Wii's final secret? Reggie opens mystery flap

"As for the anology of the crime, it certainly IS relevant. does not quite cut it due to the varying severity of individual crimes."

If you think it's relevant then you aren't understanding it. Here's a much simpler example. Two brothers are sitting in a room with their father. The father tells the older boy not to steal his brother's toys. Imagine that the older boy disobeys the father and steals his brother's toy.

What anti-DRM people are suggesting is the father just say "Oh well, he didn't listen. What can you do?" No sane person should be advocating that position.

As for your other comments, I don't know what HDCP/HDMI means, so you'll need to clarify that.

Re: DS card and SD car.

I wish I had a digital camera to prove this, but I'm holding both cards right now, and they are not the same size. The SD card is MUCH smaller. And the pins aren't compatable at all. I don't even think a carrier cart like #47 mentioned is possible because they are almost the same thickness.

Well, I have a bunch of SD Cards, and CF cards just sitting on my desk, so I don't mind using them. I think one of the final "secrets" of the Wii will be "WiiPlay."

I have a device for my GBA called the Play Yan Micro. Remember that? It uses SD cards up to 1GB (Still waiting on a firmware upgrade for 2GB and up compatability) and lets you play MP3s, ASF, and MP4 files. So, the interest in letting you play media could be there. Imagine if Nintendo came out and said, well, the Nintendo Wii -if you have SD cards or an external hard drive- allows you to play your CDs and save them as MP3s to either an external hard drive or directly to an SD card for use on the Play Yan Micro.

Since it can surf the internet, the unit may also allow you to view pictures (JPG/GIF/PNG/etc), and MOV/MP4/WMV files. I think Nintendo is going to "let" the Nintendo Wii do multi-media. Since it already comes with a remote, that seems pretty logical. hehe

Wouldn't it also be interesting; if the Nintendo Wii allowed me to transfer DVD content into an MP4 for use on my Play Yan Micro. Remember that the Nintendo Wii requires you to buy an external adaptor of sorts to play DVDs. Nintendo hasn't shown that off yet for some reason. Maybe they're holding onto the "WiiPlay" feature until September as one last point of interest.

I don't see how you'd play DS games on a Wii. Most of the games require a touch screen... So what? They'd have a little hand icon that we move with a controller? My HDTV isn't a touch screen. DS games also require two screens. I'd hate to think how that would look on a TV.

I just don't see it happening. It's a bit too difficult to implement.

GBA games I could see... DS games? No.

Ha! Maybe it will play PSP games!!! LOL!

Quite cleary you missed the Nintendo press conferance in which it was stated that the DS games if played on a DS the Wii will display the DS game on your tv system. Such as Nintendogs you will see your Nintendog on the tv screen. Still have to own a ds.

The Wii by itself will not play a DS game. Stop thinking it will. Any one who bothers to think about it will realize the implementation is just a bad idea.

Having the DS transmit any game it is playing to the Wii for display on the tv screen is much better.

As for DRM there is a huge difference in completly restricting the use of copyrighted material so free access such as movie review sites or a college professor goes out the window to preventing piracy.

There is a huge difference in copy protection schemes and rootkits.

Most pirates wouldn't pay for things unless they are forced to pay for. It's theivry of luxury items.

Nintendo won't allow the use of roms on it's system. Any wii game will be encrypted galore so you cannot copy it. If you are worried about stuff going missing bother to organize your **** so you don't lose it. Organize your stuff pack it away in a place you would know to look for it.

Seriously people need to organize their lives a lot better then people would find tons of time for personal stuff.

The SD cards are going to be used for save data and it sounds like time restricted game copys so you can take vc games to your friend's wii to play on there but cannot copy the data off of the card.

Also you can buy 400 gig external hard drives for 250 bucks. Tell me why does it cost you a 100 bucks for a 20 gig xbox 360 hard drive or that much for the PS3 upgraded hard drive?

