Hints to Downloadable content / updates

[firedragon_jing]

Well, I'm not 100%, but I finally got to watch the video Sakurai posted a yesterday, and something caught my eye. In the Wi-Fi option mode, you can choose to turn on Smash Bros. News Notices

If you don't know what this means, if don't know how the check Mii out notices work, they update you whenever a new contest is underway.

Well, I'm not sure what Brawl has to offer online, but one thing this could point to is downloadable new characters, assist trophies, items, SSE add ons for all we know.

All I'm saying would Sakurai add the option of checking if you want Brawl Notices if he wasn't planing to update you on an often basis. We already know the daily submitted stages are found in the build a stage mode, so I doubt he would spam you daily for that. It has to be something more game-based. Otherwise the game would have just gotten updates like Metroid Prime 3 did.

He'll probably inform us through this, Nintendo will inform you with stuff him and his team created but left off the disc or maybe created shortly after, when new content is added and is available to download to update the game.

Since we already know the custom stages can run off the SD Card, I'm figuring if he did have downloadable content, he would distribute it the same way as to not hog up the Wii's limited memory.

 

[Chaosblade77]

Was this it?

http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/wi-fi/wi-fi05.html

Second image.

 

[Epsilon52]

interesting...although i doubt character downloads.

I dont think the wii was built with that sort of content in mind like the xbox 360 or the ps3.

Plus given the hard drive size and all.

BUT, if user created downloadable stages can be added to the game, then i dont doubt the possibility of new character colors, items, or events. Something like that is relatively small in code and simple to intigrate.

 

[DragonBlade]

Nintendo's online philosophy is far too archaic for the type of downloadable content normal gamers would think of. I doubt they will ever consider it beyond the most simplistic applications.

 

[Chaosblade77]

I don't think disk space is an issue. If Wiiware turns out to be the way Nintendo is making it out to be they have some extra storage space planned. That or they expect people to have an awful lot of SD cards or spend a lot of time redownloading things.

Basically, I expect external hard drive support at some point. We got USB keyboard support (and we all know Nintendo does not make keyboards), so it's not out of the question.

 

[Card]

Don't count on it.


This seems to be an ongoing trend on the forums nowadays. People still have yet to accept the roster, and believe that Nintendo will somehow deliver downloadable content... and not just downloadable content, but complete fully functioning playable characters. I'd just like to remind you that firstly, Nintendo has the most minimalistic version of Downloadable Content in comparison to both Xbox Live and Playstation Network. Secondly, no other console fighting has ever offered fully functioning playable characters for download after the game has been released, yet you expect Nintendo (who already has laughable downloadable content) to be the first ones to do it?

Like I said... Keep dreaming, don't get your hopes up.

There are also no hints, you are just seeing things.

 

[Epsilon52]

Card, i love your responses. really, I do.

 

[S2]

Nintendo doesn't do good online.

That's simply the end of it. They are too stubborn to accept the "innovations" of the other companies in the online department.

So yeah, don't count on it. It'd be awesome, but Nintendo won't do it. Probably in the next system gen, since Nintendo always seems to be behind with what customers want.

 

[Equinox076]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/12/10/wii_guitar_hero_3_getting_dlc_fixed_sound/1

Heh. Not so far-fetched now, is it?

 

[King Axel]

I can't say this for sure, because I don't know, but wouldn't a character or stage be a lot more memory than a song with colored buttons?

 

[Epsilon52]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/12/10/wii_guitar_hero_3_getting_dlc_fixed_sound/1

Heh. Not so far-fetched now, is it?

music with codeing for button timings is miniscule compared to an entire character with attacks, sound effects, stats, menu intagration, costumes, yadada...the list goes on

 

[Chaosblade77]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/12/10/wii_guitar_hero_3_getting_dlc_fixed_sound/1

Heh. Not so far-fetched now, is it?

The difference is, that is Activision and not Nintendo. I'd like to see how they pull it off with the limited space though. More evidence toward hard drive support, in my opinion. (which does not really have any affect on my opinion about downloadable Brawl content)

 

[Epsilon52]

wii will not get an add on in the form of a hard drive. Nintendo has provided Sd card support. Yet even with that they didnt have gaming in mind...just media such as pictures and video.

 

[King Axel]

Question. Would it be at all possible to buy separate characters (perhaps from a store, the characters being on a CD of sorts, with a key code to ensure one use?) and somehow upload them that way? I'm not too knowledgeable about this sort of thing, but I would appreciate an answer.

