Nintendo announced a storage solution for the Wii today at GDC. Now you can basically save your downloaded games to SD cards and launch them from the SD card using a new icon on your Wii desktop. Just like I said, digital downloads to high speed, high capacity SD cards was the future. Who’s laughing now.
Nintendo President Announces Wii Storage Solution, New Zelda Game and 50 Million
Global Wii Shipment
March 25, 2009
Nintendo President Announces Wii Storage Solution, New Zelda Game and
50 Million Global Wii ShipmentKeynote Details Nintendo DSi News on Eve of Launch
Game Developers ConferenceNOTE: Multimedia available below
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today revealed surprises for consumers
and an expanded palette of video game development opportunities for the
industry during his keynote address at the Game Developers Conference.
Iwata announced a new storage solution for Nintendo’s Wii™
home console and showed video highlights of a new Nintendo DS™
game from The Legend of Zelda™ franchise.Video game developers now have expanded opportunities given that
worldwide shipments for the Wii system surpassed 50 million units and
worldwide shipments for the Nintendo DS franchise are at more than 100
million units. Iwata said, “It is in the power of game developers to
invent things that gamers have never seen – or even imagined –
before.”Nintendo also noted several key initiatives that are on the way for
consumers, some of which are available at the Nintendo GDC booth.Nintendo DSi
The new portable Nintendo DSi system goes on sale in the United States
on April 5. For the first six months after launch, consumers who buy
the system and connect to the Nintendo DSi Shop will automatically
receive 1,000 Nintendo DSi Points, which can be redeemed for
downloadable Nintendo DSiWare™ games and applications
through the Nintendo DSi Shop. In order to receive the free Nintendo
DSi Points, consumers must access the Nintendo DSi Shop by Oct. 5,
2009, and the Nintendo DSi Points can be redeemed at any time after
that (wireless broadband access required).Similar to how the WiiWare™ service works in the Wii Shop
Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop will feature a variety of downloadable
Nintendo DSiWare™ games and applications. These games and
applications will be available at four different price categories:
free, 200 points, 500 points, and 800+ points. Consumers can purchase
Nintendo DSi Points in the Nintendo DSi Shop with a credit card or by
purchasing a Nintendo Points Card™ at retail locations for
redemption in the Nintendo DSi Shop. All points from one Nintendo
Points Card will need to be redeemed at the Nintendo DSi Shop.
Nintendo Points Card will start to become available at select retail
locations beginning Apr. 5.Iwata gave conference attendees a glimpse into some of the upcoming
Nintendo DSiWare games and applications such as Moving Memo (name not
final) and WarioWare™: Snapped!. Moving Memo
(name not final) lets users create animated digital flipbooks of their
own design, while WarioWare™: Snapped! uses
Nintendo DSi Camera functionality for a fresh gaming experience.On the show floor, conference attendees are able to experience some of
the Nintendo DSiWare games and applications that will be available
soon. Bird & Beans™ and Art Style™:
Aquia™ are fun mini games that will be perfect to play
on-the-go.Nintendo DS & Nintendo DSi Software
The new The Legend of Zelda™: Spirit Tracks game that
Iwata announced will utilize the intuitive touch control of Phantom
Hourglass in an all new adventure that will please longtime Zelda™
fans while keeping the game accessible to all DS owners. The concept
behind this Zelda game includes utilizing a steam locomotive to travel
around the world, switching Phantom and Link to explore the dungeons,
and solving puzzles using new items.Wii
As the library of downloadable WiiWare and Virtual Console™
games continues to grow, Wii owners have asked Nintendo to provide
easy, expanded storage space. Starting today, Wii owners will be able
to save downloaded WiiWare, Virtual Console video games, and Channels
directly to High Capacity SD cards, in addition to SD memory cards. To
play games that have been saved to SD cards, consumers will be able to
select and launch them from an SD Menu icon on the Wii Menu. (Note
that when launching games or channels from an SD card, an equivalent
amount of internal Wii memory is required. To clear space from the
internal memory, users can transfer games or channels from the Wii
Menu to the SD card). This feature is included in the latest
version of the Wii System Menu Update, which owners will receive
immediately after performing a system update today.Gamers will be glad to have that additional storage space, as the
Virtual Console will expand to include the arcade versions of classic
third-party games like STARFORCE by Tecmo Ltd., and Mappy,
Gaplus and Tower of Druaga by Namco Bandai Games Inc.
starting today.Upcoming games Punch-Out!!™ and Excitebots™:
Trick Racing are available to play at Nintendo’s booth. Excitebots:
Trick Racing, a new and refreshing take on the classic Excitebike™
series from the arcade and NES™ days, is slated to launch
on April 20, while a new game in the classic Punch-Out!! series
will be on store shelves on May 18.WiiWare
To highlight new development opportunities for independent developers,
Iwata unveiled a game for the WiiWare downloadable game service called Rock
N’ Roll Climber™, which uses the Wii Balance Board™
accessory to help users simulate the experience of rock climbing. The
game is being developed by Vitei.
