am this morning.

EDIT: I'll ship them anywhere in the UK for a £20 admin fee + obviously the cost of the console
Quote jezmck 30th March 2007, 22:32
got mine from a guy in germany on ebay.

what do the mod chips allow anyway?
Quote TheDean 30th March 2007, 23:28
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archangel
You can buy them at Tesco's In Hastings, there's at least 10 on the shelves as of 9:30am this morning.

EDIT: I'll ship them anywhere in the UK for a £20 admin fee + obviously the cost of the console

200 smackers? You've got it.....e-mail Th3Dean at gmail dot com
Quote Tyinsar 30th March 2007, 23:28
Have any of you seen hard facts on what percentage of consoles are modded with chips? Have any studies been done?
Quote exavier412 31st March 2007, 00:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyinsar
Have any of you seen hard facts on what percentage of consoles are modded with chips? Have any studies been done?

I would assume that study would be pretty hard to do. I would think that the only way someone would be able to get a general idea would be to find out how many mod chips have been sold. That would probably give you a pretty good estimate. I cant imagine many people buying modchips and not installing them, just because its such a niche market.
Quote Tyinsar 31st March 2007, 05:34
I totally agree but where does one find those sales figures? Obviously the market is big enough for a few businesses to make mod chips. That tells me the number is not insignificant alone. However, as a percentage of total consoles sold I'm guessing that the number of mod chips is tiny.
Quote wafflesomd 31st March 2007, 21:02
I like storing games and movies on my xbox.
Quote Overboardkiller 2nd April 2007, 01:24
Just to clear Everything up

GOOD news ALL round.

The new Wii has already been hacked and there is 3 Chips for the Wii.

WiiKey
Wiininja
CycloWiz

The Wiikey is the best and works with the new wii's
i'll let you google for there web page. The wiikey guys modded the new wii in like 3-4 days of release.
Quote War-Rasta 2nd April 2007, 04:54
That's pretty neat!
I'm not buying a Wii any time soon, but when I do I'm surely gonna install a mod chip. I haven't done much research on what's possible to do with a modded Wii so far, but I put a mod chip on my Xbox and I must say that just for the ability to run XBMC it was totally woth it so hombrew apps for the Wii should be quite interesting given it's potential.
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