How to maximize your wii

[AmishSamurai]

game-wise, I'd suggest looking at what interests you on these lists.

I'd get at minimum 2 wiimotes w/nunchucks and motionplus controllers, one classic controller, and two gamecube controllers. anything else depends on how many people you regularly play with I guess.

[brunoafh]

Yes. You softmod and then can access any region GC or Wii disc via a loader channel. They must be original discs though, unless you've also gone to the trouble of chipping your drive.

I've heard that trying to play GC games from other regions can brick your Wii. Or is that only if you're trying to load the images off your HDD?

[noiseredux]

wiicade.com has some fun flash games for yr Wii browser.

[irixith]

Yes. You softmod and then can access any region GC or Wii disc via a loader channel. They must be original discs though, unless you've also gone to the trouble of chipping your drive.

I've heard that trying to play GC games from other regions can brick your Wii. Or is that only if you're trying to load the images off your HDD?

Original discs are just fine, as are burned discs if you've got a Wii that can manage them.

There is a "sort of" GameCube ISO loader called DIOS MIOS, which was Crediar's attempt to be able to load GameCube images via USB. Unfortunately, the GameCube's memory and the USB ports share the same address space on the Wii, so the project has been abandoned. A few games did load, but very glitchy and without sound. As DIOS MIOS required SNEEK, there shouldn't have been any potential for bricking, although if some enterprising folks tried to modify their real NAND, that's a different story...

The only 2 ways to load GameCube ISOs on your Wii are..

1. Buy a WODE, which is a hardmod that allows you to play GameCube/Wii ISOs without ever softmodding your system. Although you can softmod it, and have access to all the benefits of a softmod, plus control of the WODE through a channel rather than that little LCD screen on the front. Very cool.

2. Using a program called SWISS in conjunction with a GameCube SD Gecko memory card, or that funny little adapter that lets you connect an IDE hard drive to the GameCube memory port.

When the Wii goes into "GameCube" mode, all the additional features of the Wii are disabled -- this is why you won't see USB loading/SD card loading from the Wii's native ports. When they're enabled, they conflict with GameCube addressing space.

Anyhow, I know, too much to read, but I can't imagine anyone bricking their Wii playing out of region GameCube games unless they tried to bugger with their NAND.

[brunoafh]

Thanks for that detailed answer. Good stuff to know. I've dabbled with modding my Wii before but I only got as far as installing the Homebrew Channel. At this point, all I really want my Wii to do is read (retail) Wii games from other regions. Doesn't the Homebrew Channel allow that?

[flamepanther]

Doesn't the Homebrew Channel allow that?

Not by itself. You either need to hack some system IOSes (convenient, but NOT safe!) or get a disc loader (less convenient, but safe).

[irixith]

Thanks for that detailed answer. Good stuff to know. I've dabbled with modding my Wii before but I only got as far as installing the Homebrew Channel. At this point, all I really want my Wii to do is read (retail) Wii games from other regions. Doesn't the Homebrew Channel allow that?

The Homebrew Channel allows you to run .. well .. homebrew. One of those things happens to be loaders. If all you're doing is loading out of region discs, the homebrew channel + neogamma will be all you need. If you want to start loading from USB, etc, you need to install some custom IOS files.

[flamepanther]

If you want to start loading from USB, etc, you need to install some custom IOS files.

D2X (based on Waninkoko's cIOS) works wonders in that area.

[irixith]

If you want to start loading from USB, etc, you need to install some custom IOS files.

D2X (based on Waninkoko's cIOS) works wonders in that area.

+ IOS58 for USB2 if you haven't updated to 4.3 to get the IOS naturally.

[AznKhmerBoi]

my wii will get some maximation once the new zelda comes out