FOR HARD-CORE GAMERS, the Wii leaves a bit to be desired. Previous-generation graphics, few games for adults, a weak online community, and a lack of DVD-movie playback are just a few of the Wii drawbacks that have led me to favor another console. Now, however, for anyone who has wished that the Wii could play movies, giving it the capability is easier than ever—no warranty-voiding mod chip required.

With just a few simple hacks, you can make your Wii video game console into a great DVD player.

What You Need

• A Nintendo Wii with system version 3.2
• A FAT/FAT32-formatted SD Card (no bigger than 2GB, however, as the Wii can’t read SDHC media)
• An SD Card reader/writer
• The Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• The “Twilight Hack” (a modified Zelda game save) and the Homebrew Channel Installer, both available at hbc.hackmii.com
• DVDX (a homebrew application that allows the Wii to read DVDs from the drive) and MPlayer (a Wii port of media player software that plays commercial DVDs), both of which are explained and available at wiibrew.org

Installing the Software

1. At your PC, insert the SD Card into the SD Card reader, and copy the ‘private’ directory of the Twilight Hack, as well as the Homebrew Channel ‘boot.dol’ file, to it.
2. Insert the SD Card into the Wii and delete your Zelda save file in the Wii File Manager (start a new game if you don’t already have a save file). If you need the save file for playing the game, you can first copy it to the SD Card and then copy it back after installing HBC.
3. On the Zelda game disc, read the text on the inner ring, which should say “RVL-RZDE- 0A-0” or “RVL-RZDE-0A-2”. Either will work, but you must apply the correct hack (the former needs TwilightHack0, and the latter uses TwilightHack2; both are included in the download).
4. Switch to SD view in the Wii File Manager and copy the correct version of the hack.
5. Insert the Zelda game disc and start the game. You should see the Twilight Hack save file. Select it to start the game. Once you can control Link, walk backward (weird, I know) until the Homebrew Channel installer starts. After a minute or two, the HBC will install, and you can access it like any other Wii Channel.

Next, you need to install the DVD apps.

1. Pop the SD Card into the card reader and erase the boot.dol file and the ‘private’ directory.
2. Create a directory on the SD Card and name it apps. Copy the ‘dvdx’ and ‘mplayer’ directories into the folder.
3. Eject the SD Card from the reader and then reinsert it into the Wii. Power on the console and start the Homebrew Channel.
4. You should see the two applications that you just copied onto the SD Card. Run the DVDX installer. When that starts up, select Normal Installation and wait for it to finish.
5. Go back to the Homebrew Channel, insert a DVD movie of your choosing into the Wii, and start the MPlayer program. To play the movie, select DVD-Video from the MPlayer menu, and then Play DVD (or Play Title #1). After a few moments the movie will load.

I should mention that the MPlayer software is currently pretty buggy; DVD menu functions are hit-and-miss, and not every movie I tried would play. Installing unofficial, third-party software always entails a certain amount of risk—but hey, that’s part of the fun.

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