News: Don't Buy an SD Card for Wii U Downloadable Games - Supports Only USB Storage Page 1

Mr James2t3 11.11.2012#1

Games can't be re-downloaded onto a friend's system and played using the Nintendo ID that purchased them either.

I don't think you can even move the NNID to another console in the first place which kind of sucks.

( Edited 11.11.2012 20:47 by Mr James2t3 )

JoshSL 11.11.2012#2

Likewise, games and software stored on hard-drives can't be used on another Wii U system, but can be used by any user on the hardware. Games can't be re-downloaded onto a friend's system and played using the Nintendo ID that purchased them either.

Vomits all over Nintendo HQ and everyone in it

PS. I really hope it works with my HDD because man I don't want to buy another HDD just so the WiiU can be relatively convenient.

PPS. Still really want to know if data from more than one Wii can be transferred to the same WiiU.. I hope someone asks this.

( Edited 11.11.2012 20:57 by SuperLink )

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RudyC3 11.11.2012#3

USB memory comes cheaper than SD anyway, and offers faster load times in general. Not a big deal.

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JayUK 11.11.2012#4

Can I ask what the point of having an SD card slot is then. Game saves don't take up that much space. Seems Nintendo are leaving all the bad news to the last minute. Gotta ask why they're removing functionality that was present in both the Wii and 3DS. Is it a piracy issue?

JoshSL 11.11.2012#5

JayUK said:
Can I ask what the point of having an SD card slot is then. Game saves don't take up that much space. Seems Nintendo are leaving all the bad news to the last minute. Gotta ask why they're removing functionality that was present in both the Wii and 3DS. Is it a piracy issue?

Good point, but tbh it's probably for random media like music, pictures, maybe video, dlc and etc.

It is strange that it's not included but as Rudy said USB is a better option overall.

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RudyC3 11.11.2012#6

Yeah but don't get me wrong, having BOTH options would have been ideal, so that people with just an SD card lying around don't have to go buy an external HDD or beefy USB stick... So it must really be for piracy problems... or they're already envisonning massive DLC or full games to take up far too much room to be held on a SD card anyway. It's true after all that SD memory comes much more expensive, and if full games up to 25GB become available on the eShop, your SD card would become full much too fast.

But we're not quite there yet though, and we have no idea how big Wii U eShop releases are going to be in the end.

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Sonic_13 11.11.2012#7

JayUK said:
Can I ask what the point of having an SD card slot is then.

It is most likely there for two reasons:
1) Photo/music/media viewing
2) Wii compatibility

Mr James2t3 12.11.2012#8

Yeah SD card seems mainly for the Wii Backwards compatibility. Also I can't wait till this thing launches and ask people on forums to get a clear answer on some of these things, Nintendo don't seem interested in telling us!

tiggereliaz (guest) 12.11.2012#9

I will definitely be wbfs'ing the crap out of my wii u ..once it becomes flashable of course. that will be the purpose of the sd slot to flash the system . And the external to save the wbfs games...nice

Phoenom 12.11.2012#10

Makes sense. SD Cards have varying speeds depending on their make and class, whereas all USB Hard Drives have a set standard. Imagining trying to run 17 GB of Tekken Tag off a slower SD Card is laughable.

Drsasa (guest) 12.11.2012#11

But if for some reason my Wii U die , then what ? If i understand if i buy new one i cant use any my
previouse purchase ...

Drsasa (guest) 12.11.2012#12

I dont get it. What will happen if Wii U one day whant start, so its dead. You go buy new one and
forget about all you had downloaded or buyed ?

Martin_ 12.11.2012#13

Should have just put a HDD inside the console itself.

Nintendo fail pretty hard, these days.

Canyarion 12.11.2012#14

I bought a 2TB USB HDD a month ago, partly for this reason.

Lew3107 12.11.2012#15

That's ridiculous. It seems that the only use for SD cards now is to transfer Wii data to the Wii U. It should be enabled in a future update, because making SD cards compatible with the system just seems like a waste of time if you can't save anything and everything to it

Martin_ said:
Should have just put a HDD inside the console itself.
Nintendo fail pretty hard, these days.

I can understand why a HDD wasn't put into the console. Apparently, prices for storage are falling, so it would be better for the customer to buy storage when they need it, rather than paying for storage they may not need. Plus, the low storage is keeping the price of the console relatively low, so there's nothing wrong with that.

( Edited 12.11.2012 17:23 by Lew3107 )

Synderblock (guest) 12.11.2012#16

This is one of the things most people would not even notice but everyone has to turn it into a big deal.
I find running software/OS off a high speed SD kind of neat, but in most cases it is cheaper to get a USB device with more memory and speed.

