Have you filled up your Wii's internal memory yet? We have and it's bloody annoying. But while we're all waiting for Nintendo to release a Wii hard drive, the reluctant games giant says there's no need to store all your games on your Wii. Again.
"The way that we look at it is, we really don't want people storing every single game they buy on their drive," said NOA PR manager, Eric Walter.
"When you buy a game, it's yours forever, so you can delete it, and go back and get it at any time you want. In a way, we liken it to putting music on your iPod; you listen to it for a while, and then you get tired of it, and you pull it off, and you put some new stuff on."
Yes Walter. But transferring songs between your PC and iPod takes seconds, not minutes, as Wii does per game. And copying VC games to an SD Card takes even longer than deleting and re-downloading them, would you believe it?
We're worried about how big the original games coming to the new WiiWare Channel (Wii Software) next year will be, but Walter says it won't be a problem.
"A lot of the games for WiiWare that have been submitted so far are smaller in size, so they're not gonna take up a ton of your drive," he told Gamasutra.
And that's the attitude that's going to kill them off.
How many people want a hard drive for their Wii? To store VC games, to store game saves, whatever. And they're ignoring that demand.
I think I've figured it out, and it's all about the marketing. If they released a hard drive, people would expect DLC for their games. That new content would potentially stop them buying new games and Nintendo would have to get by on just the $600 zillion they've already made.
Come on now, Iwata needs another mansion.
Nintendo, here's your $64000 question: What happens when people have created so many profiles and save games that their Wii is full? Do you expect them to delete saved games they may have spent dozens of hours working on?
Sure, they can go through the process of moving it to an external card, but they shouldn't have to.
I don't remove songs from my ipod, I have a 30 Gig ipod (so just 60 times more memory than my Wii) that I keep all of my songs on all the time. Why on earth would I f***y about adding and removing stuff constantly.
GET A CLUE NINTENDO!
At the very very least let me play my VC games directly off my SD card, or what use is my SD card?
The guy is right. Why make a simple console more complicated? The 'casual' gamer outnumbers the 'hardcore' gamer in the Wii market. Hard drives, dvd drives, High Defintion? Doesn't mean anything to the people they are marketing the machine too. It's a casual party machine. Its the karoke machine of the gaming world. I agree with Nintendo on this one.
i stopped downloading stuff as it takes bloody ages on my wii via wireless and is too expensive for retro stuff. i just use an emu for anything they release that i'm ˝ interested in, play it, realise i get bored with it in ten minutes, the forget it. on a serious note though, this machine does need a bigger hard drive attachment for all those that do a lot of downloading. what a chore having to wait to download a game you already downloaded a month ago! it's one thing i don't like about the ps3. you download a demo for an hour, then have to wait another 20 minutes while it installs. nintendo just dont want to spend the extra cash on a larger internal memory. the one they have is clearly not up to the job.
Some people are idiots. And I'm not talking about Nintendo *looks up at a few people*
But I agree. Nintendo have shown they're still behind the times when it comes to these things. They'll realise their mistake, hopefully not when it's too late.
I suppose the servers will be run forever then will they Nintendo?
Also i'm guessing then that download speeds for people are lightning fast and copying and deleting just happens magically for everyone else. It's just my Wii that's defective then, because for me Nintendo it's a f*cking pain in the bottom!!!
More so than that it's a chore that nobody should have to do. What about what the consumer wants eh? I guess that doesn't matter, because Nintendo don't want you holding onto all your games.
Nintendo take your f*cking hands off your ears. Stop mumbling "La La La not listening" to yourselves and listen to the consumers for once!
I don't delete songs off my MP3. It has everything I want and if I come across more I like I have room for it too. Why am I saying this? Because we should have a choice in the matter and not be told what we want.
I think everyone needs to realise that a few 'hardcore' gamers on a forum are nothing compared to the mass 'casual' market that Nintendo has breached and secured. The most technical addition we can expect to see is the 'Wii Zapper'. Which is simply mind blowing.
I don't delete songs off my MP3. It has everything I want and if I come across more I like I have room for it too. Why am I saying this? Because we should have a choice in the matter and not be told what we want.
