[warerare]

If we can't get our VC games transferred over then they should offer say 50% value back on all purchases which then relinquishes your rights to play those games but gives you the money to spend on the eShop. They need to do something as this stinks imo.

[IrishNinja]

thank you cvxfreak!

+1, your efforts are appreciated.

can i use the same SD card from my Wii for WU BC needs? just wondering if i gotta dig up another one.

[neoanarch]

i have two consoles sitting here that can power USB drives they are 7 years old and this one cannot? the fuck Nintendo

It can, but Nintendo doesn't guarantee it will work 100% of the time.

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

I was just sleeping and dreaming about Wii U controller sold in an ice cream truck then woke up because I was cold... checked GAF now... watching

I just shopped that old fart in an icecream truck in my head.

Fucker.

[Exterminieren]

Nintendo Network Premium is compatible with 3DS?

YES.

[grimshawish]

i have two consoles sitting here that can power USB drives they are 7 years old and this one cannot? the fuck Nintendo

lol. Won't this depend on the harddrive, not the console???

[skinnyrattler]

Wait, they give u 8 gb for the basic and use half of it when u turn it on? So much for best Wii u.

[vall03]

Nintendo Network Premium pleases me. I guess they're really planning to bring it also to 3DS. Also, I will patiently wait for VC compatibility on Wii U without using Wii mode.

[Ydahs]

I'm planning on buying a few WiiU eshop titles on launch, good to know that I'll get a discount for each.

I also reckon that if any Wii VC game is on the WiiU VC, Nintendo will allow users to 'convert' it to the WiiU edition. They've handled these things well in the past so hopefully they continue to do so in the future.

A bit confused about the support for USB powered HDDs though. I just bought one yesterday...

[Chopper]

So what is the SD slot actually for? Exclusively Wii Mode?

[grimshawish]

Wait, they give u 8 gb for the basic and use half of it when u turn it on? So much for best Wii u.

huh? Its a Basic, their just giving you enough to run the thing. DD should be done by harddrive, they explain quite clearly.

So what is the SD slot actually for? Exclusively Wii Mode?

Seems to be the only reason for it yeah. Maybe you can save certain files to it, IDK.

[nickcv]

Holy smokes, the YouTube transcription feature can be pretty awful sometimes.

this image made the nintendo direct worth watching.
it's already a meme, i can feel it.

[Jackano]

All those USB power things are the con side of the minimal power comsuption Nintendo researched for the Wii U.
I'm a little disapointed here... No usable USB stick so it seems, so I will end up buying a new powered USB HDD... and finally my console will be more expensive in kW!

[Kazerei]

So what is the SD slot actually for? Exclusively Wii Mode?

Yeah, probably for backwards compatibility reasons.

[TriGen]

lol. Won't this depend on the harddrive, not the console???

I bet any drive that works with a USB 2.0 port will work fine. People are getting freaked out because Nintendo is so cautious, but as we've seen with GamePad estimates, Nintendo really plays it safe.

[Ein Bear]

It's odd how we'll have to wait for later. It seems like such a no-brainer. At least we have confirmation, though. Here's hoping we can transfer our games over for free.

I really am expecting us to be able to 'upgrade' our games for free.

I can't blame them for not having VC games running on the GamePad at launch - there's hundreds of titles on the Virtual Console, each with it's own, custom, emulator. There was no way they were going to have time to re-write emulators for every title on the service in time for launch - running them in Wii mode is the only way we'll be able to transfer our entire collections over on day one.

I'm basically expecting them to approach it the same way they did the Ambassador games on 3DS. A quick, no-frills, release at first, that can be updated for free once the updated game goes on sale properly on the eShop.

[Alistair Roo]

i have two consoles sitting here that can power USB drives they are 7 years old and this one cannot? the fuck Nintendo

the fuck???

[neoanarch]

I bet any drive that works with a USB 2.0 port will work fine. People are getting freaked out because Nintendo is so cautious, but as we've seen with GamePad estimates, Nintendo really plays it safe.

Yeah. Its just Nintendo being cautious. I'm pretty sure its all the same warnings from these type of devices that everyone already ignores.

[Kazerei]

lol. Won't this depend on the harddrive, not the console???

Yeah, some hard drives consume more power than others.

Nintendo is basically saying, taking up one USB port might not work, but taking up two USB ports with a Y type cable will work.

[Why would you do that?]

I'm most worried about the hard drive situation.

- A drive needs to be formatted for use with the Wii U. That really sucks. hopefully we can partition the drive. Still, this means no media (videos, pictures, music) on your external drive like on the 3DS.

- No guarantee of working with unpowered drives. Granted, the Wii U will very likely use USB 2.0 power, and some unpowered drives have very finicky power requirements, so Nintendo is probably being conservative.

