Update: Rumor: Wii Hard Drive Spotting
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 11:40pm by Will
As of right now this picture is rumored to be the solution of all our Virtual Console problems. The mythical “Wii hard drive”. As of right now this picture has no real definite source or any solid backing credentials other than it just happened to appear in my E-mail by an anonymous tipster. Could this truly be the answer to our solutions, or is this just another falsity with the sudden approach of E3 2008.
Update: Totally debunked, the actual Japanese text was made by a translation program and makes absolutely no sense. go back to your hard drive-less wii lives, sigh…
July 8th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I’ll honestly be pissed if they release a hard drive. Why can’t we just use the SD cards that we all already bought. I don’t want to pay for an overpriced hard drive that might have way too much space. 512 KB = not nearly enough, but 60 GB = freaking overkill. Come on, big N, just let us all use our SD cards, or let us plug a freaking flash drive into the USB slot.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
fake. hard drive is gonna be white plastic like wii, not some random silver hard drive. unless its for external hdd support
July 9th, 2008 at 12:23 am
I think kotaku already confirmed that it was fake.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:46 am
geeks and otaku rejoice!! party at my house!
July 9th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I have this same hard drive (sans stickers). The enclosure is an Iomega USB Hard Drive design.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Why must they mock us with false promises of harddrives….
July 9th, 2008 at 2:00 am
How many times must I say this?! If you simply allow VC data to be read off of SD Cards, the problem is solved; simple!! No need for a big, clunky, expensive hard-drive.
Also this is obviously fake. But I’m certain I’m not the first to say that…
July 9th, 2008 at 3:57 am
It would have been ugly anyway!! ^_^
July 9th, 2008 at 4:17 am
at DmNt
i dont think you can even copy VC data to a SD
July 9th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Did you really think they would make a hard drive that is ugly as hell and looks about as big as the Wii itself?
Damn people! Stop bitching and whining about storage space. Is it really that hard to swap data between an SD card and the internal flash memory? How many different games are you playing at any one time that you need to do that frequently?
There IS no storage issue if people would stop being bitches and whining about every inconvenience in their life.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Oh yes…stop bitching about something that doesn’t appear to be a problem for ANY FREAKIN’ BODY ELSE and oh I don’t know…only makes the most damn sense.
Yes, let’s settle on some moronic, ass-backwards way of holding data. Maybe next system the Nintendo will put on a dial up modem and a floppy disk drive. Yes, if WE the consumer that has put Nintendo back on top would only stop our damn bitching, then it would go away.
I swear the Nintendo fanboys crack me up. You probably thought nothing of plunking down money for every freakin’ accessory Nintendo has put out, including $90 for a Balance Board, but a hard drive is too much? Give me a f’n break.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Wow - that’s a lot of effort to go and make a fake hard drive picture…
July 9th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Firmware update for SD cards please!
July 9th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
To say there is no storage issue on Wii is about as antiquated a notion as saying the world is flat. It’s just blatantly incorrect, with no room for argument.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
@ResidentialEvil…you summed up my post quite well.
Anyway, the storage system may be bass-ackwards but it WORKS!
So how is there any storage issue other than bitches like you whining that it’s inconvenient.
Oh and I’m not a Fanboy. I like Nintendo, I have a PS3, and I have an Xbox (original). Not biased toward anyone…but you are right I do have the Balance Board…because I wanted one (new and innovative right?)
However, like most people…I don’t need or want a hard drive. I believe someone quoted “only geeks and otaku want a storage solution” or something like that. But what they really should have said is “Only spoiled little bitches and those with the patience of a crack addict want a storage solution.”
Bottom line, why solve a problem that doesn’t exist? Would it be nice to accomodate the minority? Sure. But I’d rather Nintendo focus all their energy on GAMES! Not accomodating the bitches and whiners out there.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
That doesn’t look like a Nintendo product at all.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
droop4,
No, you can certainly store VC data on an SD card. Just think about it logically for a second. What happens when you’ve reached the 512mb limit on the Wii? You’ve got to put those excess VC games elsewhere (either that or delete them). That’s where an SD card comes in. Unfortunately, Nintendo won’t let us read data directly off a VC, so we have to move things around.
Everybody keeps complaining that we need a harddrive, but the truth is all we need is for VC data to be read directly off of SD cards. Problem solved.
I also agree with TWhite, that this isn’t a big deal, just more of a minor inconvenience. Especially when there are so many other problems for the Wii. Like say, the horrendous thirdparty support. (This 1up blog entry makes some great points about that problem, and is a good read)
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8601568&publicUserId=5379721
July 9th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Its from a flickr account:
Robert334’s Photostream on Flickr
Aaaaaand…
I call shenanigans.
