Nintendo Wii USB devices on the way?

Some wily web browsers have found a job listing at Nintendo of America that suggests the game company is finally getting serious about USB support for the Wii. The job search, found a few days ago, was for a "Software/Hardware Tester" who can execute a "test plan for Wii's USB devices." Some think this could mean compatibility for external USB storage devices like hard drives and flash drives given the Wii's limited 512MB internal memory. We, however, hope this means some sort of support for USB keyboards. It's about time, isn't it, Nintendo?

[Yeah Whatever @ Jun 10th 2008 8:12PM]

Wow You have gone at least 4 posts with out mentioning the iPoohne engadget!

[nxtiak @ Jun 10th 2008 8:14PM]

You fail. Would have been better if you posted "FIRST" instead.

[El Taco @ Jun 10th 2008 9:23PM]

well duh, because 'first' is the ultimate comment. I don't care what everybody else thinks.

[Potato @ Jun 10th 2008 10:03PM]

The Wii DOES support USB keyboards

[Ray @ Jun 10th 2008 10:17PM]

Even if Nintendo does get support for external memory, you just know it'll be a propriety device from Nintendo you have to buy, not just any old thumbdrive.

[Shane @ Jun 10th 2008 11:48PM]

@Ray:

The Wii supports SD cards (any SD card) so no need for USB memory, proprietary or otherwise.

Being able to play movies and music from an external USB drive might be a cool feature though...

[Ray @ Jun 11th 2008 10:46AM]

Well, that's kinda what I meant. A propriety external USB drive from Nintendo. I don't consider SD useful since they don't get anywhere near as big as Hard drives for anything near the price, and Wii can't even load saves and channels off it. It's just an archive.

[nxtiak @ Jun 10th 2008 8:13PM]

Nice. The homebrew community already hacked the wii to be able to install homebrew from a usb flash drive.

[CubeGuy @ Jun 10th 2008 9:02PM]

I don't think so. Last I checked, the only USB app was just a test for FAT32 devices.

[Pochi @ Jun 10th 2008 9:36PM]

Homebrew. So, less than a tenth of a percent of Wii owners.

In other words, who cares.

[james @ Jun 11th 2008 2:13PM]

the Wii already has a SD slot, it'll take large SD cards so why do we really need external drives? So I can use a 8gb thumbdrive instead of a 8gb SD card??

Plays movies straight from SD already too.

[Jimmy @ Jun 10th 2008 8:14PM]

hey, anyone know where i could actually but a wii in california? I have the money just laying around and want one badly, but i cant seem to find one for a reasonable price.

[Jimmy @ Jun 10th 2008 8:14PM]

that "but" was supposed to read "buy"

[tferrill @ Jun 10th 2008 8:22PM]

Keep an eye on dealnews.com...don't know of anywhere bricks-and-mortar wise...

[Jordan @ Jun 10th 2008 8:54PM]

Willing to (basically) head to the border? BB that just opened had a stack of about 30... nearly a week after grand opening. Wii then TJ would make for a fun weekend.
Otay Ranch CA (Store 1769)
2015 Birch Rd
Ste 2300
Chula Vista, CA 91915-2015
Phone: [phone]

[Casper42 @ Jun 10th 2008 9:11PM]

Target and Toys R Us here in SoCal hoarde theirs and only release them on Sunday mornings if I remember right.

I got one 3 weeks before xMas at Target in Simi Valley. Was like number 45 in line (arrived at 6:00am) and they released like 120 that day (they had been saving them for over a month though).

Hope that helps.

[twistfunk @ Jun 10th 2008 11:11PM]

if you're not scared, i bought mine at the EB Games in Crenshaw plaza. they have more.

[teej @ Jun 11th 2008 3:19PM]

keep calling local gamestops and targets and ask for shipment info...target electronics dept is usually quite informed compared to say, walmarts electronics dept (see: random ppl).

