Wii: A couple steps closer to perfection

ID:61673
 
Apr 6 2009, 10:16 am (Edited on Apr 6 2009, 10:41 am)
Keywords: wii
So, one of my biggest gripes with the Wii has to do with the storage situation...

The machine itself has precious little space, yet so much to fill it with, thanks to WiiWare and the Virtual Console...

Sure, you can supplement the lack of room with an SD card, but the process was a royal pain, with having to go into the Wii's memory management menu to manually move media (must find synonym for "files" that begins with M thanks, DarkCampainger!) between the two... Games that were archived to the card had to be moved back into the Wii's channel space to play them...

This is not fun...

But the latest system update has fixed that! There's now a button on the bottom of the main channel screen to directly access the SD card, and you can play games stored there right from the card (they're displayed on a sub menu that looks and operates like the main channel menu)

You can also now choose to download games directly from WiiShop to the card!

And in addition to that (though not as crucial), they've also recently begun adding Arcade and Commodore 64 games to the Virtual Console! So far, there's only 4 or so for each, but I can't wait to play some of the C64 games I remember playing on an uncle's machine way back in the day (like Bad Street Brawler) if/when they're added!

I don't use the thing nearly as often as I should/would like to, but it's great that they're actually addressing its shortcomings slowly but surely...
Apr 6 2009, 10:23 am
I can't even use my Wii, all my controllers randomly broke.
Apr 6 2009, 10:24 am
Yeah, my friend was really happy about this because he's long since used up all of the internal memory on his wii, and just didn't bother transferring games back and 4th because it was a pain in the ass.
Apr 6 2009, 10:36 am
SuperSaiyanGokuX wrote:
having to go into the Wii's memory management menu to manually move files (must find synonym for "files" that begins with M)

What about "Media"?

We haven't hit the memory limit yet, but I am tempted to buy a classic controller and a Wii points card or two...

How well do they play on the Wii? Do they make any improvements/changes to the games? Or are they exactly the same as on the original console?
Apr 6 2009, 10:54 am
Jeff8500 wrote:
I can't even use my Wii, all my controllers randomly broke.

"Broke" as in...?

Because if they just don't communicate with the console (you try to turn them on, and after the blue player lights blink, they just go dark again, with no effect on the console), you can use the little red button inside the battery compartment along with the red button on the console (inside the SD card door) to re-sync them... http://www.ehow.com/how_2144692_sync-wii-remote-controller.h tml

Of course, this is the process followed when you add any new WiiMote, so you've probably already tried it, or your problem may be something else entirely, but just in case...

Maggeh wrote:
Yeah, my friend was really happy about this because he's long since used up all of the internal memory on his wii, and just didn't bother transferring games back and 4th because it was a pain in the ass.

I did the transfering a few times, but it got so annoying I soon stopped and let all of the Points I had received for Christmas sit collecting dust (I had a balance of around 4000, but the switching was such a pain, I didn't want to bother anymore) So now I'm on a spending spree! lol

DarkCampainger wrote:
SuperSaiyanGokuX wrote:
having to go into the Wii's memory management menu to manually move files (must find synonym for "files" that begins with M)

What about "Media"?

Thanks! I fixed the post...lol

We haven't hit the memory limit yet, but I am tempted to buy a classic controller and a Wii points card or two...

How well do they play on the Wii? Do they make any improvements/changes to the games? Or are they exactly the same as on the original console?

Everything I've played so far (titles from the NES, Sega, SNES, and 64) have played perfectly... I don't think there has been many/any changes made to any of them, though...

One cool thing is that for NES games, you can turn the WiiMote sideways (to resemble the layout of an NES controller) and play them that way...
Apr 6 2009, 10:56 am
Well, two of them broke because I have one of those charge stations (so the Nintendo tech support says). The other one will actually turn on, but it won't connect, it just doesn't want to sync for some reason; I still need to check whether that's the remote or the console.
Apr 6 2009, 11:25 am
can you tell me how to bbe able to play my game i need help fast
Apr 6 2009, 3:15 pm
You can also play games using an external hard usb drive now. You'll need HBC and a certain version of cIOS. Also they have custom code running ;)
Apr 6 2009, 4:12 pm
It's fake, SSGX. All the 'external storage' does is copy the VC game or whatever onto the Wii's internal memory, execute it, and then delete it when you're done. If you don't have enough room to fit it on the Wii's internal memory? Won't work. If the Wii's internal flash runs out of write cycles from all this copying back-and-forth? Won't work.