July 9th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
i’d love it as much as everybody else but the day they let us read VC/WiiWare stuff off an SD card is the day everybody (me included) pirates the holy hell out of VC/WiiWare stuff, download it from the net, snap our nice full SD card on the Wii and play away.
Am I wrong? If so, explain.
IMO, they’ll go with a harddrive or some weird ass option like Bangai-O uses to share saves (audio!?) that none of us have considered yet.
July 9th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
If Nintendo does release a hdd instead of giving us easy use of the SD card slot and flash drives I think it will connect with the Wii while being very invisible.
Remember before it released when everyone thought the the stand would be the hdd? That could still happen, they could create a propietary hdd or fdd in a Wii stand form factor that has a usb cord that comes out the back of the system and connects to the Wii. Very unobtrusive. Even better, they could release a special usb hub in the shape of the Wii stand that would cnnect in the same but put at least 2 usb ports in the front for easy access. If they’re going to give hdd or flash drive support, I do believe one of those two add-ons will be made to accomodate Wii users. It would be very unobtrusive and so easy a caveman could understand it.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Not only is it from that Flickr photostream mentioned above, it also uses RVT as the beginning of a model id instead of RVL which is on most, if not all, of the Wii hardware and peripherals
July 10th, 2008 at 12:21 am
“However, like most people…I don’t need or want a hard drive. I believe someone quoted “only geeks and otaku want a storage solution” or something like that. But what they really should have said is “Only spoiled little bitches and those with the patience of a crack addict want a storage solution.”
Bottom line, why solve a problem that doesn’t exist? Would it be nice to accomodate the minority? Sure. But I’d rather Nintendo focus all their energy on GAMES! Not accomodating the bitches and whiners out there.”
Like most people? Yes, because I’m sure most video game websites and magazines would talk about it being a problem if only a “minority” of people were complaining. You’re pretty much talking out of your ass if you think it’s only some small minority of Wii owners.
And yes, “someone” was quoted as saying that, and most ripped said “someone” a new asshole over it. Which is funny, you say you’re not a fanboy, but does that mean anything Nintendo says you automatically buy as the truth?
July 10th, 2008 at 12:41 am
It sure is “fanboy” bashing time on a fan-site dedicated to Nintendo.
Anyway, as a person who has all the channels installed on his Wii, and has over 11 wii save files on his system. I have only spent about 60$+ on Wiiware since it launched buying 2 N64 games, 3 SNES games, and 4 NES games, and 2 Wiiware games. I have run into storage problems with my Wii and it is bothersome. I also have a 2 gigabyte SD card which I use to transfer my channels off and on, but sometimes it takes a long time to save a channel to the SD card.
It should be noted that there is a problem, and Nintendo needs to fix this problem… If I hard drive is needed, then I will welcome it. If the hard drive costs more than 50$ then I will refuse to buy it.
However, it should be noted the only reason there is a storage problem is because of all those extra channels. Who needs those special channels, deleting those channels actually frees up a lot of space. Anyway enough ranting, but that’s the truth.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:06 am
For the people that are patient enough to switch VC games to a SD card and back dont buy the damn hard drive (if one is released)… and for the people that arent so patient (like me) then go buy one… and i am pretty sure a company as large as Nintendo can do 2 things at once (make games and make accessories).
July 10th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Yes I’m sure all the soccer moms and casuals out their that are supposedly the only ones buying Wii are complaing about storage space.
Meanwhile the rest of us gamers who supposedly aren’t even playing our Wii are legitamately complaining.
So who is there more of…soccer moms and casual players who only play their Wii once, or gamers who are letting their Wii collect dust?
How many more of each from those groups are actually online?
Yes…I say minority…just like the minority of technical problems with PS3 explode into something much bigger than it really is.
Only the obsessive freaks who need every channel and every WiiWare game and every Virtual Console game on their system at one time actually have an issue with this.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:55 am
wow this thread turned into gold!
i think we need a better storage solution. good enough shouldnt work here. technology SHOULD be instant gratification. nintendo largely undestands that (as opposed to MS which is a large case of fail). i hope ninny step up here.
@ residential: LOL at dial up modem. nice.
@ Ptolemy: what’s the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy stuff on the walls and the mozzarella sticks?
@ Damien: it certainly can be fanboy bashing time, unfortunately. this site became quite balkanized a while back and flames flew a bit freely. heck, the site endorsed/encouraged its own fracture. cheers for calling it out instead of joining.
@TWhite: My answer is that there are a lot of casual gamers driving hardware sales (expected) and software sales (unexpected by me). However, I’ve watched many of them eventually set aside their wii (pity). Still, why taunt the hardcore with storage solutions that seem more like hacks than an integrated product?
July 16th, 2008 at 4:15 am
@TWhite
You should have the doctor check for mental illness.