Nintendo may be producing an external hard drive for the Wii, according to reports coming from Japan.
The news comes from underground Japanese gaming magazine, GameLabo, which claims to have information on a meeting that recently took place in the upper echelons of Nintendo. The subject of the meeting was allegedly an expansion of the Wii's 512Mb capacity with an external hard drive.
It's all very much rumour at this point, however. SPOnG got in touch with Nintendo to see if it has anything to say on the subject, but received a (somewhat predictable) “no comment”.
An external hard drive for the Wii certainly seems like a plausible idea. It is, after all, competing with the 360 and PS3, which offer up to 20Gb and 60Gb of memory respectively. Nintendo now has 65 games available via Virtual Console, with the number growing every week. If it wants to keep those taking advantage of the service coming back for more, then additional memory is a necessity.
Nintendo isn't the only company rumoured to have memory expansions on the way. Way back in October there were reports of a whopping 100Gb hard drive on the way for the 360.
Are you running out of space in your Wii's memory? Let us know in the Forum.
The news comes from underground Japanese gaming magazine, GameLabo, which claims to have information on a meeting that recently took place in the upper echelons of Nintendo. The subject of the meeting was allegedly an expansion of the Wii's 512Mb capacity with an external hard drive.
It's all very much rumour at this point, however. SPOnG got in touch with Nintendo to see if it has anything to say on the subject, but received a (somewhat predictable) “no comment”.
An external hard drive for the Wii certainly seems like a plausible idea. It is, after all, competing with the 360 and PS3, which offer up to 20Gb and 60Gb of memory respectively. Nintendo now has 65 games available via Virtual Console, with the number growing every week. If it wants to keep those taking advantage of the service coming back for more, then additional memory is a necessity.
Nintendo isn't the only company rumoured to have memory expansions on the way. Way back in October there were reports of a whopping 100Gb hard drive on the way for the 360.
Are you running out of space in your Wii's memory? Let us know in the Forum.
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Comments
kmogul 19 Mar 2007 11:15
1/6
I just bought a 2GB sd card for £10 from Amazon. Surely, if the main incentive for Nintendo's HDD extention is more space for virtual console games (and not full retail games' use of a HDD), then it would make more sense to buy a bigger sd card?
(P.S. I bought the card for my camera, not my Wii, but im assuming you can save VC games to SD card).
Edit: Also, if the 360's 20GB HDD costs £70 in the shops, how much do you think a 100GB HDD would retail for? Its quite mad considering how cheap a PC HDD's really costs!
(P.S. I bought the card for my camera, not my Wii, but im assuming you can save VC games to SD card).
Edit: Also, if the 360's 20GB HDD costs £70 in the shops, how much do you think a 100GB HDD would retail for? Its quite mad considering how cheap a PC HDD's really costs!
Joji 19 Mar 2007 12:11
2/6
When Nintendo say 'no comment', there is usaully some truth in it. And about bloody time too I say. If you folks have read any of my recent, previous comments, you'll know I've been plugging for this one to happen. In a console today, memory space shouldn't be an issue, especially whe hard drive prices are dropping all the time. Indeed PC hard drive are dirt cheap these days so why not (though I know a Nintendo branded one might differ).
Even though Wii allows for the good option of any external hard drive, you'll find that most people buying Wii might not be that adept to purchase them, especially if not a PC genius. A Nintendo branded hard drive, to sell next to games etc is the sensible way to go. Plus, Nintendo can't afford to look stupid with MS and Sony providing plenty of hard drive space. If Wii is to last the next few years distance and persuade developers to jump onboard more, a hard drive is the way to go. 512mb on Wii? WTF! This isn't N64 Nintendo.
Should have had one from launch, Nintendo but lets hope this is true and you sort it out.
Even though Wii allows for the good option of any external hard drive, you'll find that most people buying Wii might not be that adept to purchase them, especially if not a PC genius. A Nintendo branded hard drive, to sell next to games etc is the sensible way to go. Plus, Nintendo can't afford to look stupid with MS and Sony providing plenty of hard drive space. If Wii is to last the next few years distance and persuade developers to jump onboard more, a hard drive is the way to go. 512mb on Wii? WTF! This isn't N64 Nintendo.
Should have had one from launch, Nintendo but lets hope this is true and you sort it out.
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YenRug 19 Mar 2007 17:06
3/6
The rumours of possible Saturn game releases on the VC is rearing its head, once more, so talk of an external HDD makes sense if that was likely. CD-ROM's worth of data into 512MB of storage? Not really seeing that, somehow.
Whilst they could update the firmware so that VC games could run off SD cards, I believe that 2GB is the maximum size supported, which means you'd be lucky to fit three Saturn games on a card. HDD is definitely the best way forward, especially if they encrypted the HDD so it could only work with the Wii.
Whilst they could update the firmware so that VC games could run off SD cards, I believe that 2GB is the maximum size supported, which means you'd be lucky to fit three Saturn games on a card. HDD is definitely the best way forward, especially if they encrypted the HDD so it could only work with the Wii.
RiseFromYourGrave 19 Mar 2007 20:58
4/6
i agree, an sd card or two (depending on the size) should be more than enough to store your vc titles, especially if they ever add or already have added 4gb sd support.
that makes me think; if they are planning an external hard drive that would indicate some big downloads are en route..
that makes me think; if they are planning an external hard drive that would indicate some big downloads are en route..
realvictory 20 Mar 2007 01:18
5/6
Yeah, I can also imagine possibly having GC games downloadable in the next few years.
The other thing is, hard drives are so much cheaper (per megabyte, or whatever you want to measure them in) than flash memory these days - so why not? They should make more use of the USB ports as well, since they exist.
The other thing is, hard drives are so much cheaper (per megabyte, or whatever you want to measure them in) than flash memory these days - so why not? They should make more use of the USB ports as well, since they exist.
OptimusP 20 Mar 2007 07:20
6/6
Nintendo is probably not going to make one themselves but make the Wii open for receiving external HDD's.