You seriously getting ripped off on that regard. As for SD prices guess what they are dropping and since most people are going to be using them for mobile game saves they are quite cheap for the size.

Nintendo has already suggested that Wii downloads via the Virtual Console or Connect24 will be playable on the DS. This does NOT mean that classic games will be playable (but it doesn't rule it out, either)... I believe Iwata mentioned that new content, mini-games, or Indie games may be made available. How Nintendo plans to do this hasn't been discussed. I'd bet that Nintendo plans to just connect the DS with the Wii wireless, or else make a DS cart cradle that communicates with the console via Bluetooth. I'd imagine it would look similar to an SD card reader, but with a different size slot for the DS carts and no wires!

HDCP/HDMI blame Sony for that. Blame them for not recompensating early adopters of HDTV by either getting a router which you cna buy for several hundred dollars or telling early adopters about the standard. It's been known to be coming for several years.

Sorry but HD buyers are real **** wits when it comes to new tech trends. HD has been around since 1965 it isn't really impressive when compared to 3D projection without glasses which is expected to take off in a few years and delievers better visual quality.

Do not buy the PS3 if you hate restrictive DRM since Blu-ray is being promoted because of that. Sony loses a huge portion of it's Playstation game revenues due to piracy.

Why do you think Nintendo stuck to carts? Not only it was a great tech and often delivered superior quality to optical media but it was very hard to pirate compared to optical media.

For a while it looked like Microsoft and Sony would have adopted the gamecube's optical disc format since it was so hard to pirate.

As for the flap do you honesly expect Reggie to tell everything months ahead of the wii release.

DRM does hurt. If you buy the right to consume media (play a video game, watch a movie, listen to music) from a company, you should be permitted to make personal copies of that media, use it on whatever devices you want, and use it whenever you want. If DRM becomes integrated into everything, which SD slots on the Wii are a part of, then fair use goes out the window. Companies will decide where, when, and how you use the media they've licensed you to use.

After media's been out for a while (a long, long time due to new laws backed by the giant media companies), it's supposed to become public domain. After the media company makes money off of Mickey for several decades, they're supposed to be done. DRMs can be used to effectively stop media from ever entering public domain. There aren't any laws that say your media has to work after it's public domain, just that if someone can get it to work (as in get past the DRM which will still be active), they're legally permitted to use it. The companies will just shut off all the disks the day before they’re supposed to become legal to copy.

Remember that scare when everyone thought the PS3 might lock onto your media and render it useless on any other PS3, destroying the used and rented game market? The reason that was even believable is that DRM makes that easily possible. Nobody's doing it now because it would cost the companies sales. The public isn’t comfortable with it yet. If DRM becomes standard and consumers get used to the companies controlling when they use their media, they'll do it. There's money to be made, public interest be damned.

DRM is evil because it means corporations get to control how you view media. It is control, plain and simple. They hide their intentions, saying they only wish to control the media to the point of preventing illegal copies, but it's capable of doing so much more. Give the companies the chance and they'll take it.

It’d be great if Nintendo let us download their software free of DRMs, but I doubt they will. They’ve got heavy handed media controlling policies.

The wii has built in wireless wifi remember? It would be a simple matter to configure the wii to communicate to the DS and tell it to transfer what was on the game screen to the wii when playing.

In certain wii games using DS games you would get some pretty rad optional gameplay.

GBA/GC connectivity wasn't a bad idea. The tech and ideas on how to use it were just limited.

The PSP/PS3 connectivity shown so far is just plain retarded. A rearview window I have to hold up to see and that apparently I have to use the system controller to play the game? A ingame rearview window is much easier to use and play with.

"No sane person should be advocating that position." Are you joking? No sane person IS advocating that position because it's the worst misstatement of the anti-DRM argument that I've ever seen come from a non-MPAA/RIAA employee.

