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[Atreides]

Wow. Seeing how much about Wii U account system some people are deducting from two tiny sentences, they must be clairvoyants.

 

[Erethian]

This topic appears seem to be a big misunderstanding. What I took from the translation is that you can't take what you already downloaded to usb and use it on another system. I still think you can download on another system if you log on to another computer.

They haven't said anything about that yet, so yeah nobody knows and it's all just speculation. I mean we know you can log into the NN from other devices, the question will be whether those other devices include different Wii Us.

As for the download thing, it's because Nintendo encrypts all download data and save files out the ass these days to prevent hacking.

 

[Baconsammy]

I wouldn't be surprised if the "only plays on system downloaded to" does indeed mean that download instance. Not that you can never download it on another console.

The problem is that given Nintendo's shitty history with this stuff, no one would really be surprised if downloading it and playing on another console required you to do a complete transfer from one console to another every single time with a limited number of transfers allowed. The problem, as others have stated, is Nintendo in their infinite wisdom thinks its best to leave everyone in the dark about the basics of their systems, going so far as to ordering gaming sites to not talk about it. They can't be that proud of what they've come up with if even they don't want to discuss it.

 

[Gaogaogao]

to be fair, usb hard drives is a better solution than microsoft would ever allow.

 

[Baconsammy]

to be fair, usb hard drives is a better solution than microsoft would ever allow.

Microsoft includes a 250-320 gig HD in their consoles straight out of the box. Sony does something similar. If we're being "fair". 32 gig maximum of internal space on a new console is just shake-your-head dumb.

 

[Gaogaogao]

Microsoft includes a 250-320 gig HD in their consoles straight out of the box. Sony does something similar. If we're being "fair". 32 gig maximum of internal space on a new console is just shake-your-head dumb.

it absolutely is dumb to not start with a hard drive as standard, microsoft learned that the hard way with xbox 360. but supporting massive desktop hard drives via usb is
smarter than microsofts tight ass would allow. they would, again rather sell you a somewhat larger hard drive for too much money.

 

[Atreides]

Microsoft includes a 250-320 gig HD in their consoles straight out of the box. Sony does something similar. If we're being "fair". 32 gig maximum of internal space on a new console is just shake-your-head dumb.

What's the problem? They could have included the hd, but they would have to price the console higher then. Or do you think that you are no paying the HD included in Xbox or Playstation?

 

[Aquamarine]

Microsoft includes a 250-320 gig HD in their consoles straight out of the box. Sony does something similar. If we're being "fair". 32 gig maximum of internal space on a new console is just shake-your-head dumb.

It's a shame you have to use Microsoft's proprietary hardware.

Nintendo allows whatever harddrive you want. That's a huge step forward. Not having downloaded software on the SD card? Not a big deal at all.

 

[JimboJones]

I dunno why people are panicking over the SD card thing, surley if you want to use over priced flash memory you can get a USB thumb drive instead?

The account system they have is worrying though, I wonder if you can even sign in or move your profile to another console at all.

 

[Gaogaogao]

well nevermind then

 

[JimboJones]

first, no they wouldn't, nintendo is already making profits on hardware, its the nintendo way. and second, what?

Didn't they say recently they are actually making a loss on the hardware?

 

[Terrell]

first, no they wouldn't, nintendo is already making profits on hardware, its the nintendo way. and second, what?

Uhhh, no they aren't. Said as much in their investors conference. There was even a huge hullabaloo about it on GAF.

 

[Gaogaogao]

Didn't they say recently they are actually making a loss on the hardware?

if thats true, thats even more shake your head stupid.

 

[Aquamarine]

Didn't they say recently they are actually making a loss on the hardware?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-25-nintendo-admits-wii-u-to-be-sold-at-loss

That's right.

"The Wii U hardware will have a negative impact on Nintendo's profits early after the launch," Iwata explained, "because rather than determining a price based on its manufacturing cost, we selected one that consumers would consider to be reasonable."

It's that pesky super-expensive tablet controller.

 

[NFreak]

Didn't they say recently they are actually making a loss on the hardware?

Yup, they're losing money on the Wii U initially.

As far as this SD card thing goes, I don't see what the big deal is. So many other easy options to expand storage.... and cheaper options too.

 

[Atreides]

first, no they wouldn't, nintendo is already making profits on hardware, its the nintendo way. and second, what?

First, they are not making profits on hardware (they actually said that they are losing money. Most likely just a bit, but they are losing money). Second: what did you not understand? I think I explained myself clearly: it doesn't matter if the hd is included in the console or not, because you are paying for it anyway. Actually, it's better if the hd is not included in the console because you have the chance to use one you already have.

