Was that a collective sigh of relief we heard right there? It probably was, because thanks to homebrew, the Wii's value as an indispensable multi-purpose living room machine has grown even further. Today, we're offered the chance of turning the Wii into an entertainment center in the form of DragonMedia Player coded by homebrew developer DragonMinded - without Linux. You read that right the first time. Look to the full story for more on the WiiBrew multi-source media player project.

Download: DragonMedia Player v0.03 Alpha

This port's so useful one can only wonder what took so long for it to get to the Wiibrew scene. Introducing GeeXboX for the Wii - it allows you to play most audio and video formats supported by MPlayer, including RMVB. Neat, eh? Details and a video of the port in action after the "read more" link.

Download: GeeXboX (prototype release)

If the PlayStation 3 could do it, so could the now open Nintendo Wii - with a little ingenuity, we care to add. The GC-Linux Team has released a major update to the Wii Linux project, and now the specially crafted Linux flavor distro is loaded with new applications and features that Linux whizzes will definitely appreciate as soon as they try it out. But be careful: the installation of Debian etch 4.0 and Whiite 0.1 requires a little more work than usual. That and more at the full story.

Download: Debian etch v4.0 and Whiite v0.1

If you're a programmer, you might take an interest in this new Java API, WiiuseJ. It's a simple and lightweight API that lets you write Java programs that can interface with the Wiimote as well as the Nunchuck. Since it's a Java library, it will let you write programs independent of the console itself. Neat, eh? More in the full article.

Download: WiiuseJ v0.12 (Javadoc)
Download: WiiuseJ v0.12 (for Windows and Linux)

For most of our readers, their introduction to developer Johnny Chung Lee was his work on the headtracking mod for the Wiimote. Aside from that, Lee's also responsible for a couple of other Wiimote-based projects, such as an interactive whiteboard, which developer Bg ported to the Wii console. Details are available in the full article.

Download: WiiWhiteBoard

If you're getting eyestrain from playing those MAME emulators on the handheld too much, then you might want to try out nuvalo's SDLMame for Wii-linux distro 0.125 on a wider screen. Released for the Nintendo Wii, this old-school arcade emulator makes use of the Wii-Linux Kernel POC 0.4 and is fully compatible with many well-loved ROMS.

Download: SDLMame for Wii-linux distro 0.125
Download: SDLMame for Wii-linux distro 0.125 (source)

The d2pro dev team has announced the release of new firmwares for its 9-wire and 15/19-wire modchips. Changes include a fix for an eject issue that was affecting both chips. Further details are available in the full article.

Curious to see how Team Twiizers' Homebrew Channel is doing? Check out a new video in the full article to find out. The video shows the beta version of the Homebrew Channel in action.

If you have a thing for remade classics on the consoles, then homebrew developer Andy Sommerville has just the homebrew game for you. An early test release of the Wii homebrew game entitled Wii Asteroids is now available for download, with additional details regarding its installation found in our full article after the jump.

Download: Wii Asteroids

The group of homebrew developers led by Albert "isobel" Herranz just released another update for its promising Nintendo Wii project that should put a smile on the homebrew enthusiast's face. Wii-Linux Proof of Concept version 0.4 is out with a much needed feature. Head to the full article to know about it.

Download: Wii-Linux Proof of Concept v0.4
Visit: QJ.Net's Wii Capabilities and Hacks Forums