The point is that corporations state that DRM is to prevent piracy. DRM demonstrably does not prevent piracy. DRM does prevent legitimate, legal fair uses by people who actually purchase it and allows the rightsholder to unilaterally change the terms of usage, even after purchase. You may think you're paying for a license that allows you to do certain things and base your pricing decisions accordingly, but DRM allows them to restrict your usage further with no recompense to you. It has already been done and I can't imagine any sane person who would advocate that as a reasonable control on content that should be afforded to the rightsholder.

#18 "It's gonna have to do dishes and launch missiles now for me to respond to the marketing without thinking about the SD slot there that I don't want."

Maybe you could put a piece of duct tape over it and forget it's there?

Nintendo has like 6 Aces... I think they're cheating.

Nintendo could be working on some sort of re-writeable flash mechanism to transfer VC games to the DS, making it some sort of super Famicon disk system.

I don't know how this thread got so off topic, but since the whole SD card thing isn't really news anyway I guess off-topic is just more interesting.

Continuing the off-topic topic:

In a perfect world there would be no need for DRM or "digital restrictions management." The fact of the matter is, though, that without DRM Nintendo would never have offered their back catalog for download.

The Wii architecture is similar to the GameCube, and the GameCube, limited as it was, was made to run Linux and do all sorts of things it wasn't meant to do. What this means is that it is inevitable that someone finds a way to hack the Wii and its SD cards so that people can play all the games they want just by downloading them off the warez internet for free.

DRM is not necessarily evil. Apple has a fairly open system for their music files, and most people don't mind using it. Nintendo needs strong DRM to convince developers to put out titles on the download service. If the title will be pirated within a week, or the entire system is hacked, say goodbye to all new cheap downloadable content on Wii.

People who hate any and all DRM are not seeing the whole situation. Yes there are some DRM schemes that are terrible and Orrin Hatchesque like Sony's infamous rootkit that affected hundreds of thousands of PCs, but that's why we should support those DRM systems that actually treat us like customers instead of criminals.

We just need to have a little faith in Nintendo and try to see things from all sides.

"Apple has a fairly open system for their music files, and most people don't mind using it."

Have you tried using iTunes with a non-Apple mp3 player?
Or using an iPod with any of the non-itunes online music stores?

i have a reasonably likely idea as to what else is behind the flap, remember nintendo said the wii would play dvds with an internal attachment the slot for that could be behind the flap although that could still leave some space

Mosquito- You make a valid point, although I think that comment has more to do with the whole "standards" discussion than it does DRM.

The DRM is the ammunition being used to fight the standards war. Microsoft wants WMA to become the standard audio format used in everything, while Apple passionately disagrees. By having the iPod not play WMA files, Apple allows mp3 and AAC formats to continue their popularity. Personally I am glad that Microsoft seems to be on the losing side of that war.

As for Apple not licensing their Fairplay DRM to other mp3 makers, I think they just like selling iPods. It does hurt the industry, this much is true, but it is just so hard to hate on Apple when they gave us a way to avoid buying an overpriced CD for just one song.

In other words, sure there are companies who will use DRM as a tool to gain more power in their respective fields, but we can't pretend DRM isn't a necessary evil. We just have to look for companies that seem ethical and show support for their particular flavor of DRM. While SD cards could allow some draconian DRM scheme to be implemented in the future, we have to have faith that Nintendo will be honorable about using it.

Ahem software copyrights last 75 years. Also Mikey won't be allowed to be in the Public domain since Walt Disney corp still makes a ton of money off of him.

Copyrights can be extended if the holder demonstrates there is a need to be. Happy Birthday is copyrighted and the holders give a huge chunck of those proceds to charities. All documented. Without copyright the money wouldn't likely go to any charity.

Copyright does make good business sense.

Sorry but since so many people who claim they want the ability to copy stuff they own actually don't own the stuff and sell pirated copies of it why should any company believe that people have a legal right to copy software or transfer it to another medium?