 

[Visualante2]

Microsoft includes a 250-320 gig HD in their consoles straight out of the box. Sony does something similar. If we're being "fair". 32 gig maximum of internal space on a new console is just shake-your-head dumb.

Depends if Nintendo's aspirations for their online service are as high as Microsoft's really.

 

[Baconsammy]

It's a shame you have to use Microsoft's proprietary hardware.

Nintendo allows whatever harddrive you want. That's a huge step forward. Not having downloaded software on the SD card? Not a big deal at all.

How's that a huge step forward? A huge step forward for them would have been to include a large drive inside of the Wii U and then allow you to use USB drives for transfers. Now you're reliant upon adding hardware on top of the hardware you already bought. Who cares if Microsofts drive is proprietary? It came with it. How many people will need to buy another on top of the 250 or 320 gig that comes in it? What will make this far worse is if you can't take your USB HD that you downloaded games onto and put it on another Wii U, log into that other Wii U with your Nintendo account and play the games on the USB HD. If they don't allow for that, then the size of the include HD doesn't matter anyway since I'll never buy anything digital from them. It says a lot about them that they can't be bothered to talk about this or allow others to inform their readers about it prior to release.

Depends if Nintendo's aspirations for their online service are as high as Microsoft's really.

I'd say their aspirations are quite high. I think part of the more expensive unit is discounts for buying digital content.

 

[Drago]

Sorry to go off topic, but is Nintendo taking a loss on both WiiU sets or just the Basic? The Deluxe just has a few extra pieces of plastic and a disc put in the mix, I doubt it costs a whole lot more to produce than the basic set.

 

[Christberg]

Are people actually suggesting that the retail 8GB Wii U SKU at $300 isn't competitive with the 250G X360 that retails for the same cost? Really? Because that simply doesn't begin to compute. The Wii U has a sginificantly improved disk drive, 4X the RAM and off the shelf storage options. That's before you even get into the controller which makes the X360 one look like a dinosaur in comparison.

Oh, and this.

 

[Gaogaogao]

First, they are not making profits on hardware (they actually said that they are losing money. Most likely just a bit, but they are losing money). Second: what did you not understand? I think I explained myself clearly: it doesn't matter if the hd is included in the console or not, because you are paying for it anyway. Actually, it's better if the hd is not included in the console because you have the chance to use one you already have.

if a hard drive is not assumed to be in the console, you cannot develop games based on that assumption. you must develop for the lowest common denominator. this turned into a problem on the xbox 360.

 

[JimboJones]

How's that a huge step forward? A huge step forward for them would have been to include a large drive inside of the Wii U and then allow you to use USB drives for transfers. Now you're reliant upon adding hardware on top of the hardware you already bought. Who cares if Microsofts drive is proprietary? It came with it. How many people will need to buy another on top of the 250 or 320 gig that comes in it? What will make this far worse is if you can't take your USB HD that you downloaded games onto and put it on another Wii U, log into that other Wii U with your Nintendo account and play the games on the USB HD. If they don't allow for that, then the size of the include HD doesn't matter anyway since I'll never buy anything digital from them. It says a lot about them that they can't be bothered to talk about this or allow others to inform their readers about it prior to release.



I'd say their aspirations are quite high. I think part of the more expensive unit is discounts for buying digital content.

Maybe all the people out there who bought one with a 20, 60, or even 120GB drive and have to use disk installs to shut the thing up?

 

[Man God]

if a hard drive is not assumed to be in the console, you cannot develop games based on that assumption. you must develop for the lowest common denominator. this turned into a problem on the xbox 360.

The LCD in this case is 32 GB. They've also been open and upfront from the beginning about expandable store just like they have been with the 3DS, which is starting to see some big ass games on it. BD:FF is huge.

 

[Erethian]

if a hard drive is not assumed to be in the console, you cannot develop games based on that assumption. you must develop for the lowest common denominator. this turned into a problem on the xbox 360.

That's because the system didn't have internal storage of any kind and it hampered their digital download attempts. Which is a problem the Wii U doesn't have.

 

[Baconsammy]

Maybe all the people out there who bought one with a 20, 60, or even 120GB drive and have to use disk installs to shut the thing up?

Just buy a cheap 32 gig USB drive. That's what I'd do if I didn't own a slim, which doesn't need to "shut up" since it's dead silent. Which brings up a good point, has anyone with the Wii U yet commented on the noise of the drive? The Wii's drive is obnoxiously loud. Have they said if they've dampened the sound of it in the Wii U?

