Wii Warm Up: Swapping them out

by Alisha Karabinus { Nov 11th 2007 at 10:29AM }

Not long ago, we were railing about Nintendo's response to the pleas for a hard drive. After all, some of us are already faced with Wiis that are stuffed to the brim, and with Wii Ware on the horizon, storage issues can become a real problem. In case you missed it, Nintendo's solution? Delete games when you're done with them. After all, you can always download them again later.

But how practical is that? Picture yourself in a year. Will you really want to do that? Will you even want to use SD cards? And re-downloading is twice as bad considering that sometimes, there are just issues with the Virtual Console and downloads don't go through. How often does this happen to you? For us, it's only been a few times, but it's still a problem that could be avoided here ... if we only had a hard drive.

Tags: hard-drive, storage, virtual-console, wii-ware

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Phil @ Nov 11th 2007 10:39AM

I've had quite a number of downloads not go through. And suffered some slow download times as well. Why can't Nintendo just sell a hard drive? Every gaming website I know of complains about it. And if people are willing to re-download games, then they don't buy the HD and save money. Nintendo can only benefit from this.

Hell, they can put a disclaimer on the HD's box. "NOT NECESSARY!"

Deegan @ Nov 11th 2007 10:44AM

How much could the development costs of a usb hard drive be? I think it would be much less than Nintendo seems to think, since usb drives already exist. They always drag their feet like this, and it costs them customers (i.e.:cartridges and online play.)

vidGuy @ Nov 11th 2007 10:47AM

I'm only about 2/3 full right now, but I can see space being a serious concern before summer. I want full SD and USB support - not necessarily harddrives, though that would be the best, but the ability to have games run from other media. This is probably the EASIEST thing to do - you just copy the game into RAM before it runs if the transfer speeds are going to be too slow. The only question would be how to run games that approach the size of the Wii's internal RAM.

I will not be swapping my games out. If I get full and there's no solution to this problem, I'm done buying VC games. If Nintendo wants me to spend more money they better get this fixed.

Hogarth @ Nov 11th 2007 10:51AM

I really don't mind it a bit.
Certainly, I prefer no hard drive to being forced to fork over $100 for a WiFi adapter that's $4.

I don't think it's about development costs.
I think it's about simplicity.

Hard drives bring with them an order of magnitude more challenges in terms of hardware failure, heat production, energy usage, latency, etc.

Nintendo wanted the Wii to just work -- to be a fun piece of technology you don't have to babysit.

I think they succeeded.

Randy @ Nov 11th 2007 10:55AM

Solution: Nintendo can re-work the Wii firmware to support SDHC cards which support capacities from 4-32GB. This can only succeed if Nintendo implemented the SD hardware bits properly.

Jeremy @ Nov 11th 2007 11:07AM

I still think that if Nintendo wants to uphold the image they have given of the Wii being low cost but yet efficient they need to support USB Flash Drives and not a hard drive. The Wii has two USB 2.0 ports were a USB flash drive could be used with a simple firmware update. Flash drives also can have storage of around 8 GB and costs at a local electronics store around $10 per gig. Also with a flash drive Nintendo would not have to spend any money in developing new hardware since USB Flash Drives can easily be purchased at low prices.

I have wrote Nintendo about this recently with a link to the WiiFanboy page of the last time this was discussed showing Nintendo their is a need for mass storage. Last week I got a response from a real person at Nintendo stating that my message was being forwarded to people of concern (decision makers) at the Nintendo headquarters. I urge Nintendo fans to write the company that we all love with your concerns and links to people discussing this issue. Nintendo is listening from the response I received and with enough people bringing this to their attention something may be done about it. Just remember when you write Nintendo to inform them of how cheap it will be on their end if they just updated the firmware to support devices that already are being made and they won't have to develop new hardware.

ima747 @ Nov 11th 2007 11:15AM

why not just a middle ground? put in a basic driver for generic USB hard drives and treat them like a second SD card. It's not as convenient as running games off the HD, but it's a hell of a lot better than having a stack of SD cards, or storing them on you PC and tranfering through and SD, and both of those are better options than re-downloading. Sometimes I'm at a friend's house, with my Wii, cuz that's what's so great about it, everyone want to play and it's small enough to move. and I don't feel like entering in all his esoteric wi-fi connection info into my console for the next 20 minutes, and that's assuming said friend HAS wi-fi. If I had a little hard drive in my bag of controlers and wires I'd have all my games and be happy.