More and more companies will get into transfering games and other media onto new storage. You just got to pay a fee for the legit copying. A minor fee. But you will have a receipt and record as well as an assurance of quality.

As for copying why do you need to copy? Stop loosing stuff. If you are worried about stuff being stolen look into investing into a better neigherboorhood as well as investing into some common sense in regards to keeping your property off the eyes of thevies.

Apple does that so people are forced to buy their media players. That could be considered violating trade laws if enough people complain about it.

Goddamnit Nintendo, why do you do this to us. You're all like "There's a flap." and the interweb EXPLODES with speculation. Then you're like "For SD cards." and the interweb EXPLODES with speculation. You're killing us here! Next you'll be like "Here's a piece of plastic." And the internet will be all "OMG A PIECE OF PLASTIC! WHAT IS IT WHAT COULD IT BE HEAD ASPLODEY!!!!"

I dunno if this stuff makes it better or worse to be a fanboy like me.

Yeah, like #50 said I'm really hoping for some kind of blank DS cart you could saveNES or SNES games onto. How fucking sweet would that be. The DS is like a SNES controller with screens anyway. Also, thatd be one hell of an ace to have in your sleeve.

Sorry for not aruging about memory cards.. nerds. =)

"Sorry but since so many people who claim they want the ability to copy stuff they own actually don't own the stuff and sell pirated copies of it why should any company believe that people have a legal right to copy software or transfer it to another medium? "

We have the right to copy and transfer to different mediums because we OWN THE DAMN MUSIC; and the supreme court has upheld that. Microsoft and RIAA want you to think that you aren't buying the music, your just buying the right to hear the music. This is BS, as the courts have decided time and time again that the end user is not buying a license, but a CD/DVD/whatever and have any and all rights to do with it what they please at home as long as no laws are being broken (online distribution, etc.)

DRM is taking the RIGHTS of the consumer away by restricting or forbiding the free and fair use of the media they own.

I think the alternative memory format is online game saves. Think about it. It'd be the ultimate pick up and play. You can be at your friend's house and be like "I want to play Mario again, but from the level I'm up to." Log-in, download game save, play. Same goes for "Okay, I'll play you, with my custom made character" Technically speaking, and I'm a programmer, it's nothing hard to add and doesn't take much space (if you do it right). It would be very nice to show off too, although some may find the feature useless, leave it to Nintendo to abuse of something they have that the others don't. (Dual Screen + TouchPad DS or 3D Motion Wii)

crono141 is right. You buy the right to use the music (or any other product) in any legal way... which includes ripping it and converting it to another format for home use.

Requiring otherwise would create a listening-right, a reading-right, a converting-right, a playing-right, etc... none of which exists.

"As for copying why do you need to copy? Stop loosing [sic] stuff. "

Um, you've never had a CD scratched? Say you buy the newest release of your favorite band; you listen to it every day. Two weeks later, it skips. Now, you either make a copy before it gets worse or you go buy a new one. Since I have the legal right to make copies of a legally purchased CD, I pull the new CD out of its case, make a copy, and only listen to the copy. I NEVER listen to the original CD for this exact reason. Actually, I then make MP3 files of the CD so that I have them on my MP3 player. This is LEGAL.

I believe DRM will become more prevalent over time because of the need for businesses to control their Intellectual Property. DRM should NOT prevent users from exercising their legal rights; rights they purchase when they buy the item.

DRM that prevents a consumer from reverse engineering a piece of software is good. The programmers (and everyone in the supply chain) get paid for their product. DRM that prevents me from playing a CD in any software except the distributer's software is wrong. DRM that prevents me from ripping a CD into MP3 files for my MP3 player is wrong. DRM that reports back to Sony every time I play their game or listen to their CDs is wrong. There's plenty of privacy concerns there. I would love to see a class-action lawsuit against companies that INFRINGE on their consumers' rights.

