Wii owners who have been dying to watch Talladega Nights on Nintendo's console can finally rejoice! The l33t software coders with Team Symbiote have released a full DVD movie software solution for the Wii.
Getting it to work couldn't be easier -- simply burn the application to a disc, and boot it on a modified Wii console. Once loaded, swap the disc out with a current DVD movie and there you have it: The worst DVD player in your house. Much easier than using an actual machine that was intended to play DVD movies.
Destructoid does not condone modifying your Wii console (it'll void the warranty!), and we also don't condone pointless mods and software like this. Our hats are off to the talented folks working as Team Symbiote, but when you can buy a decent upscaling DVD player for less than the cost a single Wii game, this is absolutely idiotic.
Wake me up when someone mods a Wii so that it'll help me tone up my quads. Wait a minute ... !
[Thanks, TheGoldenDonut]
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Contest:
5:06 PM on 08.19.2007
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This is a pretty cool mod though. This is a feature the Wii should have had put in when it came out, and this proves that you can play DVDs on there without having to bump up the price. Nintendo dropped the ball and missed an opportunity, since I'm sure most casual and family gamers would have liked having a simple DVD player in their console too.
I'm not being sarcastic, I'd really like to know. My DVD player, which cost about the same as a Wii game, doesn't upscale DVDs at all, though it does play DivX!
That doesn't mean that it's idiotic or anything, just that it's not particularly worthy of getting excited about, as it means nothing for proper Wii owners. Wee, so they got the Wii playing DVDs. Okay then, let's move on.
*goes back to using XBox to play DVDs*
Also I'd like to point out that regardless of how cheap you can buy a DVD player, that is not why people want their consoles to play DVD's. Look at the current mobile trend which is to incorporate as much technology/utilities as possible, even when what they are offering is essentially a crappy novelty. For instance the very, very poor quality camera's in mobile phones. Personally I don't see the point. I have a mobile/cell phone to make calls, a digital camera for photography, and mp3 player for music. But remember, the idea that it can all fit in one piece of kit is very attractive.
Sorry for the ranting, first post on Destructoid ^_^
I think this project is more to see if the Wii could rather than a usable DVD player.
Leaving out the DVD function of the Wii has reduced the cost price to the end users as the Wii only supports Dolby Pro Logic II not Dolby Digital that is the standard on most DVD players.
To add this would have cost more via licensing costs and major hardware redesign.
Remember that the Wii is just two Cubes taped together, by reusing the cube sound system it would have reduced both cost and development time, leaving them more time to work on that white stick which is after all, is the main selling point of the Wii.
Any company that wishes to make a set-top box (such as a stand-alone DVD player, PS2/3, XBOX, XBOX 360, etc.) must pay the DVD Forum a license fee so they can legally sell the device with the DVD playback capabilities, because the DVD Forum "owns" the encryption scheme (which is altogether cracked, but having the crack without paying for a license is "illegal" in the USA), and if Nintendo decided to have legal DVD playback in the Wii, they'd have to pay some sort of license fee, plus an additional fee per each system sold, which would be the real killer. So, as you can see, Nintendo is within good reason to NOT include DVD playback, because it ups the price for consumers AND themselves, while adding a feature people buying Nintendo hardware likely wouldn't want (Nintendo is a game company, they don't do movies and whatnot, like Microsoft and Sony do). And because of this cost involved with the licensing, I don't believe Nintendo will ever add the feature, and this hacked method of playing DVD's on your Wii will remain the only option, for the foreseeable future. So please, just shut up about Nintendo adding this feature, until they actually say they will.
Practically, though, this IS pretty idiotic.
Nintendo said that it would take more than a firmware update to make the Wii play movies. That's obviously BS, because a Gamecube can play DVDs when running GCLinux. You have to have your hardware certified by the DVD consortium to play movies, and it's obvious Nintendo didn't want to do that. Therefore, it's unlikely that the ability to play movies will be offered for existing hardware.
Nintendo will probably refresh (ie - repackage) the Wii in a couple years and add DVD functionality, just so they can justify not having to drop the price to $150. Hey, it works for Apple and the iPod, as well as Sony with the 80GB PS3.
To those bitching that you don't need to play DVDs, well... it's not about whether you need the feature. It's about whether you WANT it. I, for one, don't like swapping cables back and forth and having to pay extra for more devices that take up more space, so the fact that the PS2 plays DVDs is a bonus for me. Could I buy a separate player? Sure. Should I have to? Of course not.
I find it a little ironic that the 8-bit NES was called the "Nintendo Entertainment System", implying that it does more than just play games, and handles all forms of entertainment. Today, the Wii is not an entertainment system -- it's just a video game machine.
Not like I'd want to pay $600 for an all-in-one device, but I can't imagine the DVD license fee costing more than a few pennies per machine. How do you think they make $30 DVD players (retail, no less) if the licensing is too expensive? Nintendo is just cheap, that's all.
@ Dr Hairydwarf, your point about the sound technology also makes my assumption less logical. Definitely not an audio junkie!
I just threw that opinion out there to see what others thought, I wasn't bitching. However, I think this mod exists because people as Burnt Meatloaf pointed out, would rather not swap cables and have the technology in one solution. I think media forms will inevitably merge.
I'd also like to say that ok, Nintendo is a gaming business, but they are also a business as is so frequently pointed out by people defending their current strategy to spread to a more casual marketshare. Just wondering how much would including the DVD playback have set back the average user? and isn't the core XBOX 360 price not just over the Wii's pricing? which does include DVD playback. By the way, I own a Wii so please reserve any "M$ fanboy" comments!
It'd probably be about the same price to mod it.
Unless of course you slip, then it costs about $80 for a modder to tell you that its hopeless and then $250 for a new wii.