The problem is compounded by the way firmware 'updates' work on the Wii - specifically, every old version of the firmware is still present, ready to be executed if a game needs it. Every firmware update is another ~3MB gone from the console, permanently.

The Wii's storage was not designed well.
Apr 7 2009, 3:40 am
Jp wrote:
It's fake, SSGX. All the 'external storage' does is copy the VC game or whatever onto the Wii's internal memory, execute it, and then delete it when you're done. If you don't have enough room to fit it on the Wii's internal memory? Won't work. If the Wii's internal flash runs out of write cycles from all this copying back-and-forth? Won't work.

The problem is compounded by the way firmware 'updates' work on the Wii - specifically, every old version of the firmware is still present, ready to be executed if a game needs it. Every firmware update is another ~3MB gone from the console, permanently.

The Wii's storage was not designed well.

Oh, I know that it essentially just does automatically what we had to do manually, but that's good enough for me... As long as I don't have to personally go through two or three layers of menus, and move and swap files back and forth just to make room for more games, or to play the ones I already have, I'm fine with however it does it...

Yes, that means there might come a day where I again run out of room, but this pushes it quite a ways off, perhaps even far enough that they'll devise a better solution before then (well, within the limitations of the hardware itself, anyways)

It sucks that old firmware remains stored permanently, but perhaps even that will be alleviated down the road (I find it difficult to believe that they can't find a way to write a version that accomodates whatever they might need for backwards compatability, and have that update delete the older junk... I'd imagine that if/when this becomes a problem, they'll try to take this route)

But yeah, they definitely made some poor decisions when they designed the system's storage... Most likely all an effect of trying to keep the final price down, but they should have had a little bit better foresight...
Apr 7 2009, 12:08 pm
Just wait.. Nintendo has already announced a newer version of the Nintendo Wii. Apparently it supports USB Flash Drives and external HDs for sources of memory. Along with that the Nintendo Wii is going to finally be supporting HD graphics and adding a way for home owners to back up and save Wii games you downloaded from the VC so you can use them even if your Wii breaks or something. Still no mention of a eathernet port. God dammit Nintendo.
Apr 7 2009, 12:47 pm
Trosh Kubyo wrote:
Just wait.. Nintendo has already announced a newer version of the Nintendo Wii. Apparently it supports USB Flash Drives and external HDs for sources of memory. Along with that the Nintendo Wii is going to finally be supporting HD graphics and adding a way for home owners to back up and save Wii games you downloaded from the VC so you can use them even if your Wii breaks or something. Still no mention of a eathernet port. God dammit Nintendo.

Nintendo has announced no such thing. Besides, he already OWNS a Wii, how does this help?
Apr 7 2009, 12:57 pm
Yeah, I'm not in any hurry to buy another Wii (especially not to just get some extra storage support, or HD when I don't even own an HD TV...lol)
Apr 7 2009, 1:41 pm
Lol.
Apr 7 2009, 5:15 pm
Nintendo is currently showing early presentations of its next home console hardware. Apparently set to hit the market “by 2011” the new device is said to be the true “next generation” Nintendo console, and far more than a simple refresh of the current hardware. Unlike previous console transitions from Nintendo, the new system will be presented as a true successor to the Wii, and is being dubbed by those that have seen the presentation as “Wii HD.” There is no indication if this will be its eventual name, but the nature of the transition has been characterized as similar to “the shift from Game Boy to Game Boy Advance,” where familiar, key elements were left intact while the core hardware was made more powerful. It is expected by all those that we have spoken to on the subject that the new device will retain the Wii name in part.

While our sources are reluctant to be too specific about “Wii HD,” they have been able to divulge some (albeit predictable) generalizations. High definition visuals are assured, as is a greater emphasis on digitally distributed and backwardly compatible content, indicating that the new system will feature some form of local storage medium such as a hard drive or large flash memory solution. It has also been indicated that Nintendo’s emphasis is again on what the consumer will hold in their hands and interact with, rather than the “console” itself.
Apr 7 2009, 5:15 pm
I actually managed to grab this update when I was at my sister's last week. It also added support for high capacity SD cards, up to something like 64GB. I recently got a cheap SD card too, so it's good to have.
Apr 8 2009, 12:52 am
Nadrew wrote:
I actually managed to grab this update when I was at my sister's last week. It also added support for high capacity SD cards, up to something like 64GB. I recently got a cheap SD card too, so it's good to have.

It's a real shame the 64 GB SD cards aren't out yet, eh?
Apr 8 2009, 12:54 am
It was possible to trick the Wii into using bigger cards by padding the size. In any event, even 4GB SD cards are pretty cheap now a days.