Getting lost in the shuffle of the Nintendo Wii homebrew scene? We hope not as the developments are flowing. Over the past days, homebrew coder waninkoko brought us the latest build of the Wii Duplicated Channel Remover. Now, the dev is letting us in on the Wii NAND Dumper version 1. Learn more after the jump.

Download: Wii NAND Dumper v1.0

 We're sending word that the WiiKey team has released firmware update 1.9s for their Wii modchip. Among other updates, this patch will address an ongoing issue that's been keeping Super Smash Bros. Brawl from running properly. Details on the rest of its changelog.

A new team going by the name Wii-Clip have created a sub-plug n' play solution for the new D2CKey, D2CPro modchips released late last year. D2C never really caught on popularly, however, as the modchip required mastery of soldering to install it on your Nintendo Wii's motherboard. Team Wii-Clip has created a template holder called a Wii-Clip that will accommodate a D2C compatible modchip and slap on easily over the Wii's standard D2C chip. More at the full story.

Reports have come in claiming that the Nintendo Wii D2C chipset has been hacked and that a product called the Wii "D2C" Modchip Actel will soon be available to take advantage of the exploit. Installing this on your console will allow you to directly boot backups and Gamecube games, it's also reportedly compatible with the Wiikey.

The mod hasn't been perfected yet with only 80 percent of region protected games confirmed working without any problems. Installation also looks to be a scary process as it requires micro-soldering 30 wires to attach the chip to the Wii. The developers of the product have given word that these issues might be remedied by the time the product comes out though.

The modchip is expected to be sold for € 37 (about US$ 53). If you want to find out more about the product, click on our link below.

 

Thanks to a tip from reader jamie t uk, we've just picked up word that there are a couple of new updates available for Wii owners running on a WiiKey modchip. The first bit of news you'll want to know is that WiiKey's firmware 1.9b has been uploaded to the site's Resources section.

This update hosts several new tweaks, including bug fixes, a workaround for Wii firmware 3.0 issues, improved media compatibility, full GameCube region free capabilities, and a working audiofix. Now, for the guys who decided to jump the gun and download the previously leaked fw 1.9b, you'll be happy to know that the dev team tested it, and found it to be stable.

Furthermore, WiiKey owners will be happy to know that WiiKey's Config Disc 1.3 is now available. This latest release will enable the GC Full Region-free feature on WiiKey's fw 1.9b. Both fw 1.9b and Config Disc 1.3 are available in the WiiKey site, via the read link.

 

The WiiKey Team is sending out word that a new firmware update for their modchip is up and about online. Before you commence with the downloads, however, the team further explained that this update (version 1.9b) is not an official release - it was leaked. Here goes the announcement from the WiiKey site:

A leaked version of the WiiKey firmware update is available on several websites. While the leaked firmware is indeed working and has all of the announced features, it has not yet been fully tested and does not come with the configuration and recovery discs. A full version will be available from WiiKey.cn very soon.

Guys who have the WiiKey modchip (or its clones) loaded in their Wii are advised to stay sharp until the team releases their official version of firmware 1.9b. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry. Drop back again in case we sniff out an update in the near future.

Kudos goes to Ragnorok_Weapon for tipping us off regarding this news.

Divineo.cn is offering the Wiikey modchip with Hologram sticker (which ensures it's genuine) for only US$ 25, a big drop from the product's original US$ 36 price.

So what can the Wiikey modchip do? Well, the product has quite a few features aside from the obvious ability of being able to play backups of both your Wii and GC games.

It also allows a direct boot for games locked to a region different from your unit's (Japan/US release) and Wii multi-disk support for games. If you want to know more, check out the complete list of features that the modchip has.

Features:

• Direct boot of wii backups
• Supports all currently available console/drive versions
• Supports D2B chipsets
• Sophisticated (true) update mechanism via DVD (future proof, expect cool features to come)
• Partial support for NTSC region Wii games/backups on PAL consoles
• Boots different region GC games/backups (partially without swapping)
• Supports multi-disc games for BOTH Wii and Gamecube
• Supports DVD-R / true DVD+R and +RW support (no bitsetting required!)
• Improved read settings for recordable media
• Built-in audio fix
• Supports fullsize 4GB discs for gamecube homebrew
• Stealth mode
• 512 byte EEPROM to store configuration
• Quicksolder interface - no wires required
• Unique disc backup application via sdcard
• Compact design, best quality components, rock solid high speed controller
• Professional ESD packing
• Recovery mode - Can recover from a bad flash

If you're interested in picking one up, click on our read link to take you directly to the Divineo.cn site where you can purchase your own Wiikey. If you're planning on picking up more than one, the site offers discounts for mass purchases of the product. Keep checking back here for more deals.

Sony is still resisting piracy, but Nintendo and Microsoft have fallen. As we speak, modded Wii units are the big thing down at South America. As proof, here are some screenshots taken from eBay affiliate, MercadoLibre.

 

Chipped units come with quite a price. Fernando Cassia reports that the Wiinja modchip is tagged with USD$ 100, while a "do-it-yourself installation" Wiinja V2 comes at $ 24.95.  The first and only upgradeable Wii modchip, Wiikey, is going around for 50 bucks.

At a whopping price, it's difficult to say that they're actually worth it. Not only is it piracy, but these units run the risk of being banned online. It's not likely to get reliable service too, in case you get a defective console. For informative purposes, the right-most screenshot above lists the features of these modded Wii.

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that the WiiKey modchip site had gone MIA, but a few days after that report, the WiiKey site had gone back up. Apparently, the site went down for two days due to some hard disk failure. Although they are back, they lost a chunk of info so most resellers had to send in their information to the Wiikey staff again.

Now putting that snafu behind them, the WiiKey Team has issued an apology for the update delay, here's what we found out on their site:

Quite a few people have contacted us and expressed disappointment over that the update has not been released yet. We would like to apologize for this. Please bear in mind that development work always take time, and we are will post the update as soon as it is delivered to us by the developers.

Hopefully, their past problems will not haunt them this time around. Keep checking us out for updates regarding WiiKey developments. To check out WiiKey's official site, just go to our source link below.

 

Well, here's some good news for all those modchip">Wiikey fans out there. Thanks to Vertabray and nicks2slick, we found out that the Wiikey site is back up with additional details on why they went offline for a short while, and what else is up with their Wiikey modchip.

According to their website, the site went down for 48 hours due to a hard disk failure. They were able to restore the site from a backup, but lost their MySQL database as a result of the hard disk trouble. They're currently asking resellers to send their information to the Wiikey staff again so they can be included in the list of resellers once again.

More importantly, for all those folks who want to buy Wiikey modchips, it's almost ready for release. Here's the official word from the Wiikey guys about it:

We have received positive news from the developers. The long-awaited upgrade to Wiikey is basically finished, and is now being tested on different systems to ensure that is is working smoothly. We expect that it will be available to the public around May 15.

Good news, right? Expect your modchips to be out of resellers' stock and into your hands in a week or so.