Author Topic: SD Adapter gets a Date! (Read 13953 times)

RickPowers · « **on:** April 29, 2003, 07:13:07 PM »

Your prayers have been answered, and your Memory Card 251 is about to start gathering dust... UPDATED: Bakudan brings more info from Nintendo's website.

UPDATE: Our Japanese correspondent, Bakudan Yoshinoya, just chimed in with added information from Nintendo's site.

According to Nintendo, the SD Card Adaptor will enable new ways of gaming. It's possible for friends to e-mail game data to each other. Players can also download event and game data from the Internet.

The first software to use this accessory will be Doubutsu no Mori e + (Animal Crossing e+), which will be released on June 27 in Japan. Players will be able e-mail game data and photos taken in the game through a PC.

The price has not been determined.

In a recent update to Nintendo's Japanese web site, a little surprise popped up. Nintendo is known for giving us info on accessories and add-ons for its products, then quietly shelving them, and it was feared that the same would happen to the SD Adapter. Never you fear, as Nintendo has posted a July 18th date (in Japan) for the accessory.

Also a bit surprising is a new design for the adapter, which now loads the cards from the side, rather than from the front. It will likely be much easier to remove the cards as a result.

SD Memory cards are postage-stamp sized modules frequently used in Digital Cameras and PDAs. Panasonic owns the patent on the format, and it was thought that this accessory was just a way to leverage that partnership with Panasonic/Matsushita. In other words, while the technology is cool, we didn't really expect it to see the light of day, especially after the release of the Memory Card 251. But you just never know with Nintendo.

The timing is great too, as 64MB SD cards can be had online for around $35, and 128MB cards are around $55 (we've seen them as low as $38 online). We don't yet know what the maximum size is that the GameCube will be able to address, but 64MB should work fine, since that's what Nintendo was expecting to begin with. It should be noted, however, that the picture below shows a 16MB card, which can be difficult to find.

One small caveat for importers ... it's unknown if the GameCube will be able to use the SD cards as simple memory cards, or if there are game-specific functions for the adapter. The GameCube has a limit on the number of files/blocks it can address, and a 64MB card would far eclipse that limit. It would be a good idea to wait and find out more information on the peripheral before you make an order.

We should have more info at E3. Watch for it.

Scyth3r · « **Reply #1 on:** April 29, 2003, 07:43:27 PM »

Nice. I can actually play the occasional sports game with franchise mode finally.

GaimeGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** April 29, 2003, 07:45:56 PM »

Lets see, 64 MB would be how many blocks? Could I have an estimate? Around 10,000?

jmoe316 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 29, 2003, 07:53:08 PM »

I think it is safe to assume nobody will need those 128 MB cards....Unless they set up cool kiosks with N64 games you could download onto your card...or even off of a nintendo server whenever they decide to kick into online gaming.

Berto2K · « **Reply #4 on:** April 29, 2003, 07:54:33 PM »

Never the need for buying more memory cards. I got a 251 when that came out and haven't needed a new one since. Now, I can move all my game datas to one card, leave it and forget it. And we sell SD cards at my work, time to catch the employee discount (10%).

JSteele1234 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 29, 2003, 08:04:23 PM »

How many blocks would it be? Or inversely, how many MBs are in the 251 Memory Card?

Gamefreak · « **Reply #6 on:** April 29, 2003, 08:08:03 PM »

The thing is...the GCN only has a limited number of actual save game slots. Unless the adapter has some sort of small built in thing that allows for unlimited slots via scrolling down at the memory card menu.

Although I'd like to be able to download SNES and/or N64 or even old Sega games-o-plenty on the SD adaptor. Maybe pay some money for old 16bit ports? Or download anything you've found in Animal Crossing and play it from any GCN? A 128 mb card could hold both Resident Evil 2 AND Turok 2, the two largest N64 games. It could hold Ocarina of Time 4 times. Imagine playing Streets of Rage 2 or Turtles in Time or Super Metroid on your GCN!
*squeals like a girl*
D'oh....but then again it won't happen...

