He’s since apologised for his remark and in an recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz has explained his position further, even going as far as to admit that Nintendo IS looking into solutions for the lack of memory on the Wii – although the release of some form of external storage device is not on the cards.
We definitely detect that [gamers] are serious and we know there is an issue in this, so it's something that we're working on. Definitely there's no plan to issue hardware - an external hard drive, but we know that we have an issue in that area. It's very obvious and we're perfectly aware of it, but there's nothing we can say beyond this.
See, Nintendo DOES love you, after all!
Regarding the infamous ‘Geeks and Otaku’ quote, Fischer had this to say:
I really didn't use that terminology to describe the Nintendo consumer - it was something related basically to myself and to the journalists attending…it was a joke I made on myself and somehow it's been confused and taken out of context to define those consumers. I understand I have created a lot of offence with people. And for me it's very, very important to clarify this - that's not the kind of thing I've been saying in [the way it has been reported]. Disappointment in the community is something I was really affected by.
So there you have it. We can all be friends again!
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
Comments 40
Lol @ your concluding comments.
This is great news. I'm glad we FINALLY have confirmation that a Hard Drive is NOT happening... well.. not yet anyway. Who knows what they're gonna do:
Better SD Card Support?
Flash Drives?
Some new USB Device? (mentioned in the news post a while back)
Time will tell... Or should I say... E3 will tell! We can only hope, hm?
How else are they gonna sort out the storage space problem? Wii needs external harddrives!
Is this the end of it or will the saga continue ???
Tune in next week !!!
Same time !
Same channel !
Okey, so the joke turn-a-round and got him back.
Interesting, no plan for hard drive (guess that would include the usb drive). So of the solutions left, I would like the SD or streaming channels.
SD Cards ftw... Unless maybe they're coaching their words so as not to hint at the possibility of Flash Drives?
SD slot, just seems like an expansion slot to me, that's what I thought it was when I first saw the Wii. Just turn it into that Ninty!
A 2 Gig SD card would work fine as extended memory if you could run games off of it. Even if people wound up needing more than one, SD memory is cheap, and changing cards is a lot less hassle than deleting and re-downloading. So if there can't be a hard drive, I vote for this option.
If they aren't making any "hardware", then the only thing they COULD be working on was the ability to play directly from SD cards.....or something along those lines. I'm not too sure if that would work though, considering how long it takes to transfer to and from SD cards currently.
Poor guy must have been receiving hate-mail over the past few days. I can't see them planning for a hard drive, it just doesn't fit. Some new, better quality SD cards, perhaps?
Tides of Chaos: Indeed. It's faster just to re-download your deleted game/channels. xD
Loooca: Heh, yeah, I'd imagine so!
Better SD Card Support seems like the viable option atm.
Whilst I think a firmware update to allow direct from SD card is viable(ish, considering how bloody slow SD transfers are) I would dread to think that Nintendo might embrace a DS download type service where the game only remains playable whilst the machine is still switched on (i.e. you have to redownload it every time you re-start your Wii if you want to play it again)
It'd resolve the storage issue and you know damn well Nintendo are dumb enough to just think about it as a solution....It's just a good job that their download servers struggle so much under current usage that it would negate the whole idea
@Loooca: I've got a Sandisk Extreme III SD card in my Wii, which is rated as one of the best SD cards (in terms of transfer speed) and I can tell you now that no matter how fast your SD card is, it'll feel just marginally better than any cheaper one you might already have.
I don't think it's a firmware issue. I think it's down to cost cutting - probably a cheap/crappy SD interface connected to the motherboard using a slow-assed 8-bit data bus. Combine that with some god-awful overly complex and completely unnecessary encryption algorithm that's totally unsuitable for the processor to decrypt at any decent speed, and you've got a solution that anyone with a downstream internet connection of 1.5Mb/sec or more need not apply to.
Finally, it only took a week!
Homebrew gamers already made it possible to play games from an SD card btw., but Nintendo will cut Homebrew down with V 3.3
Yes! Down with Homebrew. Up with R&D.
so we can all put our pitchforks away... damn, and i'd just bought a new one
vc games running off SD would be alright, particularly the smaller ones, but there might be some loading time or something with larger VC and Wii ware games
You silly duckies. Nintendo won't seriously think about releasing a storage solution until the vc/wiware money well drys up. Keep on dreaming. He was only covering his ass to keep his job.
It's sad that I can download the games through my internet connection faster then I can copy from sd card. My connection is only rated at 7Mb. That isn't even a 1MB transfer speed and lord knows I will never even hit the 7Mb maximum. Curse you Nintendo! Curse You!
Now it makes sense: Only geeks need a hrad drive, because that would cover over 250 GB, while a simble USB-Stick with 2 or 4 GB could be enough!
@3: Same channel?
Oh you mean the storeage channel? Yea it takes up 378 blocks I think!
Anywayz: They BETTER have something soon. GameSAVES alone take up 400 blocks :
Fine observation, Bensei!
I had a feeling the guy was joking, or at least the comment wasn't nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be.
I really hope the solution lets you use your own flash sticks, because I've got 512 mb stick that's gone unused since I got it, and will otherwise continue to go unused, as my new computer doesn't have Word on it($200 for an essential piece of software, that's bloody outrageous!). Plus, it could hopefully act as an extension of the internal hard drive, since that is a flash drive, too, if I'm not mistaken. Sure mine isn't very big, but if I need a new one, at least they're cheap. While that may sound like going back to the old memory card system(at least, it does to me), well, was that system really all that bad? I mean with memory cards, if you wanted to play your game at a friend's house, and your friend didn't have a save for that game already, instead of starting a whole new game, all you had to do was bring your memory card. Assuming that Nintendo will let us run game saves Wii other than our own, we'll be able to experience those benefits once again, considering most game larger than a single block,and sometimes even ones that small, cannot be successfully transfered to an SD card.
