Sony, Nintendo Announce 'Fixes' For Their Consoles

Gamasutra reports that both Nintendo and Sony still have a few kinks to work out from their newly launched systems. It may seem funny to an onlooker, but the spectacular Wii strap blowouts are being taken very seriously by Nintendo. People are evidently 'even more excited' by playing the little white console than the company anticipated, and they're investigating the possibility that the straps aren't strong enough. Meanwhile, Sony has updated the PS3's firmware to 1.30 in an effort to take care of the much-complained-about resolution scaling issues. Ars Technica (and several other sites) are saying that the fix doesn't really do anything, despite Sony's reassurances. From that article: "The priority of resolutions has been changed, putting 1080i over 720p. So if you prefer 720p as a resolution, be sure to uncheck 1080i as a possible resolution on your television, or else games that support both resolutions will automatically display at 1080i. Of course, if you uncheck 1080i as a resolution, your Blu-ray movies will display at 480p. So you'll have to just manually switch the resolution yourself depending on what you're doing ... If you have a 720p set, not only has Sony not fixed the scaling issues, they've made the process of playing games and watching movies less user friendly. Sony really wants you to upgrade into a 1080p set, and they seem to want to punish you if you don't have one."

Sony...

[Mysteerie (972719)]

Sony, fix the price first!

Re:Sony...

[DotWarner (56614)]

Yeah, Sony, fix the price! You've already got all that experience doing it in the music industry, so it should be easy!

Re:

[SatanicPuppy (611928)]

If they sold out on the first day, then the price wasn't too high...They probably could have sold them at cost on day 1, and still sold out at the same speed.

I think they're gambling that the hardcore, early adoption crowd will keep buying until they've sold enough to be able to lower the price, and there is no guarantee that they're wrong.

Re:Sony...

[SatanicPuppy (611928)]

Just because Supply and Demand don't always make sense, doesn't make the relationship any less real. The eBay sales are proof that, based on demand, the price wasn't near high enough, and there is nothing immoral about Sony charging what the market will bear...Not like there isn't cheaper competition.

Now, you may say that people who pay thousands of dollars for a game console are ridiculous, but people have been paying a hell of a lot more than that for gaming computers for years, and if you view the PS3 as a midrange gaming computer, it's dirt cheap.

Heh. I sound like a Sony fanboi...I have zero plans to buy a PS3/360/Wii any time soon, I just think they're taking way the hell too much flak for a price point that is selling out. That should be the goal for any company.

"even more excited"

[Threni (635302)]

Nintendo may call it "even more excited", but the UK Sale Of Goods Act calls it "not fit for the purpose intended" and would entitle the consumer to their money back from the retailer. So yes, better to get it sorted.

Re:

[hibiki_r (649814)]

The thing is, people in Europe that have managed to get a Wii before the street date claim that the remotes come with a sturdier strap, about twice as wide as the American one, so UK gamers will have little to worry about.

Re:

[LordVader717 (888547)]

Wow, that's a relief. I think it even makes up for the $83 extra we're paying.

Re:

[darthservo (942083)]

IMO, people don't need to be getting "even more excited." I have four Wiimotes myself, used fairly equally, and not one of them shows sign of wear. All the people I've played with use them balanced - not swinging too hard, but enough to register movement and feel like part of the game.

I received the email that Nintendo sent out yesterday regarding safety information. The points that were made were:

• Always use the wrist strap, even when sharing a controller
• Don't ever let go of the Wiimote, purosefully (y

Re:

[Chris Burke (6130)]

Nintendo is generally responsive to this kind of thing, even if they could be excused for not thinking it was actually their fault (do makers of baseball equipment get sued when someone lets go of a bat and it hits something?).

Back when Mario Party 1 came out, and there were the analog stick spinning games, Nintendo received many complaints from players getting blisters in the middle of their palm, since the fastest way to spin the stick was to put your palm on it and move your hand in circles. I myself go

It's time to stop the lawsuits

[ShadowsHawk (916454)]

There's a warning screen before each game to tightly grip the Wiimote. I wouldn't blame Nintendo for my inability to grip an object. On a related note, society on the whole is far to sue happy and I'm of the opinion that they should institute a mandatory penalty for bringing frivolous law suits.

MOD PARENT UP

[by Anonymous Coward]

Suggesting that Nintendo needs to be sued because people misuse the product, to a degree far enough beyond sensibility that it is almost laughable, makes me want to suggest suing microwave manufacturers because microwaving a baby makes a real mess.

Re:MOD PARENT UP

[poot_rootbeer (188613)]

Nintendo has been very adament about using the seatbelts provided with the controller, but the seatbelts break anyways and take out thousand dollar TVs with them. I'm not sure why you're laughing.

