Wii's NPDP equivalent - HDD loaded Wii

[zidapi]

Well my assumption was correct, what the NPDP was to Gamecube dev the RVT-H is to Wii.

I headed out to a Wii Mall tour here in Australia with one major objective, to find out as much info about the HDD loaded Wii units as i could. I've done that and then some!

I present to you all the RVT-H Reader, a modified Wii packing some HDD heat.

Thanks to the Nintendo reps that put up with me in their faces while they were trying to pack up, and to the one that told me 'these better not end up on youtube!" I'll keep my promise, they wont. :thumbsup:

I hope the watermarking of the images isn't too intruisive.

First up is the RVT-R reader, and the RVT-R disc. Now we have allready seen these with the Green face plates. This however one was sporting the retail white face and running RVT-Rs of WarioWare and Excite Truck through out the day. A rep told me that Excite Truck would definetly have online play at some point after release, he said i could quote him on that.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/WhiteRVT-RReader.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-RDisc.jpg

Before we move onto hardware shots, here are a few packaging shots i snapped as at the end of the day. First up is the tour inventory outlining all the hardware that is used for the tour. Second is a label on the side of the boxes the RVT-Hs are stored in. 2 Wii units to a box, 1 RVT-H and 1 'Dummy Wii'.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader10.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader11.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader09.jpg

Finally what i know you are all waiting to see is the RVT-H unit itself. Firstly a much clearer shot of the setup instructions that i posted yesterday followed by lots of shots of the unit including the front panel.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader03.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader01.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader02.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader04.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader06.jpg

and a clear view of the front, labels are as follows.
Error, Mini USB, Flush, Disc Number (8 4 2 1), I/E slot, Insert, Disc Change

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/zidapi/Dev%20Stuff/RVT-HReader05.jpg

Sorry to have kept you guys waiting i had to have dinner.

[liquitt]

Oh what nice Wii :) I want one...immediately! :)

Thanks for sharing the pics

[the_steadster]

A couple of quite bad spelling mistakes on there- Devide instead of device and containts instead of contains. Not sure of the significance of them, I just notice that kinda thing

[hl718]

A couple of quite bad spelling mistakes on there- Devide instead of device and containts instead of contains. Not sure of the significance of them, I just notice that kinda thing
It's what happens when a native Japanese speaker quickly writes an English language warning label.

-hl718

[Barc0de]

Sweet jesus, how much?

[zidapi]

Yeah there is plenty of engrish on the label, strange i didn't notice at all til you pointed it out steadster. My brain auto translated it.

Nintendo Australia are heavily promoting the Wii at the moment with lots of hands on events. I'm going to head out to one today and try and get some confirmation on the Dev Hardware names aswell as specs like the HDD size etc...

Hopefully i can sweet talk some reps into letting me take some clear photos.

[Barc0de]

or grease up the old machina to obtain one;)

[Cheese007]

:drool:
Love the white and red color scheme. Much better than white and dark green.

[zidapi]

MISSION COMPRETE!


or grease up the old machina to obtain one;)

Well i didn't have to go THAT far, but i got what i was looking for.
Tour Inventory list, Disc shot, clear instructions for operation, tons of shots of the red faced unit, even model numbers, and clear shots of the modified front panel.

Images will be up soon, once i have consolidated info, resized, uploaded, and figured out how to stamp them with a large though non intrusive watermark.

Suggestions welcome in that department.

Gentlemen start peeing your pants now, 56k'ers you have about half an hour to upgrade to broadband :P

Back soon

[liquitt]

wow, i can't wait :D

[zidapi]

Updated first post

[oldengineer]

Nice scoop zidapi, very nice :-)

[bigsexyolli]

Wow! thanks for shareing those nice pics :)

[Cheese007]

:pray:

[RyanGamerGoneGrazy]

GIMMIEGIMMIEGIMMIEGIMMIEGIMMIE

[subbie]

pretty. I've seen one of thies before. There is even another dev unit (very old model) that is in a black metal case. :P

Anyways I wonder how much the electronics differ from the gcn ndpd. I wonder if there is a way to patch the ndpd drive to work on a wii :D

[Barc0de]

the metal black case you refer to is the NDEV isnt it?

[subbie]

the metal black case you refer to is the NDEV isnt it?

Yes I believe so. I have to double check tho. I like the black controller for it. :P

Also man comeon Eidos. Need a big company to go bankrupt so we can all snag some Wii dev kits!!!!

:dance:

[Barc0de]

Black controller? I ve seen the controller on its own, but never attached. I thought they usually used that on modified GDEVS?

Anyway, NDEV is classes above the RVT Player units (the equivelant of NR units on gamecube dev hardware).

NDEV offers real-time debug info much like the GBOX and GDEV, via RS232 to Hyperterminal, Codewarrior(assuming you have a license, and no life :P ) or other software.

A complete NDEV kit in the wild should score about 600 dollars to boot. That would include the ODEM PCi board. I am not aware of a USB2EXI adaptor, but since the Wii supports SDIO through its SD port, an USB2SD might be feasable.

[zidapi]

I thought you guys may be interested to know this. After posting these pictures here i submited them to local Nintendo site aussie-nintendo.com as my media release point hoping for them to spread elsewhere.

Well last week one of the webmasters at aussie-nintendo.com contacted me. It seems the images i shot had attracted the attention of the good folk at Nintendo of Japan. Representatives of NCL were apparently furious to see images of the RVT-H units online, subsequently Vispi and friends at Nintendo Australia given a serious dressing down for their incompetence.

Oops. Oh well.

[Barc0de]

so it's ok for the public to know of the existence of RVT Players but not RVT-H?:p Why are they so worried? Maybe because they know people can fall in love with one of those and hunt em down ;)

[Nitro734]

What I'd like to see is someone finding the Revolution prototypes from E3 2005. I was in the front row touching the stage at Nintendo's E3 2005 press conference (still photography section) when they showed it for the first time. Not much was different, cosmetically outside (hell it was probably JUST a case) the reset button was in a different position and the blue glowing border looked different too.

The thought crossed my mind to reach up, grab it and run but.... maybe next time :P

[Shiggsy]

Finally got my grubby hands on one!

http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24519

Shiggsy

[bubba]

I have to get my hand on one now too ... i Hope it will be very soon ..heheeh