Wii to Get New Hardware - Possibly Hard Drive?

HoboBob writes "It has been suggested that Nintendo will be unveiling some new hardware for the Wii at the E3 media festival, and some are speculating that it could be a hard drive. According to the article: 'Confirmation back in April that Neo Geo games will begin being added to Wii's Virtual Console download service adds weight to the speculation, considering Neo Geo games are huge — some clocking in it at up to 330MB. One of those bad boys would put serious strain on the Wii's memory.'"

Another positive for the Wii.

[poormanjoe]

Whatever optional add-ons Nintendo comes out with for the Wii will just add to the system, not take away from. For it is my option if I want the hard drive to play all the old games I grew up with, but for others they have played those games and are not going to spend the money for the nostalgia of owning them again. Either way I decide whether or not I want to pay the money for the HDD. I'm not being told you must have it for our platform. The same goes for HD-DVD. If I am happy with my DVD collection, and it would cost me thousands to get the same collection in HD format I am probably not interested. If I don't have a DVD collection, then maybe I am highly interested in HD-DVD.

Main point is its my choice.

Re:Form factor

[Cinnamon Whirl]

Agreed. Nintendo always seem to like using pre-existing, proven tech, rather than making their own. Considering the price (and size) of a 2gb USB drive nowadays, why not use them?

compression?

[Floritard]

Don't tell me these games aren't compressed. Even old school NES games compress like a mother. Are these roms stored without compression? That's quite a few less games I can be buying from VC if I'm filling up my Wii with uncompressed data. Especially N64 and NeoGeo.

Realistically

[irwtdvoys]

It'll most likely be peripheral improvements:

- Wireless sensor bar (many people myself included have made one. [wiihacking101.com])
- Light gun attachment (seen at last years E3 [ign.com] but never released.)

Or how about a Wii WebCam (eToy type device) that would fit with the big N's new ways to play philosophy.

I doubt Nintendo will add DVD playback as it makes the console less of a console more of a home entertainment system (PS3) which isn't what Nintendo wants, they have no devision telling them to include video + music playback like Sony do. Hard drive... probably not, I just can't see Nintendo releasing a separate device that plugs in, besides a 4gig card works fine it's not like you can't add any extra space.

Re:Does Anyone Actually Use Their Wii Anymore?

[ShaggyIan]

Just started playing Twilight Princess about a week ago, and my wife just purchased Mario Party 8 this week.

What I'm wondering is: Why is playing alone with the Wiimote any more silly than playing with a typical controller? If you are bothered by playing with the controller by yourself, it sounds like you're not interested in the game enough. If you're interested in the game, the controller should just disappear.

I find many of the younger gamers (the XBOX(360) / PS2(3) crowd) lose interest in the Wii because they don't really enjoy the games. While I still enjoy playing God of War, FIFA, etc. on my PS2, I also enjoy some of Nintendo's stuff. My wife, and many of our friends, were never into any other console, but still enjoy Wii. It also isn't a regular activity, as we all have full time jobs and kids eating up our time (not to say you don't).

Re:Form factor

[CastrTroy]

Wii Sports isn't the be all and end all of sports games for the Wii. It's a free game that's included with the system. And a darn good one at that. You don't see any of the other systems coming with a free game. I haven't seen that since the original NES. I'm sure there will be sports games released in the future that will have online play. Give it time. As for Wii sports, find some real world friends and invite them over to play. If they aren't there with you, you're missing out on most of the fun anyway.