Wrong. You should be told want you want. Thats how it works. If you have bought a Wii than you have consented to all choices they make. I've never expected a harddrive attachment. It doesn't even play DVDs.
In fact, scrap that. Nintendo aren't telling you want to do. They are just leaving the console as basic as possible, as they always said they would.
When I heard there was only a 512mb memory in the wii I actually thought it was a joke or a miscalculation by someone or something. But no, they released a console in the 21st century with 512mb of hard drive.
Ok so game save files are generally really really small, I've only got about 4 games that use more than about 20 blocks, but when they have a download service it just makes no sense to have less than 5 gig to download to. And honestly, a 2 gig SD card fits in that teensy little slot on the front, and thats 4 times the amount of data storage than the whole console. I assume that the actual hardware drivers are on another section of memory within the wii, or that its 512 after the drivers, otherwise we're being jipped. The only games that don't sap a huge cunk of your memory on the VC are the NES games, and we know how fun they are most of the time.
I'd want a hard drive for my wii, just because its potential for downloading and playing a lot of games. Personally I'd love to see them offering a download service for Dreamcast games, but at the moment you'd only be able to store a couple games maximum on your console, add in a hard drive of say, 10 gigs, at least there'd be potential there to expand the library to include more games and systems. Theres potential through the virtual console and the money they're making on wii to have every previous console apart from playstation available for download, will they do it just yet, no. Not unless the PS3 causes playstation to go completely bankrupt, in which case I can see them within minutes releasing a press statement saying they'd be offering an external hard drive or an SD card patch.
Where were all these new casual players back when we were playing our NES's?
The casual market will come and go as they choose, but this "hardcore" lot have been there for years, funding them every step of the way. Don't we deserve something back from them? A Japanese company should be all about the respect.
If you don't give your customers what they want, they will get it elsewhere - fact.
I just sent a rather long email to Nintendo pointing out these points and more (it was a bit of a rant). Won't accomplish anything, but it's their call.
I love Nintendo, they make the best games, but I really hate them when they think they know what we want more than we do.
If nintendo don't want to release a hard drive then fair enough. but would it hurt them to update the wii to play games of the SD card or USB so third parties could make a HDD.
the only reason they don't want us to store the games is so they can re-re-re-re-re-re-release super mario bros on the next console they make
a) are they going to support this service forever- answer:no
b) therefore in 10-15 years time when you pull out the wii are you going to be able to say 'oh ill just put on a game of mario kart 64, its ok, despite the fact i dont have it saved on my wii harddrive, ill just redownload it becuase i bought it 10-15 years ago. oh wait, they stopped supporting the wii service ...guess i can't play it'
The comparison with an iPod is stupid when you'd no doubt be importing to a 30GB iPod from a PC or Mac with anywhere up to and above a 500GB hard drive.
What about in the future - say in 15 years time when the Wii has been discontinued and isn't supported: what happens then when you want to download the game that you own?
The comment about the Wiiware titles being small in size is also an issue - they're going to have more restrictive games than the 360 and PS3 and that's going to be a problem clearly.
We don't want people storing every single game they buy on their drive
No, we don't want our consumers deciding how to store their own games. So we'll just ignore the biggest request from pretty much everyone that owns the console.
Dont buy a can of Spam & then complain that it just tastes like Spam??......
I don't recall reading in the Wii marketing that they wouldn't support external hard drives and would never allow direct saving and loading from SD cards.
I do remember them saying it was state-of-the-art though, and 512Mb just isn't. Especially if they're going to expand their DLC soon. 50Mb per game means 10 at the most, assuming you have nothing already on there. Or at least don't mind waiting half an hour while it transfers back and forward between SD card and console.
I am at a loss as to why people feel so passionately about this. I am a 'hardcore' gamer and I couldn't care less about the memory capacity of my Wii. There is enough room for a few triple A classic games from yesteryear and the saved games for the new titles.
