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Nintendo News | Official Mass Storage USB for Wii!

on 05.04.2007 at 14:43 User Icon Posted by Adam Riley (jesusraz)
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With many people complaining about the small size of the 512MB internal memory of Nintendo's Wii and the current lack of compatibility between the system and external USB storage devices, there appears to be good news on the horizon. An official Press Release has gone out from eSOL, Ltd, stating that its leading embedded middleware products, "PrFILE2" FAT file system and "PrUSB/Host" USB host stack, have been selected by Nintendo for use with the Wii console.

Both software products constitute fundamental functionalities in the Wii console - managing and transferring data and files with external media. In particular, PrFILE2 provides file management functions that read and write data from SD memory cards, as well as other media. PrUSB/Host functions are used in Wii, to provide USB host functions.

"I am very happy that we could take part in the development for Wii, a new game console from Nintendo. I believe that our products were selected because Nintendo highly-valued our long, successful history with many digital consumer products and high-reliability and functionality based on that. We will continue to provide superior products and technical services to strongly support developers in embedded software development."
- Nobuyuki Ueyama, Executive Vice President, Embedded Products Division at eSOL.

So could this finally be the answer we have all been looking for when it comes to downloading lots of Virtual Console games?

Stay tuned for further details...[/b]
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TheStratMan Reply Quote #1 

TheStratMan

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Number of comments 3946 231 Number of comments 25.09.2003 Wi-Fi Name Tomaz

Cool. Better not cost too much though.
on 05.04.2007 at 14:03 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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jb Reply Quote #2 

jb

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Number of comments 14621 984 Number of comments 04.01.2003 Wi-Fi Name jbcubed3.

Urgh. I hope they allow 3rd party / unofficial drives.

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on 05.04.2007 at 14:07 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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fable2323 Reply Quote #3 

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Number of comments 38 21 Number of comments 13.10.2006 Wi-Fi Name none

I think this means you will get to choose from a compatible list of HDD's. This is in good form as Microsoft just showed consumers how they would rape them for a 120GB HDD. This will probably be a firmware update to allow the functionality.
Don't hate, congratulate!
on 05.04.2007 at 14:59 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Grumbler Reply Quote #4 

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Number of comments 11626 1483 Number of comments 11.07.2005 Wi-Fi Name none

I don't really understand this.
It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.
on 05.04.2007 at 15:23 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Slydevil Reply Quote #5 

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Number of comments 3135 370 Number of comments 09.04.2006 Wi-Fi Name none

I think it's just software enabling the transfer of files from Wii to USB. I don't think it's the actual hardware yet.
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on 05.04.2007 at 15:27 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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squeek Reply Quote #6 

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Number of comments 155 32 Number of comments 28.03.2007 Wi-Fi Name ian

Hopefully it won't be any 'actual hardware', it'll just be a firmware update to allow the Wii to work with standard USB mass media.

Once the Wii can use USB HDs it would be nice for Nintendo to implement a good media player (they could use mplayer as a base like the xbox media center does) and a demo channel. A good interface for quickly browsing lots of photos on the USB media would be good.

I would be interested in playing saturn and dreamcast games because I missed out on all of those.
on 05.04.2007 at 15:44 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Grumbler Reply Quote #7 

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I'd have thought if it could already manage SD cards it would be up to mass storage stuff anyway. Shows how much I know.
It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.
on 05.04.2007 at 15:47 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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James2t3 Reply Quote #8 

James2t3

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Number of comments 9406 799 Number of comments 15.05.2003 Wi-Fi Name James2t3

I'm not sure what it means either hopfully it means that you can read data from SD cards by that i mean use the SD card as a memory expansion not as a place to back up your stuff.
Hopfuly it means standerd USB mass storage devices are supported aswell, would make the photochannel easier to use.


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on 05.04.2007 at 15:56 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Balladeer Reply Quote #9 

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Number of comments 788 53 Number of comments 17.02.2007 Wi-Fi Name Balladeer

Excellent, I suppose. I've never had enough games on any console to warrant more than two memory cards, so I'm not exactly over the metaphorical moon about this.