Gamefreak · « **Reply #7 on:** April 29, 2003, 08:16:54 PM »

Mem. Card 251 holds about 17.01 megabits, or about 2.125 megabytes. Not much at all.

yrrab436 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 29, 2003, 09:24:47 PM »

FINALLY

I hope Datel postpones the GCN X-Port to include support for this nifty device.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #9 on:** April 29, 2003, 11:51:47 PM »

See? Now THIS is the kind of internet access I want out of my console.

Jollus · « **Reply #10 on:** April 30, 2003, 12:32:48 AM »

Man. Imagine if this had come out a few months ago. I could have dozens of photos saved in Zelda:WW instead of being limited to three at a time!

Kulock · « **Reply #11 on:** April 30, 2003, 12:59:39 AM »

Yeah, that stunk, there were a few pictographs I wish I could've saved. Melee pulled it off quite easily, and Wind Waker's photos seem even smaller, so it's a shame they didn't work something out for that.

But I have to admit, I'm impressed. I was interested by this when it was first announced, but it was practically guaranteed vaporware as the GCN launch came and went, and months passed... I'm glad Nintendo has decided to push the idea, though.

It's a shame Animal Crossing e+ refuses to handle the e-mailing of the save data and photos itself, though, but at least that's some, very limited online functionality.

Fammy2000 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 30, 2003, 02:22:21 AM »

Finally is right! I hope it's compatible with all games. I have some small SD Cards that aren't getting any use. Please release this in the US!

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #13 on:** April 30, 2003, 06:25:01 AM »

Well if you just use it as a memory card you should be able to, but its unknown since the question is does the adapter have the conversion tools need to save the files in SD format (It has encryption protection much like the PS2's.)

But since the first software to use it is Animal Crossing 2 and you have to use a PC to send the files, I doubt it. The software is going to have to have the encryption.

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #14 on:** April 30, 2003, 06:28:34 AM »

You know what would be fun if equipted with the function you could get game screens onto the net easier to brag. And some companies may have contests for high scores, etc.

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #15 on:** April 30, 2003, 06:30:48 AM »

Ahhhh edit button does not work...... and more ideas keep coming.

Not to mention saved files that you can dl from other users, and more maps form other users such as from games like Time Spilters, and offical ones. Side mission for RPGs basically most anything that the Xbox's HD can be used for.

Davideo · « **Reply #16 on:** April 30, 2003, 07:27:42 AM »

EXACTLY. I was thinking the same thing. Downloadable additional content for games. More levels. More Guns. More Maps. It might not happen from Nintendo, but I can't see why Free Radical and other developers wouldn't eat this right up.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #17 on:** April 30, 2003, 08:07:59 AM »

"Imagine playing Streets of Rage 2 or Turtles in Time or Super Metroid on your GCN!"

Wouldn't that be pretty much the same as playing those games on the SNES or Genesis? Wow I'm playing Super Metroid on TV!...like I always do!

Still the idea of being able to download 16-bit games would be pretty cool, particularly for obscure titles that are hard to find. Of course with GBA porst selling so hot they probably won't do that. Odds are the best we would get would be e-Reader like stuff like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros which as they were on the NES are too basic to sell as a GBA game.

I'm pretty happy to see that the SD Adapter is still being released. The possibility of emailing game saves is really cool so when I go to my friends house I don't have to bring my memory card to play Smash Bros with everything unlocked (which naturally pisses off my brother as he can't play something like Zelda if I take the memory card with me).

JB · « **Reply #18 on:** April 30, 2003, 08:51:20 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: BlkPaladin
But since the first software to use it is Animal Crossing 2 and you have to use a PC to send the files, I doubt it. The software is going to have to have the encryption.

It doesn't say that you need your PC to email the files. I'm hoping that you can send an e-mail from within the game.

Kulock · « **Reply #19 on:** April 30, 2003, 12:26:27 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: JB
It doesn't say that you need your PC to email the files. I'm hoping that you can send an e-mail from within the game.

Quote
Players will be able e-mail game data and photos taken in the game through a PC.