Well have fun Wii owners I’m just no longer excited about Nintendo I’m sorry… Others seen innovation i see the same reheated pot of sloppy joe…. Call me blind but if that’s innovation then i’m not a big fan of it.
Rock N’ Roll Climber, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks *sigh*
i second that statement… nintendo isnt even a game company to me anymore, they are more like a gimmick company.
wow.. i guess this just goes to show you what kind of crowd this website attracts. vgchartz.com and this place are the two places i go for video game information, and i just gotta say the people who post on both are completely different. if you guys had made a comment like that on vgchartz, you would have got pwned… for sure.
i could go through a detailed analysis as to why nintendo isn’t a gimmick company, but to explain that to somebody who would make that statement in the first place would just be a waste of time.. a certain level of iq points must be attained before you would be able to understand something like that.. iq points you dont have and most likely arent going to get.
well you’re right about one thing… this isn’t vgchartz.
since i didn’t make that comment, why don’t you go on ahead and make that analysis?
well angrypoolman, i have my reasons for saying what i said and im sure you have you reasons for disagreeing. in my OPINION, when you make a so called video game like wii fit which allows you to “lose weight” by playing this then i say ok everything the wii fit allows you to do, i can go to the damn gym and do it even better. call me old school but i think kids should go out side and play with the other little kids to be physically active. when i play a video game i play it because i cant do it in real life. i cant kills aliens with a shot gun in real life, i cant be kobe bryant in real life, i cant throw a fireball in real life. i can go to the gym and do yoga or stretch or lose weight. in my OPINION people who by the wii fit to lose weight are probably lazy anyway and will only use it for a week or two and then go back to their old ways. so no wii fit is not a video game, its a gimmick in my OPINION. those other gimmicky gadets that they announced today is no different. and like realtalk said, this isnt vgchartz so if you want to hear how nintendo is saving the world then i suggest you go there and post your comments. yes they are in the lead, yes they are making a lot of money, im not arging that. Nintendo has always made good games (zelda, mario, smash bros) im just saying in my OPINION the nintendo wii and its “attachments” are a gimmick.
wii fit isn’t a gimmick. its actually a game that miyamoto took great care in creating unlike a certain company i know who makes a console that coul.d kill itself at any given moment. im sure you know what im talking about, im on my fourth one. not everybody uses wii fit to work out.. in fact, i use it when im drunk or high as fuck with my friends, but i guess thats how any gamer would use it.
i actually bought the game because it comes with the balance board. and punch out, another great nintendo title, is going to be compatible with it, so i cant wait for that. there are also other games that use the balance board, so no, wii fit isn’t a gimmick. the balance board is a useful piece of hardware, and its just another well made product by nintendo.
as for that shit that was “announced” yesterday… im not so sure if you know, but that shit isnt real. lol.. and even if it were.. nintendo didn’t create that, somebody in europe did. i dont know why, but they take the date april 1st very seriously over there.
Ha! It takes IQ points to understand why the Wii isn’t a gimmick? We would have gotten pwned on VGCharts because of that statement? Sure Wii fit, Wii play, Wii resorts, and Wii music are all elegant games and enlighten the highest of all game mechanics. They take innovation to a level unseen…. *end sarcasm*
Look I love Nintendo i don’t hate them but those games are quintessential GIMMICK games they were made to show a unique difference between it and it’s competitors. It essentially introduced special features for the sake of having a special features. Even taking it a step further by digging into the old Nintendo playbook and having people purchase STUPID add-ons just to play this one game…. Nintendo used to do this from time to time let me refresh your memory:
Donkey Conga (stupid drums)
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels (Wii lightsaber)
Mario Kart (Wii Wheel)
Wii Perfect Shot Gun
Link’s Crossbow Training (Wii Zapper)
Wii Sports (Wii tennis rack, Baseball bat and golf club)
Now i understand you don’t absolutely need to have some of those accessories to play the game but most of them come with the game leaving you cluttered with crap that you most likely wont ever use for another game again. Seriously Wii fit isn’t even the first workout game heard of Yourself! Fitness, EyeToy Kinetic, even Dance Dance Revolution could be considered a workout. All of those Wii titles (Fit, Resorts, Jetski, music) even a lot of other Wii third party games are all after the success the first party games have had using the same gimmick gameplay.
Explain this to me why else would you pick up Wii fit if you didn’t want to work out? Punch out has just been announced you do know Wii fit was release over a year ago in japan and mid last year in other regions, right? Did you just pick up the game because you just heard of punch out returning?
The Wii obviously has it’s niche base but they have fallen off their rocker if they think hardcore is by any means Galaga 3, Punch out and some niche games….