Screwing the rules since 1989.
on 05.04.2007 at 16:28 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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dojo Reply Quote #10 

dojo

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Number of comments 4682 319 Number of comments 06.05.2006 Wi-Fi Name benj

I didn't need any memory cards for my GBC. Shows how ahead of its time it was, doesn't it Balladeer!

...

But seriously though, I hope Nintendo does the sensible thing and allows us to just use any external HDD because I wouldn't be happy to pay out



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on 05.04.2007 at 16:39 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Modplan Man Reply Quote #11 

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Number of comments 2773 536 Number of comments 23.09.2006 Wi-Fi Name none

Could mean much more advanced file management on SD cards, and compatibility for USB storage would be wootable.
on 05.04.2007 at 16:42 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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jadnice Reply Quote #12 

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Number of comments 72 22 Number of comments 26.03.2006 Wi-Fi Name none

ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!....if true this takes care of one of a few things the big N needs to do to get the core gamer on board. Mass storage is a must.
on 05.04.2007 at 17:05 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Megadanxzero Reply Quote #13 

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WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

I think? ...
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on 05.04.2007 at 17:07 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Don Pablo Reply Quote #14 

Don Pablo

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So to be clear, this is just a firmware update so that the Wii can recognize USB storage devices yes? Maybe this means they'll release bigger games on the VC.
on 05.04.2007 at 17:36 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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~phil Reply Quote #15 

~phil

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A bit ironic that if this were to happen, I'd be using a 2GB SD card with a USB card reader anyway, which is a bit pointless. Even more ironic that the card would be full of illegal NDS roms as well.

And holy fuck, look at those diggs! Smilie
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~tonks evolved into ~phil!\


lol, blog
on 05.04.2007 at 17:55 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Maquis Reply Quote #16 

Maquis

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Number of comments 293 83 Number of comments 10.06.2006 Wi-Fi Name none

interesting sidebar... a ps fan once counted Memory Cards as a ps innovation. accurate or not, i certainly lol'd that expensive - 30 quid when i got ps2 -external accessory Memory was viewed as a blessing!

back on topic...
this Wii USB things is fascinating (Captain!)
on 05.04.2007 at 20:08 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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xeke Reply Quote #17 

xeke

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Well hey, with Microsoft thinking they can charge $99 for a 20 GB hard drive and $169 for a 120 GB I hope they just present a price a little more reasonable.
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on 05.04.2007 at 21:12 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Martin_ Reply Quote #18 

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Yet again, misleading news title. No hardware of the sort has been confirmed, or even rumoured here.
on 05.04.2007 at 21:22 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Zapp Reply Quote #19 

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Number of comments 6297 984 Number of comments 28.04.2005 Wi-Fi Name Wii-Play

Awsome, its middleware that allows you to use external hardware, it supports FAT/12/16/32 that connect through the USB drive, coz before you couldn't connect external HDD to the Wii coz the USB wont recognise the hardware, and now this middleware allows for external hardware to be connected to the wii!! so it detects when USB device is insterted and removed, it manages USB standard requests in control transfers, supports hubs for management of multiple USB devices!!!

PrUSB/Host is a USB host protocol that works with USB1.1 and 2.0 (full speed/high speed) for embedded systems. PrUSB/Host allows communication with USB devices without using a pc.

hope it didnt confuse you!!! Smilie

( Edited on 06.04.2007 00:01 by HAR HAR!!! )




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on 05.04.2007 at 22:48 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Sidepocket Reply Quote #20 

Sidepocket

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Number of comments 477 72 Number of comments 11.09.2006 Wi-Fi Name Sidepocket

Hmmm, useualy middleware is based on something offical.

Could Nintendo be comming out with a similar feature, maby its one of those "Hardware/Software Enhancements" for hardcore players he was talking about?
on 05.04.2007 at 23:01 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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mOojc Reply Quote #21 

mOojc

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Good news, bout time they did something about the storage issues.
on 05.04.2007 at 23:53 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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