So you finally broke down and dropped a huge wad of cash on one of those hip new Nintendo Wii game consoles you’ve been hearing so much about. You get the thing home, plug it in and it’s like living a dream. Soon you’re waving your arms about swinging controllers like nunchucks, annoying your mom and scaring the hell out of the dog. Yeah, your day has come! But wait. What would happen if you scratched that game DVD that you’ve paid $80 for? Maybe you’d like to download and play some of those classic Nintendo games your grandfather is always going on about. Or perhaps you want to watch an imported Japanese â€art film’ that has a DVD region coding different from the one your Wii is set for? Is there anyway to expand the capability of your Wii console to handle all these contingencies? Lucky for you the answer is, â€absolutely YES!†Some enterprising engineers and programmers have been working hard to unlock the potential of the Wii since it was first launched and the solution they have arrived at is the humbly named mod chip. What is a mod chip? A mod chip is a computer chip, on a mount that circumvents hardware built into your Wii that prevents you from playing all the discs you want through your console. Originally installation of these handy devices required skill, patience and a soldering iron. Luckily for those of us with no electronic component installation experience the mod chip has evolved into a simple device that can be installed by anyone capable of handling a screwdriver. No more soldering required! Easy as you can say â€open sesame’ you can quickly learn how to order and install the proper mod chip for your Wii. Within 30 minutes of getting started you can be playing backed-up game discs, downloaded game ROMs and DVDs from any region. Surprised at how easy it is? Not as surprised as you will be by the affordable prices. Mod chipping has been around since the early days of game consoles but it was always an arduous and expensive proposition. To get your Playstation2 â€modded’, you had to spend almost $100 on the mod chip and another $50 to have someone handy with a soldering gun to install it for you. Well hold on to your hats, cause not only is Wii installation free if you do it yourself, but the chips themselves cost on the average less than $40! I know, I know. I can hear you salivating already. These days Wii modification chips are available through online mail-order sites, all of which usually feature step-by-step instructional videos. If you have doubts about the simplicity of installing one of these handy chips yourself visit one of the many Wii modification websites out there and watch an installation video. You’ll be shocked at how simple it is to open your Wii and install a modchip at home. Nervous about doing a little hardware surgery on your console? There are also software mods which claim to unlock the same features on your Wii as that released by a mod chip installation. The downside of the easy software mod is that as soon as Nintendo learns about it they quickly put together a software update that makes your software mod useless. Of course, the software mod folks just as quickly develop a new software mod, but who wants to be caught up in a never ending cycle of downloading update after update just to be able to play Mario Cart? Take it from me, once your Wii is mod chipped you’ll be happy you did it, and so will your friends!
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