Nintendo Looking into Flash Memory Solution

May 1st, 2008, 20:24 Posted By: Shrygue

via IGN


Nintendo's recent earnings report was full of great news for investors as the company's fortunes soared to record highs. But what does it all mean for gamers?

Company president Satoru Iwata provide some hints in a Q&A session following the company's press briefing last week. Today, Nintendo provided an English transcript of that session.

Iwata spoke at length on a number of issues, but one in particular caught our eye: the hot topic of the Wii's limited flash memory. Said Iwata, "Statistically speaking, it is true that there are a small number of customers who feel that the flash memory is too small, while many others find that they have plenty of memory. However, because this small number of people are none other than the most avid players, we know we have to review the best possible solution to eliminate their inconvenience."

So keep on complaining, Nintendo fanatics, and you may one day have full access to your virtual Wii games collection without having to delete stuff.

Iwata also gave some vague indication of the current performance of the WiiWare and Virtual Console download services. Total sales for the fiscal year for the two services combined came to 7.8 billion yen.

There's actually a fundamental difference between the WiiWare and Virtual Console businesses, Iwata explained. For the Virtual Console, Nintendo manages the full process of preparing software, even from 3rd parties. As it faces the business risks from distributing games on the service, it also takes a larger share of the profits. For WiiWare, 3rd parties face all the business risks themselves and handle marketing, and thus they get a larger portion of the profits.

For more of Iwata's comments, be sure and check out Nintendo's English transcript of the Iwata Q&A session for yourself.

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