Topic: Wii don't need a hard drive.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

When the Wii first came out, 2GB Kingston SD cards were $20, at Newegg.

Yep, and I paid $19.99 for a 2GB SanDisk SD card at Best Buy in November 2006, solely for use in my Wii.

And I bet that SanDisk card wasn't in the same Best Buy section as the "other" Wii-endorsed SD cards =]

[Chozo Ghost]

Even if the Wii can only handle 2gb cards, wouldn't that be enough for most people? Heck, the 512mb of internal space is probably enough for 75% of Wii owners out there, and a 2gb SD card would add 4 times as much space as the Wii already has. That would be enough for a LOT of VC games and saves, but even with that there'd still be some hardcore Wii owners who would need more, but if that's the case they can still swap cards about.

The Wii doesn't need as much space as the 360 or PS3 does with their HD content and so forth. The competition might need 200gb of storage space, but would that much space ever really be used by the Wii?

[WindyMan]

The Wii doesn't need as much space as the 360 or PS3 does with their HD content and so forth. The competition might need 200gb of storage space, but would that much space ever really be used by the Wii?

The Wii does not need storage space on the order of 20 gigs like the Xbox 360.  It does need more than the 512MB (which is more like 300MB after system data and stuff you can't delete) than what it has, though.  Even a gig would have been way more than enough for a lot of people.  You wouldn't have had so many complaints about the storage issue if so many people are finding themselves running out of space every time a big game comes around to download.

I'll bet you anything that Wii models a year or so from now will ship with more than 512MB of storage space.

[NWR_insanolord]

The Wii doesn't need as much space as the 360 or PS3 does with their HD content and so forth. The competition might need 200gb of storage space, but would that much space ever really be used by the Wii?

The Wii does not need storage space on the order of 20 gigs like the Xbox 360.  It does need more than the 512MB (which is more like 300MB after system data and stuff you can't delete) than what it has, though.  Even a gig would have been way more than enough for a lot of people.  You wouldn't have had so many complaints about the storage issue if so many people are finding themselves running out of space every time a big game comes around to download.

I'll bet you anything that Wii models a year or so from now will ship with more than 512MB of storage space.

That won't help people who already have one with 512 MB that's completely filled.

[Plugabugz]

If they were to patch things up so that the Wii Menu (and subsequent games) can save/load from the memory card or hard drive, would it be possible to patch up existing games to do this?

[ShyGuy]

I imagine so, they would just need to map it so that the internal flash and the SD card appears as one drive (think RAID configuration) Whether this can be down without slowing things down is another story.

[vherub]

If you don't buy vc titles, or wiiware titles, the internal memory is enough.
But why would Nintendo have a barrier to entry to enjoy these games or limit future titles?
Let's say there is a push to release sega cd or sega saturn titles on the vc or wiiware- that would be fantastic, but severely difficult due to current memory issues.
Also, Nintendo is punishing those gamers who buy up multiple vc titles the most. And you would have to think that if people are less likely to buy wiiware titles because of storage issues, developers are less likely to support the service.
Again, these are scenarios that hurt gamers.
Let a usb harddrive be easily recognizable by the wii menu and the benefits drastically outweigh any worries over the negs.

[Ghisy]

I don't intend to buy any VC game because I already own all the older games I love.
I might be interested in WiiWare titles though but Nintendo should really allow saving those up on an USB HDD or on SD cards.
Otherwise, I don't think I'll ever buy a WiiWare title.

[Spinnzilla]

Wouldn't it be possible for Nintendo to create memory cards with gigs of space on them?

I'm sure this could possilbely settle the harddrive issue and large memory cards seem just way more "nintendo-y" (for a lack of a better wording). 

large memory cards could work because wii DLC would probably be smaller than PS3 or 360's right?(I have no idea how much larger (if that) 360/PS3 DLC is)

[NWR_insanolord]

Wouldn't it be possible for Nintendo to create memory cards with gigs of space on them?

I'm sure this could possilbely settle the harddrive issue and large memory cards seem just way more "nintendo-y" (for a lack of a better wording). 

large memory cards could work because wii DLC would probably be smaller than PS3 or 360's right?(I have no idea how much larger (if that) 360/PS3 DLC is)

Memory cards like that already exist, and the Wii already has a slot for them, Nintendo just won't allow them to be used in that way.

[Spinnzilla]

Wouldn't it be possible for Nintendo to create memory cards with gigs of space on them?

