The more the merrier seems is the way things are going for the Wii console, as we report another modchip being readied for release. Dubbed the Wiiva, this modchip was created by Team Avalaunch, whom gamers may recognise for their custom dashboard replacement for the Xbox console. The team states that the Wiiva is their very first Wii modchip, and comes with these features:

• Supports all Wii regions (PAL, NTSC-U and NTSC-J)
• High quality PCB and components
• Comes in high Quality ESD bag
• Ready with pretinned wires
• Double-sided tape for easy fitting
• LED Indicator for checking install and for error readouts
• Compatible with DMS, D2A and D2B dvd drive chipsets
• Compatible with rev1 and rev2 dvd drive boards
• Compatible with DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW (No need to change bitsettings)
• Upgradeable via DVD
• Bad flash recovery mode (even recoverable after pernicious code)
• Stealth mode
• Direct boot Wii games
• Direct boot GC games
• Boot Wii Imports (Partial)
• Boot GC Imports
• Multi-disc support
• Built-in audio fix
  

The mod chip doesn't have a set price or release date at the moment - keep posted in case Team Avalaunch reveal these details, along with more of the chip's features. Our thanks goes to Yomoska for tipping us off regarding this news.

FrenchTouch members - a bunch of French PSP enthusiasts - have created their own LUA games and have released these games in a pack.

FrenchTouch has released these games in its noble attempt at collecting gifts to raise funds for AIDS research. According to the site, this has also been done so that players will be aware about the fight against this disease.

PSP websites who have contributed to any AIDS research websites have their banners on some of the homebrew games to show that they have given gifts to said research sites.

Here now is the list of games created by FrenchTouch members:

Sudoku v0.9c by Arobase - This popular game (also known as Number Place) uses numbers 1 to 9  which will be placed in a cell of a grid. Each column, region, or row should contain only one instance of every number.

Move Your Flower by zouzzz - This is a dancing game (move your flower, get it?) wherein players will only have to keep pushing the key being displayed to "make the flower move."

GTA: Driving Forward by Maxime - The only goal of this game is to drive forward for as long and as fast as the player can using the analog stick or the D-pad to avoid the other cars.

Dangerous Rise by Lua-user - Players will only have to avoid rocks and catch balls in  this "Avalaunch" type game. The background, menu and difficulty settings can be chosen.

Halo: Spatial CombatS: Guilty Spark Invasion by Seb117 - The original game from which this was based on, Space Rocks, was created by Xigency. Players will only have to shoot at every Guilty Sparks to pass the level.

Mario: Operation espace by Bibi595 - This game is also based on the original Xigency game, Space Rock. The idea is basically the same as the other shooter game in this pack. Players must shoot every single mushroom to pass the level.

Download: [Lua Game Package]

Undeniably every XBox 360 owner's dream: The ability to play homebrew in their console. But since we're all in agreement that, that happening would virtually be impossible, if not terribly difficult to achieve, we content ourselves with being able to play games burned in a CD. I'm pretty sure that you have been following the developments with Commodore4eva's tweaks for the Hitachi 46D and 47D, which is now on its second revision. And just recently a good friend of his, spectrum4eva has released F900 for the 47 to extract security sectors. But, these screenshots posted at XBox-Scene would shatter our seemingly quiet gaming world.

Something this big (as big as that hard drive?) would inevitably lead to much speculation, debates and commotion. One of the pictures shows Avalaunch inconspicuously running in the background. These raised points that this could just be a new skin. And in one of the pictures, it had the Nintendo 64 emulator, Surreal 64. But what caught a lot of people's attention is this sentence - Shutting down the console will also turn off all controllers - that lead to debates between wired and wireless controllers. And last of the controversial photographs, from the anonymous but reliable source, is one that shows a massive hard drive space.

Some people take these photos with a grain of salt. Claiming that these are no question done using Photoshop. While others would like to believe in the possibility of this actually being true. Just recently, people from Team Xecuter claims that these photos are actually true without even the slightest touch of Photoshop. This claim just raises more questions and clamour for proof. Could they know something we don't? So, with all that said, it leaves us only with one question: Are you a skeptic or a believer?

Developers, Developers, Developers. No doubt if you saw the classic video of Microsoft's very own Steve Balmer gasping for breath after applading 3rd party developers you wont be forgetting it anytime soon. Seems Microsoft wants to make it clear that they love developers who want to take their tools into their own hands and run with it.

While there has been quite a number of great developments recently in the gaming scene, not many deal with the Xbox 360. Custom case accessories are nice, and playing legal backups to preserve your original is a cool feature. However these are "normal" compatability functions of the Xbox 360 and leave little area for exploration. Leading me to my next question... Where is the homebrew? The ability to play backup games on the Xbox 360 is facilitated by using a DVD firmware hack. So in essence, you can still only play Microsoft Official games. Not quite a full breakthrough when compared to the original Xbox.

So while Microsoft is apparently having problems with backwards compatability, hackers are not.

With a modified Xbox you are able to load up homebrew games, emulators for classic consoles as well as custom dashbords (replacement operating system) which you can customize to your hearts desire. But wait! Whats that there in the background? Is it a new menu for XBL Arcade, or something more?

 

Upon closer inspection you will see what appears to be the first homebrew running on the Xbox 360 console. The applications running in the background are original xbox emulators and homebrew applications. So while Microsoft is apparently having problems with backwards compatability, hackers are not. From left to right we have; Surreal 64 (a Nintendo 64 Emulator which provides 3 different engine modes for emulation), Avalaunch (a multi function dashboard, IRC client, file manager, news reader, etc.), and the Xbox 360 Storage Devices Menu displaying what appears to be a 500 GB Hard Drive. Whats your take? These look real to us but then again the internet and crafty photoshop'ers do go hand and hand.