Sony's DRM scandal was about much more than DRM. The changes they made to MS files and dlls broke copyrights (how hypocritical is that?) and left users open to many backdoor threats. The DRM was very restrictive, yes, but it wasn't the only issue at hand.

Philip Wesley,

That wouldn't work seeing as how only Japan gets the Play-Yan. It could be a feature in Japanese Wii's. But the rest of the world gets nothing, so Nintendo would probably keep that feature out.

(just cuz you bought/imported a Play-Yan doesn't mean the rest of us did)

Ilive: Are you crazy or something?

Honestly, these "Gamecube with new controller" comments are getting @%!*ing old. Because they're JUST NOT TRUE.

daniel,

That's a good idea actually. Good thing you mentioned that cuz I forgot that the Wii could play DVDs.

As for the extra space even after the internal DVD thingy and SD card slot, they'd probably keep another one of their secrets in that spot.

All this yammering about DRM is proof that people won't stand for excessive control. We can sense when something is too restrictive, and we don't stand for it. This will all work itself out. Anti-DRM people are doing a service by being watchdogs. They're necessary, but not because it's ever going to get to the point where companies will be too controlling of their property, but because they watch for this stuff so that we don't have to.

It's odd, anti-DRM people are wrong. It's never going to get as bad as they say it will be. Pro-DRM people are right - we need to protect people's property from theft. The technologies we are using suck to some degree, but they'll get better. But we need anti-DRM people because they are the people who keep the "issue" at the back of our minds, making us ready to complain whenever companies push the boundaries we instinctively create.

Dear everyone: DS games on a TV would suck pretty hard, given the difficulty of touch control on a TV far away from you. That, and if you stacked the two screens like you'd need to in order for them to work right, you'd have a very small pair of images indeed.

Dear everyone: DS games on a TV would [be pretty easy because the Wii remote can act like a stylus]. That, and [if you used a Picture in Picture effect to shrink the less important screen to the corner] like you'd need to in order for them to work right, you'd [have just the right thing to play DS games on the Wii].

Granted, some games use both screens equally, but most use one screen for action, another for maps, or alternate between the screens, which could be easliy done with a fade between PiP and full screen and back.

DS on the Wii could easily work... but yeah, you'll still have to own the DS. No DS-on-Wii without the handheld.

Can you imagine a propietary card by Nintendo? Just the same size card as in the DS?

they could easily make the DS Lite Play MP3s, pictures and video with a firmware update, and use the Wii as a rudimentary, or, even better, a full fledged multimedia device and transfer content to the DS, via cart or wifi, from maybe the 400GB USB HD hooked on the back.

of course, it would be kinda propietary as I haven't seen those DS cards anywhere else.

they could also sell a bigger-capacity with that bigger size than SD cards, and expand this way the Wii's internal memory.

and SD adapter is also possible...

How come DRM is an issue now all of a sudden, or have you guys not noticed that every console since the NES has included DRM?

Especially since it's unimplemented, and there's a USB port as well.

The fight against DRM is a good fight, but for god sakes pick your battles. Nintendo ain't forcing you to use the SD slot, and it's unlikely they'll implement any DRM on the card especially to dick with you. Any virtual console stuff will most likely have DRM, but I'd be surprised if it's anywhere near as restrictive as Apple's, say - most likely it'll just be anti-piracy and that's it.

If it's anti-consumer it'll get overturned in Australia anyways. So I don't mind.

* VidGuy: "The Wii will have 512MB flash ram built in. This will be enough for game saves and many Virtual Console games, as most older games run much less than 10 MB."

Has it been established that the memory can be used by developers, and isn't strictly for Nintendo's own use? No offense; just asking.

* VidGuy: "$199 = Console, 2 remote+nunchucks, Wii Sports
$249 = Console, 2 remote+nunchucks, Wii Sports, 512MB SD card, VC controller"

Er, no. I seriously doubt that any "basic" system package will come with two controllers. If Nintendo wants people to buy a broadband adapter seperately so they can make extra profit, they will sell the controllers seperarately, too.