[Joseph @ Jun 10th 2008 8:17PM]

haha, ok, well you know USB keyboards have BEEN supported for a long time now.

Just plug it in when the Wii is off, power it on, and use the message board, web browser, whatever, and it works.

But yes, let's hope for some external storage.

[Kawaiipikachu @ Jun 10th 2008 8:33PM]

You are right Joseph infact i typed this whole message via my USB keyboard that i got just for my Wii for the perpose of saving me typing with the Wii Remote .
System software update 3.0 adds USB keyboard soport then later on an Internet channel update that uses the keyboard update .

[computer.dude.28 @ Jun 10th 2008 9:09PM]

This guy should be embarassed, I couldn't believe what I was reading. The Wii has had USB keyboard support since at least October of '07, or at least, that's when the article bob mentions below was written.

[TavisJohn @ Jun 10th 2008 9:12PM]

What I want is to be able to use the SD card along side the internal memory, and a USB FlashDrive for backup!


If only they could add SDHC support I would be in HEAVEN!

[Mark @ Jun 10th 2008 9:59PM]

Ok, good, I'm not crazy. I read the article and was like wtf is he talking about, the wii has had USB keyboard support for ages now.

[Bob @ Jun 10th 2008 8:37PM]

The wii has keyboard support, I read about it on this "engadget" site that I read sometimes! ;)

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/10/wii-update-adds-expanded-usb-keyboard-support/

[dxprog @ Jun 10th 2008 9:46PM]

I think he was kidding.

[Bassir @ Jun 10th 2008 8:20PM]

USB flash memory is what we all really need.

[JerkfacedFed @ Jun 10th 2008 8:22PM]

and for the wii to not have a graphics card worse than a geforce 2

[J. Evans Turner @ Jun 10th 2008 8:38PM]

The GC GPU was more comparable to an ATI Radeon 9700 than anything. The Radeon 9700 was the next GPU developed by the ArtX team. The ArtX team was acquired by ATI while the GC was in-development.

The GeForce2 and GeForce3 were vastly inferior to the Radeon 9700.

[Matt @ Jun 11th 2008 5:05PM]

Flipper has almost nothing in common with the 9700, other than the design team. It's hard to compare it with PC cards because it's so specialized.

[Papytendo @ Jun 10th 2008 8:28PM]

And suddenly a glorious blue light has shined upon Nintendo.

[Wii60 @ Jun 10th 2008 8:51PM]

Nope, you just have a message.

[El Taco @ Jun 10th 2008 9:26PM]

speaking of which, I would like it if the blue light stayed on when the console is on as part of this supposed new update. that was always a bummer to me.

[Cody @ Jun 10th 2008 9:56PM]

@El taco

Just send your wii an email and never read it...then you'll have a blue light all the time, granted you wouldn't ever know when you had mail or not but you can't have your cake and eat it too, and this cake isn't a lie.

[Andrew @ Jun 10th 2008 8:29PM]

pretty sure the wii already got an update that allows USB keyboards to be used for the web browser

[Hailfire753 @ Jun 10th 2008 8:31PM]

yeah, I use my wireless usb keyboard all the time with my wii.

[J. Evans Turner @ Jun 10th 2008 8:31PM]

A hard drive had better be on the way. My VC purchases abruptly stopped several months ago, when I hit both barriers: Not enough storage for some games, not enough channel slots for others.

FIX IT, NINTENDO!

[Kawaiipikachu @ Jun 11th 2008 9:07PM]

Well evans i don't need a hard drive as my 2gb sd card still got over 12000 blocks of storage in it even after i backed up all my games & saves to it so a hard drive would be pointless till 5 years time then at that point The Wii succesor would allready be out complete with harddrive & hardware to sorport SDHC cards so you can have SD cards higher than 2gb .

So from now on all we need is to run games from SD cards

[Alexander @ Jun 10th 2008 9:00PM]

You realize that you can buy a SD card that can hold 2gb worth of games that you can transfer off of your Wii and onto the card.

