HDMI

[Tetsaru]

By using Flash Memory, they saved and profited so much with surely less than half the hassles of repairs from moving parts. Genius - cheapskate (flash memory gets cheaper and cheaper) move.

You think being the same as the others would have made them more money and you would be wrong.

You want Nintendo to do the same thing as other companies, you don't seem to be paying attention to what Nintendo has always been doing.

I don't mind Nintendo being different and innovative - I mean look at how the thumb-accessable analog stick and Rumble Pack evolved. I just don't like seeing them being "held back" when it comes to technology that the rest of the world is used to. Nintendo didn't start using full-sized disc media for their games until the Wii came out, yet Sega and Sony were already way ahead of them with their Playstation and Sega CD. Even Sega was ahead of its time when it started experimenting with online gaming - a staple nowadays - and yet Nintendo thought it wouldn't catch on. They also didn't think HD would catch on, and now look at it - old CRT TV's are being phased out. And hell - even hard drives are going into the terabyte range; gigabytes are basically a standard form of data measurement now for video media, yet the Wii barely has such space (also keep in mind that the N64 DD didn't make it out of Japan, unfortunately). Granted, the PS3 uses blu-ray discs, but I'm starting to run out of room for data on my 80 GB PS3... how do you think people with a bunch of Wii games feel? I ran out of space after about 3 games, on top of all the channels and virtual console titles I downloaded. Portable flash memory isn't the answer, imo, especially seeing how most SD cards and USB drives only hold a few GB's at most. Of course, that could change, but I think I'd rather invest in a portable hard drive if I'm going to store large amounts of data. Gaming consoles are getting more and more computer-like lately, anyway... I guess Nintendo hasn't realized yet that today's and the near future's generations of gamers will grow up with HDTV's and will have a pretty good knowledge of how computers and the Internet work, so I just think it's unwise for them to not be embracing what has been a general technological standard for a while now.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

I don't mind Nintendo being different and innovative - I mean look at how the thumb-accessable analog stick and Rumble Pack evolved. I just don't like seeing them being "held back" when it comes to technology that the rest of the world is used to.

Nintendo didn't start using full-sized disc media for their games until the Wii came out, yet Sega and Sony were already way ahead of them with their Playstation and Sega CD. Even Sega was ahead of its time when it started experimenting with online gaming - a staple nowadays - and yet Nintendo thought it wouldn't catch on.

They also didn't think HD would catch on, and now look at it - old CRT TV's are being phased out. And hell - even hard drives are going into the terabyte range; gigabytes are basically a standard form of data measurement now for video media, yet the Wii barely has such space (also keep in mind that the N64 DD didn't make it out of Japan, unfortunately).

Granted, the PS3 uses blu-ray discs, but I'm starting to run out of room for data on my 80 GB PS3... how do you think people with a bunch of Wii games feel? I ran out of space after about 3 games, on top of all the channels and virtual console titles I downloaded. Portable flash memory isn't the answer, imo, especially seeing how most SD cards and USB drives only hold a few GB's at most.

Of course, that could change, but I think I'd rather invest in a portable hard drive if I'm going to store large amounts of data. Gaming consoles are getting more and more computer-like lately, anyway... I guess Nintendo hasn't realized yet that today's and the future's generations of gamers will grow up with HDTV's and will have a pretty good knowledge of how computers and the Internet work, so I just think it's unwise for them to not be embracing what has been a general technological standard for a while now.

reader - mode

Partnership with some major HDD brand will change their minds, but of course it just takes so long to get that going with their suits. Crazier to think in Japan everything is online seamless and mixi cell phone linked up networks.

Better model is yes, allowing upgradeable space/media for what's allowed. Wii is only a one size fits all/most model, and since most don't complain or ask for more, Nintendo won't offer until next time. They're already "printing money."

[Zeek123]

Nintendo didn't start using full-sized disc media for their games until the Wii came out, yet Sega and Sony were already way ahead of them with their Playstation and Sega CD.

