Topic: GameStop May No Longer Be Selling Wii U Basic Set

[bluelander]

Out with the old, in with the new!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rumor/34451

The Wii U Basic Set will no longer be sold by GameStop and all stores will be returning their new stock of the system by June 18, according to a source who contacted Kotaku.

Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America's senior director of Corporate Communications, said in a statement to Polygon that "Nintendo is working with its retail partners to simply rebalance the stock of the White 8GB and the Black 32GB Wii U models in the market."

While they haven't directly denied the claims made by Kotaku, this does mean that the system is not being recalled.

This is shortly following the news that a white version of the 32GB Deluxe Set will be hitting Japan on July 13.

[Vrgin X]

Doesn't bother me that much. Getting the Deluxe anyway, so, meh!

[paleselan]

For a minute there I thought my basic set would actually be worth something.

[TJ Spyke]

For a minute there I thought my basic set would actually be worth something.

I'm not sure it would be worth anything anyways, nobody wants like the original gimped Xbox 360 (the one without a HDD).

[Jonnyboy117]

cough

[AnGer]

I would not be surprised at all if Nintendo would completely pull the Basic Set from the market. It doesn't seem to sell well enough for them to continue its production. Also, they could now drop the price on the Premium Bundle.

[Nemo]

I will either feel pretty smart for getting the basic set for $240 from target.com's sale (no longer listed at any price) when they make no hardware announcements at E3...

...or I will feel dumb when they announce the 32GB price drop at E3 and a new version with a real hard drive.

[LudicrousDa3ve]

This rumor was already laid to rest. Nintendo will continue to offer the Basic Set in the US. I think they should stick with one SKU at a time this early on, but it is what it is.

Nemo, why would you want them to include an HD? You can shop for your own, and get as large as a 1TB for less than a hundred bucks.

[lolmonade]

This rumor was already laid to rest. Nintendo will continue to offer the Basic Set in the US. I think they should stick with one SKU at a time this early on, but it is what it is.

Nemo, why would you want them to include an HD? You can shop for your own, and get as large as a 1TB for less than a hundred bucks.

While I'm glad nintendo offered the option to get your own external HD as a compromise, I think there are many of us that don't necessarily want the extra clutter of having to have an external HD plugged into the Wii U, and then making sure there are additional outlets to plug it into. 
 
I would have paid an extra $50 for a 300 GB Hard drive in the system if they offered that. 

[Leo13]

Nemo, just  get an external hard drive like I did. There's basically no difference between 8GB internal and 32GB internal when you have a 2TB external.

[Fatty The Hutt]

cough

I bet you feel like this:

[Nemo]

Nemo, why would you want them to include an HD? You can shop for your own, and get as large as a 1TB for less than a hundred bucks.

Like lolmonade said, it's rather convenient to have your hard drive inside the system. If I take my Wii U to a friend's house it's just an extra hassle to bring an external hard drive, the extra power plug (needing an extra place to plug it in) and extra cable going from the external HD to the Wii U. It was even a hassle, to type out that sentence, detailing what needs to be done. :B

An internal HD would be my optimal choice, as my systems tend to travel a lot. I've probably played my Wii on about 15 different TVs in several states (while living in the same house since it first came out).

Ironically, my XBox 360, with its internal HD has only ever been hooked up to one TV, as I don't really have multiplayer party games for it. Go figure.

I will eventually pick up an external HD and there are benefits to that, too. I can pick the size (example: 1TB) and I can get a good price.

(You're right Leo13. The difference between 1 TB and 0.008 TB is almost as extreme as the difference between 1 TB and 0.032 TB, especially when you subtract space from the OS.)

[Ceric]

I'm having a hard time finding a Harddrive at a good price that is compatible because the whole Y cable stupidity because they can't include proper voltage makes it hard.  To add to that even once I found one I wouldn't have a power plug to plug it into.

[pokepal148]

for the average consumer 32gb should be plenty tbh...

[Adrock]

If I ever need the space, I'll get one of these:


32 GB is currently $22.42 on Amazon.

[NWR_insanolord]

I have an external drive that runs off USB with a Y cable, so it's just plugged into the two ports no the back, no power cord. I taped it to the top of my Wii U so everything's sturdy and in place.

[azeke]

I'm pretty sure regular USB sticks can't be used for Wii U .

[Oblivion]

I'm pretty sure regular USB sticks can't be used for Wii U .

Yep, or I would have done so by now.

[Adrock]

I'm pretty sure regular USB sticks can't be used for Wii U.

Yep, or I would have done so by now.

Can I use a Flash/Thumb drive as an external storage device?
- Because these devices have a limited number of rewrites and are not suited to long-term storage of important game data, we do not recommend the use of Flash/thumb drives as an external storage device solution. For best results, we recommend using a hard drive with its own power supply that connects to the Wii U via the USB port on the console.

- Commercial Flash memory has a limit on the number of times you can write over it and we don't recommend flash memory devices for long-term storage of important save data.

Based on the language, it looks like you can use a USB flash drive, Nintendo just doesn't "recommend" doing so. They're being pretty vague. What does Nintendo consider "important game data?" Save files? If I lose it, oh well. I'll replay the game. Purchased content? Until Nintendo ties purchases to an account rather than the console, this is going to be a problem no matter what storage you use.

Anyway, I googled it. People have been using USB flash drives since launch and they've been working just fine apparently. Maybe this will be a problem later on, but for now, weeeeeeeeeeee! And isn't the internal 8 GB or 32 GB in Wii U flash memory? So... Nintendo recommends a hard disc drive, but built the type of memory they don't recommend into the console.

[Ailingforale]

We've taken out the basics at my store as well.  We didn't really sell many of them either.  I do expect a price drop on the other soonish if not this holiday season (duh).  All the better I say.

[azeke]

Hm. If USB are indeed usable and it's just Nintendo being extremely overprotective, i might start using it.

I'll just keep saves on internal disk, they're tiny anyway.

I do have two old HDDs laying around, i just can't be assed enough to clean them out before formatting for Wii U.

[TJ Spyke]

Walmart (at least mine) is still selling the Basics.

[Oblivion]

Wait, I can use USB flash drives? Way to go, Nintendo. I wonder if you can use an SD card.

[TJ Spyke]

Wait, I can use USB flash drives? Way to go, Nintendo. I wonder if you can use an SD card.

They are very clear on the SD card on their website. They say that you can only use it for saving a picture of your Mii and QR Code patterns for your Mii, or for Wii Mode.

Can I use an SD Card to save game data on the Wii U system?

For Wii U, SD Cards can be used for saving a picture of your Mii and QR Code patterns for your Mii, but not as an external storage device for Wii U software. SD Cards can, however, be used in Wii mode to save data for Wii games. This data is managed through the Data Management feature in Wii mode. SD cards are also used to transfer data from Wii to Wii U.

[mustbeburt]

Jonny Metts!  You called it, man!