 

[Gaogaogao]

The LCD in this case is 32 GB. They've also been open and upfront from the beginning about expandable store just like they have been with the 3DS, which is starting to see some big ass games on it. BD:FF is huge.

pretty sure its 8GB actually, 32 is deluxe only.

 

[JimboJones]

Just buy a cheap 32 gig USB drive. That's what I'd do if I didn't own a slim, which doesn't need to "shut up" since it's dead silent. Which brings up a good point, has anyone with the Wii U yet commented on the noise of the drive? The Wii's drive is obnoxiously loud. Have they said if they've dampened the sound of it in the Wii U?

Capped at 32GB pendrive sticking out everywhere in all the USB ports is a shitty solution.

Theres no need to try and downplay proprietary memory solutions as being bad to try and make the small on board WiiU of memory seem worse. There both crappy.

 

[qizah]

I wonder what the reasoning is behind this.

I know with the Wii and DSiWare, whatever you had on your SD card wasn't running off of the SD card itself but would be copied to internal memory. So, I'm wondering if it's a technical issue with games running off of external memory like an SD card or if there's just some reason Nintendo decided against it.

I know the 3DS lets you put games onto an SD card but I don't know if it uses the same method as the Wii and DSiWare did. Anyone know?

It would be interesting to know why exactly downloaded software can't be played off of the SD card, let alone stored there.

 

[Atreides]

if a hard drive is not assumed to be in the console, you cannot develop games based on that assumption. you must develop for the lowest common denominator. this turned into a problem on the xbox 360.

Can you give an example about this problem? Or do you mean just not being able to install games? That could be a problem but it's not likely, because the disc reader is faster than the one in Xbox and PS3.

 

[Baconsammy]

Capped at 32GB pendrive sticking out everywhere in all the USB ports is a shitty solution.

Theres no need to try and downplay proprietary memory solutions as being bad to try and make the small on board WiiU of memory seem worse. There both crappy.

The 360 is a 7 year old console. The problem I have with the Wii U is Nintendo clearly wants people to buy lots of digital titles directly from their store, but then toss in a measly 32 gig drive. There's no excuse to do that on a brand new console. But like I said, that's the least of my concern, because if Nintendo doesn't allow me to take my drive to another Wii U and play my games, then digital downloads won't ever be a factor for me, so space wont be an issue.

 

[Terrell]

How's that a huge step forward? A huge step forward for them would have been to include a large drive inside of the Wii U and then allow you to use USB drives for transfers. Now you're reliant upon adding hardware on top of the hardware you already bought. Who cares if Microsofts drive is proprietary? It came with it. How many people will need to buy another on top of the 250 or 320 gig that comes in it? What will make this far worse is if you can't take your USB HD that you downloaded games onto and put it on another Wii U, log into that other Wii U with your Nintendo account and play the games on the USB HD. If they don't allow for that, then the size of the include HD doesn't matter anyway since I'll never buy anything digital from them. It says a lot about them that they can't be bothered to talk about this or allow others to inform their readers about it prior to release.



I'd say their aspirations are quite high. I think part of the more expensive unit is discounts for buying digital content.

Baconsammy mad lib: "I'm not buying Wii U because (fill in the blank)"

I mean DAMN, man, why are you so invested in every Wii U topic when you already know it can't do anything right by you? This battered wife syndrome you have with Nintendo is getting out of hand. At some point, the healthier thing to do is just walk away.

To the topic you bring up, the HDD that's included with a 360 purchase is a set size that you are required to accept even if it doesn't suit you. In theory, the same applies for the Wii U, but I can guarantee that 32GB of flash storage cost them nothing to include, as opposed to a hard drive, which are costs that are passed to the consumer (or to the hardware maker if sold at a loss).

If you were able to buy boxed software for it like you would with a Wii U, when it gets full, you're required to upgrade it at the price that Microsoft specifies because they control the hardware means available to upgrade. And those prices are STEEP by comparison to what you'd pay elsewhere. Even Sony's solution of allowing any internal drive from any manufacturer but requiring disassembly to install it is a better solution than that. And let's not forget that debacle with drive transfer tools that don't work unless they're the official MS brand.

As for the content mobility? I'd imagine that it works much like iTunes... when you log into one console, your purchase authorizations are available on that console only and can't be played on another, to prevent that purchased game from existing in 2 places at once.

 

[JimboJones]

I wonder what the reasoning is behind this.

