The console was cheap and the implementation of an SD game driven option would not have changed the price of the console. The first year could have meant nothing but if they had made this possible then the possibilities would have been great. SD price drops, speed increases and capacity increases were predicatable


I still would have changed this. The ONLY reason Nintendo did things the way they did is because the Gamecube was a disappointment. If they had had more confidence they would have wanted to create an even more dominating device than they did. I guarantee you they wish they had more flexibility now only because they are greedy and they are leaving money on the table.


Of course it will but environments like GTA IV are going to be much more escapist that then restrictive communities that Nintendo creates. The Wii is making money now but I've already played and sold the most interesting Wii games to date IMO. I can't get my girlfriend interested in esoteric titles like Okami and No More Heroes. She's waiting for Indian Jones Lego.

I'm very tempted to sell my Wii now while I can get a good price for a used xbox 360 and GTA IV. If I get tired of that I'll sell it, take a small lose and 'maybe' buy another Wii. Buy that time supply should be fine and used Wii's will be selling for nothing. I know of two that is just sitting unplayed by someone's TV right now..

More games like Burnout
BETTER GRAPHICS
Hard Drive
(A better) Wii Online Service

More streamlined online services (Voice chat functionality integrated into at least some games (first party headset?), gamertage system instead of friend codes, wireless keyboard peripheral for typing instead of the pathetic point and click wii-mote method)

More thought out games: I'm so tired of games with tacked-on, half assed motion sensing controls. They don't try too hard on the graphics department of most games as it is, they should at least make an attempt at exploiting the selling point of the wii; the remote to its fullest extent.

More fps titles; done properly. I know a few have come close, but it pains me to see that the majority of the wii library is shovel ware, whist there still aren't any 1:1 sensitive sword battles to be had, or a fps that gets the formula perfect, they much rather give us crap like ninja breadman 2.

It looks to me like th wii has failed to meet it's true potential on the adult market since most respectable game studios have either avoided the console or made lackluster attempts to appease their fans.

i would make mine black with a red glow not blue

i would make mine black with dark blue stripe's

Alright guys, stop spamming. I would some how like the online gaming improved as well. Not sure how they would go about that, but online more like PSN and XBL would be a plus.

Yes it would have. Everything contributes to the bottom line price. You need to get out in the business sector more.

The hardware isn't the only thing with a "cost". R&D, implementation, support... they all have associated additional costs that have to be recouped via the sell price of the final product. And it would've been silly, since the sorts of games that would've fit on an SD card would've been low-tech (space restrictions), slow (FLASH memory is slower than the Wii DVD), and expensive (the cost of pressing a DVD is pennies, while an SD-based game would not be able to sell for under $50 and make any money due to the cost of SD media). Put it all together and you have a horrible ROI (return on investment), and if Nintendo even considered this for a moment they quickly realized it was a lousy investment (thank god).

Then the console you would've developed would have been creamed by the Wii which sold for less and provided just the basic features that most people wanted.

Nintendo did their homework with the Wii and it paid off. Just because it doesn't please everyone 100% (especially fringe users who hang out on Wii forums online) doesn't mean they didn't make the right decision.

Most Wiichat users don't want to hear or accept it, but by the very nature of coming to this forum and complaining about tech stuff, they are revealing themselves to not be Nintendo's primary target audience. Nintendo is happy for them to buy a Wii and take their money, but their interests and concerns weren't the driving force in deciding what went into the Wii, and what didn't.

The target audience just loves picking up the Wii and playing some games and having a good time, and then just hops online to IM their friends a few hundred LOLs and OMGs, check their Myspace, then go to bed by their enforced bedtime. These users don't care that the Wii doesn't play DVDs, don't even realize the Wii has an SD slot, and don't know FPS from MPH.

R&D to use the SD slot that is there now? The BIOS can call a DVD drive or an SD slot it makes very little difference. How about letting the game decide when to put what where? These concept are very old PC concepts that there guys know backwards and forwards.

I think you're really missing the point. You will have a DVD player but you can allow DVD games to use SD memory that contains more game data. How hard is that? Not very.

Your ROI arguments are also specious. If they had known how much good "this system is seriously fun" press they were going to get I'm certain they would have done things differently and increased their ROI.

Also there are very popular games over 50 bucks.


That is ridiculous and stupid. Sorry but you sound like a pompous a??.

The Wii wouldn't have been more expensive by using the existing SD slot for flexibility. It's already there and there is no additional hardware needed.

They didn't do it because it would make it easier for people to mod their precious proprietary equipment.

IBM used to make a desktop PC that sold extremely well. They died because they tried to get too proprietary.

To use it in an entirely different manner, yes. This isn't DOS and just a matter of looking to another drive letter. This requires software development, testing, and supoprt.


And which game does this?

And how can you assume that? You fiddle with stuff, and you tweak the formula: you either get less profit per system, or you charge more and get less sales. What makes you so certain? Just because you would?

So? Even if a game is $60 (of which there aren't many, $50 is the standard price for Wii games in the USA), and lets assume the media costs $0.50, then after the trivial cost of the rest of the package, the rest is profit. Profit that the developer has calculated and depends on. If you figure a comparable SD card media might cost the developer $20, that's a vast difference. You really think they'd jack the price another +$20 to cover the huge difference in media cost? Think again. That's the whole reason they moved from solid-state cartridges to optical media... even though it involves mechanical complexity, the huge gain in $/MB couldn't be ignored.

And insulting me personally helps your credibility and your side of the argument how?

As I've stated many times and you've ignored: hardware isn't the only cost of a system. If you don't realize this, then you don't understand how businesses work.

Like people can't burn DVDs?

No, that's not why they didn't do it. They didn't do it because FLASH memory is much slower and has a tremendously-higher cost-per-megabyte ratio. It's impractical when there are much-better options out there.

If it was so much better to distribute games on SD than DVD, then the software you buy for your PC would also come on SD and not CD/DVD. The market was already there to test that theory long ago.

Horrible analogy. Consoles succeed on the principle of control and being proprietary. That's how they leverage and distinguish themselves from PC gaming. Besides, Apple also follows the proprietary mantra with their PC line, and look at their success.

This isn't a debate about proprietary-vs-open anyhow, so don't get lost on that tangent. Otherwise you're missing the point.

Hmm, austinAlan appears to be trolling. He throws out insults when he doesn't agree with something, because of course he is (apparently) omnipotent on how Wii hardware and system development and testing works, but really can't come up with good data to support his points. Interesting!

well preferible, more power, 360 like- that would mean it would get games like cod4 etc (so better games and more games)

also mame controls exact, so it registers swings instead on a flick of the wrist

Easily implemented:
- Dump friend codes and give us at least PSN quality online.
- Reduce VC prices.
- Make it so that you can save images from the internet browser and set them as backgrounds and such.
- Make the USB ports headset/voice chat compatible for VOIP.

Could be implemented, not sure:
- Make the USB ports compatible with flash drives since the only reason to have an SD card is for a Wii.

To Nintendo:
- Give more goddamn support to third parties, it's pretty hard to make a good game when you get no help from the producers of the console.

What would've been nice:
- At least 720p resolution for HDTVs.
- More internal memory for saving more stuff.

I would make it so ALL the games allowed the use of the classic controller....

i would like better graphics and voice chat online

I would change...nothing^^
The wii is fine as it is...

-Gamertags
-A hard drive (I dont care if they sell it and its a usb attachment and only works on wii, I need more mmrs!)
- the ability to customize wii home, like color or able to download styles