Nintendo Wii

[Tig]

It really is hard to believe that though, considering what I said above, that not even all Wii games are confirmed to be 480p. Plus none/hardly any of the games will be 16:9 which will be annoying too!

I hate retro!

Haha, good job I'm still using a crappy little 4:3 CRT like in the N64 days!
I win!!

(cries)

[Garny]

Do you still need memory cards to save games on the Wii? or has it got some sort of built in memory?

[Lyris]

It has built-in memory, 512mb of flash I believe. The memory cards are for backwards compatibility.

[Garny]

Thanks for that

[sj33]

Also has SD card slots, which I assume could be used for saving too.

[revlob]

Wii Questions

I've just read through all the posts made since the EU conference, and it appears I'm not the only one confused about a few vital points:

A/V cabling. Despite earlier reports of the Wii coming bundled with a component cable, it doesn't really look like we'll be getting anything better than composite out of the box. I agree with those who have said that this makes sense because of Nintendo's attitude towards HD gamers, and how they make up a small percentage of their intended market. Having to buy a component cable separately is only a minor annoyance, but what about VGA? Being able to hook my Wii up to my widescreen computer monitor would be awesome, and while it does have composite and s-video inputs, the availability of a Wii VGA cable would be much appreciated. I'm no A/V buff, so perhaps I'm asking the wrong question, but does anyone know if it's at all likely that we'll see a VGA cable for the Wii, first-party or otherwise? This leads me on to the next point, which seems to be the real crux behind the decision of whether to import or not.

Video output. I've always traditionally been a PAL gamer, and it was only really towards the end of the Gamecube's life did I start becoming interested in what us PAL folk were missing out on. I've almost got my head around all the differences between PAL and NTSC, and had hoped that the HD era would put an end to the kind of confusions these different formats could create. I think we're all waiting to hear from NOE if the PAL Wii will support progressive modes, and in what capacity (All games? What about VC stuff?). If there's a chance the UK gets screwed over and is stuck with inferior video output, then I'll import, as I'm sure many others here will.

Region locking. Previously denied, now confirmed. I'm sure the likes of Eurogamer and other gaming news sites are working hard to get clear confirmation from Nintendo on the matter, but for now this remains somewhat unknown. What interests me mostly is how Wii consoles from different regions will be configured with regards to gamer profiles and online content. If I were to buy a Wii from the US, when I turn it on for the first time (in the UK), will it ask me what region I'm from and adjust what content is delivered to me accordingly? Is it safe to assume that because Wii games are region-locked, Gamecube games are too? All my GC games are PAL, bar Animal Crossing.

What I'm tempted to do is wait for the first reports of those who import US consoles, and learn what the ramifications are for us considering importing, if these questions remain unanswered before the Wii's release. I have faith that the Wii will prove popular, but I'd be surprised if it is as hard to get ahold of at launch as the 360 was, or as the PS3 undoubtedly will be.

[Geezer]

I emailed Nintendo UK (using the Code Storm address on their website) about RGB over SCART, and the rep said he didn't know what would be available; specifically, "I am sorry but you now have as much information as we do".

It feels like there's a hardcore case of "The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" where NOE are concerned. Tbh I wouldn't have expected anything else...

EDIT:The hardware is finalised and already in production, it's incredibly lame not to be sure what outputs will be supported in the EU.

[dataDave]

I'm picking up a US model from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

[Kotatsu Neko]

-There is a VGA cable for the Gamecube, so it's possible I guess that there will be one for the Wii too.

- Nobody knows yet if the EU Wii will support 480p. We still don't know if all US games will be 480p. There is clearly a lot higher chance that the US will get 480p though.

- Gamecube games are region locked, so it's safe to assume that the Wii will only run games from it's own territory.

- As for what content you'll get on a US system in the UK, that could really go two ways. With Xbox 360 running a US system in the UK means you get UK content from the marketplace, but you're able to boot US game discs. (but not UK game discs) It seems perfectly possible that a US Wii may just give US content regardless of the region in which it lives, but at this stage nobody outside of Nintendo knows.

[fishbowlhead]

has the VC storage been explained yet, by that i mean 512 mb doesent seem like a lot of memory even for snes games to go on let alone a monster game like ocarina of time. Unless of course you can use standard sd cards, which are cheap as chips these days.

[Geezer]

Yes, you can use standard SD cards. Just this morning I saw one at ?17.99 for 2GB

Credit to Nintendo for not sealing up the Wii memory market for themselves with propietary tech, it's very consumer friendly to have SD slots. It makes the 360's 64MB card at ?23 RRP look ****e.

[dataDave]

-There is a VGA cable for the Gamecube, so it's possible I guess that there will be one for the Wii too.

The Gamecube VGA leads weren't really true VGA though were they? I remember seeing one in action and thinking "pap".

Yes, you can use standard SD cards. Just this morning I saw one at ?17.99 for 2GB

That's ace.

[J0e Musashi]

has the VC storage been explained yet, by that i mean 512 mb doesent seem like a lot of memory even for snes games to go on let alone a monster game like ocarina of time. Unless of course you can use standard sd cards, which are cheap as chips these days.

I was thinking this myself. Doesn't seem like a lot of memory. Perhaps they have some new Super Compression 2 X: Grand Master Compression technique or summat.
I am #1 on the pre-order list at my Lamestation. I'm going PAL to start with. I only ever bought 1st-party games for GC anyway. If they **** it up big-style, I'll get me an JPN machine once prices have fallen.

[Rossco]

OoT ROM was only 25MB when I had it on my Xbox before I'm sure. And I'm sure most other N64 games were smaller than that around 10-15MB. Now that is some crazy compression.

[bignige]

OoT ROM was only 25MB when I had it on my Xbox before I'm sure. And I'm sure most other N64 games were smaller than that around 10-15MB. Now that is some crazy compression.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure one of the biggest games on N64 was Resident Evil and that was either 32 or 64 megs. When I had my Z64, you could fit about 4/5 average sized games on to a 100 meg zip disc.