Unfortunately, yes it does. It would make a lot more sense to use the GCN's own online capabilities, I'd think, and just being able to access and send e-mail is much, much different from anything like Online Play. There doesn't have to be a single server set up to handle it, unless a dedicated Nintendo server will be handling the mailing.

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #20 on:** April 30, 2003, 12:39:03 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: BlkPaladin
Well if you just use it as a memory card you should be able to, but its unknown since the question is does the adapter have the conversion tools need to save the files in SD format (It has encryption protection much like the PS2's.)

But since the first software to use it is Animal Crossing 2 and you have to use a PC to send the files, I doubt it. The software is going to have to have the encryption.

If i'm not mistaken, security on SD cards is optional, and is completely handled on the card itself. i've used SD cards in digital cameras and PDAs, then used the card in a card reader with no problem. It's completely possible that Nintendo could make the card readable only on the Gamecube though.

Using the card to email files to friends isn't revolutionary, not even on the Gamecube. There's a third party memory card that connects to you PC via USB that does the same thing. Of course with official support i'd expect some interesting things further down the road.

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #21 on:** April 30, 2003, 04:01:32 PM »

I never said it was revolutionary, I just pointed out some of the possiblities that it opens up.

And about the mail server it isn't anything cheep to set up a mail server you have to have the space to store all the emails while they wait to be dl'ed from the server and even with a restricted storage usage we are talking about a lot of space for potenially millions of users, not to mention the bandwidth, servers and technical support.

And so what if Nintendo is taking the cheep way to transmitt the save data now at least you don't have to go with out a memory card to let your friend use you Animal Crossing save and its cheeper than driving around to their houses.

And it seems that I have became the whiping boy for this thread.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #22 on:** April 30, 2003, 04:17:06 PM »

The thing with the SD cards is that a lot of newer computers have SD card ports now. I think that's what they meant by emailing Animal Crossing data. You get the info in an email, put it on youe SD card using your computer, then plug your SD card into your SD adaptor and load it up to the game. Pretty simple, reall.

BlkPaladin · « **Reply #23 on:** April 30, 2003, 04:27:04 PM »

Not to mention that the USB adapter for older computer is only $20.00 or less. I hope they come out with some more information on this during E3, explaining how it will work.

ruby_onix · « **Reply #24 on:** April 30, 2003, 08:20:29 PM »

Here's some "frame of reference" stuff.

The PSX Memory Card was supposed to hold 1/8 of a megabyte (or one megabit, if you prefer). It had 15 "blocks".

Nintendo's MC-59 is supposed to be 1/2 of a megabyte (four times the size of a PSX card).

Nintendo's MC-251 is supposed to be 2 megabytes (four times the size of an MC-59).

A standard PS2 memory card is 8 megabytes (last I checked). I don't know if it has any sort of "block" system.

PSX blocks are about the same size as the GameCube's blocks. In case you noticed that the math looks wrong on that (15 isn't 1/4 of 59, and 59 isn't 1/4 of 251), it's supposed to be because of some index or formatting data hogging up space on the card. The PSX card most likely has 1 block of info on it (which would make it essentially a 16-block card). The GameCube cards seem to have 5 blocks of something on them (making them actually 64 and 256 blocks, respectively).

The GameCube is supposed to have a limit that says you can only fit 127 different game save files (it has to have an option for "zero" games saved, otherwise it'd be 128), regardless of their size, on any given memory card.

I would guess that a 16 megabyte SD card (like the one shown by Nintendo in the picture) should be about the equvalent of a "MC-2,043". That's assuming 128 blocks-per-megabyte, times 16 megabytes, minus five blocks like the other cards.

A 32MB SD card should be like having an "MC-4,091".

The 64MB card should be like an "MC-8,187".

The 128MB ones would be like "MC-16,384".

You could potentially hit the size barrier on the 128MB SD card before you hit the "number of saves" limit if your average game save was about 128 blocks.

News:

Author Topic: SD Adapter gets a Date! (Read 13953 times)