Upgrading the Wii storage

[AzBat]

According to this article from GamesIndustry.biz, it looks like Nintendo might be looking for a way to upgrade the internal 512mb flash storage.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/fischer-nintendo-working-on-solution-to-wii-storage-issue

We definitely detect that they [gamers] are serious and we know there is an issue in this, so it's something that we're working on. ... Definitely there's no plan to issue hardware, an external hard drive, but we know that we have an issue in that area. ... It's very obvious and we're perfectly aware of it, but there's nothing we can say beyond this. ... You can store your Virtual Console games on an SD card, and also we at Nintendo can store the things for you. So if you delete some of the software you have downloaded it's no problem to go again to the download process and get the software back for free.

So, with that said here some ideas...

1) Start advertising the server side storage method.
2) Support more external storage methods via USB, SD, WiFi or maybe even Gamecube memory cards. Wouldn't have to be a hard drive per se, but you get the idea.

Anybody have any opinion on how they will handle this? Personally, I agree that a Nintendo branded hard drive doesn't seem to fit with their design, but could see the additional flash storage options. WiFi or server side storage methods seem interesting though.

Tommy McClain

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Direct Flashcard usage. You can pick up 4 GBs for £15, which is plenty enough for Wii downloads. Excessive even! They just need to streamline the system. As I understand it, you have to juggle downloads with the internal memory which is the real bind. Actual quantity you can fit on removable flash storage isn't the issue. An HDD of 60+ GBs (about the minimum size these days I think) would be utterly ludicrous on Wii with no media playback and small downloads!

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Do you guys think Nintendo can increase the WiiWare game size restriction once the storage solution's been solved? I mean, it's not something set in stone that prevents larger games from being made, right? I'd love to see them at least increase the size limit to 64 or 128 MB.

 

[AzBat]

So the problem is you can't directly use SD cards for storage? Virtual console & Wiiware games are stored on the internal flash, but then it's cumbersome to move to the SD cards? Or can Wiiware even move to SD cards? Maybe the fix is completely done in software? Make better sense than building new hardware. If they fix that, then you can bet that Wiiware capacity will increase. Wouldn't make sense to keep it fixed. Shame no media playback support. No wonder they don't need very much storage capacity.

Tommy McClain

 

[vazel]

To begin with they can let us use more of the internal flash. I don't understand why a whopping 256MB is reserved.

 

[fearsomepirate]

You can store VC games on the SD cards, but you can't run games from them. So to run a game, you have to swap it to your internal memory first. However, save files for games with an online component are tied to the console and can't be transferred. It has something to do with the Friend Code.

 

[mech]

Direct Flashcard usage. You can pick up 4 GBs for £15, which is plenty enough for Wii downloads. Excessive even! They just need to streamline the system. As I understand it, you have to juggle downloads with the internal memory which is the real bind. Actual quantity you can fit on removable flash storage isn't the issue. An HDD of 60+ GBs (about the minimum size these days I think) would be utterly ludicrous on Wii with no media playback and small downloads!

Wii only supports 2Gb flash cards at USB1 speeds from what I understand. They really did go the cheapest route possible. I wonder if it's the speed issues that is the reason behind not allowing you to use your SD cards as storage.

 

[AzBat]

You can store VC games on the SD cards, but you can't run games from them. So to run a game, you have to swap it to your internal memory first. However, save files for games with an online component are tied to the console and can't be transferred. It has something to do with the Friend Code.

Ahh, that seems dumb. If you're internal memory is full, then you have to clear it out! Let's hope that the unmovable game saves don't eventually fill up the internal memory.

Wii only supports 2Gb flash cards at USB1 speeds from what I understand. They really did go the cheapest route possible. I wonder if it's the speed issues that is the reason behind not allowing you to use your SD cards as storage.

USB1 speeds? Even more wow! Anyway to fix that? Firmware update, etc? Now I understand why Nintendo is not looking for an external hardware solution. They need to get their software fixed first.

Tommy McClain

 

[upnorthsox]

Ahh, that seems dumb. If you're internal memory is full, then you have to clear it out! Let's hope that the unmovable game saves don't eventually fill up the internal memory.



USB1 speeds? Even more wow! Anyway to fix that? Firmware update, etc? Now I understand why Nintendo is not looking for an external hardware solution. They need to get their software fixed first.

Tommy McClain

In a word, No.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Wii only supports 2Gb flash cards at USB1 speeds from what I understand. They really did go the cheapest route possible. I wonder if it's the speed issues that is the reason behind not allowing you to use your SD cards as storage.