Furthermore treating it like an SD card also means no additional security concerns as far as software hacks. if it can't execute code then it's no more dangerous than the SD card already so it can't cost that much from an anti-piracy stand point...

Nintendo is missing the point here as much as they missed the point about online and storage limitations of cartridges before. It's not that it's crucial to success, but if you're going to send everyone who bought a console a packet of silicone controller covers I think you can afford a few bucks to find a secure way to let us not overload your servers every time we want to play a game...

HD sales also = more money, and fewer repeat downloads = less bandwidth and server load, it's win win from a financial standpoint... just sell it as an extra like the ballance board will be and the zapper case and the classic controller... you could even bundle it with the classic controller and a couple VC games or a game card and call it a retro pack...

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Nov 11th 2007 11:32AM

No worries. Wii hacks are rising.

Over here in Germany I can get modded Wii (supporting both NTSC and PAL, with 3 year guarantee) for 350€. And with time that can get even cheaper. Modified DVD drives for ripping Wii games on PC are also pretty cheap (30-50€).

I'm sure with time some solution to burn your VC collection and play it off DVD (or even hard drive) would be found. Or even some way to hack in hard drive in place of SD card.

If Nintendo will not do it - fans will do. That's the other side of popularity.

FX-1 @ Nov 11th 2007 11:53AM

@2: As far as I'm concerned online wasn't necessary at all durinf GCN's time and they wanted the N64 to have disks but couldn't get a good deal to go through, I mean, did any of us really want Sony to have the final say on what goes in our N64s?

Tim @ Nov 11th 2007 12:07PM

I would buy it before yu could boot up elite beat agents and play jumping jack flash.

S4Rs @ Nov 11th 2007 12:25PM

I dont think that the wii would be able to run content from a hard drive through a USB port. It cant with the SD card. Maps saved on an SD card for SSBB will have to be pre-loaded on the console before being played. also the transfer rates on the SD suck and I imagine it would be the same for an HD through the usb port. They would have to change the wii interface dramatically. You would need to use a channel to surf the hard drive, and the firmware would have to preload games into the consoles main flash memory and delete it (which would probably require the creation of a seperate partition on the memory and would not work because game sizes vary from a few blocks to like 200 MB for wi-ware games). Nintendo is in over their heads.

Daniel @ Nov 11th 2007 12:42PM

They need to put out a firmware update that allows you to run software off your Memory Card/external hard drive. That would dolve the problem. The PSP can do it so the Wii should be able to also.

Alexander @ Nov 11th 2007 12:47PM

I emailed Nintendo, here's what they said.

Message(#6851-000630-7760\6307760)

Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,

We appreciate hearing about the types of products that you would like to see from us in the future. While there hasn't been an announcement concerning additional memory or an external hard drive for the Wii yet, you never know what the future holds! As the worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, and because of our history of pushing the limits of gameplay and design, you can always count on Nintendo offering the most imaginative products.

In the meantime, keep checking our website's news section (www.nintendo.com/newsmain) for the latest information and announcements.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc.
Sharon Matheny

Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/
Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529

Ben Mullinger @ Nov 11th 2007 1:04PM

Just give access to run them from SD! My Wii is full, and I'm in a slow broadband area in UK, so redownloading not practical. Sort it Nintendo!!!