[Currygan]

Premium and 3DS?

[skinnyrattler]

huh? Its a Basic, their just giving you enough to run the thing. DD should be done by harddrive, they explain quite clearly. Seems to be the only reason for it yeah. Maybe you can save certain files to it, IDK.

I'm assuming that won't survive updates and plenty of game saves. I think people had the impression it would be viable but I would worry. Unless Nintendo restricts updates. Then that's another problem. It's good they have some space but it seems like you'll be cleaning out the fridge constantly.

[The Hermit]

I made a promise of never buying a system at launch ever and decided to buy WiiU within an year... Its getting harder though.

I won't be fooled again Nintendo, stop making me want it :(

[EatChildren]

i have two consoles sitting here that can power USB drives they are 7 years old and this one cannot? the fuck Nintendo

It can. And does, guarenteed, with Y type (dual USB) connections. There's no indication single USB drives will absolutely positively not work, simply Nintendo not guaranteeing they will. I'm willing to bet many will work fine, and if they don't, just buy a dual USB cable.

[radioheadrule83]

4gb in use on first use says to me that this may have more pre installed applications or video than we realise. There can be no way the OS is 4gb Surely?

[PuppetSlave]

Happy about future VC Pad supported games but I hope they will allow for transfers of already bought games, so you are not forced to re-buy the games you already have bought.

[grimshawish]

I'm assuming that won't survive updates and plenty of game saves. I think people had the impression it would be viable but I would worry. Unless Nintendo restricts updates. Then that's another problem. It's good they have some space but it seems like you'll be cleaning out the fridge constantly.

No. You'll have to buy an external harddrive for serious use of memory.

EDIT: I should say I've got a 500GB harddrive that needs a wall socket so this is Nintendo explaining things aren't 100%.

[RagingAvatar]

I'm assuming that won't survive updates and plenty of game saves. I think people had the impression it would be viable but I would worry. Unless Nintendo restricts updates. Then that's another problem. It's good they have some space but it seems like you'll be cleaning out the fridge constantly.

It's a good point - but I'd expect that the 4.2GB they claim at first boot is to make sure that they have reserved space for future updates. 3DS does this too. (Obviously 3DS can never go above 4GB as that is the smallest they've ever shipped the console with.)

[madmackem]

Cant use usb flash sticks the fuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccck.

[cvxfreak]

cvgfreak :lol

You're welcome, guys. Cheesemeister was at supper, so I decided to fill in for him. ;)

[Why would you do that?]

I can't blame them for not having VC games running on the GamePad at launch - there's hundreds of titles on the Virtual Console, each with it's own, custom, emulator. There was no way they were going to have time to re-write emulators for every title on the service in time for launch - running them in Wii mode is the only way we'll be able to transfer our entire collections over on day one.

I agree that there's no way they could have had all virtual console games at launch (and I'm happy we at least have a way to transfer all VC titles at launch), but I would have expected them to have at least some 1st party games like Mario, Donkey Kong, and Balloon Fight on Wii U VC.

[Erethian]

It can. And does, guarenteed, with Y type (dual USB) connections. There's no indication single USB drives will absolutely positively not work, simply Nintendo not guaranteeing they will. I'm willing to bet many will work fine, and if they don't, just buy a dual USB cable.

Yeah. Stuff like this is basically so that when someone calls up their service centre saying their particular brand of single USB drive is having issues, they can say they never guaranteed it would work.

[the androgyne]

lol, I love Nintendo's way of just explaining memory usage..

I can just imagine Iwata popping down to the hyaku en shop during his lunch break to buy a gazillion BB pellets for this, then insisting it goes live within hours of recording. "This is the best ND yet!" .... "[Laughs]"

[neoanarch]

Cant use usb flash sticks the fuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccck.

I think you can, but its not recommended since it shortens the lifespan of those sticks.

I agree that there's no way they could have had all virtual console games at launch (and I'm happy we at least have a way to transfer all VC titles at launch), but I would have expected them to have at least some 1st party games like Mario, Donkey Kong, and Balloon Fight on Wii U VC.

I call bullshit, they could have had made "WiiMode" compatible with the Gamepad entirely. But they are being way too cautious and sandboxing the BC stuff and blocking the rest of the Wii U.

[Panajev2001a]

Hopefully they will not ask too much for upgrading VC titles or better yet the process is free. NES and SNES titles looked really bad when I hooked them on a 21'' 1366x768 LCD TV through Component cables. With a 6'' screen running at 480p resolution those game will look nice. Nto as nice as running on a CRT TV of 19'' or so, but more than nice enough ;).

[mrklaw]

WiiU uses 4.2GB of the memory? So why even say you have 8GB, thats disingenous. Just say you have 7.2-4.2=3GB available in the basic pack.

