Filed under: Homebrew

The WiiGator backup launcher is now available for gamers who'd prefer to keep their shelves untouched. The problem with painstakingly organizing game collections -- in alphabetical or autobiographical order -- is that you're bound to reach for a game the middle of the stack, ruining your careful work.

WiiGator allows gamers to play backup GameCube titles using the WiiHomebrew Channel, all without voiding your warranty by installing a modchip. Some known issues with the chipless wonder include: slight hiccups in game play, memory card issues, some titles not working at all and extreme diarrhea. Okay, that last one isn't true but something tells us that if it were true, it still wouldn't be a deal breaker for some of you. Check out the WiiGator in action after the break.

[Via Engadget]

We miss Harmonix's pre-Guitar Hero games FreQuency and Amplitude. Well, we don't miss them -- we've got them right here on the shelf -- but we're sad that Harmonix's plastic-instrument games got so ridiculously popular and the company left its more complex, musically varied series behind.

Aaron Lindsay and Kevin Dodge, rather than just writing wistful blog posts about the defunct series, have created a homebrew "tribute" to Amplitude on the Wii. Supersonic Wii: Winter Edition, submitted to the Drunkencoders Winter Compo, is a pretty accurate imitation of Amplitude, right down to the typeface. In Supersonic, as in Amplitude, various instruments in a song correspond to "tracks" on the game field, and players must complete measures on each track, quickly jumping from track to track to maintain combos.

The game features nine songs, and is totally free! Provided you can run Wii homebrew, of course. If not, there's potentially some cost involved with the setup. Check after the break for gameplay footage!

[Via 4cr]

What you see in the video above is Real Virtual Skater, a hack which utilizes the Wiimote's guts in a small box attached to the bottom of a skateboard. As you can imagine, it lets you play as if you're actually skateboarding. The game the tech is being demonstrated on is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Our only concern is if anyone actually tried doing this in their living room, they'd break a few lamps. And a couple of tables. And the television.

Head past the break for the video.

If you're a Mac user, this video is likely to interest you. An aspiring individual hacked the program Wiiji (which is designed to allow Wiimote integration with Macs) to recognize the Balance Board as a joystick, allowing the use of Nintendo's peripheral with games that allow for joystick control. In the video above, you can see it in use through games Neverball and Extreme Tux Racer. Looks fun, if we may say so.

We often talk about the homebrew software we recommend for the DS, so today, we thought it might be nice to turn the tables. What's on your flash cart? Do you prefer homebrew games or applications? What are your favorites? What would you like to see more of?

Why clutter up your house with a real metronome when you can use your trusty DS to achieve the same effect? Thanks to the homebrew community's continuing effort to turn the DS into the Swiss army knife of portable devices, soon, we anticipate the DS will be able to do just about anything ... and official releases offer a lot of practical options, too.

DSMetronome is the product of Demented, who noticed a hole in the system's abilties and filled it in tremendous fashion, building a clean application with built-in help. It may be simple, but DSMetronome does exactly what it's supposed to do, and does it well. Some games have included metronomes, but if that's all you need or want, this app may work well for you.

Some geniuses from Kansas City's "Cowtown Computer Congress", with the help of an Arduino microcontroller and copious amounts of SCIENCE, have added Balance Board controls to a wooden labyrinth toy. Leaning on the board controls the servos attached to the game's two dials, causing the game to tilt in response to the board. It's like The Incredible Maze, but actually incredible! It can also be controlled with an Xbox 360 controller, though that lacks the representative motion element.

The whole thing cost about $60 in parts, not including the Balance Board. Of course, that's if you don't already have a couple of servos and an Arduino lying about, which, if you're electronics-savvy enough to carry this out, you probably do.


[Via Engadget]

If Roger Ebert would rather knit than play video games, how much interest would he have in a project that uses video game hardware to teach knitting? Well, probably not much, because he already knows how. But for people who already like games and want to like knitting, the KNiiTTiiNG! project might be a wonderful thing.

Created by Rachel Beth Egenhoefer and Kyle E. Jennings, KNiiTTiiNG uses Wiimote and Nunchuk motions to simulate the movements of knitting needles, in a Dance Dance Revolution-style game in which players knit and purl in response to onscreen prompts in order to create virtual tea cozies and such.

The project is currently in beta, but maybe if we're lucky we'll get some kind of homebrew release that uses the actual Wii, or at least a playable PC version. In the ideal situation, we'd remind the developers that WiiWare has no distribution or packaging costs! We'd love to use our expert waggling skills to learn a real, useful one.

