Has the Wiimote hit production issues?

Wii Rumour | Speculation abounds.

A rather worrying rumour reached our ears this morning regarding the 'Wiimote' peripheral that will come with Nintendo's Wii - apparently, there's a problem or two with actually producing the unique controller. Obviously, there's no official word from Nintendo on this yet (so count this as speculation for now), but a journalist from Chinese site PCGames.com.cn discovered there was a few hitches in Wiimote production when he visited one of the factories manufacturing the controller earlier this week.

Helpfully, a reader over at GoNintendo translated the author's concerns so that it's now readable to our western eyes. And here's what he had to say:

"The factory has received a purchasing order for the Wii controller and a sample, but is still stuck in the testing phase. From the feedback of testers, currently the Wiimote and nunchuck still have a lot of small issues, such as buttons that aren't sensitive, and that it's hard to press two buttons together, (there's even no response occasionally), and that the current sample is easily damaged - using the controller in normal situation will produce some noise, etc. Entering September, if the above hardware problems cannot be fixed, it will directly affect Wii's selling strategy.

Also, the factory has not received the Wii console from Nintendo yet - currently, they are testing samples using a dedicated machine only for testing, which means that after an up-to-standard sample is produced, it still needs to be sent back to Japan to be tested by Nintendo for a second time. The Wii controller uses bluetooth technology for real-time data transfer, and infrared for "space location", and the second phase of testing procedures maybe even tougher!"

Urk. Let's hope any problems (if genuine) are rapidly ironed out.

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19 Comments

Spanca

5 years ago

admeister wrote

Amen to that!

It's not looking good for the PS3, I'll say that much, it's the 360 all over again. So many production issues with these super powered cosoles, Nintendo have to be onto something! (at least as far as manufacturing goes)

Cerebral

5 years ago

Snap.

Though I would like to get a Wii sometime this year, so yeah. Not good news.

Chris-Leigh

5 years ago

Spanca wrote

admeister wrote

Amen to that!

OUCH.

But of course, it's still technically rumour. At least until we get something more concrete.

Zarnoss

5 years ago

Sheez and here i was thinking that by now they would have already had a warehouse full of the wii-motes ready to go seeing as it is supposed to debut near the end of the year.
Also if this is the same manufacturing plant where the DS with hinge vents were made,then I have great fears.

ooer.

oh and snap+1.

Karai Pantsu

5 years ago

Heres hoping that it isn't anything more than a rumor. I don't want the Wii to get puched back, I want it nowwwwww!

*throws a tantrum*

Sin Ogaris

5 years ago

Consoles should just not try and innovate. Then there'd be no overheating issues, low yeild rates or faulty peripherals. Stupid console manufacturers and their notions of "furthering gaming technology".

plufim

5 years ago

Guys... it's goNintendo. They report on any retarded rumour they can find, regardless of it's lunacy. They started the "zomg Reggie's speach found in trash can" crap. They allow stupid attention seeking blogs to be the source of their stories.

Wait for that info from a reliable source.

Zarnoss

5 years ago

It doesn't make sense really if they are all coming out of the same mould, have the same internal parts and buttons then how the hell can there be such differences in some buttons working,some not /sensitivity etc.
I can understand the two butons pressed at the same time issue, but maybe that is just an oversight on nintendos behalf, like the buttons on the Dreamcast,way too spaced apart.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Spanca wrote

admeister wrote

Amen to that!

LOL!!!

Seriously i've spent the whole morning looking for that exact post so I could do exactly that!

Legend!

Infested Jibbs

5 years ago

Nah, i don't believe (all) of it.I can't see nintendo having issues with production on the physical side of things, like wonky buttons and so forth, they should be a dab hand at that by now.

The blue tooth technology and whatnot though i could somehow see that they could be grappling with it.But no way they'd have any issues with the ergonomical side of things, just the internals(if they are having any manufacturing issues at all that is).

She'll be right mate.

Zarnoss

5 years ago

/\LMAO!!@Ugh

Not only did Ugh have to have his say but also quote what he said in another post for impact value.

BWAHAHAH!!
classic.

you dill.

ooo you and a sneaky ninja edit too Ugh.

