Now that Iwata has said that folks at Nintendo might be considering doing something about the storage crisis, it's time to get our speculation on about what will happen. Will we hear an announcement at E3? Perhaps before, or -- gasp -- after? We would hate to wait! And what'll it be? A new model with a built-in hard drive? Considering the continuing difficulty some people have with simply laying hands on a Wii, that seems unlikely, but multiple SKUs have worked for the other systems. Still, that sort of solution seems far, far less likely than an upgrade allowing larger SD cards or additional plug-in flash memory. Do you think we'll see a solution by the end of the year, and do you care to guess just what it might be?Posts with tag hard-drive
Wii Warm Up: New storage theories
Now that Iwata has said that folks at Nintendo might be considering doing something about the storage crisis, it's time to get our speculation on about what will happen. Will we hear an announcement at E3? Perhaps before, or -- gasp -- after? We would hate to wait! And what'll it be? A new model with a built-in hard drive? Considering the continuing difficulty some people have with simply laying hands on a Wii, that seems unlikely, but multiple SKUs have worked for the other systems. Still, that sort of solution seems far, far less likely than an upgrade allowing larger SD cards or additional plug-in flash memory. Do you think we'll see a solution by the end of the year, and do you care to guess just what it might be?Iwata: We're looking into the Flash Memory situation
Yes, you read that title correctly. The dire situation regarding every Wii owner not having enough storage space is being considered by the Big N, so you can all bet we're happy campers. While Nintendo president Satoru Iwata doesn't come out and say that Nintendo is working on a hard drive for the console, or some other solution, he does say enough to get our hopes up for some sort of memory expansion (or support for external hard drives through USB)."Statistically speaking, it is true that there are a small number of customers who feel that the flash memory is too small, while many others find that they have plenty of memory," says Iwata. "However, because this small number of people are none other than the most avid players, we know we have to review the best possible solution to eliminate their inconvenience." Interesting bit in that last line, if we may say so.
We all know that being able to re-download something just isn't a good enough solution because, well, it's a total pain. But, if Nintendo can come up with a solution to our storage space issues that doesn't provide us with a hard drive to buy or support for USB external drives, we'll be fine with it. We just need something to help us eliminate the chore of moving things around each and every week.
[Via IGN; Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Harmonix explains gimped Wii Rock Band
So it appears you're all pretty upset about the Wii version of Rock Band. And hey, we can't blame you -- we feel the same way! The reduced feature-set of the Wii game hurts, and like many of you, the lack of online play and DLC may well force us to purchase another version.But according to developer Harmonix, none of this is really its fault -- nope, it's the Wii that's to blame, specifically the lack of a Wii hard drive. Quoth Harmonix design director Rob Kay: "[...] We need a hard drive. That's what we want. The whole problem is there's nowhere to store it. If the platform could do it, we'd jump on it."
Which is a valid point, actually. With single songs on other versions weighing in at around 30 - 45MB, the Wii's 512MB of internal storage would fill up quickly. We remain justifiably cross, however, at the missing online play.
Wii Warm Up: Storage space
Kohler: WiiWare needs demos, storage device to match XBLA and PSN
As well as doubting the value of Lonpos, Star Soldier R and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As a King in his commentary, Kohler's main bones of contention are two gripes that we're all too familiar with: the lack of demos and a storage device. As he points out, "When you buy a WiiWare game, you can't try it first, and if you don't like it, you're totally boned because you can't sell it to someone else or trade it in. WiiWare needs demos. And I bet you anything it's not going to get them."
It saddens us to say so, but we have to agree with that last bit, and a hard drive looks just as unlikely right now.
Flyer misprint makes us cry
Wii Warm Up: Swapping them out
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.
Nintendo finds hard drive unnecessary
Ever since Wii Ware was announced, we've been wondering if Nintendo would be introducing a hard drive to help store games. Let's face it, 512 MB is not a lot of memory when it comes to storage space. Add your game saves and virtual console purchases to the mix, and well, things might get pretty tight. We reported in June that Nintendo UK said "no" to a hard drive. NoA's Public Relations manager Eric Walter recently confirmed this stance, explaining Nintendo's reasoning behind the issue:"... We really don't want people storing every single game they buy on their drive. When you buy a game, it's yours forever, so you can delete it, and go back and get it at any time you want. In a way, we liken it to putting music on your iPod; you listen to it for a while, and then you get tired of it, and you pull it off, and you put some new stuff on."
We're disappointed by Nintendo's take on this. We know that we can delete our stuff and redownload it, but it would just be easier to keep it there in the first place. What about you? Do you think a hard drive will become a necessity soon?