 

[Chaosblade77]

That would be no different than downloading the characters online. It comes down to space and whether or not Nintendo thinks it would be profitable.

And I still have yet to see the actual size of a character. The sound affects seem to be ~18 MB alone though, so when you bring the model into the picture... quite a bit of space.

 

[Epsilon52]

Question. Would it be at all possible to buy separate characters (perhaps from a store, the characters being on a CD of sorts, with a key code to ensure one use?) and somehow upload them that way? I'm not too knowledgeable about this sort of thing, but I would appreciate an answer.

Your referring to Halo's method of offline map updates on a cd.

I doubt it entirely that Sakurais team is going to be working on any brawl content except patches.

Please just look beyond the 39 characters we have and enjoy the game. You wont be seeing any more characters till we have access to the games code and a way to cement the hacked code.

even then your only looking at The Alloy team due to the way the bosses are presumingly coded.

 

[mogwaimon]

Yea, the GH3 DLC for Wii does little to support character/stage DLC from Nintendo, unfortunately. Guitar Hero songs are directed by, at best, a sheet telling the game when to place the notes onscreen and whatnot accompanied by the actual music data to accompany it.Assuming that the music format Guitar Hero 3 reads is MP3, a downloadable song would be about 5-10 megabytes, I'd guesstimate.

A new stage would have quite a lot of graphical detail and maybe even music...Now, stage builder data will be small, but only because the actual stage uses no custom data, it's just a file telling the game where certain objects that are already in the game are placed. A full-fledged stage would contain not only that, but scripts associated with each hazard on the map, textures, models, etc, etc. One stage for Brawl would probably be in excess of 30-100 MB, depending on the data included and how sophisticated the stage was.Characters would be similar; as they'd have their textures, models, animation data associated with the models, voices, and whatever else a character needs.

Add to that the fact that Nintendo does indeed have a primitive way of looking at the internet in connection with gaming and the Wii has a very small internal memory chip (Would Nintendo force people to buy SD cards just to use DLC?...Well, maybe) and the likelyhood of DLC for Brawl is quite small indeed. Perhaps, though, it is something that Sakurai foresaw and will build upon after Brawl's release?Who knows?

 

[Lay3r C4ke]

Secondly, no other console fighting has ever offered fully functioning playable characters for download after the game has been released, yet you expect Nintendo (who already has laughable downloadable content) to be the first ones to do it?.

Erroneous - there is a game called Small Arms out for the Xbox 360 arcade that featured two downloadable characters. I think this would be a good move on Nintendo's part to release downloadable content such as stages, items, and characters.

Who here wouldn't pay for it?

 

[Epsilon52]

Who at Nintedo would ever consider this. They arent in it for the hardcore. They have a motto at nintendo. Kepp it simple.

 

[Rakath]

I'm sure that Brawl will have downloadable content.

And with every character you download you get cake, delicious moist cake. ^_^

 

[Gerkuman]

You know, the only thing that's actually keeping people from believing this is just dissapointments of Nintendo Wifi from the past. Almost every post here is presuming that Nintendo does X; well that doesn't mean it's going to keep on doing X. The skepticism here is almost sufficating. I mean, Brawl's online mode already looks better than anything else done before, so why does it have to stop just because 'Nintendo doesn't do good wifi'?

All I'm saying is that it is possible. Maybe not that likely, but it shouldn't give you a free pass to rain on our parade.

 

[ROFL]

i dont think they will add any characters or story options. just levels and maybe gameplay patches like how the pal version of melee was different

 

[Epsilon52]

 

[iluvnintendo1983]

Who at Nintedo would ever consider this. They arent in it for the hardcore. They have a motto at nintendo. Kepp it simple.

Sadly, you couldn't be any closer to the truth. However...it's never too late for them to change.

 

[UrajKingofDarkness]

Secondly, no other console fighting has ever offered fully functioning playable characters for download after the game has been released

I wouldn't expect you to know this (not many people WOULD know), but Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (a fighter for the Xbox 360) DOES offer fully functional playable characters for download; they usually put them up 2 at a time about once every other month. They've already put out 4 of them, and it's quite likely they'll continue doing so.

That still doesn't make me think they'll do it for Brawl though...not by a long shot.

 

[Epsilon52]

if only brawl was on xbox...theyd nickel and dime us for years with content. and we'd all gladly pay up !