[UncleSporky]

I could swear that they said last time that the Premium Network wouldn't work with purchases on the 3DS eShop. Weird if true.....especially since those other shops don't support Nintendo IDs yet.

There are a couple interpretations here. Does "works with" mean you will get 10% back on purchases in all those shops, or does it mean you can spend the 10% back in all those shops?

We've known you can spend it on 3DS. For example.

[Cheesemeister]

You're welcome, guys. Cheesemeister was at supper, so I decided to fill in for him. ;)

Thanks! Good job!

[BGBW]

Watching with the translated captions make Iwata look like a mad man!

News Flash! We are all Iwata.


And he's not dead just yet, but thanks for asking Yoshio Anna


Always be suspicious of parents with two or more children


And stop your kids from driving the minibus with WiiU!


Sony Defence Force keeps Iwata up at night


And new Mario Bros game announced!


But the biggest megaton of all!

Behold the future. We can digitally download food and drink through the Wii U's eShop!

[@MUWANdo]

There are a couple interpretations here. Does "works with" mean you will get 10% back on purchases in all those shops, or does it mean you can spend the 10% back in all those shops? We've known you can spend it on 3DS. For example.

Don't the websites themselves say you can't spend the premium points on anything but U software?

[Ninja Dom]

Do you think that the Wii U will be able to run content direct from the USB storage? Or it has to be moved to the Wii U internal storage first?

Also will USB Flash Drives/Sticks be okay?

[Nosgoroth]

Perhaps they could have a sandboxed WiiU wrapper over the virtual console emulation wrapper that would get input from the gamepad and output video to both the gamepad and the TV at the same time. It certainly doesn't sound impossible.

I suppose they're being very cautious with security after what happened to the Wii.

[mrklaw]

It can. And does, guarenteed, with Y type (dual USB) connections. There's no indication single USB drives will absolutely positively not work, simply Nintendo not guaranteeing they will. I'm willing to bet many will work fine, and if they don't, just buy a dual USB cable.

I'm sure they've done their homework and surely any self powered USB drive that works on a PC with a single USB cable should work fine on the WiiU with a single USB cable.

This is an area where I'll wait for Gaf feedback if there are any troublesome drives to avoid.


His comments about Wii games and VC on the gamepad sounded fairly definitive though which is a shame. Although I have a homebrewed Wii and am wary about transferring my VC games, so I'll let the US gaffers be the guinea pigs there. I'd really like htem to be transferred so I can properly retire my Wii

[freddy]

- There are plans for a Wii U Virtual Console that WILL be compatible with the Wii U GamePad. Please look forward to it in the future.

Thank you, good sir :)

[Ashler]

Wow at the Youtube beta translation. At one point it translates something about external storage capacity as "gastric cancer".

Still, better than not understanding a single word used.

[herod]

USB powered hard drives have a tendency to die early because USB isn't a particularly reliable power source.

I suggest anyone who cares about their shit working for a long time consider a HDD with a PSU, regardless of how inconvenient it is.

[Keyser Soze]

WiiU uses 4.2GB of the memory? So why even say you have 8GB, thats disingenous. Just say you have 7.2-4.2=3GB available in the basic pack.

No company includes what the OS eats up when they discuss the size of their HDD. IT would nice if they did - as Firmware and OS is now getting much larger - but it is not a standard.

[hongcha]

Well, good to hear there will be a VC for WiiU that you can play with the gamepad. Until that is released, I won't buy this console. Too bad they couldn't have this ready at launch. I am guessing it will take at least 6-12 months from now. So here's looking forward to Christmas 2013!

[Javier]

Nintendo Network Premium - For Premium Set buyers only - Point service - Make Nintendo Network ID, then login to find and user the service - After logging in, you can see the points you have earned - Buy with download card or download number - Earn 10% back on purchases - Earn back purchase points in ¥500 increments - Works with Wii U/3DS e-Shop, Wii Shopping Channel, DSi Shop

The way I see this:

- Only purchases done on the Wii U eShop on Premium sets will add to your points count, which are 10% of your purchases. When you reach $5, you can cash in a code, and said code can be used on ANY eShop (Wii U, 3DS, DSi or Wii). Am I right on this?

[UncleSporky]

Don't the websites themselves say you can't spend the premium points on anything but U software?

What sites? Link? The link I provided says this:

All games and DLC purchased from the Wii U eShop will return 10 percent of their value in points – 599 points for a $59.99 game, for example. Every 500 points accrued will be redeemable for a code for $5 in credit, usable on either the Wii U or 3DS eShop.

Meanwhile this Nintendo page says this:

Games and content purchased at the Wii Shop Channel or on Nintendo 3DS are not eligible for Points.

Which means you won't get points for 3DS purchases...but you can spend those points you earned on Wii U on the 3DS shop.

Get it?