Author Topic: Nintendo Wiiware is finally here (Read 10738 times)

bustin98 · « **on:** June 26, 2007, 07:33:48 PM »

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2007/06/26/level-up-exclusive-on-nintendo-wiiware.aspx

Newsweek's exclusive announcement.

Looking forward to some cool content.

Kairon · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2007, 07:36:30 PM »

You're about a year early with that thread title Bustin98.

bustin98 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2007, 07:57:47 PM »

Yeah, but if I titled it 'Newsweeks Exclusive Announcement of Wiiware', some other poster would make a post that would get all the attention and mine would just slip by as irrelevant when Nintendo officially announces the feature.

Kairon · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2007, 08:07:46 PM »

Ah, ok! ^_^

Sounds to me like Nintendo is still having some supply issues with their dev kits if they need that much time to get content up.

Also, does this suggest an HD attachment? Or will we finally be able to use larger size SD cards beyond the 2.0 GB limit? 4.0 GB Sd Cards? 8.0 GB SD Cards? That'd be sweet, and less hastle. HD = un-ergonomic.

bustin98 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2007, 08:38:36 PM »

I am praying for a large storage device. At times I fill my 360 HDD, though its with hi-def content which requires more space. I would pick up a Wii hard drive, as long as the price is right. Micro Soft so over charges for their HDD.

Kairon · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2007, 08:42:52 PM »

I can't imagine where a hard drive would be placed on or near a Wii.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #6 on:** June 26, 2007, 08:46:10 PM »

I hope they do a 4gb SD card for like $50

denjet78 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2007, 08:51:57 PM »

I wonder what the size limit will be... XBLA says 50 Megs from what I've heard. VC must be at least 64 as that's the largest N64 game that was ever made. I think Ogre Battle and RE2 were the only ones that big but still, they need to make it possible for any and every N64 title to be downloadable. That right there puts it above XBLA.

Reaching out to independent developers is a great idea, and one I think is far overdue at Nintendo. It actually sounds like they're going to be actively courting them. Is this the same Nintendo that I grew up with? All around this sounds like a great idea and with how many games are already available on the VC I don't see why everyone wouldn't want to have a piece of that pie.

I see someone's already whining about the "next year" statement. Well, next year is only about 6 months away. That's actually not that long. And remember, they have to get dev kits out and actually get developers on board, which shouldn't be too hard to do at all. I'm assuming that the first few games will be Nintendo's own and then slowly other developers games will start to trickle out. I'm completely expecting to hear about at least one upcoming title from E3. There will probably be quite a few on show at TGS.

Kairon · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2007, 08:55:34 PM »

I think they're removing the 50 Meg limit at XBLA.

Oh, and there probably WILL be a harddrive, though I can't imagine how. Didn't Nintendo get together with a hard drive company a while ago, the HD company made an announcement, and then promptly went back under the radar?

Shift Key · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2007, 10:47:06 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
Didn't Nintendo get together with a hard drive company a while ago, the HD company made an announcement, and then promptly went back under the radar?

There are rumours going around about the hard drive attachment, but I don't remember anything official. Maybe E3 is where the answers will be found?

And this is great news! Retro games AND indie games! Can't wait for more details.

Pittbboi · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2007, 10:54:20 PM »

Well it's honestly about time that we got SOME info on this, so I'm not going to hand Nintendo the crown over something that is, to be honest, long overdue. But, nevertheless, it's good to know that Nintendo is indeed at work on providing original, downloadable content for the Wii. This is a specific sub-genre of games that I feel could really flourish on the Wii. And the way things were going, I was starting to think Nintendo might have just given up on that. However, I'm not going to hide the disappointment that we won't be seeing this until sometime next year (which could potentially be a lot longer than 6 months. Nintendo didn't specify an exact date and I we'll see this launch on Jan 1). It's like one big waiting game, being a gamer on the Wii right now. All the quality gaming and cool features you could ever want to sink your teeth into just few months away....away....away....

And yeah, this pretty much guarantees that we'll get hard drive support soon. Either that or Nintendo will be hard-headed and decide to stick with SD cards...but if that's the case they need to make them function a lot better with the Wii...

Adrock · « **Reply #11 on:** June 26, 2007, 11:21:54 PM »

Quote
I can't imagine where a hard drive would be placed on or near a Wii.

Perhaps underneath (or to the left if standing on its side). They could always just include a new stand to accommodate the hard drive. Sure, a hard drive wouldn't be that big, but it'd look weird if the dimensions didn't match.

Or they could release a new Wii model (with the same chipset) that comes with a built-in hard drive or at least a bay to plug one into. Might as well throw DVD playback in too. I already have a Wii and I don't buy VC games so really, a new model wouldn't effect me. I wouldn't buy a hard drive or a new model unless, of course, a game I really like (such as Brawl) supports the hard drive in a way that nearly justifies having one.... or these WiiWare games end up piquing my interests.

Ceric · « **Reply #12 on:** June 27, 2007, 02:09:41 AM »

On the larger SD card thing Nintendo chose an older version of the SD Card reader so I wouldn't hold my breath on current models be able to read over the current limit. (Also a side note. At my Walmart you have been able to get the official 1 gig card for about 20 bucks.)

On the Harddrive side of things. USB. They have the two ports. Unfortunately though it seems they didn't decide the Wiimote peripheral part to be very versatile so Microphones and the like seem to have to use the USB at the moment. I hope that is addressed. Those are games that it gets really annoying to be tethered. Now I do hope they decide to go with a better filesystem then FAT...

