If by some chance you've been able to pick yourself up a shiny new Nintendo Wii, or plan to purchase one when supplies are greater and it doesn't take camping out over night in order to nab one, you'll need an SD memory card to take full advantage of the console's diversity of features. SanDisk, the world's leading supplier of data storage solutions, realized this fact and has subsequently created a special edition line of gaming SD memory cards specifically for the Wii (though they'll still work in any SD-compliant device).

Branded SanDisk For Wii and wrapped in a bone-white casing to coordinate with the Wii design theme, these Wii SD cards are offered in three capacities - 512MB, 1GB and 2GB - and retail at value-packed prices of $24.99, $39.99 and $89.99 respectively, which is comparable to other regular SD card prices, so rest assured there's no jacked up price for the fancy branding. Using these cards is as simple as plugging them into the console's card slot and from there you can quickly and easily back up game saves, store Virtual Console downloads from the Wii Shop Channel, transfer JPEG image files and MJPEG video files for viewing in the Photo Channel and upload MP3 tracks to play as background music for slideshows or, in the case of Excite Truck, import to create a custom soundtrack so you can off-road to your favorite tunes. File transfer rates are speedy and the various model offerings ensure you get the proper capacity for your specific storage habits.

Currently the only hassle in using SD cards with the Wii is the fact that you must be able to connect the system to the Internet in order to activate their use, because for some unearthly reason the Wii cannot read an SD card right out of the box (someone please explain to me what that's all about!) Therefore, if you don't have broadband or a wireless network to connect to then you're cut off from taking advantage of these secondary console features and that's a shame. But this problem is with the console itself and not this fine line of memory cards, so if you have the means and are looking for the perfect storage solution to extract the most out of what the Wii has to offer, accessorizing with a SanDisk Wii SD gaming card is an absolute no-brainer purchase!

Reviewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).