I have read on several websites about Nintendo possibly releasing a Wii HD or Wii 2 in 2011, which will include a hard drive (or maybe a solid state drive, by then?) for additional storage space.
I have also read, online, that in the Nintendo World store in NYC, there is a standard (looking) Wii with an external hard drive attached to it, where shoppers can browse through MANY Wii disc games by pictures of the boxes (like cover flow in iTunes) that have been copied to the external storage device. Apart from obvious arguments against making playing pirated material easier to access, what other problem does Nintendo have with enabling this technology for the rest of us, I wonder…
It seems to me that with a Wii System Update, Nintendo could enable storage and playback of Virtual Console and WiiWare games from either the SD card in the SD card slot, or a USB connected flash drive (SD or SDHC) or hard drive, giving us anywhere from 2 GB to 1 TB or more of additional, usable game storage.
That would solve the crisis that plagues myself and many other Wii owners: there are 4 screens for channels, but with just the standard, downloadable channels, plus half of the second page filled up, I already have no blocks left on my Wii system memory.
In order to download the WiiWare games I wanted (7 of them, so far), I have had to move all of my Virtual Console games to my SD card, which they will not play from, as there is no menu to access them, other than just to copy them to and from the card.
Why not make an “SD Card Channel” for now, so users can utilize the software they have purchased, and then, as soon as possible, make channels for thumb drives and hard drives? I mean, what are those USB ports for, anyway. I’m not going to buy one of those silly, loud fans, or stick a nightlight in there!
And while they are at it, Nintendo could put a cherry on top for Wii owners and allow the Wii to use it’s Wi-Fi connection to play back compatible media from a networked source (computer, router, etc…) on the TV, like an Apple TV does. Maybe that’s the answer to the gaming problem. Let us copy them from our SD card to a computer with lots of storage space and then access them across our home network?