Then again I think that some people's definition of a hardcore gamer relates directly to an obsession with dlc. These are the same people that give a turd about the size of their ipod - who cares? Generally speaking, DLC is a bore (oooo horse armour zzzzzzzzz) - especially on the restrictive console market. If you are really into the mod scene you will already have a decent gaming PC with more memory than you could ever need.
I play my Wii for quality gaming experiences (although they have been a bit slow in coming) - something which has never, and will never, require a massive hard drive.
I can't believe you're even attempting to stick up for Nintendo not releasing an optional hard drive. It's nothing to do with being a hardcore gamer, it's about sense. If they're gonna have a downloadable game system, they need to give you something to put all these games on. Most people don't want to have top delete something every time they want to download a new game.
This DLC thing really starting to hack me off. My internet connection has been down for 3 weeks now thanks to BT. As a result I have been unable to play the XBLA games which I OWN just because I'm not online. What they're saying in effect is that if - for some reason - you don't have the internet in the future, the games you own aren't yours to have.
It's essentially a licensing scheme (in the same way that you don't own Vista or XP, you own the license to use it), where the content essentially remains the property of the distributor.
I can't believe you're even attempting to stick up for Nintendo not releasing an optional hard drive. It's nothing to do with being a hardcore gamer, it's about sense. If they're gonna have a downloadable game system, they need to give you something to put all these games on. Most people don't want to have top delete something every time they want to download a new game.
I agree, but when I take a step back it makes sense for what Nintendo are doing. The main thing to remember about Nintendo is that they are the now the oldest console creaters still creating. They make consoles. Consoles should not have external harddrives. I've got a Wii to play Wii Sports, Red Steel, Metroid, Mario Galaxy, No More Heroes... and thats about it. A harddrive would be nice, but this is a console. And as things would suggest Nintendo view a console as a box you buy and that does everything you will need from the start. Put a disc in and it plays. There should be no more to it than that in Nintendos eyes. Although the home screen is now standard it was a big step for Nintendo to do the whole 'Channels' thing. Internet browsing through a Nintendo console? Thats madness in itself. I agree about having to delete and make space, but Nintendo are going to kept it all very simple... its going to stay as the console it is. There may be another version with DVD playback, though this will probably be Japanese only. Just like the Panasonic Gamecube. Nintendo are making a lot of money out of this from the 'casual' market. They don't want to ever take away from the simpleness of the console. If you can buy attachments for it it is no longer 'plug-in-and-play'. It'd be great for us, but it wouldn't be great for the people you see in the adverts.
Millions have bought a wiii with the hard drive as it is, yet you think that will change? lol
Yes it will. Customers drive the market, not companies. If people get sick of playing the same old games in the same old ways with the same old bugs then they will get their fix elsewhere. Nobody buys console + nobody buys games = Nintendo gets no money.
While it would be nice to have a larger harddrive its only a big deal to people like you, who . If the hard drive is full, you can delete the VC games and download them for free whenever you want, how hard is that?
For now you can re-download them, sure. As long as you have a decent connection. And a wireless router or spend yet more money on the wired adapter. But as was previously stated, that service won't last forever.
Bottom line anyway is consumers should not have to be told how to use their hardware. The company should be bending over backwards to keep their customers happy. It's not like it's only a handful of people who want this, it is hundreds of thousands. And it's not like it's a big job to patch the Wii OS to allow direct SD access.
I'm not looking for ammo to fire at Nintendo, they're handing it out. 1. The friend code system is annoying and almost everyone wants it to go. But it's pointless anyway, because.. 2. Most of the games on the Wii don't support online play anyway. No online play? In 2007? Please. Their rivals (that's Sony and MS) have had decent online access for a couple of years now. 3. 512Mb storage space. Again, in 2007? With decent demos now weighing in way above that it's completely impractical. And instead of saying "That's all we've got for now, we might make an external drive soon" we get "Stop complaining. You bought our console, you're our bitch now. We don't care what umpteen million of you want. We're not listening, la la la la".
And that's backed up by mindless fanboys like yourself who keep buying the utter crap they say and release just because it's something to do, instead of boycotting the idea until something decent comes along (because of supply and demand, children).
