Xbox Original vs Wii for Softmodding

[M-Doggy]

Hi all,

I'm looking into softmodding the Xbox original or the Wii and was wondering which system is overall better for softmodding?

Any information would help such as which system has emulators running better on it, graphics look better, ease of softmodding the console, etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you very much

 

[Foxi4]

"Overall better" is a rather wide spectrum right there. I'd say the Wii is "better" simply because it's easier to softmod and has a more unified Homebrew infrastructure thanks to Homebrew Channel, but the Xbox ain't half bad either - I recently bought one myself.

The Wii has the edge over the Xbox in terms of horsepower as far as I know, but the Xbox can display in 720p and 1080i which the Wii cannot do, so the image might be crisper provided the application supports those resolutions.

It's a pretty close match, but I'm leaning towards the Wii since I have more experience with it.

 

[DinohScene]

For ease, go with the Wii.
Wireless controllers and what not.
Also, it's hackable with an SD card.
The xbox needs a game and a hacked save or a hotswap to get it softmodded.

 

[Chary]

Original Xbox requires a few extras than the Wii, since you need the gameshark, memory card, and compatible game. The Wii softmod just needs an SD card. With the Xbox the emulators have features such as filters, and in my opinion, it looks nicer than the Wii's emulators. The Wii is pretty simple and intuitive though, which makes for just quick and easy access. On the Xbox, you can get some N64 games working pretty decently, but on the Wii, you can just run VC n64 games perfectly. SNES/Genesis/older stuff run equally between the two, imo. If you want an entertainment setup going, it'd vote the xbox. If you want games, go for the wii.

 

[emmanu888]

Between the two, if you want HD videos and games, go with the Xbox. If HD content isn't your cup of tea, the Wii is better.

 

[GBA rocks]

Xbox original is loud as hell and chug power
Wii is dead silent and sip power

Xbox original no first party wireless joypads (third party only)
Wii wireless remotes plenty available

In terms of games on a BC Wii with dios mios plus Wii games you can basically have something to play for the rest of your life with the GC + Wii library. And we're talking native fullspeed games. There's not even time left to play choppy frameskip emulated games.

Wii easier to softmod and manage USB 2TB bus powered HDD in FAT32 compared to internal PATA partition madness in xbox.

So used BC Wii all the way. Xbox only when you get tired of GC+Wii games. Probably never.

And I wanna reiterate xbox is unbearably loud for today standards.

 

[emmanu888]

Um why is this both in the Xbox thread and the Wii thread ?

 

[migles]

The image quality on wii is very poor :/ if you are using an hd tv...

but its easy to softmod (not as easy as psp.. but still just prepare sd card and run..)

what kind of emulators you want to use?

 

[Foxi4]

Xbox original is loud as hell and chug power (...) And I wanna reiterate xbox is unbearably loud for today standards.

Not that I wanna argue, but mine is as silent as it gets. Maybe you need a new fan, son?

 

[GBA rocks]

What conditions are we talking? Small room, big room, complete silence?
All my consoles sit within 1m from my ears and I evaluate the noise in complete silence (game audio goes to headphones), maybe that's that.
I never tinkered with fans on both my fat ps2 and my crystal xbox yet the xbox is definitely louder. It holds a 750GB hdd, supposedly hotter than smaller ones with fewer platters.
One day I might look into liquid cooling or something.

 

[Foxi4]

What conditions are we talking? Small room, big room, complete silence?
All my consoles sit within 1m from my ears and I evaluate the noise in complete silence (game audio goes to headphones), maybe that's that.
I never tinkered with fans on both my fat ps2 and my crystal xbox yet the xbox is definitely louder. It holds a 750GB hdd, supposedly hotter than smaller ones with fewer platters. One day I might look into liquid cooling or something.

Mine's about 2.5 meters away from me by the telly and has an 8GB drive in it (swapping for a bigger one soon) and is super quiet, but I guess it's different between systems. Maybe I have a higher tolerance for humming.

 

[Count Duckula]

Not that I wanna argue, but mine is as silent as it gets. Maybe you need a new fan, son?

The fan speed in game is configured by a BIOS setting. If the unit is chipped/flashed and is near silent in-game it would likely be a good idea to dump/update fan speed/reflash the bios to keep the system cool.
I guess earlier models were just noisier overall also.

 

[Foxi4]

The fan speed in game is configured by a BIOS setting. If the unit is chipped/flashed and is near silent in-game it would likely be a good idea to dump/update fan speed/reflash the bios to keep the system cool.
I guess earlier models were just noisier overall also.

Oh, don't worry - my temps are fine. UnleashX displays them on the dash, the unit is not overheating.

