Nintendo's Wii storage solution: Load from SD cards; coming Spring 2009

by Ross Miller { Oct 2nd 2008 at 1:58AM }

Well, it's no hard drive (then again, it's certainly no air conditioner unit). Nintendo has revealed its answer to the Wii storage solution by allowing for software to be opened directly from (and downloaded directly to) an SD card. That will give you 2GB of storage per card swap. We expect a megaton amount of DRM to try and keep the games linked to one console at a time, though.

An update implementing the change is reportedly coming Spring 2009.

[Via NWF]

Tags: breakingnews, nintendo, sd, sd-card

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

...Jan... @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:01AM

You know...we still only have 48 Wii Channel slots. What happens if I fit more games than that in the card?

Foetoid @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:06AM

I'm hoping their will be some sort of 'SD Channel' or Virtual Console channel. Heck, even then ability to rename channels would be cool. A channel like the two i mentioned would probably open up a new set of channel screens, tho i still think the current amount of channels is plenty enough. No-one is going to play that many games at once and deleted games can still be downloaded for free. This is the best option for Nintendo and their storage woes, but i would like to see some sort of software update, if possible, to handle the bigger SD cards. Good work Nintendo, now your console is flawless (for the first time since the SNES).

Zak Canard @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:11AM

I suspect that as part of the update either the 48 channel limit will magically increase, or they'll add the SD Channel.

Such a major change to the channel screen would no doubt coincide with efforts to try and foil the homebrew scene again.

Xoviet chiK @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:55AM

I've been hoping for some sort of channel consolidation options since Wii launched.

Maybe have an SNES channel for all your SNES VC games, likewise with NES, TG16, and the rest. You wouldn't even 48 if they did that. They definitely need to do something though.

DarkLinksSpirit @ Nov 27th 2008 10:19AM

it's pobably going to just slip in a new page like it does with memory space, as soon as toy had too many, a new page with a new container popped up

CesarSalad @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:05AM

do they really have to wait that fucking long to do this small of an update? PATHETIC

Obie @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:08AM

I bet figuring how the DRM the crap out of it took so long. Funny though, cuz I am sure those "Twilight hack" guys will crack it the same day it comes out. ;)

CesarSalad @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:10AM

Oh yes, I'm going to love it when that happens :)

iofthestorm @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:00PM

Well Team Twiizers, the guys behind the Twilight Hack, are against piracy so they won't crack the DRM for WiiWare, however others have already done so. And I'm guessing the reason it will take so long is because they're going to take another stab at crippling homebrew, but we all know it's going to fail.

Sarge @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:43PM

You DO understand that they are trying to plug all available holes that hackers will try to get in through, right? That's not an easy job, and there only has to be one thing that wasn't thought of for a hacker to take advantage.

I'm sure the DRM is pretty substantial, and any update must be tested prolifically to ensure that it does not "brick" people's Wiis. That would be a bad thing, and the consumer backlash would be tremendous.

Here's hoping they don't go after the Homebrew Channel, although I don't even use it given that I've got all that set up more comfortably on the Xbox. And I've been too afraid to do any of the WAD install stuff, the last thing I want is for my Wii to be banned or something.

Natrino @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:08AM

Is 2GB the highest capacity SD card the Wii will take?

Not the ideal solution, but this was the most likely. I'll take it!

Andre @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:17AM

Yep. Get used to card swapping...

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:55AM

It's not like any of the WiiWare games are THAT big...

The first Strong Bad episode weighs in at about 40MB.

Still, SDHC compatability would be nice.

Ridgecity @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:40AM

Card swapping? are you rich?? who can buy that many games to fill more that 2GB??

Ghen @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:30AM

Ridge: This is also the solution for Guitar Hero / Rock Band DLC.. picture starting to get more clear?

I have no idea why SDHC support is so hard to add to the wii, let alone external hard drives. An SD card is just that anyway, albeit not NTFS formatting.

umm....hello??? @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:42AM

yeah....but 4GB SD cards are cheap right now! why limit it to 2GB?....dammit...

Haggard (Mr.ESC died for our sins) @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:11AM

Hell, even 16GB cards aren't that expensive.

Monkeys Suck @ Oct 2nd 2008 12:02PM

It's probably memory addressing that's limiting it, sorta like the 3.5gb RAM limit on 32-bit systems. Kinda gay, but we probably won't ever see an upgrade to the max card it can take. However, like everyone said, all the downloadable stuff is really small. Even RB songs only take up ~40mb, and even though it'll add up quickly, it'll take some time. 2gb SD cards usually go on sale on Woot often too, so it'll be easy to find them.

Tiptup300 @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:15PM

Isn't DLC supposed to fit on this too? 2gigs for Rock Band? Ha, funny!

Chin-Poh @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:06AM

All these great announcements are the least you can do Nintendo after your massive epic E3 failure. : (

dark_inchworm @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:10AM

Something: Factually better than nothing.

Sexually transmitted diseases aside.

acefondu @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:11AM

Actually this is the best solution. Now I don't have to go buy the WiiHD screw you consumer garbage. 2GB is more than enough and being able to load from them is a solid way to solve the problem. I'm very happy about this.