I refuse to download the same thing multiple times (which hurts users with limited bandwidth allowance). I refuse to buy the same old crap mini-games because they're not my thing. I refuse to buy stupid controller add-ons, because my Universal Remote actually works without them.
If people just deleted things when hard disks filled up, PC users would still be using 500Mb disks with just 2 games on them. Times change and if you don't change with them you get left behind. Hence my original comment that they will get killed off.
This DLC thing really starting to hack me off. My internet connection has been down for 3 weeks now thanks to BT. As a result I have been unable to play the XBLA games which I OWN just because I'm not online. What they're saying in effect is that if - for some reason - you don't have the internet in the future, the games you own aren't yours to have.
It's essentially a licensing scheme (in the same way that you don't own Vista or XP, you own the license to use it), where the content essentially remains the property of the distributor.
It's a disgrace and should be stopped.
You know what, I wasn't even aware of this. This is something else though and quite a worry. Unless they keep the same system etc for the next console all these 'downloads' will become useless.
Nintendo don't need a hard drive, they already indicated that they'd make the console support HCSD cards by means of a firmware update in the future. There's also the 2 USB's which could simply be enabled to support storage
Millions have bought a wiii with the hard drive as it is, yet you think that will change? lol
Yes it will. Customers drive the market, not companies. If people get sick of playing the same old games in the same old ways with the same old bugs then they will get their fix elsewhere. Nobody buys console + nobody buys games = Nintendo gets no money.
While it would be nice to have a larger harddrive its only a big deal to people like you, who . If the hard drive is full, you can delete the VC games and download them for free whenever you want, how hard is that?
For now you can re-download them, sure. As long as you have a decent connection. And a wireless router or spend yet more money on the wired adapter. But as was previously stated, that service won't last forever.
Bottom line anyway is consumers should not have to be told how to use their hardware. The company should be bending over backwards to keep their customers happy. It's not like it's only a handful of people who want this, it is hundreds of thousands. And it's not like it's a big job to patch the Wii OS to allow direct SD access.
I'm not looking for ammo to fire at Nintendo, they're handing it out. 1. The friend code system is annoying and almost everyone wants it to go. But it's pointless anyway, because.. 2. Most of the games on the Wii don't support online play anyway. No online play? In 2007? Please. Their rivals (that's Sony and MS) have had decent online access for a couple of years now. 3. 512Mb storage space. Again, in 2007? With decent demos now weighing in way above that it's completely impractical. And instead of saying "That's all we've got for now, we might make an external drive soon" we get "Stop complaining. You bought our console, you're our bitch now. We don't care what umpteen million of you want. We're not listening, la la la la".
And that's backed up by mindless fanboys like yourself who keep buying the utter crap they say and release just because it's something to do, instead of boycotting the idea until something decent comes along (because of supply and demand, children).
I refuse to download the same thing multiple times (which hurts users with limited bandwidth allowance). I refuse to buy the same old crap mini-games because they're not my thing. I refuse to buy stupid controller add-ons, because my Universal Remote actually works without them.
If people just deleted things when hard disks filled up, PC users would still be using 500Mb disks with just 2 games on them. Times change and if you don't change with them you get left behind. Hence my original comment that they will get killed off.
s**t, that got a bit longer than I meant.
I agree with you. If I was Nintendo though I'd be making the same choice at this point in time. I wouldn't have had such a small harddrive in the first place though.
Dumbbottoms - thats the thickest quote ive heard- of course the wii needs a hard drive as does a 360 core
Nintendo are rubbish now they used to be a good company - the poor company that never won sales or sold consoles but made great games - now it seems they sell shed loads of consoles and dont make decent games anymore
You should of stuck with the ds ninty it has so much potential
I am not really bothered that much by this from Nintendo as regards to nes, snes, Pc engine, megadrive etc I have them all on emulation on my Xbox or PC the only format on the VC that I will most likely use in the near future is N64 as most pc emulators are well crap unless someone can point me in the direction of a decent one?
The Wiiware titles is a wait & see what they come up with for the service.
