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New Nintendo Direct - Today! Right Now! [cvxfreak summary Post #85]

nickcv

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

News Flash! We are all Iwata.
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And he's not dead just yet, but thanks for asking Yoshio Anna
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Always be suspicious of parents with two or more children
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And stop your kids from driving the minibus with WiiU!
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Sony Defence Force keeps Iwata up at night
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And new Mario Bros game announced!
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But the biggest megaton of all!
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Behold the future. We can digitally download food and drink through the Wii U's eShop!


ibjuRuiZKP9F4B.gif

i'm dying here
 

Nosgoroth

Member
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.

Hm, worth considering.

Do we know where game saves are stored? If the HDDs only hold the actual game then I don't mind using the 2'5'' I already have and redownloading everything if it dies.
 
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?

He clarified it in his edited post, which is in the OP and post 85. You're right.

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.

Maybe that's why both of my USB powered drives and my friend's eventually kicked the bucket, while my powered one was fine. I thought it was because the small drives were less durable or something.
 
i have two consoles sitting here that can power USB drives

they are 7 years old

and this one cannot? the fuck Nintendo

Way to miss the point. It can, but they will not guarantee it working (as anyone knowing anything about USB drives should know is not a given depending on the model) If you use the Y cable config, they guarantee it will work.

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.

Yeah, my launch 360 also said 20 GB when I actually fired it up it was more akin to 12-14 GB
 

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
Cheers for translating cvxfreak!

Not sure how I feel about the HDDs not being useable on PCs. Obviously understandable, but I would have liked to have kept it all to my one 1TB drive. I can always buy a new one so it's not a big loss.

I always wonder how stress-relieving these recording sessions must be for Iwata. It's basically an opportunity to get up out of his little office full of forms and business dealings to play with shit and record it. At least I hope it's like that. He seems happy enough.
 

cvxfreak

Member
A few more clarifications on the USB drive functionality, including a correction regarding USB flash drives:

- Nintendo cannot guarantee that small hard disks (bus-powered) that require more power than USB 2.0 can handle will work properly.
- Generally, hard disks that have Y-Cables (2 USB connectors) will work with the Wii U.
- Nintendo warns that for USB flash drives, even though the Wii U will detect and connect them as it would a hard disk, due to limitations on the number of times data is read from the disk and how this will eventually wear the USB flash drive down, Nintendo does NOT recommend leaving important save and other game data on a USB flash drive for long periods of time. How this plays out depends on the game, of course.

Please scratch this mistranslation out of the OP, and apologies again! Thanks!

- No games on USB Flash Memory due to games not running properly all the time (whatever this means...)
 
External 3.5" 2Tb with power source it is, then.

*Checks Amazon.

I have had one of these sat unused in a box for about two years. It is now going to be put into use. I doubt i'll come near to filling it, but I'll neeeeeeever have to worry about storage space, which will be nice.

Glad to see confirmation about a Wii U virtual console finally. I mean, it was pretty safely speculated, but good to know it's coming. Obviously I'm not pretending for one second that it's a guarantee we'll be able to download a VC game we previously bought for the Wii from the Wii U VC. They'll probably point to the backwards compatibility and say 'you can still play what we sold you on the new system. you didn't buy a version that supported Wii U gamepad, so why do you to get that new version for free?'.

it'll be a fun thread in a few months I guess.
 

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
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.
What if you have an enclosure?
 

Ein Bear

Member
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.

Yeah that is a bit weird, like you say I'm kind of surprised they don't at least have Super Mario Bros and Zelda 1 ready. I hope it doesn't take long for them to start rolling the updated VC out.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Blocks have been replaced by herring
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The Japanese economy apparently collapsed over night
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The UK requires special permission to play WiiU games
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Warning! Using an SD card will aid Nintendo with their plans to abolish the current world order!
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Pensioners can also benefit from buying a WiiU
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Iwata says why hardcore gamers will never be happy
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CPGe9.png

YOU'RE WELCOME
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
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.

sure, but when they're only giving you 8GB of flash its a little more noticable than if you have a 320GB HDD.

most of the time for flash or memory card usage its just the loss due to formatting etc.

iOS doesn't install itself on the user memory.

As Keyser said, it's normal practice. For another fun example, see Microsoft Surface.


ouch.



So now we're up to 3 power sockets being used up for the WiiU if you use a powered USB drive..

It should be expected that a standard laptop self-powered drive should be fine though right? We're just fussing about nothing.
 

Javier

Member
I just hope that you can just re-download the updated VC games for free if you already own the Wii version. It would be some serious bullshit to pay for the same game twice ON THE SAME CONSOLE.
 

Hanmik

Member
so you can download a game directly to the External HDD..? and play it of the HDD..? or was that not clarified..?
 

Ashler

Member
Also, it would have been a nice touch if the Wii U supported USB 3.0 as to reduce loading times of Wii U games off the external HDD.
 

warerare

Member
I have a spare 1TB drive but really would only want to use about 500gb of it for the Wii U. Given that it will only detect 1 HDD I wonder if this counts for partitions too? I guess what I am wondering is If I have a drive with 500GB of FAT32 partitioned for the PS3 and 500GB of unpartitioned space would the Wii U be able to detect that and only format the 500GB of unpartitioned space given that it can only see one drive at a time.

Whew I have no idea how clear what I just wrote is.
 
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.

good advice I am about to purchase my HDD now... I guess I don't have to worry about the format since they all get formatted
 

ffdgh

Member
this was an unexpected thing to wake up to. Lol go Iwata. Iho it would be great to tell Americans this since well....it comes out in 4 days.
 

