Team Xecuter has announced that the design for the Xecuter modification for TCNiSO's Wiip modchip has been finished. No release date has been announced yet but the announcement does give gamers an idea of how much the modchip will cost.

According to a post on the Team Xecuter Forums, the retail price of the Wiip v2 modchip for the Nintendo Wii video game console will not exceed US$ 39.95. This is not the final price though, and the price could still go down depending on demand for the modchip.

Team Xecuter has also released a few new shots of the modchip. You can check 'em out below to see how far the modchip design has gone since the debug prototype was revealed.

  

Thanks to PsPoPPer for the heads up!

Remember TCNISO's open-source modchip Wiip? Well, version 2 is coming along nicely and quite surprisingly, Team Xecuter just divulged that they are now part of the project. The group mentioned that they wanted to keep quiet on the matter until things are progressing to their final stages.

Anyway, like we've mentioned, Wiip v2 is almost complete and Team Xecuter posted this list of new functions:

• Legal Distribution - Mod Is Blank From Point Of Sale
• Boots All DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW
• Boots All Wii Backups
•  Boots All Gamecube Backups & Homebrew
• Supports All DMS, D2A and D2B chipsets (D2C is almost done)
• Supports NTSC/PAL/JAP
• Easy Install - Only 5 Simple Solder Points
• 100% Upgradable - Massive 8k Flash
• First Mod To Upgrade Via DVD, LPT & USB !
• Ultra Fast 20Mhz ATMEGA8 CPU
• Huge 8KB of Flash Update Space
• External Clock to Control Read/Write Timing Protocol
• Diagnostic LED's
• Extra Features Via Dip Switches
• No More "Disc Loading Error" That You See On Many Other Mods
• Rock Solid In All Temperatures (Wii Gets Too Hot = No Problems)
• Massive OpenSource Support
• Can Be Used as a Universal Microcontroller Device - Many Future Uses
• Mod Is Not Locked In Anyway Way - You Are In Control
• This List Is Not Exhaustive - Many More Options & Functions Soon

No release date was given yet but Team Xecuter maintained that the design is optimized to be as cost-effective as possible. By the way, the image above is just a prototype unit. According to the developers, the final design will be much leaner with a totally different layout and installation procedure.

TCNISO has posted a short update regarding the production status of their open-source Wiip modchip. Everything is reportedly running at a good pace, and the first production boards will be shipping soon. They're also accepting pre-orders now, and those interested can place their orders at the TCNISO website.

The source code for the Wiip will also be released on the modchip's official launch date, but for those who want to be prepared, TCNISO has revealed a list of the parts needed to make your own Wiip. Here's what you'll need:

an Atmel microcontroller (we recommend the AT90S2313), a 4-MHz resonator (or crystal), two 22pF capacitors and 4x 220 ohm resistors, along with a DB25 case and solder cup, some pref-board, low gauge wires, etc.

If you want to pre-order/learn more about the Wiip, click on the "read" link below.

 

TCNISO's Wiip modchip isn't available on their online store yet. However, what's very interesting about their modchip is that they're willing to share the schematics, code, and software involved with the chip so that you can make one yourself for less than US$ 10. If you're too lazy to do all the soldering and whatnot, the Wiip modchip itself should retail for US$ 20 including shipping.

The Wiip will allow you to boot backup discs and works by utilizing a simple microcontroller that communicates with the serial port of the Wii's hybrid DVD drive and overrides certain parts of the media's data stream. The current features of the modchip include:

• Upgradability! Device is bundled with an easy to use programming cable.
• 20 MHz AVR microcontroller with 2KB of EEPROM (SMD type)
• Customizable (via open source code)
• Boots Wii games (DVD+R / DVD-R media)
• Boots GC games and homebrew
• AudioFix (naturally)
• On board DIP switch (enable/disable mod, enable/disable stealth)
• Works on DMS / D2A chipsets (sorry, we haven't worked on D2B yet)

TCNISO hopes that by making The Wiip chip project open source, others will be able to add to and improve upon their existing code. For more info on the Wiip Project, feel free to click our read link below.

Is this an attempt to generate a Wii modchip that upgrades/improves faster than the Wiinja, the Wiikey, or the CycloWiz? It certainly looks like it. Let's hope that its open source nature will help counteract the road blocks that other chips are running into.