I know with the Wii and DSiWare, whatever you had on your SD card wasn't running off of the SD card itself but would be copied to internal memory. So, I'm wondering if it's a technical issue with games running off of external memory like an SD card or if there's just some reason Nintendo decided against it.

I know the 3DS lets you put games onto an SD card but I don't know if it uses the same method as the Wii and DSiWare did. Anyone know?

It would be interesting to know why exactly downloaded software can't be played off of the SD card, let alone stored there.

Native Digital Download 3DS games run directly off the SD card.

DSiware have to be run off the onboard memory and can only be backed up on SDcards similar to the Wii/DSi.

 

[Baconsammy]

Baconsammy mad lib: "I'm not buying Wii U because (fill in the blank)"

I mean DAMN, man, why are you so invested in every Wii U topic when you already know it can't do anything right by you?

I'm a consumer of Nintendo products. A consumer, not a fanboy. I spend my money wisely, or at least I try to. Having concerns about the digital side of the console given Nintendo's history isn't far fetched. I'm sorry you think I'm being unfair to poor Nintendo, but this is the approach I take with any big purchase regardless of who the corporation behind it is. I have no love for corporations. That's just dumb to me.

 

[Terrell]

I'm a consumer of Nintendo products. A consumer, not a fanboy. I spend my money wisely, or at least I try to. Having concerns about the digital side of the console given Nintendo's history isn't far fetched. I'm sorry you think I'm being unfair to poor Nintendo, but this is the approach I take with any big purchase regardless of who the corporation behind it is. I have no love for corporations. That's just dumb to me.

The fact that you keep saying you're not buying a Wii U for any number of reasons betrays this notion. By the word's very definition, you can't be a consumer of a product you're not buying.

 

[Pharros]

Just buy a cheap 32 gig USB drive. That's what I'd do if I didn't own a slim, which doesn't need to "shut up" since it's dead silent. Which brings up a good point, has anyone with the Wii U yet commented on the noise of the drive? The Wii's drive is obnoxiously loud. Have they said if they've dampened the sound of it in the Wii U?

If the Wii's is obnoxiously loud, my 360 is a freaking jumbo jet.

 

[Baconsammy]

If the Wii's is obnoxiously loud, my 360 is a freaking jumbo jet.

My launch 360 fan was louder than the bloody drive. Sounded like a jet engine. The Wii's drive sounds like it's cracking my discs into thousands of little pieces.

The fact that you keep saying you're not buying a Wii U for any number of reasons betrays this notion. By the word's very definition, you can't be a consumer of a product you're not buying.

My pre-order says otherwise. When you get so upset over someone else's questions/concerns about a console, you might be too invested in that company. Regardless, I'm done addressing you as doing so makes me feel dumber and also adds absolutely nothing to this thread.

 

[Pharros]

My launch 360 fan was louder than the bloody drive. Sounded like a jet engine. The Wii's drive sounds like it's cracking my discs into thousands of little pieces.

Okay yeah that makes sense, my Wii makes a weird cracking when starting but that's the only time really. My 360 is just full of noises from everywhere, used to scare the hell out of my dog when I'd turn it on.

On topic as well, I was at the bestbuy checkout with a 32gb SD card on sale for $30, but decided against it last minute. Boy was I lucky with this news.

 

[Christberg]

To the topic you bring up, the HDD that's included with a 360 purchase is a set size that you are required to accept even if it doesn't suit you. In theory, the same applies for the Wii U, but I can guarantee that 32GB of flash storage cost them nothing to include, as opposed to a hard drive, which are costs that are passed to the consumer (or to the hardware maker if sold at a loss).

If you were able to buy boxed software for it like you would with a Wii U, when it gets full, you're required to upgrade it at the price that Microsoft specifies because they control the hardware means available to upgrade. And those prices are STEEP by comparison to what you'd pay elsewhere. Even Sony's solution of allowing any internal drive from any manufacturer but requiring disassembly to install it is a better solution than that. And let's not forget that debacle with drive transfer tools that don't work unless they're the official MS brand.

As for the content mobility? I'd imagine that it works much like iTunes... when you log into one console, your purchase authorizations are available on that console only and can't be played on another, to prevent that purchased game from existing in 2 places at once.

EXACTLY.

You can either buy:

This

Or

This and this.

Which would you rather spend $130 on? 4TB or 320 gig? One of these things is clearly better than the other.