Nosgoroth

Member
I have a spare 1TB drive but really would only want to use about 500gb of it for the Wii U. Given that it will only detect 1 HDD I wonder if this counts for partitions too? I guess what I am wondering is If I have a drive with 500GB of FAT32 partitioned for the PS3 and 500GB of unpartitioned space would the Wii U be able to detect that and only format the 500GB of unpartitioned space given that it can only see one drive at a time.

Whew I have no idea how clear what I just wrote is.

I don't think it's going to detect partitions, but just format the whole physical drive as one partition. Just a guess, of course.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Are saves stored on internal memory or alongside the games on a HDD? If internally then I wouldn't worry so much about a drive failure.

Can you backup saves?
 

Fat Goron

Member
- Nintendo cannot guarantee that small hard disks (bus-powered) that require more power than USB 2.0 can handle will work properly.

If that's the problem, then if I already have an HDD working with the Wii, I'll be able to use it with Wii U with no problems, right?
 
So, VC reboot for the second time? So dumb, it should be equal (and accessable) on all machines, especially now with the Nintendo ID coming.
 
I get that all this has many advantages etc and that a lot of you techheads enjoy customizing everything but honestly, sometimes i can't help but long for the days we'd just buy a console, come home, open the package, plug it into our TVs and game away without ever having to worry about HDD space, compatibility, longevity, accounts and transfers and what not :(
 

urfe

Member
I watched this as soon as it was posted on Twitter, and when I did, I'm pretty sure they mentioned a WiiU VC, which to me implies it's different from the Wii VC, and that you'd have to rebuy games. If this is the case (and I think it is), then I'll be a lot more careful about what I buy. I had bought 20,000 yen (250 bucks?) worth of VC stuff for my Wii.
 
A few more clarifications on the USB drive functionality, including a correction regarding USB flash drives:

- Nintendo cannot guarantee that small hard disks (bus-powered) that require more power than USB 2.0 can handle will work properly.
- Generally, hard disks that have Y-Cables (2 USB connectors) will work with the Wii U.
- Nintendo warns that for USB flash drives, even though the Wii U will detect and connect them as it would a hard disk, due to limitations on the number of times data is read from the disk and how this will eventually wear the USB flash drive down, Nintendo does NOT recommend leaving important save and other game data on a USB flash drive for long periods of time. How this plays out depends on the game, of course.

Please scratch this mistranslation out of the OP, and apologies again! Thanks!



Huh, there is no read limit for flash memory. There is limits on writes, but even that doesn't directly put you at risk on losing your data, because all that happens should you cross that point is that you can't write on that memory anymore (but still read it).
 

plank

Member
Needs more clarification on SD cards, Can you save full WiiU game data on them? or is it just save data? If it can't save full games why not?
 

TriGen

Member
I get that all this has many advantages etc and that a lot of you techheads enjoy customizing everything but honestly, sometimes i can't help but long for the days we'd just buy a console, come home, open the package, plug it into our TVs and game away without ever having to worry about HDD space, compatibility, longevity, accounts and transfers and what not :(

A lot less stress, worry, and confusion in the old days.
 

cvxfreak

Member
Huh, there is no read limit for flash memory. There is limits on writes, but even that doesn't directly put you at risk on losing your data, because all that happens should you cross that point is that you can't write on that memory anymore (but still read it).

You're right. It's a write limit, not a read limit.

It's a warning by Nintendo at the end of the day, and Japanese companies tend to err on the side of caution for these kinds of things.
 

MicH

Member
So if I have a HDD with a Y-cable (2 USB), can I just plug it into the Wii U without plugging it in an outlet? Sorry, I'm a bit confused :p
 

TriGen

Member
So if I have a HDD with a Y-cable (2 USB), can I just plug it into the Wii U without plugging it in an outlet? Sorry, I'm a bit confused :p

Yes. You could even plug it in with a solo USB cable and it will probably work. Nintendo is just being careful, but yes, a dual-USB will work fine.
 
You're right. It's a write limit, not a read limit.

It's a warning by Nintendo at the end of the day, and Japanese companies tend to err on the side of caution for these kinds of things.


Ah I see. So it's more or less like "We won't recommend it, because a few USB sticks may break and we don't want to get sued for that... but it'll still work ;)"
 

Nosgoroth

Member
So if I have a HDD with a Y-cable (2 USB), can I just plug it into the Wii U without plugging it in an outlet? Sorry, I'm a bit confused :p

There are self-powered HDDs (generally 2'5'' drives, smaller ones) that get their power from the USB connection, and externally powered HDDs (3'5'' drives, bigger ones) that require a power brick. If you want to use a self-powered HDD you should use a Y-cable to guarantee that the drive gets enough power. If your drive has a power brick you don't need a Y-cable.

I probably overexplained, but eh.
 

MicH

Member
Yes. You could even plug it in with a solo USB cable and it will probably work. Nintendo is just being careful, but yes, a dual-USB will work fine.

There are self-powered HDDs (generally 2'5'' drives, smaller ones) that get their power from the USB connection, and externally powered HDDs (3'5'' drives, bigger ones) that require a power brick. If you want to use a self-powered HDD you should use a Y-cable to guarantee that the drive gets enough power. If your drive has a power brick you don't need a Y-cable.

I probably overexplained, but eh.
Just as I hoped. Great! Thank you both for your explanations :D
 
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