WODE (Wii Optical Drive Emulator) has been announced, an exciting evolution of the Wii modchip.
WODE will include a Flatmod type mainboard that attaches (solderless) to the Wii drive cable similar to other available chips.
It also comes with it's own vertical stand that harnesses a slave board with built-in LCD, USB, and SD slot. The SD card is used to house the powerful Linux-based WODE software.
Features:
• Play Wii & GC game ISOs direct from USB Mass Storage devices @8X read speed (HDD and FLASH drive)
• Complete Solder free install solution
• Easy to use GUI - LCD & Joystick - NO homebrew software required (no any update of console SO can block this device )
• Region hack, Update blocker, Autoboot.
• Passthrough with FLAT-MOD mode built-in, play your DVD-R Wii & GC backups and Imports @3X read speed
• Powerful ARM9 MCU
• Totally Flexible Linux Kernel
• USB hub support for multiple USB devices connection
• Great File System support - use existing WBFS formatted media or 'drag and drop' ISOs to existing USB devices
- NTFS
- WBFS
- EXT3FS
- HPFS
Future updates will bring more cool features:
• Disc ripping to WBFS
• USB WiFi & SAMBA streaming
• Torrent & eMule download Client
Here is a YouTube video showing the development hardware.