Cerebral

5 years ago

Also the post mysteriously disappeared.

It sounds like ironing out the bugs in the bluetooth system is the order of the day, as I doubt the actual controller itself would be the cause of these errors. Odd that none of the press picked this up during playtesting at E3, etc. They did admirably in the Wavebird controller, though that used RF signals.

Jim Dash

5 years ago

Good call spanca, you must've look for that for ages.

I don't get what the big deal is. So they're having difficulties? These are just ones that were hearing of, if they're true. Imagine how many we don't know about.

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Hehe....yea I was hoping no one saw that.

But yea I agree with most of ya....chances are Nintendo aren't actually having any problems at all or very minor ones at the least.

Spanca

5 years ago

Jim Dash wrote

Good call spanca, you must've look for that for ages.

Took about 30 seconds to look down the articles forum and find the one about the PS3 having production issues. It was just a matter of choosing which Wii-fan post to quote!

Frozencry

5 years ago

I see this as highly possible, so I won't be suprised if it were confirmed.

Klawrence

5 years ago

plufim wrote

umm wrong.....

A) goNintendo does not make rumors they only post them.

B) the Reggie's speach thing was posted on gonintendo by rawmeatcowboy(gonintendos sole poster at that time) who does not have enough time to post crap like that, and he even stated that it was a RUMOUR: and that he thaught it was fake?!?!?!

C) the original article is in chinese and once again rawmeatcowboy had it google translated and then asked the people on the site to have it translated further, thus proving he did not make it up.

the translator of this article even said that this could not be credited becoz the chinese media are realy dodgy and will do anything for attention, he then advised people to not trust what he had translated and to wait untill official confimation has come from Nintendo.

all proving that this isnt a media stunt by gonintendo, as for me i hope this isnt true, and believe its not as PSP's and NINTENDO WII's produced in the same factory?!?!!?! the factory not named?!?!?! Matt of ign telling us that the final wii's are being made as we speak??? he has also played the final wii hardware and said the controller feel perfectly wieghted and just plain nice, oh and the site telling the story www.pcgames.com.cn credit has not been defined.

-e- better translation:

Quote

Title: New version of PSP and Wii controller’s quality don’t meet standard, launch schedule may delay.

Last week the author has a surprised chance to pay a visit to factory that makes PSP, and interviewed a quality controller, and got to know the latest insider news of PSP production, to his surprise, Nintendo’s Wii controller production has also transfered to this factory. However, the production of the new PSP and Wii controller are not going well, Wii may delay its launch due to its controller is not up to standard.

(blah blah blah, the PSP thingy I won’t translate as I guess nobody is interested anyways XD)

Starts the 2nd page…

On Nintendo’s Wii side, there are many rumours recently that said Wii may launch earlier than expected in late Oct, in order to suppress PS3 that launches in mid-Nov, but in fact Nintendo may not have a confirmed official launch day, due to all sorts of problems related to the controller that prevented mass production.

The factory has received Wii controller’s purchasing order and its sample, but is still stucked in testing phrase. From feedbacks of testers, currently the Wiimote and nunchuck still have a lot of small issues, such as buttons aren’t sensitive, hard to press 2 buttons together, and even no response occasionally, and the current sample is easy to get damaged, using the controller in normal situation will produce some noise, etc. Entering Sept, if the above hardware problems cannot be fixed, it will directly affect Wii’s selling strategy.

Also, the factory has not received the Wii console from Nintendo yet, currently they are testing samples using a dedicated machine only for testing, which means after an up-to-standard sample is produced, it still needs to be sented back to Japan to be tested by Nintendo for the 2nd time. Wii controller uses bluetooth technology for real-time data transfer, and infrared for “space location”(space as in that Eistein(?)) guy Time-Space thingy), and the 2nd phrase of testing procedures maybe even tougher!

Joseph

5 years ago

Reports have shown that the Wii-mote has been in production for roughly a month. Only NOW is this being revealed? I highly doubt that it's true. Surly they would've delt with any errors ages ago. They've planned a press event in New York in half a month. They're planning on revealing the Wii at Tokyo Game Show to the general public (or at least some developers are). Australia's new game expos are supposedly having the Wii on show.

Once again, I highly doubt this is true.