Increasing anecdotal reports claim Wii Us are bricking themselves from inactivity

[phart010 | 1,707]

5 hours ago, DarkTone said:

Nintendo knew they fucked up. Then ported a majority to switch because they knew. 

I don’t agree. Because if it’s true what they are saying and Switch cartridges suffer from the same fate, then having porting the games to switch only extends the lifespan of the games by another 5-10 years 

[Teh_Lurv | 254]

1 hour ago, phart010 said:

I don’t agree. Because if it’s true what they are saying and Switch cartridges suffer from the same fate, then having porting the games to switch only extends the lifespan of the games by another 5-10 years 

Maybe that's why Nintendo supposedly pushed back the Switch 2; they're positioning the launch for when all the Switch games get Thanos snapped and consumers will have to re-buy the Switch 2 remakes. 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

3 hours ago, phart010 said:

I don’t agree. Because if it’s true what they are saying and Switch cartridges suffer from the same fate, then having porting the games to switch only extends the lifespan of the games by another 5-10 years 

Well, I mean, in all seriousness, this fits Nintendo's M.O. of "let's sell them the same software as many times as we can" to an absolute T.  If they accidentally stepped into using industry standard technology that automatically kills off consumers' ability to re-play their old games, a big chunk of their job is already done without needing to lift a finger. 

Realistically, I don't think they would have to have known, as virtually every reputable electronics company will do stress/age testing on all of their hardware, and how do you test for what happens with non-powered RAM chips over times beyond letting them sit unpowered?  They might have discovered this issue before consumers started running across it and stayed mum about it (which would make sense from the perspective of them trying to avoid a recall/lawsuit/etc.), but I don't think this is something they really could have anticipated beforehand, otherwise there would have been all sorts of articles from various technology experts, industry experts, Nintendo's competitors, etc. at launch, not more than a deacde later.

[phart010 | 1,707]

1 hour ago, darkchylde28 said:

Well, I mean, in all seriousness, this fits Nintendo's M.O. of "let's sell them the same software as many times as we can" to an absolute T.  If they accidentally stepped into using industry standard technology that automatically kills off consumers' ability to re-play their old games, a big chunk of their job is already done without needing to lift a finger. 

Realistically, I don't think they would have to have known, as virtually every reputable electronics company will do stress/age testing on all of their hardware, and how do you test for what happens with non-powered RAM chips over times beyond letting them sit unpowered?  They might have discovered this issue before consumers started running across it and stayed mum about it (which would make sense from the perspective of them trying to avoid a recall/lawsuit/etc.), but I don't think this is something they really could have anticipated beforehand, otherwise there would have been all sorts of articles from various technology experts, industry experts, Nintendo's competitors, etc. at launch, not more than a deacde later.

I agree they knew that electronic chips holding a charge will eventually lose charge rendering them useless. This has been known like forever. 

The part that I disagreed is that they were “scheming” to make Wii U’s that fail after a certain amount of time so that they can resell the titles on Switch.

As far as Nintendo is concerned, the Wii U sales numbers were so insignificant that they had to re-release all of the titles. The fact that chips and hardware dies off was most likely not even a consideration in the decision to re-release Wii U titles.

The fact that chips are losing charge already is pretty concerning though. Industry standards for the lifespans of these type of products have never really been officially defined, but up until now it has always been 20+ years. That’s really important because if your gonna spend the money to build up a software library for a system, the consumer should have some assurance that their libraries won’t become obsolete for a reasonable amount of time.  

If Wii U’s are already going dead after only around 8-11 years, this is a big shift away from previous lifespan expectations for game consoles. I wonder if any similar system dependent chips were used in the Switch.

I wonder what is going to happen to sealed collecting on Switch with people knowing that the game inside of the sealed plastic will eventually go obsolete if it doesn’t get energized every now and then

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by phart010

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

38 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I agree they knew that electronic chips holding a charge will eventually lose charge rendering them useless. This has been known like forever. 

The part that I disagreed is that they were “scheming” to make Wii U’s that fail after a certain amount of time so that they can resell the titles on Switch.

Ok, I get what you're saying, but there's one very important, very significant piece of information that so far, everyone has either ignored or totally left out of the conversation.

To date, no one has actually confirmed that the "NVRAM is blanking itself" is the issue here.

Please note the title of this thread--anecdotal reports.  Unless someone with the hardware and expertise to pop off the chips, read them, then compare what's on them to working, "known good" examples comes along and presents their evidence (preferably multiple examples of such), we really don't know for certain what's going on.

I don't think that NIntendo was "scheming" at all, but if what people think is happening is actually happening (cheap/substandard NVRAM is failing at a faster rate than what would normally be expected), then it benefits Nintendo in at least two ways.  One, because their old consoles will die and holdouts on that platform will be forced/more heavily encouraged to move along to the next one.  And two, they'll get to sell Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Metroid, etc., all over again to the same people who buy whatever the new Nintendo console is but end up wanting to just replay the old classics, netting Nintendo free money--again.  Nintendo is unlikely to speak up on this until some sort of formal evidence is offered, most likely in the form of a lawsuit against them, because it would not only give them all sorts of bad PR, but also expose them to the responsibility of doing the equivalent of an automotive recall.  Nintendo already "suffered" from having to give out tons of $5 coupons in the late 80s/early 90s due to monopolistic practices, so I imagine that they're not looking to issuing any such big payout once again, especially now that they're such a far more amazing monetary position than they were then, all the while playing up the role of the "underdog" in the console world.

