VetteDude said:
greenmedic88 said:
PlaystaionGamer said:
how Expensive are HDD's really these days for big companies like Nintendo.. COME ON!
Wont memory cards make it easier for hackers though?
what disks does the WiiU take? do you have to instal the games? |
HDDs are currently the most expensive single component in any console being produced.
While I'm not one to praise Nintendo's hardware for any other reasons than characteristic "Nintendo durability" and the company's ability to use mature, lower priced technology to create hardware that is greater than its sum of parts (at a profit), from a business perspective, going with internal flash memory standard is good business.
NAND flash memory in low quanties is cheap. Minimum size HDDs are still pricey components. 8GB of NAND memory is well under $10. The lowest capacity HDD currently being produced costs many times more.
As long as Nintendo allows for the use of any USB based external HDD (no mandatory proprietary specially formatted "Nintendo brand" HDDs) to expand storage for game downloads and the like, what it means is a lower standard price for the console without additional cost for budget minded consumers who in all likelihood already have a USB HDD.
Installs will be an issue with developers though as the base 8GB internal memory essentially eliminates the practicality of mandatory installs. It will likely be the same issue developers had with the Xbox 360, and were forced to work around.
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So what? So remove the HDD and now "THE MOST EXPENSIVE PART IS THE GPU, NINTENDO SHOULD DITCH THAT!!!!" 8GB of memory is pitful, short-sighted, and I might even add arrogant. "Well if people want storage, do it themselves. We are Nintendo, screw digital distribution even though we are in dead last when it comes to online gaming" USB HDD's are slow, and a PITA. Why do I want a freaking external hard drive plugged into my console?
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Settle down there Beavis; nobody said anything about removing any part of a console just because it's the most expensive part.
The hard drive just happens to be the one component that is not only user upgradable, but would also be the one component most users absolutely WILL end up upgrading, assuming the console is seeing heavy usage.
Other than for the purpose of installs, which benefit developers moreso than consumers (history shows all that consumers did in regards to installs is complain loudly) the primary purpose of that memory would be for game saves and small DD games. Full game downloads don't appear to be in the cards for the Wii U based upon the design decision.
I'm really not sure what the outrage is considering that the Xbox 360 set the precidence with the EXACT SAME setup.
If there were any legitimate gripe, it should be that the console (presumably) does not have any sort of fast ESATA internal port in which to install any 2.5" HDD. For all anyone knows, the final console may end up being USB 3.0 compatible, which would be more than adequate for installs, DLC, full game downloads, etc.
