Harmonix said the lack of large storage was the big issue with DLC for Rock Band and the lack of a good online system for online play. On both accounts I can agree. 512 MB of internal storage is pretty small, considering the individual songs themselves for download are always at least 20 MB or larger. The addition of an SD card means more added costs for the owner who should've had a system equiped with a much larger storage medium in the first place when the bought it (nice goin Nintendo, you penny pinchers). As for online, whether or not it's Nintendo's focus, they should focus on it, as friend codes is the most retarded thing they could've come up with. A unified service in some regards really does help with networking. I personally like Sony's partially unified networking system as it keeps dev freedom intact but things are already set in place for them too, as well as a system built for it from the ground up.
Soooooooooo what can Nintendo do?
1. Cheap External USB Harddrive made to conform with the system like a base or stand on it's own. T'would be better if I could use ANY USB HDD and the Wii formats it on it's own. Another cool idea would be a wireless networking system where you could partition a drive in your computer for the Nintendo Wii to communicate to for storage. The major issue with this is slower data access for the Wii over the network and slower access performance on your computer if it's being used by someone else or even more complicated if it's completely turned off or in sleep mode. Also this would make HDD caching harder to implement, as caching is a very good thing to have, especially for larger enviromented games such as an MMO or even GTA-esque game where large amounts of memory are wanted. These are just ideas, dont' take them for granted. Honestly a USB HDD would be the real ticket and there has been rumors of one being planned.
2. Rework the online system from here on for better playability and user friendliness. Ditch the friend codes for screennames. If names with foul language are an issue (which to me seems like a reason why they wouldn't use them), make the parental control features block the name. Have voice chat too. Keep online games a developer responsibility in order to ensure some kinds of free online play services for most games a la Sony's system.
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