Besides, I never really was into the idea of hard drives, since flash drives are smaller and generally cheaper anyways. In fact, what is the problem with flash drives anyway? I'm really not all that tech savy, but I really don't see why we don't have whole computers using these things.
Flash drives are expensive if you compare it via the size/price ratio. It's the future (the wii is the only current gen console that has a flash drive), they are more reliable than a traditional hard drive and consumes less energy. That is why flash drives are beginning to appear in laptops to extend the battery life (expensive laptops). They are also supposed to have higher read times, etc, but it seems they haven't improved performance that much.
I also have plenty of flash drives, but I still would prefer an SD solution since it is what the Wii was going for. SD inserted inside the Wii or USB sticking out the back?
The real "Storage Solution" is a memory expansion for the Wii, no extra code, no extra anything, just plug some extra flash memory inside the unit and it'll be a much larger Wiifridgerator. Though there's the chance that the 3.3 System update will be able to protect against modified game files, allowing them to lift the encryption from the SD card and allow the backed up games to be accessed directly from the card.
Though there's the chance that the 3.3 System update will be able to protect against modified game files
It only protects against one modified save file. Zelda. And three things in particular. All relating to the horses name. So not that.
Memory Packs for Wiimotes along with an expanded Mii creation system
Allows you to take your games and expansion packs to a friend's house and play them on their Wii too (but not copy them obviously) Practical and alluring I reckon 1GB a piece (and a £19.99 retail price max.) should do it NIntendo! Then again, it depends on how fast the bluetooth interface transmits data, which will probably be considerably slower than the creaky SD interface.
I don't reckon we'll be able to play games from SD card because wouldn't that mean that you'll be able to (god forbid) take your SD card round a mates and then play it on their machine? Or maybe the encryption that means you can't copy it off would still apply?
At the very least, being able to load savegames from the SD card would give back at least 50% of storage space? And that wouldn't interfere with taking cards round to friends houses.
Only problem I can foresee is if you had a savegame on both the Wii memory and the memory card, might make games go a bit wibbly.
what about online storage? you know the skydrive in your hotmail account. i have 5 gb online storage and i stored 50 musics onto to it whenever i feel like it i`ll listen to one or just take it and put it anywhere im accessing on a internet. nintendo should make some kind of connectivity if anyone agrees that is
@BlackFira
We already have online storage. You can re-download purchases from the Wii Shop whenever you please. Nintendo's not likely to allow anyone else to store their property, especially since they already do it for you.
Funny how you make this guy seem like a hugglebunny...not.
It's probably not an HDD...it's probably something to do with the SD..
Well good news .
I don't need a harddrive as a 2GB SD card that i got for my Wii got jusr over 11000 blocks left (yes 11000 is correct) & i got all my games backed up to it .
I be seeing an update that Will satisfy all us Geeks & Otaku .
As i typed in satisfy i allmost typed in satan due to my Wii predictive text & the fact thaat i allways look at my USB keyboard most of the time .
lol semantics! bad service will continue, unfortunately....
Hal: Unfortunately I think you are spot on.
How about an update that detects when we are complaining about Nintendo and punishes us approprietly.
All credit to Nintendo for not disguising thier update though. "Click here to permanently kill the Wii homebrew scene" and then following it with "And now you can do some other useless crap with your miis." Awesome.
Obviously they're working on a storage solution. I don't think he said they weren't. He only said that geeks and otaku were the ones calling for it. And given the massive outburst after the comment, it's clear that he was right. Classy response from him, I think.
I don't reckon we'll be able to play games from SD card because wouldn't that mean that you'll be able to (god forbid) take your SD card round a mates and then play it on their machine? Or maybe the encryption that means you can't copy it off would still apply?
Its simple. Get the console to check if it has the ownership rights to the games trying to be played on the SD card.
Though as it is the ownership rights pirated VC games add those anyway (wait for 3 months time when Nintendo finally decide to synchonise the Wii shops transaction details wit hthe Wii consoles download tickets...)
May I be the first to say... Poor guy.
As I've been following this story, all I've been able to think is of how odd it is that so many people were offended by this. Anyone would think he accused you all of performing sexual favours for your mother.
He has done nothing to deserve any of this.
well will they bother after many years and possibly shut down the the site. ya may think im stupid for saying that but they may press the red button in 20 years or so lol. so im just trying store all of my vc and ww games before hand better safe then sorry. i know probably sounds ridiculous to you
Honestly, I don't need an external harddrive with my Wii. I am actually glad they are looking into something else, most likely flash memory in the form of SD cards or USB sticks. If they can fix the transfer speed, I'm all for the SD card option, but hey, if it works better I'm just as happy with USB. Really, both of those things now come in 8GB sizes (and it won't be long before you see even bigger ones) for very little money (also going further down). Should be fine for anything anybody here is up to with his Wii...
And btw, flash mem is the way to go, HDD are sooooo last millenium
half of the comments i didn't even understand . but, i think they should just make SD cards faster and allow you to play directly from them. that is the way to go.
@ strade32
continuing from the other article.
i do have an SD card and it is useless.
any other witty comments?
@x.SuperMario.x:
Yes, it IS useless NOW, but it doesn't have to be in the future! That's the point!
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