And you can get SD cards 1 & 2gb pretty reasonable these days just store the games you want to keep on them.
I am in awe. There are so many smart people here that can come up with such great ideas to give Nintendo. My shock in how so many intellectuals can gather in one forum to compile such great criticism. I can't compete with this batch at all. I mean, these people go as far as telling Nintendo to do something that they want done because they're such smart customers. I guess I agree with all those in favor of Nintendo building some sort of memory device for games. Never mind building more wiis for the holidays, just focus on a harddrive. I mean, how hard is it? I bet only one person can do it as of NOW! See, how fast is a second. And Nintendo is such a bully, right? They make you play the way they want you to. They make aweful games too, right. Even thought it hasn't even been a year yet. That's not exceptable. I want Nintendo to be like Microsoft and Sony and build not only games, but gagets that can wipe my ass. Don't focus so much on smash, just bring me a game that you took only a set effort on. Nintendo has changed. They don't delay their games anymore for better quality, don't cater to games that have gore or violence, have cutesy characters like pichu, they're way over priced, and overall they're now mean and arrogant. Iwata doesn't even bow in his confrences anymore. Everyone here that complained about the harddrives, you're the real heroes here. Nintendo is the stupid one with their business model and their platform for extending the gaming world. Thank you everyone. I think you made me a little smarter as well.
Wow! Some people really need to calm down on this. Are Ninty actually saying that there is absolutely NO possibility of a hard drive for the Wii? Based on this article I have to say "no". If WiiWare takes off like we all hope it will then I am sure they will re-visit the issue and decide the best course of action. But right now, with just the VC games to download - given that they know exactly how many VC games every single user has on their Wii - they are in a pretty good position to be able to say: "You know what, most people don't need a hard drive."
I do have a question though: how many people have actually filled their Wii's internal memory? I am not even close with about 6 VC games, Everbody Votes Channel, Weather Channel, Internet Channel, and numerous save games. (CVG don't count because you guys are expected to download everything and tell us what it's like )
Let's start at the beginning of that one. Brace yourself. Firstly, we already know that Nintendo doesn't support 3rd party hardware. If they did, they wouldn't need to take time out from making the console to make a hard drive. Not that I'm convinced they would anyway - digital storage and a console are very different technologies.
So there's Nintendo mistake #1.
About the games and making us play the way they want to. Games aren't such a big deal, but until recently all they really had was ported GC games, Wii Sports and several collections of mini-games. But we've already covered that if you stick to Nintendo-only hardware you are limited to comparitively small SD cards. Meaning you have to buy more. That's about sales, not helping the players. The DVD drive can play DVDs but you need to hack to do it. That's about manipulating a device to fit your needs, not giving the customer all the stuff they may want to do.
So there's Nintendo mistake #2. I'll combine them, it's nicer.
You talk of gadgets that MS and Sony have released? You mean things which (for the most part) actually get used? Unlike fishing rods and tennis raquets and stuff. I don't think that even deserves a point.
You talk of delaying games for higher quality control. Guess what would help out both customer and company? Downloadable patches. Perform normal testing, find a bug after release, patch it. But you need a hard disk for that. So game patching is gone.
Nintendo mistake #3.
Their business model basically says "screw you" to the people who have followed them for 20 years and focuses more on the people who will pick up a console for now and maybe play it for a couple of hours a week. Their marketing was genius and has been effective as hell. It's cheap, check. It's unique, certainly. The new market has old and young people playing games now. Sort of anyway. Just waving your hands around mindlessly doesn't count as a game to me. I always thought games required skill and practice.
But ignoring your customers wants and needs isn't a good strategy, and there is mistake #4. Success doesn't make you invincible. In fact, the more people keep buying them, the more people are going to think "I wish..." and the more people will become disappointed with their purchase and move on. I'm only holding onto my Wii now because I think it has amazing potential which hasn't been reached yet.
Their business model basically says "screw you" to the people who have followed them for 20 years
I am sorry but that seems like a very harsh thing to say. If any company adopted an atitude like that then they wouldn't last very long. In fact the statement itself is kind of a paradox.