 

[BocoDragon]

The 360 is a 7 year old console. The problem I have with the Wii U is Nintendo clearly wants people to buy lots of digital titles directly from their store, but then toss in a measly 32 gig drive. There's no excuse to do that on a brand new console. But like I said, that's the least of my concern, because if Nintendo doesn't allow me to take my drive to another Wii U and play my games, then digital downloads won't ever be a factor for me, so space wont be an issue.

Isn't 32 GB the biggest flash memory we've seen yet in a console? Emphasis on "flash".

 

[jmizzal]

I dunno why people are panicking over the SD card thing, surley if you want to use over priced flash memory you can get a USB thumb drive instead?

The account system they have is worrying though, I wonder if you can even sign in or move your profile to another console at all.

They say you can sign into your account on computers and phones in the future so im pretty sure you can sign into another WiiU too.

 

[CronoShot]

Man, if downloads are still tied to the system and not the account, Nintendo is fucking hopeless.

Luckily, I'm thinking it's more what others are saying: the specific download will not work on a different system than the original one where it was downloaded, but if you log into another system with your account you can redownload it.

Makes sense to me.

 

[Terrell]

My pre-order says otherwise. When you get so upset over someone else's questions/concerns about a console, you might be too invested in that company. Regardless, I'm done addressing you as doing so makes me feel dumber and also adds absolutely nothing to this thread.

So you're buying a product, knowing that SO much about it is distasteful to you, because....? Why? You love Nintendo's games? It's the ONLY reason I could see from the litany of things you dislike about it. If we're going to talk about "investment in a company", that'd rank pretty high up there on the ways to tell.

I mean, I hate everything there is to hate about fish except for how healthy it is. That doesn't mean I'm gonna have fish for dinner and bitch about it the whole time just for the sake of eating healthy.


The fact that you've fallen back onto personal attacks doesn't exactly instill confidence that I'm wrong, and it seems like the only one that's upset is you by virtue that you've chosen to pursue that method of behavior. But at the very least, we can agree that it's turning into a thread derail.

 

[Dragon]

It's a shame you have to use Microsoft's proprietary hardware.

Nintendo allows whatever harddrive you want. That's a huge step forward. Not having downloaded software on the SD card? Not a big deal at all.

Huge step forward? Sony has done that since 2006.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Aren't you the fella who thought Nintendo would stick with friend codes and hadn't announced its online features because "Nintendo" and they were expecting negative press?

Oh man, I really hate to see what you're going to think of the consoles out next year. That will be a hoot and a half, will be watching for it.

Did I miss something? Has Nintendo shown a game actually being played in real time online? What are we a week from launch now?

 

[Eusis]

pretty sure its 8GB actually, 32 is deluxe only.

The fact Tekken is a 17+GB download (day one?) seems to be an open declaration that "we don't care, get an external hard drive if you have to." I imagine that may curb the size of digital games, but that probably depends on the sales of retail games. If they do well over DD then I expect to see many developers being a bit more bold about the space used up.

 

[Lonely1]

Microsoft includes a 250-320 gig HD in their consoles straight out of the box. Sony does something similar. If we're being "fair". 32 gig maximum of internal space on a new console is just shake-your-head dumb.

I don't want no stinky mechanical HDD on my future purchases, Thanks.

 

[TheGreatDivide]

What is the SD slot for then? Save games?

I don't see why anyone would pick an SD card over a USB storage anyway, so no biggie.

 

[NSider]

Microsoft includes a 250-320 gig HD in their consoles straight out of the box. Sony does something similar. If we're being "fair". 32 gig maximum of internal space on a new console is just shake-your-head dumb.

For the MSRP difference between the 4 GB Xbox 360 and the 250 GB version, you can get a high quality 1.0 TB USB hard drive and still keep more than $20.

We all know that most customers won't need more than 32 GB anyway.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Something that may be forgotten is even on Wii, (and on DSi, and 3DS) you can download items as much as you want once you buy them. They do support redownloading. There was no account system yet to tie the download to an account, not the device.

Ill forget it because its barely a plus when its the same device. If I sell those devices and decide to get a new ones, those downloads are lost. If my device gets broken or stolen, I have to deal with customer service.

 

[Eusis]

Ill forget it because its barely a plus when its the same device. If I sell those devices and decide to get a new ones, those downloads are lost. If my device gets broken or stolen, I have to deal with customer service.

Well, it's still an important positive, but that's basically an expected standard. Only early iTunes and Digital River dared to violate that one, the former because of compromising with the RIAA (only to keep applying presure until,f inally infinite redownloads of non-DRM'd music), the latter because they're despicable assholes.