Author Topic: WiiWare to Get Games, Wii to Get Pay-To-Play Game Content (Read 11921 times)

WindyMan · « **on:** February 22, 2008, 12:42:34 PM »

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play will be Nintendo's version of micro-transactions. Also, find out what Nintendo is doing to address Wii's storage space problem. (Hint: Nothing).
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=15391

Nintendo announced today that it will soon add WiiWare games and pay-to-play content to Wii's Wi-Fi connection service.

The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay & Play service will allow users to spend Wii Points to purchase content or services for Wii games, extending the capability and longevity of those games. Games that support the paid version of Nintendo WFC will sport a bright, red-orange logo that looks similar to the current Nintendo WFC logo with the addition of a boxed outline that says "Pay & Play." Transactions will take place directly within the Pay & Play game, rather than within the Wii Shop Channel. It remains unclear whether players will also be able to purchase Wii Points from within a game.

Nintendo hardware development lead Takashi Aoyama, who made the announcement during his Game Developers Conference session, did not give specifics as to when Wii games would start to incorporate this service or what Nintendo's plans were to use the service for its own games.

Aoyama discussed the upcoming launch of WiiWare, or more accurately, the first WiiWare games. He showed a video of LostWinds, a launch title from Frontier Developments. The video showed a character being controlled with the analog stick on the Nunchuck and the Wii Remote pointer drawing "gusts" of wind on the screen to do things like make the character jump higher, get blown around in zig-zag and looping patterns, trap enemies, and fling baddies off the screen.

With the promises of downloadable content and WiiWare games, the limited storage space of the Wii became a big question. Aoyama addressed this problem by presenting three ways in which Nintendo is getting around this. First, Nintendo is offering support for system-level expansion of compressed programs when they are launched from the Wii Menu. Second, users can transfer content from the Wii system memory to SD cards via the storage slot. Third, users can delete content from their system and download that content again later for free.

In other words, Nintendo is doing nothing to address the lack of storage space except to try and cram as much as possible into a small space. There was no mention of a hard drive or any indication that Nintendo would be offering useful storage expansion (or better use of SD cards) any time soon, much to the disappointment of heavy-duty Virtual Console consumers.

Crimm · « **Reply #1 on:** February 23, 2008, 05:19:53 AM »

Dear Nintendo,

I know you can read that SD card. Excite Truck ratted you out. I really don't want to download LORDS OF THUNDER again. The Wii shop is SO SLOW and the coin collection is really painful. Please give us some storage options, so I wont have to delete one WiiWare title to play another. Also: redesign the menus. Goddamn I tried a SD Card transfer. Terrible. I fear what DLC could do to this already crowded arrangement.
Hey, you might even get Guitar Hero 3 DLC now!

Signed,
Low Storage in Cyberland

p.s. with DLC now an option, can you call Activision and convince them to cancel Rock Band: Aerosmith. Nobody deserves that kind of torment, and I'm sure the developers are contemplating suicide.

UncleBob · « **Reply #2 on:** February 23, 2008, 06:11:26 AM »

I don't see why they don't make a half hard drive/half Wii stand that plugs into the USB port... That'd be the optimal solution.

Morari · « **Reply #3 on:** February 23, 2008, 06:35:59 AM »

THIS POST HAS BEEN CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION

--Bureau of Internet Morality

Plugabugz · « **Reply #4 on:** February 23, 2008, 04:32:36 PM »

Does anybody know if the motherboard is SDHC compliant? Because if it aint then the max capacity will be stuck at 2gb.

I have few VC games. I'm not really interested in getting too many. I'm looking forward to WiiWare games but the capacity issue is going to be a problem. Earlier this morning our broadband broke down for about 4 to 5 hours. Lets assume i ran out of system memory not knowing the broadband broke (for several hours), then delete a game to make space, i'd have deleted a game and won't be able to "access" any of the other games i bought.

that Baby guy · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2008, 04:50:42 PM »

Quote

First, Nintendo is offering support for system-level expansion of compressed programs when they are launched from the Wii Menu.

I don't necessarily know what this means. Does this mean they'll actually compress programs, then decompress them directly into the ram when they will be used? They didn't do this already? Everything I've downloaded is decompressed? This makes me want to cry.

As far as the SDHC thing goes, I've been under the impression it doesn't work with it. However, my camera has a 4GB SDHC card in it, and I'll check with it today to let you know what I find.

Kairon · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:01:32 AM »

I'm using a 1gig SD card in my Wii right now, it has all my VC games backed up on it, and it's still got maybe 4000 blocks left. I'll be good for another year or two before needing to upgrade to a 2gig SD card, fortunately.