Imagine if someone came up to you and took away three quarters of your retro games collection....
...because that's what is going to happen in 5-10 years when Nintendo stop supporting the Wii network.
All the games you bought and didn't have space to save on the Wii will disappear!
Therefore Nintendo can sell them to you all over again with their next console.
And you KNOW this do you? Shut up! You have no idea what's going to happen.
Well I know as much as anyone else knows on this board. Also, screaming 'Shut up!' on a forum post does give the impression that you have just started crying. Don't worry, I'm sure I won't hurt Nintendo's feelings.
My point is, if you do not have the games physically in your possession, then you are at the mercy of Nintendo. And putting your faith and trust in a corporation is one of the stupidest things you could do.
'Nintendo doing whatever they can to make as much money as possible no matter how dishonest the means? Surely not?'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2375967.stm
As much as you would love to believe Nintendo is run by friggin' Pokemon in the Mushroom Kingdom and are a kind and giving company who treat their customers with the respect they deserve, they have a rather potted history and a track record for this kind of thing.
Not that I'm saying Sony and Microsoft are any better.
I dont know much about wii's, can you save games on memory cards? If so they are probably shifting a ton of them due to the small internal memory and think, why would we go to the bother of releasing a hard drive when you are already buying millions of memory cards
(ps. cvg i understand you need to have advertising on your site to pay for it but c'mon a bit of common sense please, the ad shouldnt block your view of the page, its really annoying)
Imagine if someone came up to you and took away three quarters of your retro games collection....
...because that's what is going to happen in 5-10 years when Nintendo stop supporting the Wii network.
All the games you bought and didn't have space to save on the Wii will disappear!
Therefore Nintendo can sell them to you all over again with their next console.
And you KNOW this do you? Shut up! You have no idea what's going to happen.
Well I know as much as anyone else knows on this board. Also, screaming 'Shut up!' on a forum post does give the impression that you have just started crying. Don't worry, I'm sure I won't hurt Nintendo's feelings.
My point is, if you do not have the games physically in your possession, then you are at the mercy of Nintendo. And putting your faith and trust in a corporation is one of the stupidest things you could do.
'Nintendo doing whatever they can to make as much money as possible no matter how dishonest the means? Surely not?'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2375967.stm
As much as you would love to believe Nintendo is run by friggin' Pokemon in the Mushroom Kingdom and are a kind and giving company who treat their customers with the respect they deserve, they have a rather potted history and a track record for this kind of thing.
Not that I'm saying Sony and Microsoft are any better.
Be fair mate, you were the one using the pointlessly large font. I wouldn't accuse him of screaming..
As for the topic, I'm not bothered myself; I haven't even got my wii online yet.
When Smash Bros and Mario Kart come out, then I'll make the effort. But I can definitely see that this will hack off a lot of people really. An SD card is useful, but really cannot be their backbone. I wish Nintendo would wise up a little more. As much as I believe Sony and MS should take a leaf (or many) out of Nintendo's book, Nintendo should really have a look at XBL.
I guess Ninty didn't take into account all the people who would use the service to build a huge software collection, maybe they thought people would just download the odd game once in a while, as a small diversion or to tide them over while waiting for Mario Galaxy to come out?
If anyone is still thinking about the storage issue, it's very odd that Nintendo are being so resistant to releasing the fix to free up use of the SD card. That has to be the first step; I have a 2Gb card in there doing almost nothing, and a full internal memory. Transferring from the internal memory to the SD card seems to take even longer than the original download did, which in itself is very odd.
Since games can read from the SD card with no lag for playing mp3's files in-game, the technical problem seems to be simply removing the barrier Nintendo have installed. I have heard it is because they are worried about piracy of the downloaded files, but surely they can build in some protection to tie the download to the console serial without crippling the whole Wiiware service before it starts.
I feel sure Nintendo will perform a u-turn on this because the calls from the users will get too loud to ignore.
Im not sure what the difference is in having the file saved on an SD card which you can run the game off of, and one where you cant.