Why would they put an internal HD? So you can pay more for the system? So you can be limited to a set amount of system storage? So you can buy an over priced memory extension? Nintendo allowing people to use standard USB2 HD up to 3gb is one of the best features of the Wii U.
Bad - Would have liked USB3 better, but most USB3 hard drives still run about the same speed as USB3.

Would have been really cool if people could put their whole library on an HD then take it to a friends house and play the games in a type of "Guest" mode. However, given all the copy right issues that were on PC and have moved their way over to consoles, I can understand why they would want to keep games locked.
Good - Given consoles are being cracked just as easy as PC games now-a-days (and once you crack the system, all games become burn-n-play) It is only a madder of time before people can get around this.

Martin_ 12.11.2012#17

Lew3107 said:
I can understand why a HDD wasn't put into the console. Apparently, prices for storage are falling, so it would be better for the customer to buy storage when they need it, rather than paying for storage they may not need. Plus, the low storage is keeping the price of the console relatively low, so there's nothing wrong with that.

Indeed, storage is so low-cost now that Nintendo could have easily included it in the console. They would have gotten the HDD's straight from the source, cheaper than you ever could, and thus would have saved you money. Since the HDD would have then been standard, developers could have utilized the HDD for installations, improving certain games, and even making possible certain games that will now never be.

If you're getting a Wii U, you are going to need storage. I bet most people here are evaluating storage options, looking at external drives. They could have been saved that hassle and expense via an internal HDD as standard. Since the Xbox 1 it's been a standard feature of every non-Nintendo console. Nintendo had crappy online for Wii and DS, slow to bring themselves up-to-par on that front. They've finally relented on that, offering a decent online service with the 'U, finally bringing their service up to par with others, after more than a decade if we count Xbox 1, and a good 7 years if we go from 360.

With the storage issue, Nintendo once again are woefully behind the times. There's all sorts of reasons why the 'U should have had an internal HDD as standard. The cost would have been absolutely puny for Nintendo, would have saved every 'U customer who is thinking of buying storage a chunk of change, you wouldn't have had to have a separate box sitting next to your game box. No separate power cable for your separate HDD (the ones without dedicated power fail a lot, especially if they're in the hundreds of GB).

Basically, it would have been a better console all round. Nintendo are shit.

Edit this post:

[quote][b]Lew3107 said:[/b]<br/>I can understand why a HDD wasn't put into the console. Apparently, prices for storage are falling, so it would be better for the customer to buy storage when they need it, rather than paying for storage they may not need. Plus, the low storage is keeping the price of the console relatively low, so there's nothing wrong with that.[/quote]

Indeed, storage is so low-cost now that Nintendo could have easily included it in the console. They would have gotten the HDD's straight from the source, cheaper than you ever could, and thus would have saved you money. Since the HDD would have then been standard, developers could have utilized the HDD for installations, improving certain games, and even making possible certain games that will now never be.

If you're getting a Wii U, you [i]are[/i] going to need storage. I bet most people here are evaluating storage options, looking at external drives. They could have been saved that hassle and expense via an internal HDD as standard. Since the Xbox 1 it's been a standard feature of every non-Nintendo console. Nintendo had crappy online for Wii and DS, slow to bring themselves up-to-par on that front. They've finally relented on that, offering a decent online service with the 'U, finally bringing their service up to par with others, after more than a decade if we count Xbox 1, and a good 7 years if we go from 360.

With the storage issue, Nintendo once again are woefully behind the times. There's all sorts of reasons why the 'U should have had an internal HDD as standard. The cost would have been absolutely puny for Nintendo, would have saved every 'U customer who is thinking of buying storage a chunk of change, you wouldn't have had to have a separate box sitting next to your game box. No separate power cable for your separate HDD (the ones without dedicated power fail a lot, especially if they're in the hundreds of GB).

Basically, it would have been a better console all round. Nintendo are shit.

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Mr James2t3 13.11.2012#18

To be fair it's the most flash storage that a console has ever contained, more than the 4GB Xbox and 16GB PS3 ( I think).

So I wouldn't say it's behind the times at all as there seems to be a movement towards including flash memory with these consoles.

Offering non proprietary options to upgrade is another good feature and much better than MS stance at capping USB drives to 32GB so you HAVE to buy their HDD's and even if you did want to open up their HDD enclosure and put your own one in you have to deal with there 500GB limit.

Maybe they should have offered and elite elite version with an included Nintendo brand 320GB USB HDD, would have been nice, but I'm not personally worried to much about it.

darkflameX (guest) 13.11.2012#19

HDD = bigger,more expensive, more power consuming console with slower load times for most open plan games.
Nintendo absolutely backed the right horse. Let people choose their storage.