I like some of the Wii games like Madworld and Metroid Prime 3 but i’m not a casual gamer so a lot of those titles don’t appeal to me. But seriously enlighten me on how the Wii isn’t a gimmick….
alright. i already explained how wii fit isn’t a gimmick.. i dont really feel like doing it again.
but anyway.. that list of gimmick accessories you came up with.. only three of those are actually made by nintendo, so those are the only ones that i will be addressing. yes, the drums with donkey konga was epic fail, we all know that. as far as the wii wheel goes.. they give the damn thing to you for free, so i dont see what youre complaining about. not to mention that it actually feels a hell of a lot better using a wheel than just the remote on its side. the wii zapper actually kicks ass, so i dont know wtf youre smoking. house of the dead and resident evil umbrella chronicles kick ass with that shit. i wouldn’t call it a gimmick. would you call the nes zapper a gimmick? what about the super scope? nintendo has always been doing this kind of shit, which is what makes them so kick ass. so to conclude, i agree with you that bongo drums are a gimmick.. but the wheel and zapper clearly are not. they really do enhance the gameplay.
as for your statement about wii play/fit/music/resorts being such ‘elegant’ games.. well.. wii fit is actually a pretty cool game, i dont really know how to get that across to you.. i doubt you have played it, but whatever, if its not your taste, its not your taste. i have wii play just because it came with a remote, so why the fuck not. i mean, did you really expect something that is bundled with a controller to be some sort of AAA title? wtf is wrong with you? what really bothers me is that you act like these are the only games nintendo is coming out with. the wii has plenty of games that appeal to gamers like you and i, but im not going to bother listing them.
and i didnt really pick up wii fit because i wanted to work out.. i just picked it up because its fun i guess. i like it. i liked to get fucked up and play it.. just like most of nintendo’s party games. i also purchased it off of the premise that more games are going to utilize the balance board… and they are. punch out being one that im looking forward to the most at this point.
i dont really think there is much i could say to convince you that the wii isn’t a gimmick. it clearly isn’t. of course there are some games/accessories for it that are gimmicks, but thats only because its a popular console, and a lot of THIRD PARTIES are trying to take advantage of it by releasing absolute shit. but the wii itself.. as a console.. its not a gimmick, and for you to just say it is leads me to believe that you have convinced yourself of this as a way to cope with the fact that its kicking the shit out of your precious ps3 and 360. i get the feeling that the wii challenges a lot of peoples’ manhood in a way, and i just want to say to everyone on thebitbag… just let it go.. games are supposed to be fun.. and nintendo seems to be the only company focusing on that aspect while sony and microsoft are just in it to milk this industry for what its worth. but whatever.. i have all three consoles, i love them, but i always know i can count on nintendo to give me fun games.
@angrypoolman
ok so you buy a wii fit to have fun rather than having fun doing the actual exercise… which is FREE! i dont understand people, why buy a $90 game when you can just do the shit in your own home for free. so nintendo will sell you a product which is no different then that atkins diet or jenny creig where you buy these products and all they do is make you pay for something you can do yourself. thats a gimmick! everything wii fit does i can do in my own home without buying a machine. just like everything the atkins diet does with the low calorie/ low carbs food, you can do yourself if you buy the right products. thats all it is, thats all im saying… when you market the wii fit as a “game to help you lose weight” its a gimmick because if you really wanted to lose weight you could do that without ever paying anyone a dime and in most cases do a better job. while it may be just a game you play when you are fucked up with your buddies or something you use to snow board or play punch out. thats not what nintendo originally designed it for and thats not what it is marketed as. it is marketed as a “game to help you lose wieght”
here is the definition of a gimmick…
“to equip or embellish with unnecessary features, esp. in order to increase salability, acceptance, etc.”
so is the wii fit a necessary feature?
hell no because i could lose weight doing my own exercises. so its absolutly an unnecessary feature in order to gain more attention to their console. because nintendo is essentially saying this…
“hey, if you buy our system and this wii fit thingy then you can lose weight and have fun at the same time! YAY!”
while this is very good marketing, almost genius. that still doesnt mean its not a gimmick. yes if you want to have fun, buy a wii (not my taste but ok) but if you want to lose weight then i suggest you do it the old fashioned way through hard work and a steady diet. oh and by the way, if you weigh too much then you HAVE TO lose weight the old fashioned way in order to be able to play the wii fit. no one product is going to rid the world of of weight problem, people dont seems to understand that which is why nintendo is capitalizing on just that.
so you like the wii and all its attachments thats good on you, you are a better person then i am i guess. but that still doesnt mean its not an unnecessary gimmick.
Dog thank you! The point is Nintendo has given you these gimmick games and products. It’s not the point if they’re fun or not a gimmick is a gimmick boring or not.