Surely the file is just a file and could be copied and hacked just the same. The only reason I could see as Nintendo not allowing games to be run directly from the SD card would be speed. I dont know the ins and outs of how the console works and id be very suprised if anyone here did but that COULD be the reason.
I actually welcome Nintendo for not having a hard drive. Their target was to create a console that was affordable to all, and an obvious cost cutter was to find a way to remove the need for a hard drive. They did that by enabling you to download the game for free if you have deleted it.
Im not sure what might happen in 10-15 years time. Maybe the servers wont be there, and maybe they will. There is no point bitching about it until 10-15 years time eventually comes around. I cant tell you one thing though, Nintendo will not just take the games away from you because that would remove the trust in the company and they know they would lose too many customers to risk that. Just chill out and wait and see what happens. Hopefully they will allow you to play directly from SD cards but maybe its just not possible.
This whole statement leads me to believe that Nintendo is trying to cover up a mistake that they know they've been making for a long time. Really, though, from a business perspective they have no other choice but to stand by their previous decisions, even if it means that they have to act like a patronizing bunch of c**kheads.
Seriously Nintendo, this almost Sony-level assholery. Get with the friggin' times.
well,if Nintendo are going to be like that i will just have to be careful in what i buy,i would of just downloaded anything(because i like a lot of games)...now it will just have to be games i really,really,really like...i guess its Nintendo's loss,because i aint p**sing about deleteing or downloading stuff i already have although i think i will delete that turtles game i have...jeeez talk about aged badly
and when the f**k are they gonna get majoras mask on there?
and can you stop this stupid metroid advert taking up half my comment space please?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I've got about 16 games on my Wii (about 3 nes, 2 snes, 1 Turbografx, 5 megadrive and 5 N64) and I'm still a way off my storage limit yet. I'm fine with storing them on SD card, the way it is at present and just swapping them around. It would make it more convenient if they added full SD card support, but I'm not too fussed and I couldn't care less about a hard-drive either.
They don't even need to release a hard drive, just update the firmware to allow games to be played from SD card or an external USB hard drive or dongle.
I have over 30 VC games and back them all up on SD card, and have just the ones I'm currently playing on the Wii itself, copying others across as I want to play them and deleting them afterwards. It works, but it is a pain in the bottom. I'm a bit of a Nintendo fanboy, but on this issue I agree they need to budge.
And the argument regarding making the console more complex doesn't hold water: if people don't want or need to do it, they won't. But it's there for the people who do want it.
the wii's not an ipod, because an ipod has a bigger internal memory! as nintendo decided to sell people a games console with less memory than an ipod, they owe a solution to those that want to keep stuff easily accessible. 2 things nintendo, a HARD DRIVE, or direct SD card reading. a voice-chat headset for wi-fi games as well. anyway you can't just say because the first firmware games are small, that someone won't ever make a bigger better firmware game.
I can't believe you're even attempting to stick up for Nintendo not releasing an optional hard drive. It's nothing to do with being a hardcore gamer, it's about sense. If they're gonna have a downloadable game system, they need to give you something to put all these games on. Most people don't want to have top delete something every time they want to download a new game.
I agree, but when I take a step back it makes sense for what Nintendo are doing. The main thing to remember about Nintendo is that they are the now the oldest console creaters still creating. They make consoles. Consoles should not have external harddrives. I've got a Wii to play Wii Sports, Red Steel, Metroid, Mario Galaxy, No More Heroes... and thats about it. A harddrive would be nice, but this is a console. And as things would suggest Nintendo view a console as a box you buy and that does everything you will need from the start. Put a disc in and it plays. There should be no more to it than that in Nintendos eyes. Although the home screen is now standard it was a big step for Nintendo to do the whole 'Channels' thing. Internet browsing through a Nintendo console? Thats madness in itself. I agree about having to delete and make space, but Nintendo are going to kept it all very simple... its going to stay as the console it is. There may be another version with DVD playback, though this will probably be Japanese only. Just like the Panasonic Gamecube. Nintendo are making a lot of money out of this from the 'casual' market. They don't want to ever take away from the simpleness of the console. If you can buy attachments for it it is no longer 'plug-in-and-play'. It'd be great for us, but it wouldn't be great for the people you see in the adverts.
