Wii hard drive just isn't happening

33 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Jun 27th 2007 5:26PM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii

If your Wii is getting ready to overflow and you're looking for a reprieve from Nintendo in the form of a hard drive, it's time to accept purchasing some extra SD cards and erasing VC titles. Even with the announcement this morning of WiiWare, Nintendo isn't planning on making a hard drive for the system and expanding their measly 512MBs. CVG asked Nintendo if they are making a hard drive and were given a very clear, "No."

For some, the 512MB hasn't been enough, but unless you've been on a VC bender, it's still pretty difficult to fill up. Although, this small amount of space really doesn't stand up well against obvious future issues, especially once the ball really starts rolling on the Wii and more space is required. We're still hoping to put VC titles on SD cards, but a hard drive has to be somewhere in the future -- unless they just go with a Wii 2.0 option.

Tags: hard drive, nintendo, vc, wii

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

whosmav: Jun 27th 2007; 5:32PM

Yeah right, they'll have one.

Zertoss: Jun 27th 2007; 5:37PM

CVG isn't the most reliable source of information. Wasn't it them that claimed the Starcraft announcement would be a Starcraft MMO? Exclusive information and whatnot?

Jake: Jun 27th 2007; 5:40PM

Nintendo hates adding something that someone else had first. It is like they are against copying. No online, no hard-drive, no CD, okay, we'll use a DVD but it is going to be extra small damnit!

We only use ideas that WE come up with first. That's how we roll.

Darth Nihilus: Jun 27th 2007; 5:40PM

Adding a Hard Drive would make it too much like an actual gaming console and not enough like a toy.

ryan: Jun 27th 2007; 5:41PM

Good I don't want another stupid thing plugged in taking up space. Between SD cards and being able to download the games again this is really a non-issue.

sheppy: Jun 27th 2007; 5:44PM

@Jake...

So THAT explains the flash memory, touch screen, web browser integration, online store to sell games, etc.

Frankly, no clue why Nintendo is being so stubborn on this. I mean, the VC game purchases are tied to the console serial number (as an owner of a defective Wii, I can confirm this. Fortunately, Nintendo was real nice reissuing the games to me for the new console in the store AND tranfering all my data). So running software from the SD card shouldn't be an issue. But also let's not forget Nintendo is downright paranoid of piracy (I mean, they claim SOOOOO much money lost due to piracy on Gamecube last gen without that issue even being real... IMAGINE what they'll lose when it does).

arrrgh: Jun 27th 2007; 5:47PM

"4. Adding a Hard Drive would make it too much like an actual gaming *PC* and not enough like a *CONSOLE*.

Posted at 5:40PM on Jun 27th 2007 by Darth Nihilus"

There, fixed that up for ya dude

AirIntake: Jun 27th 2007; 5:48PM

So 512MB, like 640k, is enough for everybody?

RP: Jun 27th 2007; 5:51PM

Note that they only deny that THEY would release a HDD. They're not denying that they may, in the future, enable the use of existing USB HDDs.

Something to consider.

Vidikron: Jun 27th 2007; 6:04PM

@^

I have actually had the same thought as Jake before. Think about it... why did the GC not have a counterpart to the Z button? It's like they didn't want to have 4 shoulder buttons since other companies already did that... so they went with 3!! Then why was the right analog stick a pointless nub? There was exactly ZERO point to it being a nub. But everyone already had two normal sticks, so they went with one normal thumb stick and one nub!

Seriously, you gave good examples where they have copied other people, but sometimes there really do seem to try to be different just for the sake of being different and not because it's actually a good idea.

Gavin: Jun 27th 2007; 6:08PM

Yeah, god forbid Nintendo join the 21st century and actually provide a next-gen system that has actual next-gen features.

Nope, it's far more easier and profitable to base your hardware on something from 1998.

Ian Von Porter: Jun 27th 2007; 6:11PM

Panasonic is their hardware partner. They created the SD card and are making monies off each one sold... so, the last thing Panasonic wants is for people to buy HDDs for their wii.

Nushio: Jun 27th 2007; 6:19PM

If I remember correctly, Reggie said "NO" to the DS redesign back in January, and one day later, they announce DSLite.

Wait for Min-E3!

stev: Jun 27th 2007; 6:27PM

Just up the limit on SD card size and allow me to play VC games on there and I'm good to go.

arrrgh: Jun 27th 2007; 6:31PM

yeah panasonic managed to pull off what sony couldnt...a successful proprietary medium

Mr Khan: Jun 27th 2007; 6:32PM

Please:

Nintendo claimed that no new DS was in the works. Microsoft claimed that 20GB was enough for anyone

I'll wait for an official press release that says NO, or until the end of the Wii's life cycle. Until then, nothing's certain

vidGuy: Jun 27th 2007; 6:50PM

Nintendo says - "no we won't..." and then two weeks later announced "yes we will".

