Topic: Zero Game Downloads and No Hardrive SpaceLeft

Hi,

I have an 8GB white Wii U console. Start laughing now ......

I bought Mario Kart 8 boxed and it runs really well. But when I went to download Pikman 3 it says .... insufficient disc space.

A patch downloaded automatically for Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and this took 1.4 GB, and I am only left with about 3.5 GB - which is too small for Pikman which needs about 4GB space.

So where did my 8GB system memory go.

This is a bigger scam than Windows XP not being able to use 4GB of RAM.

So just be warned that this "free" game offer by Nintendo is going to cost you more for needing an external hard drive.

Why the hell don't Nintendo just bang in a bigger harddrive to start with. This sucks.

Thanks.

If I'm not mistaken there was a 1GB patch on launch day too, so there goes a bunch of memory too. I have no idea why Nintendo decided to go so small with their HDD but at least external HDD's are pretty cheap these days.

They did bang in a bigger hard drive. It's called the 32GB deluxe version.

Yeah 32GB just means your turn is coming soon.

Neither 8 nor 32GB will get you very far. But honestly what's the big deal even the PS4 comes with only 500GB, which sounds like a lot ... until you account for the fact that the games are like 20-50GB a pop. It was the same for the PS3. I for one would just be very happy that a) harddrives a very cheap and b) upgrading is not just possible but very easy. Really don't see the issue here Oo

External hard drive are cheaper now, so it's about time you invest on one.

I would like to use your logic in reverse.

If hard drives are so very cheap and easy to upgrade, then why don't Nintendo do this at the factory when it would be cheaper and more convenient to do so. Its called Moores Law - actually Super Moores Law in the case of hard drives.

How many cables do you want hanging out of an appliance - thats what it is.

Nintendo want to encourage more digital downloads so it would help if they gave more space to begin with - Preeze Understand Mr Awata !!!!

And ..... when they properly patch their physical game copies I want to exchange my older physical copy for a new one - free of charge too. Thats customer service.

Well, I guess that when you pick up a 8GB Wii U, you should have already thought about a hard drive. Pikmin 3 is the catalyst, but you would have needed the extra space sooner or later.

Personally, I have a 32GB Wii U with SM3DW, and some "big" games like Giana Sisters, Ducktales Remastered and Toki Tori 2+ and I still have 10GB free. Not counting many other downloadable and VC games. When I get WWHD, that will be around 8 GB left.

I bought an 8GB Wii U as well, with an external hard drive in mind. Personally I'm glad they didn't use more flash or an internal hard disk because I like the flexibility that affords me and the lower cost of the machine; fewer model choices helps simplify the decision on which one to get - how many iterations of Xbox360 and PS3 were there exactly?

By making minimal use of the optical drive and only having the OS on the internal storage I'm less likely to have to send the thing in. I can pick the size of storage that suits me and I can make local backups. If my hard drive breaks I can sort it myself. Yes I have to use three power sockets, but I like the convenience that buys me.

Pretty sure Nintendo didn't go with a larger drive like the competition because that requires using a standard hard drive, which is basically guaranteed to fail eventually. By using solid-state memory they can ensure that whatever is stored on the console will last pretty much forever. Maybe if the cost of SSDs drops enough they'll include a larger capacity drive in an updated model.

They're not even using a SSD but the same style of memory chips in a phone or tablet. I'm hoping SSD prices go down soon since I want to get an internal one for my PS4 and an external one for my next console.

That's all truth but when you factor the cost of a 500 GB the Wii U is dangerously close to the price of a PS4/XBone

I have the same exact problem. When you do your day one update it takes 5GB of memory. I can't download any games either, only small ones.

This is generally what happens when a physical 4 Lyfer treads on digital soil

Why did Nintendo use such a small system memory capacity of 8GB.

Its seems because the Wii U uses more costly internal flash memory instead of an internal harddrive,

Initially ( and perhaps still ) Nintendo were making a loss on each console so things had to be pared back. The gamepad was probably the main reason for this situation.

I have owned a Creative Microphoto MP3 player with an 8GB 1.8 inch harddrive from about 2006 (best of CES) and that predates the introduction of the Wii !!.

Nintendo must be getting to the point where it can make the 32GB the default version of the Wii U and perhaps the only model of Wii U.

They could either scrap the basic 8GB version entirely or make the premium/delux version go to 64GB. Beyond that I can accept an external hard drive option makes sense.

In my view an external hardrive is mandatory for the basic version, and newbies to Nintendo may be caught unawares by this false economy. If Nintedo wants to capture the hearts and minds and future dollars of the public it should go this way.

There is no hard drive in the Wii U. What stores your data is flash memory. Nintendo despises hard drives for good reason. Hard drives fail too often. It's another spinning disc that generates heat and is less efficient than flash.

Flash memory is also more expensive than an HDD.

If this is such an issue to you, then buy an external drive. If you wanted the Wii U to have more space to begin with, you would've paid more upfront anyways.

Ugh, this is why I buy all my games at retail. I love flash because of how much faster it is, but it's kind of a drag to have to monitor how much you're storing at all times. Luckily I have the deluxe so I'm ok for now, but for how long? Just can't wait for the day we see flash at similar storage sizes priced similarly to what hods are now. Probably won't be for like a decade but oh well.

Pretty much there was no reason to buy the Basic unless you knew you would never download any games or you would for sure connect a hard drive to it. I went with the Deluxe so I can at least store a lot of small eShop games on it, because I know how frustrating the meager storage was on the Wii and DSi, but I know I'll have to connect a hard drive eventually if I start downloading bigger games.

If Nintendo had included a hard drive that would have upped the price of the system for something half their customers won't need, and people are going to have different needs for how big a hard drive they need anyway.

I love flash too, especially when I get super fast loading of my Wii games with a USB stick in the back.

But since I have 200GB of Wii games connected with a USB harddrive there is no cheap flash option.

And can anyone say they love fast internal flash when it still needs to eventually connect with a slower external hard drive anyways.

If downloading content on a Wii U say up to 32GB of data, I wonder whether a USB stick would be a good option for speed / cost and compactness.

If reliability becomes a problem with the USB stick, perhaps I could re-download the files onto another USB stick.

Does anyone see a practical roadblock with that idea.

It seems feasible :

How to Download or Redownload Content from the Nintendo eShop

http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_...

FAQ for External Storage on Wii U

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/latam/en/systems/wiiu/system...

A Wii U disc can hold up to 25 GB (although no game yet is close to that limit, perhaps until SSB). Getting the 8GB Wii U system is basically to say you're OK with only disc releases.

The eShop contain the required install size for each game.

I have a 32GB system, but since I get lots of eShop indies I also have a 2 TB hard drive that wasn't that expensive.

IIRC, the 8 GB Wii U systems are currently phased out in Europe and the US, but not in Japan.