COULDN'T HAVE PUT IT BETTER MYSELF JONATHON. i had forgotten that these things are just consols, lets keep it that way.
Except that they designed the Wii to play old games that you download. It was a launch function, so it was designed for that purpose. And where do you keep those games? On the hard drive. If you (unlikey, but possible) owned all of the VC titles available you'd have no space left. They've made them available, yet they're also telling you that you can't have them. Or at least not all at the same time, and not without a lot of tooling around that you shouldn't need to do.
I don't really care about an external HD, that's the clunky option which would require even more hardware to be designed, built and purchased. The direct SD access would be much better, meaning people could use stuff they already have and that Nintendo only need to add a line or two of code to enable.
Let's start at the beginning of that one. Brace yourself. Firstly, we already know that Nintendo doesn't support 3rd party hardware. If they did, they wouldn't need to take time out from making the console to make a hard drive. Not that I'm convinced they would anyway - digital storage and a console are very different technologies.
So there's Nintendo mistake #1.
About the games and making us play the way they want to. Games aren't such a big deal, but until recently all they really had was ported GC games, Wii Sports and several collections of mini-games. But we've already covered that if you stick to Nintendo-only hardware you are limited to comparitively small SD cards. Meaning you have to buy more. That's about sales, not helping the players. The DVD drive can play DVDs but you need to hack to do it. That's about manipulating a device to fit your needs, not giving the customer all the stuff they may want to do.
So there's Nintendo mistake #2. I'll combine them, it's nicer.
You talk of gadgets that MS and Sony have released? You mean things which (for the most part) actually get used? Unlike fishing rods and tennis raquets and stuff. I don't think that even deserves a point.
You talk of delaying games for higher quality control. Guess what would help out both customer and company? Downloadable patches. Perform normal testing, find a bug after release, patch it. But you need a hard disk for that. So game patching is gone.
Nintendo mistake #3.
Their business model basically says "screw you" to the people who have followed them for 20 years and focuses more on the people who will pick up a console for now and maybe play it for a couple of hours a week. Their marketing was genius and has been effective as hell. It's cheap, check. It's unique, certainly. The new market has old and young people playing games now. Sort of anyway. Just waving your hands around mindlessly doesn't count as a game to me. I always thought games required skill and practice.
But ignoring your customers wants and needs isn't a good strategy, and there is mistake #4. Success doesn't make you invincible. In fact, the more people keep buying them, the more people are going to think "I wish..." and the more people will become disappointed with their purchase and move on. I'm only holding onto my Wii now because I think it has amazing potential which hasn't been reached yet.
Yeah, this guy right here seems to be the smartest person in the world. He makes me sound so stupid. His comments are so right. There's no way to attess this person. He's like god of all knowledge. See how this person points out all the faults and makes simplistic answers. He doesn't even work for Nintendo and he's got all the right notions. If only Nintendo were as smart and rightous as this person. If they were, they'd make lots of money following this advice from this seemingly well educated person. Quote:"Just waving your hands around mindlessly doesn't count as a game to me. I always thought games required skill and practice." He's so right! I used to think tag was a fun game, until that exert. I realize now, that tag isn't really a game because all you do is run around flailing your legs just like you would with the wiimote. This guy here; he's a hero!
I thought you could store VC games on SD card, when wii memory is full you can delte games on wii memory but you still haver saved your VC games on a SD card? i got 2GB and 1 GB cards and VC games saved on them, so why would I need to download them again when wii memory is full and I saved the games on SD card? I would save on SD card and delete from wii memory, if I want to play a VC game, reload it into wii memory?
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on a serious note though, this machine does need a bigger hard drive attachment for all those that do a lot of downloading. what a chore having to wait to download a game you already downloaded a month ago! it's one thing i don't like about the ps3. you download a demo for an hour, then have to wait another 20 minutes while it installs. 
nintendo just dont want to spend the extra cash on a larger internal memory. the one they have is clearly not up to the job.
i had forgotten that these things are just consols, lets keep it that way.
