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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Why do all 'hardcore' games have system updates?

TWRoO on 07 August 2010

How many updates are we talking about? I would think ones that come on discs are no more than the online ones... of which I think I have had about 6 in total.

And none of them have re-arranged any channels (and yes i have moved them about)

Actually I haven't even had a disc check for new updates.



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PizzaFaceGamer on 07 August 2010

piracy is a huge problem thats y they do it. I mean the ps3 has no piracy and sells more software than xbox 360 even tho it is in last place.  Piracy can really detroy game makers and console makers



BoneArk on 07 August 2010
mysticwolf said:

It's not a big deal...


true



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

thekitchensink on 07 August 2010
LordTheNightKnight said:
thekitchensink said:
Vectorferret said:

The updates on the disk are primarily new drivers or API's. For example, Metroid Prime 3 contained the ability for games to post images to the message board (which the game uses). Wii Sport Resort contained the code for accessing the Check Mii Out channel from inside games. A lot of the others are things like Wii Speak. The hardcore games tend to have new features more often, so they have updates to enable this support on the Wii in a central way (rather than each game directly modifying the Wii system memory to do these things, it can be tested in one central way and deployed in an update).


This.  These games contain updates that are necessary to use some of their features.  I believe the one on Brawl, for instance, enabled the Wii to read dual-layer discs properly, which was important since the game used one.


Does that also mean these can unlock more processing capabilities of the Wii?

Aslo, Kylie, I'm geniunely sorry you have to be inconvenienced this way. So it seems the best solution is to a) just keep your channels in pretty much the order you downloaded them (or move some to an SD card), and b) play the Wii more often (even if it's getting some classic VC games you haven't played before).

Most likely, though I expect that most of its resources are already available.  Since the Wii doesn't do anything like persistent Friend Lists or background downloading, it doesn't have to do too much extra when it's running a game.  This means that I don't see why the full functionality wouldn't already be unlocked, except possibly some very minor performance optimization.



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LordTheNightKnight on 07 August 2010
thekitchensink said:
LordTheNightKnight said:
thekitchensink said:
Vectorferret said:

The updates on the disk are primarily new drivers or API's. For example, Metroid Prime 3 contained the ability for games to post images to the message board (which the game uses). Wii Sport Resort contained the code for accessing the Check Mii Out channel from inside games. A lot of the others are things like Wii Speak. The hardcore games tend to have new features more often, so they have updates to enable this support on the Wii in a central way (rather than each game directly modifying the Wii system memory to do these things, it can be tested in one central way and deployed in an update).


This.  These games contain updates that are necessary to use some of their features.  I believe the one on Brawl, for instance, enabled the Wii to read dual-layer discs properly, which was important since the game used one.


Does that also mean these can unlock more processing capabilities of the Wii?

Aslo, Kylie, I'm geniunely sorry you have to be inconvenienced this way. So it seems the best solution is to a) just keep your channels in pretty much the order you downloaded them (or move some to an SD card), and b) play the Wii more often (even if it's getting some classic VC games you haven't played before).

Most likely, though I expect that most of its resources are already available.  Since the Wii doesn't do anything like persistent Friend Lists or background downloading, it doesn't have to do too much extra when it's running a game.  This means that I don't see why the full functionality wouldn't already be unlocked, except possibly some very minor performance optimization.


Well if the API is upgradeable, that would be one way to do it.



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Vectorferret on 07 August 2010
LordTheNightKnight said:
thekitchensink said:
LordTheNightKnight said:
thekitchensink said:
Vectorferret said:

The updates on the disk are primarily new drivers or API's. For example, Metroid Prime 3 contained the ability for games to post images to the message board (which the game uses). Wii Sport Resort contained the code for accessing the Check Mii Out channel from inside games. A lot of the others are things like Wii Speak. The hardcore games tend to have new features more often, so they have updates to enable this support on the Wii in a central way (rather than each game directly modifying the Wii system memory to do these things, it can be tested in one central way and deployed in an update).


This.  These games contain updates that are necessary to use some of their features.  I believe the one on Brawl, for instance, enabled the Wii to read dual-layer discs properly, which was important since the game used one.


Does that also mean these can unlock more processing capabilities of the Wii?

Aslo, Kylie, I'm geniunely sorry you have to be inconvenienced this way. So it seems the best solution is to a) just keep your channels in pretty much the order you downloaded them (or move some to an SD card), and b) play the Wii more often (even if it's getting some classic VC games you haven't played before).

Most likely, though I expect that most of its resources are already available.  Since the Wii doesn't do anything like persistent Friend Lists or background downloading, it doesn't have to do too much extra when it's running a game.  This means that I don't see why the full functionality wouldn't already be unlocked, except possibly some very minor performance optimization.


Well if the API is upgradeable, that would be one way to do it.

The API probably uses the hardware as well as it can already. Mabye stuff like loading from disk / SD could be optomized to use less CPU, but anything that is intended to be done at the same time as gameplay is likely as optimal as it can be by the time they launched. Of course, the Wii API is very minimalist, the CPU is completely in control of the software (no API used). The API's are only used to access the SD card, WiFi, DVD drive and message board and controllers. Everything else is done without the API at all. The only place where the API could be optomized to speed up gameplay is in the code to access controllers, and I doubt they didn't make that as fast as possible already.



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Stefan.De.Machtige on 02 September 2010
KylieDog said:

....and Metroid Other M does it too!

... Extra anti-piracy measures for NIntendo's classics?



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marcianito on 02 September 2010

it only took me a minute for the update, i think the only paranoid here is you



mike_intellivision on 02 September 2010

I wonder if someone has a special console (or done something special to their console)?

I have never had any real issues -- though I have seen in many games that it checks to make sure that the latest version of the System Update is included.

Of course, since I am in the US, and not in the UK, there might be something unique there that I am missing.

 

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d21lewis on 02 September 2010

Kylie, you have a PS3 and you're worried about Wii updates!?!

But yeah.  I think Nintendo does it to throw off possible cheaters/hackers when there newest game releases.  People who buy a game like SSBB or Mario Kart Wii can enjoy the game for a little while before cheaters come in an ruin it.  I'm sure it has some anti-pirating purposes, too.  I haven't come across to many disc based updates but they are usually quick and painless (but annoying, nonetheless).