Nintendo President Apologizes for Wii U Launch Issues

[Frezzato]

It is important to note that, while the WiiU bricking has nothing to do with the auto-turn off, this is a weird case of a console installing an update AS it's downloading. With things such as the PS3 or 360, I can download the update and decide to either A) cancel the download, in which case nothing bad happens, or B) turn off the console, in which nothing bad happens. I wouldn't turn it off during the install period obviously, but with the WiiU it seems to be this weird amalgamation of the two, which frankly doesn't make sense.

Regardless, I would imagine the more angry consumer isn't the one who downloads the patch, but rather the one who downloads the patch with the 8GB version and then releases they have almost no room left to play or download much.

Apparently you can opt-out of the update and then the WiiU will download in the background as a regular file, a much smarter, safer way to do it. Problem is, Nintendo didn't tell anyone about it:
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/11/wii_u_system_update_can_be_downloaded_in_the_background

That seems to be the root of many issues with the console so far. Nintendo isn't necessarily alone in this, but yeah, strange that for a company that seemed to provide pointless cut-outs of how to insert a disc and of DVD's about how to use the Wii also managed to drop the ball and not tell a lot of people about what the console can do.

I hesitate to say this but I suggest to anyone who values their expensive new equipment: get a decent battery backup for your console. I have two CyberPower 1000VA 600W mini towers and they've already paid for themselves with all the brownouts I get. They're not as cheap as the small blocks you can get at Best Buy but they're good for the money. It's an expense that probably every PC gamer has learned to live with.

 

[Frostbite3789]

No, there was no hardware fault. There is no evidence to be found that supports that claim besides some forum posts that state that they heard that from somewhere. But on the other hand there is clear evidence that the console states that this feature is deactivated during formware updates.

So no, this whole thing was stupidity from the side of the journalist.

And it's also a fault on the part of the hardware that it would brick if you did that. No other piece of equipment does that during the 'download' phase. Because no other piece of hardware also tries to install the update while it's downloading as the Wii U apparently does. Or that wouldn't brick it.

So basically an internet outage during an update could brick your damn console.

 

[Jumwa]

Before the Nintendo america head honcho said that the others have to react to the Nintendo?

They could start off by making he machines work out of the box.

It does work out of the box. Certain features just aren't enabled until you update, as listed in the article (i.e. the Nintendo shop).

As was also pointed out however, this is pretty typical stuff in the electronics industry.

 

[Coffeejack]

"Hey, competitors! Respond to THIS!"

(Reggie Fils-Aime, President, Nintendo America - 3 days ago)

Curse you for raising the bar for us all, Nintendo! Curse you to Haaadeeeeess!!

 

[theultimateend]

CONSPIRACY TIME!

Alright folks! Here is my zany conspiracy!

So the big patch is not on the console already because people would complain their "8GB drive" only has "3GB of space" and then you'd have a big class action shitfest.

BUT! If you have the big update AFTER they get it home and hook it up, suddenly its not misleading. You HAD that much space but then you lost most of it to an update.

Doesn't change how I feel about the Wii U (I like it, dunno why), but that's my silly conspiracy.

In my book Nintendo should just go on and apologize for everything since the Gamecube came out. It would save time.

What the hell was so wrong with Metroid Prime, Twilight Princess and Galaxy? Those are some of the most acclaimed games of all time right there.

Twilight Princess is acclaimed?

When did that happen >.>... I don't know anyone in my personal or professional life that thinks it is as good as any other Zelda game.

The only exception being that it is better than Skyward Sword (subjectively speaking).

 

[Sean951]

CONSPIRACY TIME!

Alright folks! Here is my zany conspiracy!

So the big patch is not on the console already because people would complain their "8GB drive" only has "3GB of space" and then you'd have a big class action shitfest.

BUT! If you have the big update AFTER they get it home and hook it up, suddenly its not misleading. You HAD that much space but then you lost most of it to an update.

Doesn't change how I feel about the Wii U (I like it, dunno why), but that's my silly conspiracy.

In my book Nintendo should just go on and apologize for everything since the Gamecube came out. It would save time.

What the hell was so wrong with Metroid Prime, Twilight Princess and Galaxy? Those are some of the most acclaimed games of all time right there.

Twilight Princess is acclaimed?

When did that happen >.>... I don't know anyone in my personal or professional life that thinks it is as good as any other Zelda game.

The only exception being that it is better than Skyward Sword (subjectively speaking).

No, there wouldn't be a class action suit. The HD would still be the advertised 8 GB, just with less space. My guess is they found problems/optimized it better after they had begun production.

Also, Twilight Princess [http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess] seems to be quite popular. Same with Skyward Sword if you ignore the review bombing.

 

[theultimateend]

No, there wouldn't be a class action suit. The HD would still be the advertised 8 GB, just with less space. My guess is they found problems/optimized it better after they had begun production.

Also, Twilight Princess [http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess] seems to be quite popular. Same with Skyward Sword if you ignore the review bombing.

Beats me. I work at a game publisher and of the 15 folks [who bought it] (including myself) nobody finished Twilight Princess and I was the only person to buy Skyward Sword.

I REALLY want to like Skyward Sword, but the draw distance and obsession with wiimote controls killed it for me. The entire game felt more like a tech demo than an actual experience.

The Music was fantastic though.

