Datel tries its hand at Wii mods
by Eric Caoili 
{ May 16th 2007 at 5:00PM }
Nevermind the product's name -- Datel's Wii Drive Doctor isn't a tool meant for diagnosing and remedying your console's ailments. There should be laws regulating these misleading medical monikers. How many have suffered the embarrassment of consulting Dr. Dre about their disorders, only to find that the gangsta rapper prescribes phat beats, and not actual medicine? The Drive Doctor is pitched as a "straightforward way for amateur programmers and techie tinkerers to get inside the game." With the mod in place, users can hook their Wii to a PC with a USB cable, allowing them to monitor the system's status and add data to running software. Homebrew applications and games are also playable through the $34.95 device.
Datel's homebrew and cheat tools usually boast low barriers to entry, making them accessible to even the most inexperienced users, but installing the Drive Doctor will require soldering. We've never been too keen on voiding our consoles' warranties, so hearing that requirement was enough to scare us away. Until something cheap and hassle-free comes along, we're going to live a boring, risk-free life with our unmodded Wiis.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mr Khan @ May 16th 2007 6:02PM
! !
This thing = infinite potential
!
RupeeClock @ May 16th 2007 6:24PM
Ugh, I wouldn't trust Datel to release any sort of reliable homebrew device...
That company is not to be trusted, many of the products I've bought from them have been misleading in sales tactics, using the Action Replay name to promote a DS gamesave tool and GBA AR, and selling the latest Gamecube AR with a memory card to make it look like the codes are STILL stored on the card (all codes are on the disc, uneditable, no adding or removing...)
Greg2k @ May 16th 2007 7:23PM
The memory card bundled with the GC Action Replay DOES store codes, just the ones you add, though. The preloaded ones are on the disc. Of course you can add your own codes!
Will @ May 16th 2007 10:06PM
Sweet homebrew device. I might have and re-install Slackware and get a cross compiler set up.
Tom @ May 17th 2007 12:58AM
They must not yet have figured out how to access the Wii's extended memory addresses... or launch unsigned code from the internal memory... or both. Otherwise they would've done so by now. Perhaps it's just locked down better. Hey, maybe they can make a hack so that we don't have to exchange friendcodes for every single friggin game?!
ssuk @ May 17th 2007 10:06AM
GC AR can store new saves, why you'd want to delete codes I don't know... But anyway, I give this a very short time until a freeloader app gets made for this thing.