Nintendo announces Wii storage solution: SD cards

Yeah, the solution seemed pretty obvious to us, and now it looks like Nintendo's willing to admit it. Nintendo will be solving its little Wii Shop game storage overflow problem by opening up the SD card slot for storing and playing games from (with DRM galore, we're sure). The update will hit in the Spring of next year, and don't forget that 2GB maximum when stocking up on the little buggers. It's not exactly as exciting as a new DS, but we're really glad Nintendo's going to do the right thing here, instead of building yet another peripheral to clutter our lives with.

[dee @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:50AM]

Wow I guess better late then never.

They should of had this option of expanded storage from day one, otherwise WTF was the SD slot for?

[Plothole @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:21AM]

In theory it was an option left open for game developers to exploit. Though I can only recall three games that exploit them in any way, and all are from Nintendo (Excite Truck and Endless Ocean have a custom soundtrack option, and SSBB lets you save stages to them).

And of course you can also backup your saves.

[rippinhonda @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:35AM]

The SD slot should have been a secondary option to an internal HDD.


I think nintendo regrets this because they are jealous of the amount money Microsoft and Sony are making on DLC.

[Amun @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:50AM]

"I think nintendo regrets this because they are jealous of the amount money Microsoft and Sony are making on DLC. "

Wii Ware and the VC would like to speak with you.

[Ray @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:01AM]

Here's hoping the update doesn't kill the Homebrew Channel.

[VinS @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:53AM]

At long last! They answer the problem with data overflowing, this a good news from Nintendo

[MastrCake @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:59AM]

You know? After all of the Wii Remotes, Nunchuks, Classic Controllers, Wheels, Guitars, Drums, Mics, and that Zapper, not to mention the soon-to-be-released Wii Speak and Wii MotionPlus, I actually have to admit that I kinda agree with Engadget on this issue. The fewer accessories, the happier (for less clutter) and sadder (for less fun) I'll be.

Oh, and BTW, I only own 2 Wiimotes, 2 nunchuks, and a Wii wheel. I was just trying to make a point.

[Kspraydad @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:02AM]

Would the 'tight thing' be to have used a USB HDD that wasn't proprietary?

[TavisJohn @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:07AM]

This is a great step! However adding SDHC support would also be nice. If it can be added to a device as old as the LifeDrive than why can't the Wii have SDCH support? SDCH cards are inexpensive now, and are fast!

[Discosis @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:10AM]

I was wondering that myself.

Until that LifeDrive update came out, I thought there must be something hardware-specific about SD vs SDHC.

Anyone know for sure if SDHC support could be done with software on a Wii?

[Aaron @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:30PM]

I agree with your plight. And that not one "SDHC" should be the same. Not one of those acronyms were the same.

[tiuk @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:14AM]

Jesus, I owned a Wii from the February after it came out until a couple of months ago, and I didn't even realize you couldn't use the SD slot in that manner. That's just moronic.

[jupiterthunder @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:35AM]

If you didn't realize that it couldn't be done, how moronic was it, really?

Use of that description should be reserved for someone who needed the feature and realized it wasn't available?

[Rudiger @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:18AM]

Wait...

So what is that slot used for, then?

I've had my Wii for over a year, and I thought the slot's for storage...

[Twist @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:22AM]

Better this than the way it stands now but come on how about support for more than 2 gigs?

[Dotelpenguin @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:22AM]

I can tell you why Nintendo won't make SDHC support. Adding the ability to run things off the SD will open up many ways to run home brew. Without SDHC support, you can get, 2 maybe 3 full titles per card. But with the ability to have 32+ GB cards. We will see an easier way to pirate games. (Assuming someone figures out how, and I'm sure they will)

[TavisJohn @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:46AM]

That will not stop HomeBrew. All you need then is a 2gig SD card, and a 32 gig USB Flashdrive, or USB Hard Drive. There is already USB Flashdrive support in Homebrew.

[water.and.sand @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:42AM]

2-3 full titles per card?

Are you aware that a 2 GB SD card is 4x the amount of internal storage space in the Wii?

[Plothole @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:24AM]

I wonder if this also means they'll relax the size limitations on VC and Wiiware games?

[David Ramos @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:28AM]

I use a 4gb SD card already on my Wii. Some brands work, no SDHC cards though.

[Plothole @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:45AM]

Yeah, you have to use non-standard 4GB cards that were designed for devices without SDHC support.

[Dan Bugglin @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:04AM]

I got a Trandscend 4GB card I got off of Newegg, works just fine.

[Haikibutsu @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:32AM]

Meh, 'Wii' Branded cards are a ripoff, and the Wii updates reduce features.

[TavisJohn @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:50AM]

The only feature I am aware of that was removed was MP3 file support in the Wii Photo Channel... And that was an optional update.

So what other features were removed?

[Dan Bugglin @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:06AM]

Nintendo patched the Twilight Hack once. They patched it very poorly, I remember some hackers found like 3 or 4 exploits in the new patch that they could've used for the new Twilight Hack.

[Amun @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:50AM]

I was hoping that they wouldn't wait until spring to release this update. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, if the N loved us at all, they would have put Earthbound on the VC by now.

[Carmine @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:07AM]

With all this talk of a "new" storage solution, no one has mentioned that you could always back up WiiWare and VC games to SD. This really isn't anything new.