SoshiKitai @ Nov 11th 2007 1:41PM

...a hardware is always nice... when I mostly played the PS2, I always wished for a harddrive, but all of the stores in my area refused to sell them. They were available online, but I didn't even have a credit card then!

Now here I am, facing my Wii and thinking the same thing.
But now I have a credit card, but there's no hardware.

I'll stick to using the SD cards, I'll just stick a good ol' 2GB in there and leave it there... I'm picky on which VC games I want, so a 2GB is fine with me.

It's a trouble, but the most I can do is wait until the company decides to make them.

Zack W. @ Nov 11th 2007 1:47PM

I only have 3 VC games.....so I guess it is not a problem yet.

iofthestorm @ Nov 11th 2007 2:06PM

Honestly, all they have to do is implement a USB mass storage device driver like all computers have and then not worry about making a hard drive. Sure, they could make one themselves for the extra profit and perhaps make it so that it doesn't look ugly sitting next to the Wii, but otherwise people could just use their existing USB hard drives or flash drives. Also, being able to execute things off the SD card and USB drives in the future would be nice and I don't see how it's a security risk since you can just copy the files from the SD card to the Wii's internal memory, and so far there haven't been any major exploits that only require an SD card. I guess it is a real issue (just look at the PSP) but they could definitely figure something out.

Dudeman22 @ Nov 11th 2007 2:10PM

With Downloadable content for Wii Ware, and possibly guitar hero 3 the smartest thing to do is to release a Hard Drive in my opinion. Or at least have the ability to put the memory straight to an SD card. SSBB is doing it with pictures, custom stages, and videos, and that is showing it wouldn't be entirely difficult. When the time comes that a lot of games for the Wii have DLC the Hard Drive or another method of of extra memory will be needed.

Timerider @ Nov 11th 2007 2:43PM

I only have a couple VC games so I haven't run into space restrictions yet, but if I did, it would be a pain for me to re-download something because I need to go to my friend's house to do so.

I think the least Nintendo should do is offer a firmware/software upgrade to allow data to be used directly off an SD card, instead of copying to and from the system memory every time you want to play a game that doesn't fit without deleting something else first.

Adrian @ Nov 11th 2007 3:03PM

I have spent $220 in wii points since the Wii launch last Nov. Needless to say, I've been wrestling with the storage space problem for awhile, now. I currently have about 200 blocks of memory left. I can't even put all the titles I've purchased on the Wii at once! I have to swap them out, constantly! I do have a 1gb SD card & for awhile, I was backing everything up. But that eventually proved to be too much trouble as I'm extremely lazy. So now I just redownload & delete as I go. I've never had a download NOT go through. But, I can only fill about 2 pages of the menu channels before my Wii's packed full! Why would there be so many spaces for channels if there's not enough memory to fill them up? How annoying! Ah well, Nintendo still rules...

Timerider @ Nov 11th 2007 3:57PM

I just thought of another problem with re-dowloading.
What if you have VC gamesaves that you don't want to loose? You would loose any progress you had when you delete the game.
Or is the save file separate? Now that I think about it, it usually is. But I don't think you can copy it to an SD card though.

Mr Khan @ Nov 11th 2007 4:32PM

What i will do once i hit that wall is get a USB-SD Converter, and just keep them (and back up all my Wii saves) on my PC

As for a Harddrive, I can see them doing this eventually (the PS2 got one, but that came out with the PS2's first proper MMO that needed it) but the problem will fester a bit before they implement it

My guess is to expect it for the next Min-E3, as WiiWare will be in full swing by then, and that Animal Crossing MMO (if that's what it is) will probably be their star "casual" attraction, as Wii Fit will be out by then (Disaster will be their hardcore attraction post-Brawl and post-Mario Kart)

Triptweeze @ Nov 11th 2007 5:27PM

I guess its because I don't have a library of games to play. Personally I don't see how adding a bigger harddrive will benefit people.

You already know that once you buy a game it gets marked as "PURCHASED" that means you can download it again.