* idioteraser: "Most pirates wouldn't pay for things unless they are forced to pay for. It's theivry of luxury items."

Indeed. Funny how pirates will waste hours and hours of time figuring out how to copy things, just so they can save themselves a few bucks. I'd rather just pay for it and save my time.

The thing that bugs me is copyright protection systems on the PC do fail, so I occasionally need a NO-CD crack just to play my legally purchased games [if I can't return them]. Thank goodness consoles don't work that way.

* idioteraser: "Why do you think Nintendo stuck to carts? Not only it was a great tech and often delivered superior quality to optical media but it was very hard to pirate compared to optical media."

It was also expensive for the end-user, and the compression technologies used to pack more data onto the carts made loading times apparent, and negated one of the benefits of carts: streaming data, or using the cart as memory.

Any way you slice it, carts were a bad idea for the N64. Don't even suggest that small capacity is a virtue, either. Developers can decide for themselves how much capacity they need. A little bit of responsiveness programming goes a long way for getting rid of load times (shame most people don't know how to do that, or don't care).

* Andrew: "The point is that corporations state that DRM is to prevent piracy. DRM demonstrably does not prevent piracy."

Nothing does. I could tell you a lot of sob stories from my Amiga days of floppy disk copy protection so strong, the legal games wouldn't even work. It was a major ADVANTAGE to have cracked Amiga games, since you didn't have to put up with the copyright protection BS. Hence, Amiga games were so aggressively pirated.

Personally, I think copyright protection only increases piracy. At least, the strong methods do (weaker methods simply deter casual copying during a product's active marketting cycle).

* Matt: "Maybe you could put a piece of duct tape over it and forget it's there?"

Can you do that to a Blu-ray drive, too?

* Mosquito Control: "Have you tried using iTunes with a non-Apple mp3 player?
Or using an iPod with any of the non-itunes online music stores?"

Indeed. There is nothing open about Apple. Darwin is just a marketting gimick, and Macs are open-standards hardware that have been closed and sealed shut in a glossy white box with no expansion slots.

* Daniel: "i have a reasonably likely idea as to what else is behind the flap, remember nintendo said the wii would play dvds with an internal attachment the slot for that could be behind the flap although that could still leave some space"

What makes you think it's not just a firmware lock? Maybe you can unlock the DVD player by purchasing a license online.

Yet another thing that should've been built in. All the technology is already there and licensed.

* idioteraser: "As for copying why do you need to copy? Stop loosing stuff."

I agree with this stance. CDs are not the unreliable floppy disks I used to use. My problem is product activation, which ensures that old software WILL become obsolete, and force you to upgrade. So long as I don't have to have an Internet connection to "verify my license..."

* Geist: "Goddamnit Nintendo, why do you do this to us. You're all like "There's a flap." and the interweb EXPLODES with speculation."

Let your community create all the BS for you!

I'm still upset over this $2,000 dev kit nonsense. Nintendo fanboys are the absolute worst when it comes to BS.

* Pata Hikari: "Honestly, these "Gamecube with new controller" comments are getting @%!*ing old. Because they're JUST NOT TRUE."

Prove it. The screenshots don't look that different from Gamecube to me. They all seem to lack anti-aliasing, too, which should raise a warning flag.

* Greg: "Dear everyone: DS games on a TV would suck pretty hard, given the difficulty of touch control on a TV far away from you. That, and if you stacked the two screens like you'd need to in order for them to work right, you'd have a very small pair of images indeed."

I seem to recall that looking at what you're doing is important. It's just yet another gimick to get people to buy both units.

Funny, graphics don't matter with Wii, but you can play DS games on your huge TV! Wow!

* VidGuy: "Dear everyone: DS games on a TV would [be pretty easy because the Wii remote can act like a stylus]."

