New Wii download service (not VC) coming

[7th lutz]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/22/new-wii-download-service-not-vc-coming-hints-impossible-missi

System 3 CEO Mark Cale, whose company is updating the Commodore 64 title Impossible Mission, has told PAL Gaming Network that a new service for downloading content on Nintendo Wii is forthcoming and that Nintendo should be making an announcement within the next two months.

"I wouldn't say Virtual Console, because they're not actually calling it the Virtual Console," he said, while suggesting that Nintendo's service will be similar to how Microsoft has set up Xbox Live. A separate Wii "Game Channel" for original content has been mentioned before by Hudson Entertainment director of marketing John Lee.

Is Nintendo considering revamping its download service or simply augmenting what's there? We certainly wouldn't be opposed to a better way of organizing or VC titles. Nothing is official and such a download system, if true, might be nixed before public unveiling.

Cale went on to say that Microsoft are "years ahead" of Sony and Nintendo regarding their ability to provide downloadable content and later added that he expects the Nintendo to "roll out their strategy" within the next two months.

[jajaja]

I wonder how they can manage to have a download service like this on the Wii hence the low space avalible. A factory new Wii got 312MB free space. Not exactly too much to use :\ Hopefully they make a way to expand this.

[omnedon]

The SD card in my Wii is 2GB.

[Enixis]

Maybe Nintendo will play it smart and actually allow users to hook up an external hard drive to the wii via the usb ports on the back.

[jajaja]

The SD card in my Wii is 2GB.

True, but unfortunatly you cannot use this as an extention of the internal memory. If you move i.e a VC game over to the SD card you cannot play it from it. You must first move it over the the internal flash memory before you can play it. But i'm sure Nintendo come up with some storage solution that allows you to run stuff directly of it, not just from the internal memory.

[Muscelli]

True, but unfortunatly you cannot use this as an extention of the internal memory. If you move i.e a VC game over to the SD card you cannot play it from it. You must first move it over the the internal flash memory before you can play it. But i'm sure Nintendo come up with some storage solution that allows you to run stuff directly of it, not just from the internal memory.

They sure have. This has been confirmed a while back that they are working on something of that sort

[jajaja]

They sure have. This has been confirmed a while back that they are working on something of that sort

Ok, good news for Wii owners :)

[Icarus Moonsight]

I've been expecting something like this. I was wondering if games like Impossible Mission and Geometry Wars were going to wind up in Wii Ware or VC. It's looking like neither. :) That said, I'm excited about Wii download games. I'd like to see some Indy dev'd offerings and how they utilize the Wii Remote. :D

I also wonder if they are going to make resources avaliable so anyone wanting to put their idea into a Wii download will have that opportunity. I'd really like to see that. We are talking Nintendo here... so, maybe not.