[ViRGE @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:23AM]

But you were not able to execute anything off of the SD card. If you wanted to play something not stored in the internal flash memory, you had to copy/delete something off of that, then copy the game off of the SD card. The entire process is extremely slow too, for whatever reason the Wii does not read or write to its SD slot at more than around 1MB/sec.

Which in fact brings up an interesting point: what is Nintendo going to do about the slow SD slot? Executing games off of it is going to be painful if not downright problematic if it stays this slow.

[water.and.sand @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:41AM]

@ ViRGE
It could preload the whole game.
I mean... most of these games are tiny. Doesn't seem like the Wii couldn't just put the whole thing in temporary memory.

[ViRGE @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:05AM]

@ water.and.sand
I'm not going to rule that out, but it seems unlikely. AFAIK WiiWare developers can access most of the 88MB of RAM on the Wii, which means that if games are preloaded, where would you preload that data to? Take space away from the internal flash memory to serve as swap space?

[Amz @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:33AM]

@ViRGE: Wouldn't the slow speeds be due to a software limitation that Nintendo could easily remove with a software update? They'll probably try to stamp out the homebrew channel at the same time as well.

[Plothole @ Oct 2nd 2008 5:10AM]

I recall reading somewhere that the reason transferring games to SD is slow is actually because the system encrypts them in the process. This would make sense considering that the system has no trouble streaming off pictures and videos in the photo channel or MP3s in games that support custom soundtracks.

[mrLucas @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:09AM]

Just a Gig and Wii branded? Why do manufacturers insist to brand products that are a set standard?

[Plothole @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:21AM]

To make money off of those not wise to the fact that you can use any standard SD card (up to 2GB) of course.

[water.and.sand @ Oct 2nd 2008 3:48AM]

Those have been out for a long time, and yes- there's nothing special about them except for the fact that they assure the less-tech savvy consumers that it will work with their system.

Assurance just happens to cost around $12 more.

[sockatume @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:18AM]

YOU CANNOT PLAY GAMES FROM THE SD CARD. I'm not sure where the blogs are getting this from, but if you follow the breadcrumb trail back to the original IGN article, all it states that is that you will be able to download games directly to the SD card, and that moving games from SD cards back to the main memory will be "easier".

[Ruben @ Oct 2nd 2008 7:12AM]

Thats pretty funny.

And its going to take them until spring to accomplish this? Thats kind of pathetic.

[Tempered Reason @ Oct 2nd 2008 7:23AM]

According to articles I've read, you will be able to save directly to and play directly from, SD cards.

[SteveJ @ Oct 2nd 2008 8:55AM]

The IGN article definitely only says that you can save directly to the card and "easily" copy from the card to main memory. They might be in error, but then again, why would they say that you can easily copy to/from the card if you weren't going to have to be doing that? Then again, they also say you won't be "cleaning the fridge" which would seem to imply that you never have to do any copying. Confusing. Perhaps what is really meant is that games actually run from internal memory, but the management of internal and external storage is automatic such that it is seamless? I.e. you'd browse games whether on card or in memory as if they were just "in memory" and then the Wii will copy anything it needs to copy automatically. Just speculation.

[sockatume @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:04AM]

That'd be my bet for a best-case scenario. It keeps your SD card games viewable on the menu, perhaps on a special screen, and gives you a "please wait" while it copies.

[John B @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:11AM]

Why the 2 GB limitation? Is the ability to read SDHC limited to hardware or software?

I'm not too concerned because that's still four times the amount of internal memory; but if DLC starts to become available for the Wii like it is with 360 and PS3, 2 GB probably isn't going to hold a whole hell of a lot of content.

[sockatume @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:32AM]

Hardware. Firmware updates are possible in some cases to add SDHC support but it's rare I think.

[wud_e @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:27AM]

It's about time Nintendo. I'm glad they did something. I can't wait for this update i might actaully buy some VC games now. I've been slacking on the VC games. :p

Thinking of the USB ports. They are defintely used for Wii little farts. :p

[pinoy929 @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:32AM]

gah, why is this update taking so long? And why haven't they updated the slot to read SDHC cards? Seriously, I've seen up to 16GB SDHC cards, so why not? I don't want to have a bunch of 2GB cards lying around. That's dumb as hell.

[Plothole @ Oct 2nd 2008 9:20AM]

Depending on the chips they used, it may or may not actually be possible to make such an update.

[Ozzman_79 @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:40PM]

@ pinoy929

"gah, why is this update taking so long?"

You mean 'til spring? Or 2+ years after release? If we've waited over 2 years up until now, I don't think a few more months is gonna kill anyone.

[T.H. @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:23PM]

They should have included an SDHC slot...8 to 16GB cards are not out of the question even if a bit pricey with SDHC. $50-80 for an 8GB SDHC card and it'll hold a ton of games.

[ften @ Oct 2nd 2008 1:34PM]

There is NOT a 2GB limit on SD cards, there is a SDHC Issue. I wrote a little bit about it on
GBATemp;
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=99545
Link to the spreadsheet;
http://fathertom.net/wii/4gbsd.xls

[Plothole @ Oct 2nd 2008 4:44PM]

True, however the largest *standard* non-SDHC card is 2GB. Those 4GB cards are know to have serious compatibility issues (they'll work in the Wii, but not many other devices).

[霽月瀛台 @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:45PM]

What? DRM??
I thought every comsumer hates it.