A Region-Free Wii, Mr. BEN

[digitalpress]

I defer to this blog entry.

http://blog.myspace.com/digitalpress

Does anyone have info on this? What region is this Wii from? Who or what IS Mr. BEN? Are some Wii systems region-free after all?

[studvicious]

I think only MySpace users can read that. One of my goals in life is to never sign up for MySpace. Would you mind posting his blog entry?

[Kejoriv]

I have a myspace account and I still couldnt see the blog.

[Oobgarm]

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=16146264&blogID=273409735

The above link will work. I think you copied in a link that takes YOU to YOUR blog while you're logged into myspace, Joe. :)

As for Mr. BEN, I think he's some short Chinese man, sitting at a huge desk in a room with stacks and stacks of Wii games. He's smoking some rolled up 100-yuan notes and laughing manically. A bottle of Perrier sits half-empty next to him, most likely filled with some sort of alcoholic concoction.

Meanwhile, downstairs, his political campaign machine is running at full force. The clever gimmick of sticking a 'vote for Mr. BEN' on Wii videogames is helping to turn the tide and move China away from a Communist regime and into a totalitarian democracy, where citizens will have to purchase a set amount of Mr. BEN's videogames in order to be able to vote. Of course, Mr. BEN doesn't have to listen to popular vote and he can do whatever he pleases. But the videogames make people happy. And people who are happy are less concerned with what's going on in the government.

LOL

Seriously though, I can tell you've got some Chinese pirated games there, based on the photo. But what about the machine itself? What does the sticker on the unit say? I'm really intrigued.

[digitalpress]

I think only MySpace users can read that. One of my goals in life is to never sign up for MySpace. Would you mind posting his blog entry?

Fixed the link above, sorry.

[Daria]

Sounds like either a modded Wii playing Chinese bootlegs, or a Development (Debugging) Wii playing Chinese bootlegs. Mr. BEN may even be the handle of the pirate putting his "mark" on his mechandise. :P

[Vectorman0]

It's a Wii with a mod-chip. It will play all US or Japanese Wii and Gamecube games/backups, and some PAL games/backups.

Make sure when you put newer games with Wii system updates in, that you don't update it with the game, else the system might ruin itself.

[rurouni318]

Wait does the Wii act like the 360 where you have to update to play the newer games?

[Flack]

Some Wii games have a firmware update included on them. Super Paper Mario is one of those games. If you flash a PAL Wii with the NTSC version of Super Paper Mario, you'll end up with a sleek, white brick under your entertainment center.

http://www.destructoid.com/beware-foreigners-super-paper-mario-can-destroy-you--30960.phtml

[rurouni318]

Do you know if there is a way to tell which games does have the update?

[Snapple]

Hell, I'll vote for Mr. BEN. After all, I support all the types of aircraft.

[neuropolitique]

But does Mr. Ben love else and dance?

[hbkprm]

mr ben should run for prez

[RetroYoungen]

Another vote for Mr. Ben.

With the Chinese symbols on the disc I'd say it's a Chinese unit, but I was under the impression that it was region-free as it is (though apparently I'm very, very wrong... thought Wii games were, but like the PS3 games were locked if for an earlier platform), so I'm at a loss on this one. Weird thought, maybe Chinese units are region-free?

And if so, is Mr. Ben region-free as well?