Zak Canard @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:23AM

Good enough Nintendo, you're no longer on quintuple secret probation. I'll just have to stock up on dirt cheap 2GB SD cards.

Hardcore @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:29AM

Hackers, start your engines!

zero2dash @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:40AM

Why is an update required for this?
The Homebrew Channel does it just fine *right now*. =)

Abscissa @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:03AM

That's not what it's taking so long. The wait is really all about them developing the PSP-style homebrew-attacking that they'll trojan along with the feature.

tmmoore_nc @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:40AM

Hate to burst some bubbles here, BUT, they said you can DOWNLOAD THEM DIRECTLY to SD cards, not play them from SD cards. At least, that's my understanding from translations.

Obie @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:58AM

What you are saying is how it USED to be. You could store games, but not play them off the SD. Now it's the opposite.

tmmoore_nc @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:00AM

No...if you find a translation guide of what was said, it said you could directly download Wii software to SD cards starting in March 2009. That's it.

shawn @ Oct 2nd 2008 7:18AM

the article does say the games can be played directly off the sd card,why would they say you can put games on them when you can already do that now...the games are gonna be able to be played on sd cards come spring 2009...hey im all for this,now i have a reason to pick up sd cards now

rTwelve @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:50AM

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/19/sdhc-driver-released-for-palm-os-devices/

Can something like this be done for Wii, potentially bringing available storage to 32GB?

Ridgecity @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:42AM

yes, but Nintendo doesn't want to open the flood gates to piracy as ISOs would be the first thing to use a feature like that.

Toasty Toaster Man @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:29AM

Is the read speed fast enough to run ISOs form the SD card?

FSK405K @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:06AM

"Is the read speed fast enough to run ISOs form the SD card?"

Yes. All forms of flash memory are faster to the Nth degree than disc-based media, for which ISOs were developed. The bottleneck in such systems is usually the bus speed rather than the card-reader speed.

iofthestorm @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:05PM

I think it might have been a hardware limitation though, because for DS homebrew carts if you wanted SDHC you had to get a whole new cart. The palm devices might have had the necessary hardware but not the drivers. Also @FSK, that's definitely not true, a lot of SD cards and USB sticks use cheap flash memory which is around the same speed (sustained rate wise) as optical disks, although the random seeks are basically instantaneous. But sustained read speeds are more important for stuff like loading games.

FSK405K @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:48PM

iofthestorm, no flash memory device sold within the last x few years is nearly as slow as CD-ROMs. Sure, the first years they were available, they weren't very fast, but flash media has come a long way in speed, size, and price. It's not worth comparing sustained speeds because as long as flash's is even close, it gets much better performance out of not having to wait the millions of nanoseconds for the disk to spin up and get the laser in the right place.

is @ Oct 3rd 2008 6:55AM

Its not only games that we need this storage for - im very much looking forward to playing a proper version of Rock Band this november with some DLC. How quickly will my SD card fill up with songs as well as games?

Yeah, sure I can hot-swap. But that aint that hot...its pretty pathetic that I can put 16gig in my phone MICROsd and only 2 gig in my Wii. Sort it out Nintendo, preferably before spring 09 (srsly, wtf?)

Brad the Producer @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:43AM

Considering how cripplingly slow the transfer between the card slot and the Wii is right now, I don't see this working too terribly well if they're having you play right off the card.

Megadanxzero @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:14AM

2009? For fuck's sake, we should have been able to do this in the first place!

Mr Khan @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:19AM

Called it, totally called it. About damn time too

Now, a quote from Sega marketing circa the Master System era

"Now, there are no limits"

No functional limits anyway, 2 GB is a helluva lot for games that cap out at 64 MB.

Unless you enjoy Rock Band/GHWT DLC, then you might run up the wall quite a bit quicker.

FSK405K @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:09AM

Each song file on X360 is 40-100 MB, so 2GB is enough room for enough songs for most, not all, users.

ScottG13 @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:43AM

2 years too late, guys. SD cards aren't enough space, either. I've almost filled up my 20gb 360 hard drive.

Mr Khan @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:36AM

Thing is, the 360 was designed with an HDD in mind, so you get much higher file sizes for downloadable games and content. Wii was designed with 280 MB of user-accessible storage in mind. For a 360 designed with 20 GB in mind, 20 GB is paltry. For Wii, designed with 280 MB in mind, 2 GB is fine

Unless you're totally addicted to WiiWare and VC, but SD Cards are far more easily interchanged than HDD's at least.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:49AM

It's not what most people wanted (it would have been nice to get a harddrive) at least it's something. Though it really shouldn't have taken that long for Nintendo to announce this.

Luke @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:02AM

Actually I didn't want a hard drive, because then you have to buy a proprietary peripheral instead of using AnyBrand SD cards. I already have SD cards lying around I'm not using, so popping one into the Wii to add more space is no big deal. Also, an external hard drive would make the who unit a lot bigger, whereas the SD solution keeps it nice and compact.