MegaByte · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:13:03 AM »

Quote from: thatguy on February 23, 2008, 04:50:42 PM

Quote
First, Nintendo is offering support for system-level expansion of compressed programs when they are launched from the Wii Menu.

I don't necessarily know what this means. Does this mean they'll actually compress programs, then decompress them directly into the ram when they will be used? They didn't do this already? Everything I've downloaded is decompressed? This makes me want to cry.

As far as the SDHC thing goes, I've been under the impression it doesn't work with it. However, my camera has a 4GB SDHC card in it, and I'll check with it today to let you know what I find.

Yeah, Nintendo uses their compression stuff left over from the cartridge days on nearly everything. So I'm not sure they can really do much more with that.
SDHC does not work, I've tried.

Plugabugz · « **Reply #8 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:37:40 AM »

I think Nintendo have screwed themselves over with the use of the usb ports. If they added a waffle iron proprietary expansion port then we would have a hard drive by now.
There's no way to guarantee data to be hacked/unlocked with use of a usb hard drive that you can plug into your pc. All the encryption in the world won't save the day. If they do then it'll turn into the cat and mouse unlocking fights with the iPhone.

Would a wireless-enabled hard drive be the answer?

MegaByte · « **Reply #9 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:47:57 AM »

How does using a hard drive at all differ from what they already do with the SD slot with regard to encryption?

Plugabugz · « **Reply #10 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:52:14 AM »

A usb hard drive can be connected to a pc. People (who have all the time on their hands) would crack it and get at the VC data. Nintendo don't want that. If they refresh the encryption they'll do it again, and so on.

A wireless hard drive could be tied to the console directly, connected up in the same way as wii remotes. If there's no physical route to get at the data, and there's no drivers for a PC to recognise it then everyone wins.

Smoke39 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:56:18 AM »

Quote from: Plugabugz on February 24, 2008, 01:52:14 AM

A usb hard drive can be connected to a pc.

And SD cards can't?

Plugabugz · « **Reply #12 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:57:00 AM »

Yeah thats what i'm saying. Nintendo won't put VC data on there. They're being data-whores.

MegaByte · « **Reply #13 on:** February 24, 2008, 01:59:21 AM »

Except you're wrong. You can transfer encrypted VC files to SD card.

Plugabugz · « **Reply #14 on:** February 24, 2008, 02:01:55 AM »

I haven't been very clear. I'm referring strictly to VC/WiiWare games.

Smoke39 · « **Reply #15 on:** February 24, 2008, 02:17:43 AM »

Yes, and you can copy VC games to an SD card...

Crimm · « **Reply #16 on:** February 24, 2008, 02:42:07 AM »

Nintendo protects VC downloads from "hax" by making them proprietary to a console.

Plugabugz · « **Reply #17 on:** February 24, 2008, 03:00:13 PM »

Idea = derailed.

Kairon · « **Reply #18 on:** February 25, 2008, 04:25:57 AM »

It's just like Nintendo though to be the ultimate tease. They tell us they'll introduce this service, and THEN tell us NOTHING about HOW they might use it later.

Animal Crossing MMO?
Downloadable Content?
New Levels?
What GAMES!?!??!?!? ARGh!!!

planetidiot · « **Reply #19 on:** February 25, 2008, 03:21:01 PM »

Pay & Play just sounds like a terrible sales pitch. Uh, if I bought the game, I already paid? They need to be more clear what they're ~~offering~~ selling here.

Stogi · « **Reply #20 on:** February 26, 2008, 02:10:24 AM »

I thought Nintendo was above this?

Nephilim · « **Reply #21 on:** February 26, 2008, 10:55:23 AM »

Quote from: KashogiStogi on February 26, 2008, 02:10:24 AM

I thought Nintendo was above this?

But got to remember, sega were asked about Phantasy Star Universe a few years ago and got a no for not having this (nintendo disallowed it).
Finally might get a MMORPG now.

Stogi · « **Reply #22 on:** February 26, 2008, 11:38:43 AM »

So what you're saying is this might be the initial step towards a Pokemon MMORPG?

darknight06 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 26, 2008, 12:07:13 PM »

Above what, c'mon now even I figured it was going to be a matter of time. If not from a demand of one of their own games, it would've been the endless crying from the "beloved" third party street gang that did it. Like I said before, this will let Monster Hunter and whatever else down the road work so in a sense it's a winning situation.

News:

Author Topic: WiiWare to Get Games, Wii to Get Pay-To-Play Game Content (Read 11921 times)