I'm sure this could possilbely settle the harddrive issue and large memory cards seem just way more "nintendo-y" (for a lack of a better wording). 

large memory cards could work because wii DLC would probably be smaller than PS3 or 360's right?(I have no idea how much larger (if that) 360/PS3 DLC is)

Memory cards like that already exist, and the Wii already has a slot for them, Nintendo just won't allow them to be used in that way.

I'm well aware of SD cards, but I'm speaking on cards that are specifically made for the wii.

[NWR_insanolord]

Wouldn't it be possible for Nintendo to create memory cards with gigs of space on them?

I'm sure this could possilbely settle the harddrive issue and large memory cards seem just way more "nintendo-y" (for a lack of a better wording). 

large memory cards could work because wii DLC would probably be smaller than PS3 or 360's right?(I have no idea how much larger (if that) 360/PS3 DLC is)

Memory cards like that already exist, and the Wii already has a slot for them, Nintendo just won't allow them to be used in that way.

I'm well aware of SD cards, but I'm speaking on cards that are specifically made for the wii.

If they were going to do that they'd have to get people to buy the memory card reader in addition to the cards. If they don't want to enable SD card use for these things then the solution would have to be a hard drive (or some other kind of standalone mass storage device).

[Chozo Ghost]

Wouldn't it be possible for Nintendo to create memory cards with gigs of space on them?

I'm sure this could possilbely settle the harddrive issue and large memory cards seem just way more "nintendo-y" (for a lack of a better wording). 

large memory cards could work because wii DLC would probably be smaller than PS3 or 360's right?(I have no idea how much larger (if that) 360/PS3 DLC is)

Memory cards like that already exist, and the Wii already has a slot for them, Nintendo just won't allow them to be used in that way.

I'm well aware of SD cards, but I'm speaking on cards that are specifically made for the wii.

How would that be possible? The Wii has a slot for SD cards and it can also use Gamecube memory cards. There are no card slots for anything else...

As insanolord said, they'd have to distribute a new memory card reading peripheral in order to do that, and it's just a lot more of a hassle for not much of a payoff. What they should do instead is just allow SD cards to be able to expand the total memory available for the Wii without any restrictions. That's all they have to do. They don't need to create a new type of card to do this.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Nintendo hates progress.

[Rhoq]

When the Wii first came out, 2GB Kingston SD cards were $20, at Newegg.

Yep, and I paid $19.99 for a 2GB SanDisk SD card at Best Buy in November 2006, solely for use in my Wii.

And I bet that SanDisk card wasn't in the same Best Buy section as the "other" Wii-endorsed SD cards =]

You are correct. It was with the digital cameras. No way in hell I'd pay $50 for a "Wii White" SD card. LOL

[Rhoq]

Well guys, I think with today's revelation that Guitar Hero: World Tour (GH4) for the Wii will include DLC this time around, I have a feeling that Neversoft is privy to an a yet-to-be announced expanded storage device. Official announcement at E3?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

nintendo will release a hard drive (as big as the wii) that comes with KID/MAN ICARUS Wii pre-installed!

[animecyberrat]

Well even if they allow USB Hard Drives, those still cost money.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

so does Doritos

[UncleBob]

For those nixing the idea of a Nintendo-only memory card for the Wii because of the need for a card reader.....
....why not just use the GameCube memory card ports?

[NWR_insanolord]

I need those ports for my GameCube memory cards, the ones for the games I almost never play anymore. Also, didn't you say that disc thing said there was a limit to how big GC memory cards could be?

[Chozo Ghost]

For those nixing the idea of a Nintendo-only memory card for the Wii because of the need for a card reader.....
....why not just use the GameCube memory card ports?

I don't think that would work. GC memory cards are probably slow to read/write and don't offer anywhere near the level of space that a hard drive would offer. They might as well just use the SD card slot without any restrictions to it.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

The SD card slot is intolerably slow.  It takes like 5 seconds to delete a 1-block save file after clicking "yes".

Wii storage is doomed.

[NWR_insanolord]

The SD card slot is intolerably slow.  It takes like 5 seconds to delete a 1-block save file after clicking "yes".

Wii storage is doomed.

As I've said before, possibly in this very thread, when you load an mp3 to listen to in Excite Truck you pick one from the list and it starts playing almost immediately, I don't think the problem with the speed of the SD card reader is the hardware itself.

[DAaaMan64]

Unless the SD card reader hardware is terrible, it shouldn't be the reader itself.  Readers are incredibly small and cheap now, I would suspect the wii's is no different.