Okay, so maybe the wait for multi-capable video playback on your Wii is taking a lot longer than you could take. Luckily the homebrew community around the Nintendo Wii has enough projects going around to provide enough of a selection for homebrew users out there. For media players, we've seen DragonMedia Player and GeeXboX, but did you know there's something out there for video buffs who don't want to go through Linux? Take for instance, rOn's MPlayerWii.

Download: MPlayerWii v0.02

It might be in its early stages, but you can't deny that the direction the app wants the Wii to follow is certainly a good one. Christophe Thibault is attempting to port MPlayer to the Wii, calling it MPlayerWii v0.01 in the process. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

Download: MPlayerWii v0.01

QuickJump QuickPeek has already reached more than half a year old. We've had thirty three issues, not including the special editions that cropped up from time to time. Here's the latest, and probably the greatest - it's our token of appreciation from us to all of you, it's Valentine's after all. Judging from the title alone, you probably know what to expect: every single Comment of the Week, all compiled and neatly packed in one huge compendium! Ever wondered who won the first ever Comment of the Week? You'll be very much surprised indeed...

Fire International has done it again. After releasing various Xploder applications for the Xbox 360 and recently for the PS3 - not to mention for the DS and PSP - the media management provider has announced another one headed for the Nintendo Wii. Unlike the previous releases though, this one here is an all-in-one package.

In case you're wondering what all-in-one package are we talking about here, just take a look at these features:

• Access cheatsaves for the very latest Wii titles
• Access to extensive collection of NES, SNES and N64 cheats
• Create back-up Virtual Console games to your PC via an SD card
• Add Wii, N64, SNES and NES gamesaves to the Xploder Community Database and share them with others
• Home movies and many other movie file types (including DVD VOB*, MKV, Xvid, DivX, MPEG 1 & 2, M1P, M2P, MP4, TS, WMV, ASF, and AVI) can be converted to MJPEG and transferred to SD for Wii playback
• Manage JPEG photo and image files to create fantastic slideshows
• Convert CDs to MP3 with auto album, artist, and track naming then add them to Wii slideshows

There. Did Xploder miss anything? We haven't tried this one (it's not yet available) but we think almost everything is pretty much covered. In case you're interested, the Xploder Cheat Saves with Movie Player and Media Manager for Wii will hit retail stores on March 1 with a price tag of £ 19.99 or US$ 39.

But to those who want an early start, the application can be downloaded from Xploder's official site (www.xploder.net) for US$ 29 beginning February 23.

With the constant updates that the WiiCR Team churns out, their Wii app WiiCR is becoming more and more like a daily vitamin that users crave and look forward to getting at the start of the day. After releasing v0.3.1.4a and 0.3.1.4b in just a span of one day, it's either the team has a lot of time in their hands, or they just work really really fast.

So anyhoo, if this is your first time to encounter this app, it's basically a media player solution for the Wii and acts as a streaming media server. It's capable of transcoding nearly any video file to a suitable flv for an embedded flash player and allows browsing of the remote filesystem to view: videos (avi/xvid/divx/mpeg/wmv/etc), text files, jpg's and play mp3s. With that out of the way, let's get to the much-awaited...

Changelog:

• Using VPB's newly updated video player.
• all themes using icons1 vidplay/ vidiframe again to support new player (old tpl's backed up).
• WiipaperMV 0.6 included
• WiinVi 0.5-r3 included

And as usual, we would recommend you check out the all-important readme on this one, or better yet, head on to the WiiCR Team's Wiki page (which you can access via the read link below) to know more about this nifty app.

Download: [WiiCR 0.3.1.6]

The team behind the WiiCR has just released version 2.6b. WiiCR is a media player solution for the Wii which also functions as a streaming media server. It is also capable of transcoding nearly any video file to a suitable flv format for an embedded flash player, and also supports browsing the remote file system to view videos (avi/xvid/divx/mpeg/wmv/etc), text files, JPG and play mp3s. WiiCR v2.6b, which runs on the PC not the Wii, features a resized video player.

The WiiCr download file does not a have a readme file, but everything you need to know about it is available over at the WiiBrew Wiki. If you are new to WiiCR, we suggest you start from there by clicking on the link below.

Download: [WiiCR v2.6b]

Using the Photo Channel, the Wii can play movies in in MJPEG format, but sadly it can't read DivX, XviD, or MPG movies. You know, all those formats you use when you guys torrent stuff (although .MKV and.OGM seems quite hot now-a-days). No need to be disappointed though, there is a simple conversion process you undertake so that you can play videos for your wii.

Wii Video 9 is just like PSP Video 9, where you select movies and click on convert to get the job done. The guys at Siliconera report that using the tool they were able to convert .MOV and DivX movies with ease.

Here be a demo of some of the converted movies.

Keep in mind though, that since the vids are converted to MJPEG, the size of the the video files will increase. You can get to Wii Video 9 by using the read-link that we've got below. If in case there's a few troubles with the link they've got, you can use our download-link instead.

Download [Wii Video 9]

For a start-up company, Red Kawa moves pretty fast. We have word that the Red Kawa has released another video format converter. This time, it's for the Wii.

Right after creating the PS3 Video 9, they've let out the free Wii video converter known as the Wii Video 9. It has the same basic interface scheme as the PS3 Video 9, but converts videos specifically to one type: motion JPEG Quicktime movies (.mov). For those who've been able to see the user manual of the Wii, this is apparently the only video format the Wii plays.

The folks at Red Kawa explain the reasoning behind using a video converter a lot better:

The key thing to note here is that the Wii is only capable of playing back Motion JPEG video files. Interestingly enough, the Wii can playback Motion JPEG files in both .mov and .avi containers. This does not mean the Wii will playback any type of .mov or .avi you find on the internet. A lot of .avi movies on the internet are actually MPEG-4 ASP (aka Xvid aka Divx) video files and NOT Motion JPEG. A lot of .mov files on the internet are actually Sorenson, MPEG-4 or H.264 video files and NOT Motion JPEG.

Simply put, the Wii is a picky little video viewing console.

Two things of note for the Wii Video 9. First, file size might be a problem for many conversions as a result of Motion JPEG files taking up more space compared to its source. Investing in a gigantic piece of memory to use in the Wii might be advisable if you plan on watching certain shows through the Wii. Second, video playback occurs through the Wii Photo Channel, though it was originally meant for digital camera videos. Your mileage will therefore vary when attempting to play back other videos.

Still, Red Kawa is made up of the fellows who brought the PSP homebrew community some very good programs. Perhaps any bugs can be worked out once they have more time to study any potential problems in full. Till then, it's still going to be a pretty nifty conversion device, just like the PS3 Video 9 and their pre-company creation, the PSP Video 9.