4gb will work without a problem too, its just they officially tested to 2gb but its not like there is any difference between a 2 or 4+ gb card as long as its within the standard. And why would they have gone beyond usb1? They only need to load savegames or relative small games from it. usb1 is fast enough for that.

 

[vazel]

speed of sd cards on wii also depends on the quality of the sd card. some people have differences measured in entire minutes.

 

[Mobius1aic]

Well Guitar Hero: On Tour (Wii version) will feature downloadable content that can be stored on the main internal storage or directly on the SD card.

 

[mech]

4gb will work without a problem too, its just they officially tested to 2gb but its not like there is any difference between a 2 or 4+ gb card as long as its within the standard. And why would they have gone beyond usb1? They only need to load savegames or relative small games from it. usb1 is fast enough for that.

Is it confirmed that it works with 4gb or higher? There is a big difference between 2 and 4gb cards as the SD standard is capped at 2GB, for 4gb and up cards it is SDHC, and the Wii does not support this.

As for why they'd want to have higher than USB 1 speeds - to fill a 2GB SD card it takes 20-30 minutes with USB 1, and with USB 2.0 it takes less than a minute. Even if all you wanted to do is copy all your stuff off the internal storage to make room for more stuff, you're looking at a difference of 5 minutes compared to 5 seconds. There are plenty of bigger games (and soon to be downloadable content, i.e. songs for GH4) that you can download that take up a lot of room and could really benefit from the speed boost.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What's the price difference between USB 1 and USB 2? I thought USB 2 had superseded 1 and no-one bothered with 1 any more. As USB is so common, I can't imagine the difference in price is anything other than cents even if USB1 is still an option. If so, I can't fathom Nintendo's choice for USB1. It would be a minuscule saving for a big drop in functionality.

 

[StefanS]

What's the price difference between USB 1 and USB 2? I thought USB 2 had superseded 1 and no-one bothered with 1 any more. As USB is so common, I can't imagine the difference in price is anything other than cents even if USB1 is still an option. If so, I can't fathom Nintendo's choice for USB1. It would be a minuscule saving for a big drop in functionality.

Strangely enough, I think I've read somewhere that the USB ports on Wii are in fact USB2, which makes their decision WRT to SD Cards even more absurd.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Well I have to expect USB to be v2, as it makes no sense. Has anyone got any docs to show what they really are? Likewise the other ports - do we know for sure that the memory card slot is slow?

 

[fearsomepirate]

What's the price difference between USB 1 and USB 2? I thought USB 2 had superseded 1 and no-one bothered with 1 any more. As USB is so common, I can't imagine the difference in price is anything other than cents even if USB1 is still an option. If so, I can't fathom Nintendo's choice for USB1. It would be a minuscule saving for a big drop in functionality.

You'd also think two extra feet of cable wouldn't have been a huge additional cost for Gamecube controllers. But if you can save 25 cents per unit on 20 million units, that's an extra $5m you can add to your bottom line.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The functional difference of 2 foot of cable is negligible compared to extended storage. The 'saving cents' argument leads to creating a totally stripped down, cheap and nasty machine. Why choose a slot-loading drive when a flip-top would have saved millions? If you look at it as a percentage, from the billions Nintendo are making, would that 0.1% bottom-line loss really matter versus not only the improved user experience of faster flash access, but also the improved download service and scope for developers? It's all a balancing act of costs versus product features and quality. If Nintendo have chosen to use long outmoded and too-slow-to-be-practical components, then they've got the balance well wrong IMO.

 

[mech]

Well I have to expect USB to be v2, as it makes no sense. Has anyone got any docs to show what they really are? Likewise the other ports - do we know for sure that the memory card slot is slow?

Unfortunately I can't find my source on the memory card slot being slow, so I could well be wrong on that one. Will post an update if I find it. In the meantime, this guy hacked his Wii to dump data to SD cards:

http://www.sockrocket.com/wii/

And got 15 megabit a second on average, with up to 50 megabit/s maximum supposedly.

This is still far below USB 2.0 speeds, and seems to be below potential SD card speeds:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#Speeds

Anyway, sorry for the misinformation, I may have remembered things incorrectly. But it does sound like the SD card slot isn't working to its full potential - perhaps it is only an SD 1.00 device so only supports slower card speeds.

 

[Scott_Arm]

The Wii needs a tape backup drive that uses proprietary tapes from Nintendo.