Yeah, right. Try using a Wacom and compare it to a laser pointer. No comparrison at all.

I'm so sick of hearing "Wii remote can act like..."

My mouse can act like a joystick. It doesn't do a very good job under most conditions, mostly because it doesn't auto-center when I let go of it.

* Merus: "How come DRM is an issue now all of a sudden, or have you guys not noticed that every console since the NES has included DRM?"

It's the popular thing to do, I guess.

Waccoon,

You have a SERIOUS problem. You feel like you have to correct everyone. Well, NEWS FLASH! This blog is where you can voice your OPINION!

I don't know how much more I can make this clear to you. It's their opinion. You don't have the right to correct someone based on their personal beliefs. But you have the nerve to correct TEN people.

What exactly do you do with your time? Are you really so lonely in your life that you have nothing better to do than correct a bunch of people?

Here's my advice. Turn off your computer, get off your lazy ass, change that stupid name that you have, and get a real life.

Waccoon,

Nintendo has touted the internal 512MB. If it was only for system use, they wouldn't use it as a substitute when people ask "why no hard drive?". The internal storage will be used for game saves and VC downloads, though I'm sure you could move this to the SD cards (and other possible memory cards) for transfering to other systems, or use the yet-unconfirmed external HDD option.

As far as the controller situation, here's a post I made on nintendowiifanboy regarding a Wii Sports + remotes pack-in:

"Wii Sports doesn't require the nunchuck... simple, right? So why would they package it with the console?

The thing is, the Wii remote by itself can't play many of the launch games. It can't play LoZ:TP or MP3, surely to be the bigger launch games. This means that, before a Wii purchaser can play all of the launch games, he or she has to buy an add-on (nunchuck attachment). That doesn't look good, and no matter what the price is, requiring another purchase to play launch games doesn't satisfy consumers.

If the Wii is really such a derivative of the GC like Nintendo says, it shouldn't cost Nintendo THAT much to make. N makes a profit on the $99 GameCube... even if the Wii is much more powerful, it can't cost N more than $120 to make. Package two complete controller setups and Wii Sports, and MAYBE the cost is up to $175. At $199, that's still an almost $25 profit per console. Package the VC controller and an SD card (cost ~ $30 ) in and charge $249, it still looks like a bargain, but Ninty makes even more profit per console.

Fact is, Nintendo has to really distance it self in the package deals, at least the way I see it. A $199 console with one remote and no nunchuck, VC controller, SD card, or game doesn't look like much of a bargain (pretty much par for the course). Two complete controllers and a game in the box with the console at $199 looks like a heck of a bargain."

While I don't EXPECT Nintendo to do us any favors by packing in controls, I think it would be a GENIUS move, and something Nintendo may be willing to do this generation. By having a $199 package with a multiplayer game, and packing in two controllers, new video game players can pick up one box and start playing. The nunchuck attachment (only one is needed, since Wii Sports doesn't use it and the other games I mentioned are only 1 player), should be included for the above reasons.

As far as the DS games, I'm not saying that's the solution to playing DS games on the Wii, just that it IS possible. "I'm so sick of hearing" that "this" or "that" CAN'T be done. If there's a market for it, which I think there will be, Nintendo will find a way to make it happen.

I don't think the DRM will affect Joe Buyer's decision to buy a Wii.

I am happy that SD is going to be included. I have lots of those little SD cards running around through Mp3 players and cameras. I think it will be great since I can just use some of them to store info from my Wii. No need to buy new memory cards!

In fact just a few days ago I bought six 32MB SD cards from CVS for 6 bucks. The prices for SD are coming down and fast.

VidGuy: "$199 = Console, 2 remote+nunchucks, Wii Sports
$249 = Console, 2 remote+nunchucks, Wii Sports, 512MB SD card, VC controller"
============
for all of you wishing for these dream bundles, i hope you won't be so disappointed when the final package comes out that you refuse to buy one.

the reality is that, as iwata has spoken to before, software should be priced to its content and never treat it like a commodity. Get a grip on reality please: don't expect Nintendo to include a free game, maybe a demo like Metroid Hunter on the original DS, but NEVER a complete game at the $199 price point.