 

[Gerkuman]

Curse you Wee Bull! You win this time! :D

On a different note, Nintendo has been a game developer for years now; why would they suddenly stop catering for the part of the game playing population that buys the most games? If it were true, there would be no more Smash Bros. And there's nothing complex about adding DL content when the software is already there. The Wii shop channel. All people would have to do is go on the Wiiware channel and update their brawl. It wouldn't be hard at all.

 

[Epsilon52]

On a different note, Nintendo has been a game developer for years now; why would they suddenly stop catering for the part of the game playing population that buys the most games?

because we dont buy the most games anymore. atleast not for the wii. we are far eclipsed by parents, grandmas, and even the queen of england who bought wii's not for competitive online content savvy games, but for good clean EASY fun.

Sadly, hardcore is oldcore, and the general consumer base for nintendo is not one sole age group but instead- The Family

 

[Gerkuman]

Far eclipsed? Not really. There's only been a few games that have been aimed at that audience group by Nintendo. To suddenly turn around and say 'Looks like we're being abandoned' is silly, especially when lots of Nintendo franchises are still up and running; if we were being abandoned they wouldn't be around anymore. Wait and see.

 

[Epsilon52]

im waiting.......

*coudlnt find a good photobucket pic to describe waiting)

 

[TerminalMontage]

Maybe they have the characters in, but you can't unlock them until they do something with wifi?

 

[Epsilon52]

Maybe they have the characters in, but you can't unlock them until they do something with wifi?

nooo.....just...no

heres the list of the ONLY characters in brawl...the metal alloy team is in the file and we plan on hacking to make them playable.

 

[SAMaine]

Yes, I would like downloadable content. However, this is not going to happen, because clones would be the easiest and not as memory intrusive to make, so while Dr. Mario, Pichu, and Roy might be downloadable, you'll have to settle for clones to get your Ridley or Krystal fix... Even Small Arms' two downloadable characters are clones in that game.

Also, I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to do "downloadable" content, but it'd be more like the Nintendo Event Legendaries that the Pokemon games use, which would be programmed into the game and obtainable with Action Replay, which unfortunally ain't happening this round. Also reminds me that Pokemon is also the only game franchise Nintendo patched.

Epsilon, I'm curious on how much space each character takes. Can you figure that out? Give use the smallest one that isn't the Alloy Team or one of the transforming characters, if you can. Smallest single character, you know. I actually do want to know how feasible downloadable characters WOULD be!

 

[Epsilon52]

about 17.5 mbs

 

[Naoshi]

Maybe they have the characters in, but you can't unlock them until they do something with wifi?

Are you people kidding me? What about those WITHOUT Wifi? They wouldn't be able to get certain characters without WiFi on their Wii if that happens. It's totally unfair and not a bright idea at all.

So no.

 

[Hmaal]

nooo.....just...no

heres the list of the ONLY characters in brawl...the metal alloy team is in the file and we plan on hacking to make them playable.

Where did you get these photos from?

 

[Equinox076]

this can work!!!

I refer to a link in my previous argument:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/12/10/wii_guitar_hero_3_getting_dlc_fixed_sound/1

I have just checked my GH3 DLC on my xbox360, and have found that single downloadable
songs take up an average of 30MB each. (the lowest for a single song was 24MB) of course,
the 3-track packs take up more. considering that the DLC for GH3 is purely data, the file size
would be about the same for x360 and wii.

Now, according to Epsilon52 (thnx btw), ganondorf's file size is 17.5MB. assuming that these
are the only unique character files, and any other character files are shared, then it is very
plausibe (logically speaking) that DLC is a possibility in the future.

 

[Epsilon52]

17.5 mbs is all i know of. I dont know what other folders pertain to ganondorf. I have to have the cd. I can only know so much from two images.

 

[Lay3r C4ke]

If a character file is only 17.5mb on average then I see no reason why more could not be made available for download in the future. Considering Brawl is going to see Nintendo's online service expand hugely ( I've just bought a Wii, Lan adapter and pre-ordered Brawl just to compete online) it would be foolish for Nintendo not to take advantage of Brawls popularity.

For the people saying Nintendo keep things simple. What's more simple than giving your customers, fans and community what they want? Expanded content.

 

[Epsilon52]

OK. Its possible im sure....but!

NO. Brawl does not support it. I can guarantee you. If it did, we'd know about it. Do you think such a strong game attribute wouldn't be advertised?