[Via Crafty Crafty]

We've been following the Bob's Game drama for a while now, and it's just taken another weird/potentially controversial turn. After sealing himself in his bedroom (see: above) in a bid to obtain a development kit from Nintendo, Bob's Game creator Robert Pelloni recently threatened to release his "masterpiece" on a DSi-compatible flash cart, thus "significantly cut[ting] into Nintendo's bottom line."

Now, in a selectbutton forum thread, Pelloni claims that a Chinese firm has approached him and offered to release Bob's Game on a flash cart, and says that a distribution deal with Wal-Mart could be on the cards.

Pelloni argues that such a move means both parties win: he gets his game onto store shelves, while the mysterious Chinese company has a legitimate reason to sell a flash cart in a major retailer. We would argue that his actions are quickly severing any potential future ties that could exist between himself and Nintendo.

We also advise giving the thread in question a quick read, if only for the part where Pelloni indirectly compares himself to Shigeru Miyamoto.


[Via Siliconera]

Time to face some harsh facts, people: this time next year, none of us will have two pennies to rub together, and nobody will care anyway, because we'll all be fighting to the bloody death over scrap metal, rat carcasses, and clean drinking water. The good news? You can slow your inevitable descent into abject poverty by no longer paying for your DS games, and instead download totally free homebrew. Hurray!

Not that you shouldn't be selective in what you download -- after all, for every StillAliveDS or Pocket Physics, the homebrew community churns out plenty of garbage. With this in mind, we decided to compile a list of the best homebrew we personally encountered this year. Have any recommendations that we missed? Tell us in the comments! And don't forget we dedicated a whole week to homebrew earlier this year -- you can head here for more recommendations!

Remember the awesome Super Smash Bros. Brawl hacking project through which some guys were making alternate color schemes for all the character models? Well, the group responsible started calling themselves ]EE[ Syntax-Error, and they were planning to distribute a patch for Brawl that would allow any homebrew-capable Wii owner to play with all kinds of recolored characters. Soon before this patch was to be released, their site went down.

We don't know exactly what happened, but according to a post at Stack Smash, a related Smash Bros. character model hacking site, Nintendo threatened Syntax-Error with lawsuits. As a result, the site is down and the patch is shelved. The image above, found in another Stack Smash post, features almost every texture alteration that was to be released with the software. Check out Pac-Kirby! Oh, we've just made ourselves sad.


[Thanks, Ants!]

Sure, the Wii Balance Board is great, but you can't stomp on it. Also, it doesn't look nearly enough like a big piece of plywood. That's where the "Swiitboard" comes in. This "homebrewed" Balance Board alternative couldn't be simpler: it's a board, on some foam, with a Wiimote cable-tied to it.

But the real draw of this project, besides the availability of its parts in stores, is that you can actually run on the thing. Creator "frits" developed this for higher-impact exercise than the Wiimote allows, along with some custom software that tracks the motions of the tied-on Wiimote.

See also: Wii Fanboy Interview: Johnny Lee, Revolutionary: Balance Boarder


[Via Engadget]

Update: Reader CJLopez turned us on to 1.01, which fixes some bugs from 1.0. Adjusted the source link to point to the newer version.

That's right, folks. The Homebrew Channel has left the beta stages and become The Homebrew Channel 1.0. Actually, it's still kind of considered to be in beta, but, hey, we can all it 1.0! As for updating it, you can do it the hard way, by downloading the update here, or you can simply update through your existing Homebrew Channel on your Wii. That is, if you didn't update your Wii to 3.4 yet. Of course, with the new Twilight Hack, it's not like it's much of a nuisance, anyway.

Head past the break for the update notes.

Well, that was a scary month. Acekard Team has released a new version of their excellent flash cart that works on the Nintendo DSi. The Acekard 2i retains all the functionality of earlier flash carts, including the ability to run homebrew and backups, as well as store save files and use Action Replay codes. The new card is even compatible with earlier versions of the DS in addition to the DSi.

After releasing a video of an early success, which seemed to work only in conjunction with some kind of hardware hacking, it's no surprise that Acekard Team is the first to reach this milestone. We have no idea how the 2i differs from previous flash carts -- it may be a new hardware revision or it may even be custom firmware! The point is that it works, at least until Nintendo releases the eventual update for the DSi firmware.

The Acekard 2i has yet to be stocked in any of the listed resellers, but that may be because it was just announced. Acekard Team promises that the new card "will come up in a very short time." You can see the Acekard 2i in action in this video, which does unfortunately include footage of swashbuckling-related activities.

See also: DSi hacked already?

Ken Moore likes to fiddle around with things. His latest project turns the Wiimote into a theremin, which is one of the earliest electronic instruments and the first that is actually played without touching. Above, you'll see a video of Ken providing a tech demo and brief history lesson on the instrument. Past the break, you'll see Ken attempt to do the theme for the original Star Trek show.