 

[cvskid]

Original xbox over nintendo wii overall. The wii just has the convenience factor of being able to use sd cards and usb thumb/hard drives but if you figure out how to install a large hard drive inside the system and learn how to use FTP programs with the xbox then its fine.

 

[M-Doggy]

Um why is this both in the Xbox thread and the Wii thread ?

Because it relates to both and I figured I would receive biased opinions in each thread depending on which section it was. So I wanted a general consensus among both threads.

Xbox original is loud as hell and chug power
Wii is dead silent and sip power

Xbox original no first party wireless joypads (third party only)
Wii wireless remotes plenty available

In terms of games on a BC Wii with dios mios plus Wii games you can basically have something to play for the rest of your life with the GC + Wii library. And we're talking native fullspeed games. There's not even time left to play choppy frameskip emulated games.

Wii easier to softmod and manage USB 2TB bus powered HDD in FAT32 compared to internal PATA partition madness in xbox.

So used BC Wii all the way. Xbox only when you get tired of GC+Wii games. Probably never.

And I wanna reiterate xbox is unbearably loud for today standards.

Thank you. I am not worried about that noise and will be primarily modding for the purpose of emulating SNES, Genesis, and Arcade mainly. Everything else is a bonus.

The image quality on wii is very poor :/ if you are using an hd tv...

but its easy to softmod (not as easy as psp.. but still just prepare sd card and run..)

what kind of emulators you want to use?

I mainly want to play Genesis, SNES, Arcade and Neo Geo. Everything else is a bonus.

 

[Foxi4]

1. Don't triple-post. Reply to everyone in one post.
2. Don't make duplicate threads.

I'll merge the two threads and your triple-post now, but try not to do that again.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Another point to consider is Networking.

Wii has Wifi and I think you can get USB Ethernet adapters.

Xbox is wired and I don't think there is any way to add Wifi at all.

I would vote for Wii for most things, but I hear that XMBC on the Xbox is fantastic if you want media streaming. Not that media streaming on the Wii is bad as long as you stick to Xvid or Divx and try to avoid HD content your good to roll and it works really well.

Emulation, is probably mixed I think the original Xbox has an advantage over the Wii because most of the emulators are ports from the PC (X86 and all) but I think the Wii is good enough for most emulation needs and the difference really breaks down to I think the Xbox enjoys better N64 emulation than the Wii does? (I haven't hacked my Xbox yet because it is a pain...)

Then there is Halo 1 and 2 to consider... lol or Metroid Prime Trilogy... That's a tough call... lol

 

[M-Doggy]

1. Don't triple-post. Reply to everyone in one post.
2. Don't make duplicate threads.

I'll merge the two threads and your triple-post now, but try not to do that again.

My apologies. First thread and posts.

Another point to consider is Networking.

Wii has Wifi and I think you can get USB Ethernet adapters.

Xbox is wired and I don't think there is any way to add Wifi at all.

I would vote for Wii for most things, but I hear that XMBC on the Xbox is fantastic if you want media streaming. Not that media streaming on the Wii is bad as long as you stick to Xvid or Divx and try to avoid HD content your good to roll and it works really well.

Emulation, is probably mixed I think the original Xbox has an advantage over the Wii because most of the emulators are ports from the PC (X86 and all) but I think the Wii is good enough for most emulation needs and the difference really breaks down to I think the Xbox enjoys better N64 emulation than the Wii does? (I haven't hacked my Xbox yet because it is a pain...)

Then there is Halo 1 and 2 to consider... lol or Metroid Prime Trilogy... That's a tough call... lol

Thank you. I mainly just want emulated retro games to run fantastically. I don't care much to use the modded system to play Xbox and Wii games as I already own hard copies of all the game I want.

 

[Count Duckula]

Oh, don't worry - my temps are fine. UnleashX displays them on the dash, the unit is not overheating.

Ahh yep. The system isnt under much load when running the dash, XMBC has its own fan speed controls. Once you launch into a game though its up to the BIOS, and that's when its under a lot of load.
TBH one of mine is in an entertainment unit and only set to 40% fan speed, never had any problems with it after many years of use.

Is there something on unleashX that XBMC doesnt offer? It just looks so much nicer with cover art etc.
It does chug for a few seconds when i browse into my game dirs, but then again its a 2TB drive split into 1TB partitions, completely full with games

 

[Lumstar]

First decide whether you're using an SDTV or HDTV. Wii should look better on SDTVs (240p support), yet worse on HDTVs (limited to 480p).

Xbox overall is friendlier to burnt games. It doesn't have anything near the drastic block attempt of later Wii models.