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #13 on:** June 27, 2007, 02:39:08 AM »

Well this is good news. We finally know the plan, and Nintendo will probably be letting developers know how to get development tools and such for WiiWare around E3.

We really aren't a year away from this. More like 1/2 year away seeing as it could launch in January of next year.

Personally, the wait will be long, but I also think it is necessary to put everything into motion. Nintendo is going to have to increase the Wii's storage capabilities SOON. I only have one page left for Virtual Console games, and I sure as hell am not going to delete and copy my games from SD card. (It takes way to freaking long to do this...I mean it literally is crazy how long it takes...it is almost shorter time to just delete a game and redownload it.

So, that means some sort of hard drive or firmware update with SD cards, perhaps both? But in the end, it will be a good thing because it means larger, better games for WiiWare.

So why is the wait till next year. It gives time for the Wii Hard Drive to sell. Depending on when it is released. Early fall? Christmas this year? Perhaps even late summer...or whenever the first SNK game is launched. Whenever it is launched Nintendo will want to have sold quite a few units so that the WiiWare games can take off quicker.

Caliban · « **Reply #14 on:** June 27, 2007, 03:42:29 AM »

2008 is a good choice, fall 2007 is already crowded in great games coming for Wii so there's no need for the WiiWare channel to be obscured by such line-up if they want the mainstream populace to know about it seperately as to not get confused.

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #15 on:** June 27, 2007, 04:32:32 AM »

Yeah, 2008 is good. And it gives developers at least 6 months of planning to start creating their games and going through the processes to get it published. I like how Nintendo is just going to test the games, but leave it up to the developers to advertise, set prices, ect, ect.

It is really giving a lot of freedom to the developers. But I am sure there are restrictions we don't know about right now. Size is going to be a big limitation, specially if Nintendo doesn't release a hard drive of some sort.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #16 on:** June 27, 2007, 04:46:33 AM »

Ceric, do you know if the Wii SD card reader is SD1.1 standard compliant? That should read 4gb.

Athrun Zala · « **Reply #17 on:** June 27, 2007, 05:43:06 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
On the larger SD card thing Nintendo chose an older version of the SD Card reader so I wouldn't hold my breath on current models be able to read over the current limit. (Also a side note. At my Walmart you have been able to get the official 1 gig card for about 20 bucks.)

last I heard, the change to SDHC could be done by a firmware upgrade (there are some devices that through an update became capable of reading SDHC cards...)

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
On the Harddrive side of things. USB. They have the two ports. Unfortunately though it seems they didn't decide the Wiimote peripheral part to be very versatile so Microphones and the like seem to have to use the USB at the moment. I hope that is addressed. Those are games that it gets really annoying to be tethered. Now I do hope they decide to go with a better filesystem then FAT...

why? FAT is far from perfect, I agree on that, but it's pretty well documented and everything under the sun supports it in some way or another... there would be no point in licensing other filesystem or create their own...

Quote
Originally posted by: ShyGuy
Ceric, do you know if the Wii SD card reader is SD1.1 standard compliant? That should read 4gb.

not really, the non-SDHC 4GB cards are not standard, and that's why Nintendo claims the Wii supports up to 2GB cards only...

ThePerm · « **Reply #18 on:** June 27, 2007, 05:46:54 AM »

hopefully around july 11th we get some idea whats going on.

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #19 on:** June 27, 2007, 07:18:02 AM »

Well GoNintendo is reporting an interview with UK Nintendo Press stating that Nintendo has no plans on releasing a Hard Drive for the Wii.

I am hoping this is another example of the Nintendo Press people not being informed or in the loop about the future plans for Nintendo. We have seen plenty of examples of Nintendo's Press people just being flatout wrong. With Nintendo information.

Dirk Temporo · « **Reply #20 on:** June 27, 2007, 07:21:57 AM »

I just want them to release a firmware update allowing the Wii to recognize and utilize storage devices plugged into the USB ports.

Kairon · « **Reply #21 on:** June 27, 2007, 07:35:31 AM »

Given that it costs about $2000 for a Wii SDK, and $2000 for an ESRB rating... could we be looking at $4000 for a baseline startup cost?

Also, will indie developers not need a "publisher" if costs are this low? I.E., could they self-publish, especially since Nintendo won't do any screening of content as long as the game isn't rated AO?

... sounds AWESOME !!!

Ceric · « **Reply #22 on:** June 27, 2007, 07:39:17 AM »

I am wondering how this will work though mainly because it was stated that Nintendo would chose what price to sell the game at. Much like how Gamestop choices what to sell a Nintendo game for.

Kairon · « **Reply #23 on:** June 27, 2007, 07:42:06 AM »

Reggie referred to Nintendo acting as the RETAILER, not a publisher at all.

Ceric · « **Reply #24 on:** June 27, 2007, 08:00:34 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
Reggie referred to Nintendo acting as the RETAILER, not a publisher at all.

Was that in regard to my comment?
If so, Retailers set actual price. Publisher set Wholesale and Suggested price. Lets say that taking a $5 loss on Super Mario Galaxy will drive more people to the store to buy other things then as a retailer I can do that. At that the publishers no longer care because I already bought it from them.

Adrock: I had a good post about why not FAT but I lost it. Looking at the Comparison on Wikipedia, FAT32 would probably fit the bill ok. I doubt they are going to have files that are larger then 4 GiB, stupid standard board.

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Author Topic: Nintendo Wiiware is finally here (Read 10738 times)