I hope Ninty doesn't force a proprietary HDD when we can get 500GB for $100. Even if it's not a HDD, they'll have to come up with a solution to the storage issues soon.

Mr Khan: Jun 27th 2007; 7:01PM

@ Vidguy

Never discount streaming content

They could have you pay $5 a month, but you would have to suffer through the higher load times or whatnot, as opposed to the seamlessness of the content that you would pay to "own"

Dave: Jun 27th 2007; 7:14PM

I have to applaud you for your choice of picture. I work in the sewer industry as an engineer, so I find the sanitary sewer overflow pic to be rather amusing. Keep it up!!

electronic: Jun 27th 2007; 7:22PM

@11 Gavin

Wow... thats some pretty bloody advanced technology for something from 1998.

Dan: Jun 27th 2007; 7:40PM

Can you actually use an SD yet... last I checked you could move stuff to and from it, but you couldn't run game saves off of it.

Gavin: Jun 27th 2007; 7:52PM

@ 20 electronic

Sorry, I meant 1999. That was the year MS began plotting the XBox.

Mabui: Jun 27th 2007; 9:46PM

Unsurprising they don't want you running games off your SD cards, or even planting whatever hard-drive you please onto your system and being able to run your games off that. I mean, that just opens the easy flood-gate for piracy.

Me, I'd just kill for a Wii-amp winamp type thing for my wii, so I could view all kinds of media and the like on my Wii, and maybe a little more loose on the ability to play burned cds for mp3's/movies/files and otherwise (Though, this once again cracks open the piracy egg)

Car2oon: Jun 27th 2007; 11:39PM

Harddrives aren't powered by fun and puppies, so no.

vidGuy: Jun 28th 2007; 12:19AM

Mabul, I don't buy the piracy claim. I can take VC games off of my console now using an SD card and USB reader, but the data is useless. Between hash functions and encryption, the data can be made secure.

For example, if a game on an SD card or HDD doesn't fit the hash scheme, then it doesn't get run on the Wii. Simple as that. The only way to run pirated/unlicensed content would be to bypass the encryption schemes.

I'd too love for the idea of a media channel, though.

n3rrd: Jun 28th 2007; 8:23AM

Hey, if they aren't willing to adapt, the modders will figure something out at some point. I mean, even the slim PS2 has hard drive capabilities because of them.

All in good time.

chalito: Jun 28th 2007; 9:29AM

Excellent news! I don't want a bloody propietary extra expensive not available in my country ninty hard drive. I'd rather go with a simple firmware update to allow USB Mass Storage Devices, so I can get a cheap notebook 120GB HDD, an USB Enclosure and be a happy person, at a fraction of what a "Nintendo Official Hard Drive" would cost.

Matt B: Jun 28th 2007; 9:41AM

Official Nintendo 60GB HD for Wii will cost $350.00.

Sam G.: Jun 28th 2007; 9:56AM

Maybe Ninty thinks that as SD cards get larger and larger that near the end of the Wii's life cycle you'll be able to buy an SD card that would have all the space you need. In fact, I bet that they're counting on that.

Bryan: Jun 28th 2007; 10:30AM

Why is this such a big deal? How many people have actually filled up their 512 memory? Remember, Wii doesn't have huge games to download, the titles are small and can easily be redownloaded.

Is this an actual issue that is ruining the experience for a majority of Wii users, or is this just something to complain about?

Maybe the better solution will come out soon enough where Nintendo just streams the game content to your device ala GameTap. Aren't we beyond the days of bulky hard drive purely for low-tech software?

Crono: Jun 28th 2007; 12:00PM

Bryan, Gametap doesn't stream shit. It downloads the data for the games you play to the local disk and is run locally. You just have to be logged in to get it to work.

I wouldn't have any problems if they let you play off the SD card. You can get 16 GB SD cards now. 16 GB is plenty of room for downloadable content.

JulyFlame: Jun 28th 2007; 3:27PM

Eh, people are just complaining for the sake of it.

I honestly don't think most people are crazy enough to try and download every single VC game onto the Wii and cram as many Wii games in there at the same time.

I mean, the SD card makes sense, why not go with it? No sane person is going to be using every single game completely, so having the SD card for those games you're not currently using makes sense. Those things are getting pretty big even now, so why turn this nonissue into one?

Jason Kelly: Jul 2nd 2007; 10:42AM

What I want is this.....

I want to be able to download content for already released games.

I want to be able to download bug fixes and online addons for already released games. (some games that shouldv'e had online play were released with out it. Patch it, let us play online)

I want to be able to download whatever I want whenever I want. I don't want to have to rush out and get an SD card because all of a sudden I'm out of memory.

I want to transfer my legit .mp3 files to a hard drive so I can play games to my own soundtrack.

I want to have my own photo album full of pictures and video I've taken with my digital camera. I want to be able to share my pictures and video with friends.

Sounds like alot.
But doable.

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