48 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I wonder what is going to happen to sealed collecting on Switch with people knowing that the game inside of the sealed plastic will eventually go obsolete if it doesn’t get energized every now and then

There was a poll about more or less this exact topic (non-Switch-specific) and, at least on VGS, the vast majority of sealed collectors don't give two shits about whether the game inside the box works, so long as whatever is inside never breaks loose, rattles, or bleeds through the packaging to indicate that any such issue is there.  Anything else can be ignored, like the proverbial ostrich sticking its head in the sand.  If you're never going to open it and play it, it apparently doesn't matter, creating the situation of Shrodinger's Game.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

Is it enough that I keep both of my Wii U's plugged in? I don't turn either on often, but they do have power a lot of times.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

1 minute ago, goldenpp72 said:

Is it enough that I keep both of my Wii U's plugged in? I don't turn either on often, but they do have power a lot of times.

Based on the tecnical specs of the chips, yes, if they're plugged in, the chips will have some measure of power and should be fine.  With that being said, people having "partial" issues ("bad" spots in the internal storage) should be able to cure it, if the nand's power slowly depleting is the problem, simply by re-flashing their firmware on the system.  That should rewrite all of it and start anew.  As for "bricked" systems, I imagine Nintendo probably has some sort of "programmer" disc fo them that will load the code necessary to get the thing booting and imagine that they likely come blank straight from manufacturing.  I saw a couple of YouTube videos a while back about a Wii console that was like this, where the guy bought it "new" at a flea market and it turned out that it was a system that had missed having the firmware flashed onto the system at the factory via disc, so he had to hunt up one of those to get the job done.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

Just for a data point. Plugged in my Wii U for the first time in 4-5yrs and it worked fine. But dam! I forgot how slow it was to open new apps/games on it

[OptOut | 8,889]

Time since @OptOut never bothered buying a Wii U : 3,779 days and counting... 

[Tanooki | 4,939]

So what you're saying is, OptOut OptedOut on a Nintendo OptOut.  Got it.

[Teh_Lurv | 254]

The video game preservation community works quick: There is now a way to unbrick memory corrupted Wii Us using a Raspberry Pi Pico:

 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

1 hour ago, Teh_Lurv said:

The video game preservation community works quick: There is now a way to unbrick memory corrupted Wii Us using a Raspberry Pi Pico:

 

I saw that, but sadly it's not guaranteed a solution to the stated problem, although it does apparently fix the couple of codes specifically being shown in the thumbnail (which only show up if the system isn't completely bricked due to nand corruption).  Here's hoping he gets his hands on a system that truly has had nand corruption/failure so that further actual research can be done on this issue.

[TDIRunner | 2,744]

On 3/23/2023 at 6:27 PM, LeatherRebel5150 said:

I forgot how slow it was to open new apps/games on it

At least you get a neat picture and sometimes some cool music while you wait.  

[a3quit4s | 4,103]

Have no fear folks Voultar is on this, man is a legend. 
 

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2023/03/modder-is-resurrecting-dead-wii-u-consoles-with-free-nand-rebuilder?utm_campaign=promoted-articles&utm_medium=homepage-listing&utm_source=nintendolife.com

[Jmbarnes101 | 56]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:31 PM, Tanooki said:

You're likely close.  Yoshi is stuck on the 3DS, and I think one other was too.  But the rest with 1st party games, and the few odd unique 3rd party titles have moved over to the switch.  The obvious stand out to me that didn't, but is even more widely thrown about as it's on PC etc now is the ZombiU game as it got converted and spread.  Star Fox Zero is the big loss at this rate if I remember right.  That would need some retooling due to the crappily forced touch mechanics into the game, but it could be done if they wished it.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Nintendo Land, and Game & Wario are the other 1st party games that won’t be available anywhere else along with StarFox Zero. I like my Wii U though I was also disappointed with it’s lack of longevity which led me to not being overly zealous to pick up a Switch for a couple years. 

[Tanooki | 4,939]

@Jmbarnes101 Oh hey, forgot about rainbow curse, not the other two.  I figured G&W would be easily converted if they chose to, same with Kirby really.  Yes they're touch games, but a mode could be added or just have it be a off screen adventure which while rare isn't a new thing.  Same though, I was put off by Switch before hand, only giving them the benefit of the doubt when I learned it was a wickedly well powerful and easily ported to handheld.  It felt like they learned their lesson after that pasting last generation.

[phart010 | 1,707]

19 hours ago, Jmbarnes101 said:

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Nintendo Land, and Game & Wario are the other 1st party games that won’t be available anywhere else along with StarFox Zero. I like my Wii U though I was also disappointed with it’s lack of longevity which led me to not being overly zealous to pick up a Switch for a couple years. 

A successful system launch is extremely important. If the system doesn’t do well in the first 1-2 years, it’s basically dead. Any additional efforts poured into it are basically going into a money pit.

Developers are not going to waste their resources developing or porting games to a system with small userbase. And people won’t want to buy the system due to lack of software.

Wii U had a poor launch and Nintendo knew it early on. They couldn’t move on to the Switch right away because they wanted to make sure they did everything right with the Switch

Edited April 7, 2023 by phart010

[Reed Rothchild | 9,549]

16 minutes ago, phart010 said:

A successful system launch is extremely important. If the system doesn’t do well in the first 1-2 years, it’s basically dead

3DS?

Mega fail in year one, but they mostly turned it around.  Didn't have the DS' absurd numbers, but it ended very respectfully.

[Tanooki | 4,939]

Well while I agree, I wouldn't call it mega.  The 3DS did have a lot of key primary franchise titles pop up early on from various third parties.  What kicked the crap out of it was being $80 more than it should have been, hence, ambassador program.  It stalled sales no doubt, but it had the games.  PiiU had neither.