 

[grigjd3]

<=== touches nose. Exactly, this is a bad practice introduced by a memory issue. With the small amount of memory available on the lower level WiiU's, there is not enough space on the drive to both have the update and install it. Rather the update must be downloaded and installed simultaneously so that the space can be freed for the rest of the update. The solution is straight forward: break the updates into smaller pieces and download and install each one in order. Nintendo hasn't ever shown a great understanding of net-based practices and this is just more evidence of the fact.

It is important to note that, while the WiiU bricking has nothing to do with the auto-turn off, this is a weird case of a console installing an update AS it's downloading. With things such as the PS3 or 360, I can download the update and decide to either A) cancel the download, in which case nothing bad happens, or B) turn off the console, in which nothing bad happens. I wouldn't turn it off during the install period obviously, but with the WiiU it seems to be this weird amalgamation of the two, which frankly doesn't make sense.

Regardless, I would imagine the more angry consumer isn't the one who downloads the patch, but rather the one who downloads the patch with the 8GB version and then releases they have almost no room left to play or download much.

 

[Frezzato]

This probably isn't the right place for this, but for anyone that's interested, here's a link to the official Wii U external storage Q&A from Nintendo:

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wiiu/en_na/external_usb_storage.jsp


*Note how they kind of skip over the SSD drive question, which makes me wonder why they bothered adding it.
*Hot-swapping external drives isn't supported (yet), it requires a system restart.

I wish this sort of info was made more obvious. Would save a lot of people a lot of time, especially people that are just curious, like myself. I had to hunt that document down on Nintendolife!

 

[Starke]

LA Times journalist Ben Fritz fell victim to the day-one patch when he decided to unplug the device after 15 minutes of slow progress, only to find that he had inadvertently bricked his console [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120697-Wii-U-Update-Eats-Most-of-Basics-8GB].

Why would you do such a stupid thing?! Does he also shake his 360 when a game is taking too long to load?

I believe this was actually a hardware fault where the Wii U has an auto-turn off after a long period of being idle. Unfortunately, this also happens during updates apparently.

The auto-off thing is a potential problem but you do have the option to turn that off during or, after initial set-up. Even if you don't turn it off, all you have to do is remember to nudge a joystick once every few minutes to re-set the 60 minute countdown. The way Tim presented it up there suggested that LA Times editor just up and unplugged his console while impatiently awaiting the update to complete.

He's stated he believed the system had crashed, because the progress bar hadn't been moving, during the download.

Probably also worth stating, that since Nintendo didn't throw the patch up early for reporters, reviewers were running dangerously close to their deadlines when this patch got shoved through.

The console also bricks if power is interrupted due to events beyond the user's control... IE a power outage, or if the internet connection is interrupted for any reason... sort of like what Comcast loves doing to me randomly... so... yeah, I'll be staying the hell away from this.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Regardless, I would imagine the more angry consumer isn't the one who downloads the patch, but rather the one who downloads the patch with the 8GB version and then releases they have almost no room left to play or download much.

I assume the patch actually overwrites the firmware chip rather than placing anything in internal storage. I mean, there have been a million OS updates on the Xbox 360 over the years, which I'm pretty sure have all been mandatory unless you keep it disconnected from the Internet entirely. And that system only has 4GB on the current base model... and none on the original (no idea how the heck that works; do you have to store your save files on a USB thumb drive?)

 

[Eternal_Lament]

Regardless, I would imagine the more angry consumer isn't the one who downloads the patch, but rather the one who downloads the patch with the 8GB version and then releases they have almost no room left to play or download much.

I assume the patch actually overwrites the firmware chip rather than placing anything in internal storage. I mean, there have been a million OS updates on the Xbox 360 over the years, which I'm pretty sure have all been mandatory unless you keep it disconnected from the Internet entirely. And that system only has 4GB on the current base model... and none on the original (no idea how the heck that works; do you have to store your save files on a USB thumb drive?)

I'm not sure about that, I've heard from forums that the 5GB actually takes up space rather than replace files, although it could as easily be false. Even still though, that really isn't the most problematic thing about this update. Also in regards to the 360...what base model do you mean? You mean the original? Simple answer is you don't, rather you need to purchase a hard drive (unless we're talking about the new models, in which the hard drives are already part of the whole box)

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Also in regards to the 360...what base model do you mean? You mean the original? Simple answer is you don't, rather you need to purchase a hard drive (unless we're talking about the new models, in which the hard drives are already part of the whole box)

So, wait, you mean they literally sold an incomplete machine at launch? That's like selling it without any controllers, or without a disc drive. Who the hell plays games without being able to save anything?

 

[Eternal_Lament]

Also in regards to the 360...what base model do you mean? You mean the original? Simple answer is you don't, rather you need to purchase a hard drive (unless we're talking about the new models, in which the hard drives are already part of the whole box)

So, wait, you mean they literally sold an incomplete machine at launch? That's like selling it without any controllers, or without a disc drive. Who the hell plays games without being able to save anything?

The deal with the original 360 is that there was the standard version (which did come with an external hard drive) and the core version (which didn't come with an external hard drive, I think it had like 500 MB of flash memory) at launch. The idea was that you'd save money on the core version and with that money buy a hard drive that was relative to your gaming habits...it didn't take off well if I remember correctly. After that, most bundled 360's came with something like a 120 GB external hard drive as a minimum, and again the new models include integrated hard drives in the box.