Not to take Nintendo's side here, because really, I agree with most everything you say what Nintendo should do for us as faithful gamers, but Nintendo's reasoning behind going with the smaller discs for the GCN was because they wanted it to be a seamless experience going from N64 to GCN. Meaning no load times.

Being favorable to Playstation (now) I can't really argue that most multi-platform games between the N64 and PSX, the 64's version was almost always considered the definitive version. I believe the same goes for PS2 and GCN. The GCN was reported to actually be the more powerful system, but had little space on those discs, so big games often looked better on the PS2. And were only on one disc.

I remember when I first got a PS2, I popped in a game and hit a loading screen and went "what the hell is this?" I hated them. Still hate them actually.

Now I'm saying as a consumer, not a gamer, I want Nintendo to wake up to the wonderful world of online networking and give me a gamer ID of some kind, basic HD ports even if they refuse to pay for the rights to play DVDs of all things, and to do away with SD cards as a form of increasing the amount of data you can hold. They're slow, and they're stupid, and they belong in my camera dammit.

I know it'll never happen now, unless that cloud based gaming thing really catches on, but I wish that Nintendo would ditch the console scene, and dedicate themselves solely to handheld gaming.

[Lance813]

...and they belong in my camera dammit.

I smiled so hard.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

That's actually something you're likely to point out no matter what it was, or are just finding fault with nothing significant.
HDD want okay, but not need.

It was also a money saving move and something good for consumers who already probably own a few SD cards. No development of memory cards that will only work on one Nintendo system - or get added support for the next, maybe. Something that you don't have to buy also to start playing out the box. Unlucky kids getting Xbox Arcade/no HDD basic model and being told by the games they start up they have to continue without saving or can't download anything from this marketplace at all.

[Zeek123]

That's actually something you're likely to point out no matter what it was, or are just finding fault with nothing significant.
HDD want okay, but not need.

It was also a money saving move and something good for consumers who already probably own a few SD cards. No development of memory cards that will only work on one Nintendo system - or get added support for the next, maybe. Something that you don't have to buy also to start playing out the box. Unlucky kids getting Xbox Arcade/no HDD basic model and being told by the games they start up they have to continue without saving or can't download anything from this marketplace at all.

Oh yeah, I agree. 360 really duped people there. Hidden costs and what not.

The SD slot is fine. If the Wii were more open to things like Photobucket, it'd be even better. Uploading photos to the web and everything. But relying on that slow format to play games on? I hate it. Why not just put even a gig of memory into the Wii, or whatever console comes out next? Now I realize that with the SD update, all it really does is allow you to temporarily copy a WiiWare or VC game to the Wii and it plays like that, but even that's annoying. My Wii Menu is naked and exposed.

I think we could've suffered the extra size. I really don't understand why they were so anal on the two DVD case format.

[Outrider]

Less memory (along with many other factors) meant lower price.

Lower price meant that Nintendo not only had a product that was within the "impulse buy" range, but they were also making money on every system sold.

This gave them a leg up on both number of consoles sold as well as giving them a huge flow of steady cash.

It's the old Nintendo philosophy of "good enough." They've been using since the 80s. Read about it: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=...UserId=5379721

There are many reasons Nintendo has been profitable for such a long time, and many of them have to do with knowing which trends/new technologies to be conservative with and which ones to take risks on.

As for the HDTV stuff - keep in mind that only recently did HDTV ownership cross the 50% threshold in the US (I have an article here from August that claims as much: http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/ip-commun...t-us-homes.htm).

What that doesn't tell us is how many of all total active TVs in the US are HDTVs. I'd wager that a lot of the younger crowd who have bought Wiis (anywhere from 12-18 ), don't have an HDTV of their own, even though they may have one in their household. Still, that's only my guess.

If I had to make another guess, I would say that the Wii probably won a lot of points from the casual mainstream gamer - who at the time of the Wii's launch most likely did not have an HDTV - as they didn't have to worry about upgrading their current TV setup for the "optimal" experience.

I wouldn't argue against the Wii having better graphics or higher resolutions, but it really wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo won over more customers with the lower price point and the lower barrier of entry than they would have gotten from the "hardcore" users who refused to buy the system due to it's lack of HD content.