Or, you can delete the games and re-download the games from Nintendo.

It's true...

[J. Evans Turner @ Jun 10th 2008 10:39PM]

I know that. 2GB is the maximum that the Wii can support, because it does not support SDHC. The problem is that there is no way to play directly from modular storage. The fact that the VC downloads are signed to play only on your specific Wii is enough reason to let you play from whatever storage you wish, without requiring that they be copied onto the Wii's internal memory.

I'm telling you: Swapping content to the SD is slow, tedious, and is not an option.

The whole idea of the "channels" system is to present all of your content. If I purchase a dozen VC games, I want anyone using my Wii to be able to pick-and-play any game from my collection.

I don't want to have to jump through huge amounts of effort to manage my downloaded content. Nintendo needs to implement a way to browse and play directly from removable storage devices and SD cards.

That is the ONLY solution to my dilemma.

[macserv @ Jun 10th 2008 10:40PM]

And you realize that shuffling data around is as annoying as all hell, especially when it takes forever! I've spent hours doing just that, and why? Because I'm one of Nintendo's best customers! If I didn't buy so many VC and WiiWare titles, I'd have PLENTY of room!

All of you "Use SD cards / use multiple SD cards / 2GB is enough" apologists can just shut the hell up. It is clearly *not* enough, and no other current-gen console makes me do go through this hassle.

Please, Nintendo, make it easy for your biggest spenders to continue to blow their hard-earned dough on you. It just makes good business sense.

[Alexander @ Jun 10th 2008 10:50PM]

Seriously... Because you want to play all of your games all the time--meaning you have to have instant access to all of them at any given second?

I have 6 cards, and I keep all the content for each system on them: NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, NeoGeo and TG16. I keep the ones play on the most regular basis on the console, and everything else on the cards. If I get bored, I pop a card in and switch out the channels. It is NOT that difficult, nor does it take that long to do.

[J. Evans Turner @ Jun 10th 2008 10:56PM]

We don't play the carts anymore because they are all put away. That's why I have my extensive VC collection.

You would be surprised. I *do* play most of them all the time. My Wii with all the VC purchases stays at work at gets played extensively by 24-40 year-olds.

Purchasing most A-list titles from the VC, my collection is extensive. Having the entire collection of purchases available to anyone who wants to browse / play is a priority and it would be a reason for me to continue making purchases for me and my coworkers. Nintendo needs to realize that they are deliberately limiting my ability to spend on their downloadable content. I *want* to throw more money at Nintendo, but Nintendo is stopping me from doing so! For something that costs nothing to produce and practically nothing to distribute, Nintendo is really missing out.

[Dan Davis @ Jun 11th 2008 10:07AM]

Dude, what type of job allows you to play video games at work???

And where do I sign up? :)

[youngcalihottie @ Jun 15th 2008 4:21AM]

my job used to let us play video games at work! i took my wii there many times!

but they went out of business in jan this year.


...oh, wait... lol... :P

[MastrCake @ Jun 10th 2008 8:37PM]

I am writing this on my wii using the wiimote. logitech has a $20 keyboard which is wii-certified, which would be nice considering that this took no less than 5min to "type".

[J. Evans Turner @ Jun 10th 2008 8:39PM]

I've made lots of Engadget comments with the Wii remote. I like a challenge ;)

[Nerdc0re @ Jun 10th 2008 8:38PM]

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/ele/714025425.html

[nanobis @ Jun 10th 2008 8:40PM]

ohhhh, that should lead to soem intersting developments.
all the possabilities.

[nick.mantia @ Jun 10th 2008 9:12PM]

I have the Microsoft Elite Wireless Keyboard and it works perfectly with Wii by plugging USB dongle into it....

[J. Evans Turner @ Jun 10th 2008 10:44PM]

You're introducing proprietary 2.4GHz RF interference to your Wii that already has two conflicting 2.4GHz RF technologies (Bluetooth and WiFi)?

You must love pain.