So, if anything happens, you can download it again and everything will be just fine.

Sure it may be nice to see all those tiny little Wii Channel selection screens full to the brim with nostalgic video games, but do you really need to have them on display all the time?

Think of it as if you were walking around with your old Games plastered to your clothes so that everyone can see.

Sure people might be impressed, but its going to get uncomfortable after a while. In reality, the uncomfortable feeling is you with a full Wii and you are forced to replace some of your games.

Just think of it as putting your old games in the closet. A pristine closet that is never going to be damaged or eat any of your old games. Whenever you want it, just pull it back out and play it.

As for a HD method of "Saved Game" and "Mii" Storage..

As soon as something like this gets released, people are going to do the inevitable. I'm sure that Nintendo has thought of many ways to get around this, but as you can see with all the consoles out there, they are cracked within a short while of release.

While the technology is already out there, things get a little crazy once it becomes TOO easy for the Average Joe to get a copy of SMG for free, while I have to pay $50 for it.

With Nintendo planning on this console lasting more than 5 years, I am sure that they have many things planned in the likes of console "Upgrades". Whether or not this is one of them is yet to be seen, but only time will tell.

So, I guess the real question is. Would you rather have a product that works 100% the way it was supposed to, or do you want tinkerers trying to figure out an easier way to store their pirated games?

Thats just my opinion anyways.

Triptweeze @ Nov 11th 2007 5:29PM

Sorry, Edit...

"Personally I don't see how adding a bigger harddrive will benefit people "

AT THE MOMENT

Mr Khan @ Nov 11th 2007 5:33PM

@ Triptweeze

Going proprietary would be the solution for that, even if its non-proprietary USB 2.0, you could have the Wii HDD check the device its plugged into (i.e. if its stuck in a Windows or Linux PC) and, if it doesn't match it, lockout

I'm positive that Nintendo, king of proprietary land, would make it tough. Not impossible, but, say, GameCube levels of tough (they needed a BIOS workaround that was found in Phantasy Star Online GC to be able to establish a PC connection for the transfer of data for GC)

Ben @ Nov 11th 2007 5:57PM

people who pay $250 for a console shouldn't complain because they have too much of both time and money to waste playing it! it's a fact. if you can play a CD-romful of old games at a time without being cool with deleting some old ones you're just weird.

Triptweeze @ Nov 11th 2007 6:16PM

@Ben

A) I didn't pay $250 for the Wii
B) I'm Unemployed.

So, I guess I'm someone who doesn't have any money and doesn't like to see people pirate games...

I don't understand your comment actually.

Cheswick @ Nov 11th 2007 7:21PM

I'm almost full. Its an obvious issue Nintendo wants to ignore. I'll be far mor ehesitant to download stuff from now on. Its a real hassle when you wanty to download somethign having to go through your game lsit and deciding what you dont want to play anymore.

The issue is most likely to do with hackign and sharing games. Thats Nintendo's concern not simplicity. There nothing simple about the method they use now, or about their friend code implementation. Nintendo uses excuses to cover their actual reasons for things.

Matt @ Nov 11th 2007 11:25PM

Nintendo is obviously concerned with people moving data from their Wii to their desktop computers. They could easily solve this the same way DVRs do: if you plug a hard drive into the wii, it would warn you, and then format the drive with an encrypted filesystem, readable only by the Wii. WiiFS, if you will.

I don't think they've got a choice here... there's just too much to download in the not-too-distant future.

Jayenkai @ Nov 12th 2007 2:07AM

My Wii's almost full.

But I play f' all of it.
Recently I've started playing Balloon Fight again, and Bomberman's always in use, but other than that the rest just sits there unused.

You know, it's really not THAT bad of an idea to start Backing up + Deleting some of that stuff.

Having said that, I also have a 250Gb HD on my PC that's down to about 5Gb, and I'm too lazy to organise DVD's worth of backups ;)