At $199, the best Nintendo will do is to include a second controller (Wii remote and nunchuck) since they're so intent on everyone playing TOGETHER--and that's wishful thinking almost.

Realistically: here is what they'll offer:
$199 - console, 1 wii remote, 1 nunchuck (wishful bonus: demo, $10 credit for virtual console, OR second wii remote and nunchuck)

$249 - console, 2 wii remote, 2 nunchuck, and some bonus item like credit for virtual console. (wishful bonus: a complete game like Wii Sports)

Don't worry, birdguy, I'm nearing true fanboy-status for the Nintendo Wii. They could sell just the console (no controllers) for $199, hell $249, and I'd still buy it. That's far from the truth for most consumers, though.

My bundle ideas would be extremely attractive against the competition. I agree that they are far fetched, but I hope beyond hope that they go for it. How much revenue would they lose packing Wii Sports? It couldn't sell, at least in my mind, for more than $19.99...

David Hinkle posted a great (read: long) entry over at nintendowiifanboy that explains why Wii Sports should be included with the system. His best point: Wii Sports isn't (as far as we know) a full fledge, completly in-depth game... it's more like several sports-themed, extended minigames. Playing these "mini-games" out of the box will introduce gamers to the Wii remote's possibilities and control, a crucial step in getting them to buy more games/accesories. If gamers aren't sure how the controls work and aren't excited about it, they won't be as interested in the other games available. Here's the link
http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2006/06/26/could-wii-sports-be-bundled-with-the-system/

Additional, the Wii concept is all about multiplayer, so two remotes isn't that far fetched.

Now, Nintendo has repeatedly stated that the console will be "affordable". Most expect $199 to be the top of the affordable barrier, but Nintendo has stated a cap of $249. They still may launch at $199, but a price of $249 with enough included is certainly affordable, too.

Waccon the gamecube cannot do physics like an Aegia card. The wii can however.

All we have seen is footage made in a two week period on an early dev kits.

I have never scratched a cd ever even playing one every day for several years. Take care of your stuff. You also got cd-repair devices and even products you can buy for dirt cheap that protect cds from scrathes. Learn to take care of your stuff. Really get some perspective. Learn to organize stuff so it doesn't get damaged or lost. Take care of your games when you are done put them in the cd case and put them on the shelf. What do you people live in pig sties?

Btw wii development kits cost between 2000-10000 dollars.

Stop looking at youtube videos of low resolution gameplay footage taking from the actual games and not some camcorder done in the purplish lighting conditions of E3 make the Wii games look like they have HD textures and even other graphical conditions that put anything the PS3 can do to shame.

idioteraser, you must live in a vacuum or something. A single speck of dirt on the inside of a slot-loading drive (like most cars have) can scratch a disc. Go to a rental store and pick up a DVD, movie or game. Look at the back to see how scratched discs can get with semi-normal use.

Buying CD-repair devices or screens for $20+ makes no sense to me when I can replace the disc with an exact copy for $0.05. For you to assume that anyone who scratches a disc is unorganized is asinine.

Learn about cd-rot. That's another reason to make legal copies.

To say that copying has no legal purpose is plain, well, idiotic.

@49

"Anyone consider the fact that it may take DS cards? Play your DS game directly on your Wii? The two are the same size."

How much of the comments did you read? theyre not the same size.

And there will be built in mic in the controller yes? I think I saw something about that.. That could point to ds games?

idioteraser,

I think that people gotta stop looking at YouTube for their gaming videos and try IGN. At least IGN gives you the best looking game footage on the Net. Their vids are HD so it gives the viewer a better idea of what the finished product will look like on the Wii when it hits stores.