I don't know why the other guy is laughing, but I'M laughing at the dopes with broken thousand-dollar TV's because they somehow thought that the motor skills they developed as toddlers were no longer applicable.

If you do not maintain a grip on an object in your hand, it will not stay in your hand. The wrist lanyard was never intended to be a primary restraint.

Re:come on

[Sparr0 (451780)]

I disagree about the sole use of the lanyard. I think it is specifically for keeping the wiimote handy while you grab your soda, or pick your nose, or whatever. It is NOT a restraint device. It is the *EXACT SAME THING* that has been on every digital camera ever. It is meant to save the camera when you drop it, NOT save the guy you try to throw the camera AT.

Re:

[justchris (802302)]

Not quite. The straps they use are rated for a certain force. If you exceed that force, the strap will break. None of the reports say the strap just snapped, in each case, the player did not simply let go of the controller, but were actually swinging it with force at the time it left their hand. Even the "snakey metal" you speak of, has a rating beyond which it will snap. Using a stronger strap would guarantee nothing, and Nintendo would still have to educate people not to release the controller when t

Re:

[Cheapy (809643)]

Sterilization?

Re:

[GrayCalx (597428)]

On a related note, society on the whole is far to sue happy and I'm of the opinion that they should institute a mandatory penalty for bringing frivolous law suits.

How dare you insinuate I'm sue happy... you'll be hearing from my lawyer.

no lawsuit but a fix is needed.

[Darthmalt (775250)]

It's not Nintendo's fault people are getting overzealous however based on these reports they should make a stronger strap available for people who already have a Wii to purchase at a reasonable price the current strap costs what maybe a dollar to manufacture? And start making the new and improved strap stock on all new consoles manufactured. They could even pull off a great cheap PR stunt and send free replacement straps to current Wii owners.

If Nintendo is smart they will milk this for all that

Cushy retirement job

[DingerX (847589)]

Okay, so before it was: "If my machine doesn't show 1080p, fall back on 720p, and 1080i (only) is screwed". Now it's "If my machine doesn't show 1080p, fall back on 1080i, and everyone else is screwed".

So it went from a minor annoyance to a severe problem?

Who put Don Rumsfeld in charge of patches?

Re:Cushy retirement job

[WidescreenFreak (830043)]

"Well, there are known knowns and known unknowns. The 1080p to 720p problem was a known known, but the 1080p to 1080i problem was a known unknown. But, we didn't know that it was a known unknown until it became a known known. But the best solution is still unknown, apparently."
-- D. Rumsfeld on the Sony high-def concerns

Oldie but Goldie

[Veetox (931340)]

You think there's any chance that the Nintendo Power Glove will be resurrected?

You know...

[Kirin Fenrir (1001780)]

Sony actually has good hardware with the PS3, despite all the FUD. But if they don't pull their heads out of the sand and overhaul the software, they're going to lose a lot of customers.

I am a PS3 owner. Wake up, Sony.

Re:

[Mex (191941)]

Sony has ALWAYS has great hardware.

It's their software that leaves a lot to be desired. I shall leave it to other slashdotters to make a list of all the things Sony does wrong on the software side (beginning with DRM...)

Re:You know...

[KDR_11k (778916)]

Sony has ALWAYS has great hardware.

You don't have anything from the Playstation product line I take it?

Re:You know...

[Afrosheen (42464)]

I'm a PS3 owner that has had one since November 17th. No waiting in line on that day, just a nice preorder (5th place) so it was a stroll into the shop at 9am. Now for the gripes.

  Here's what Sony needs to fix that I've uncovered so far.

1. Allow background downloading from the PS3 network. Every device known to man that's internet-enabled can do more than one thing at a time. There's no excuse for this.
2. Upscale my DVDs. I know, you want me to buy Blu-Ray discs, and I plan to, but meanwhile I have a whole library of titles that are constrained to the shitty 480p resolution. Why? Everyone and their dog makes upscaling DVD players nowadays. All I'm asking for is 720p.
3. Upscale my PS2 games. I don't want to play Final Fantasy XII or anything else in 480i or 480p, so why force me? Also can you do something about the fact that all the games look *worse* than the original PS2?
4. Fix the bluetooth controller issues. More than once I've been in a firefight in Resistance, only to have my dude stare at the ground and strafe hard left. Unacceptable. In NES parlance I'd call it a controller-thrower moment.
5. Is there even one good reason why every video I watch, be it Blu-Ray or DVD, needs to be letterboxed? Hello..there are like 80 lines missing from the top and the bottom of every movie. Widescreen video on widescreen set should not equal letterboxing.
6. Digital optical audio output. Why is this such a problem on the PS3? Sometimes I get no sound..most of the time I do. I was playing 2 player coop with my friend on Resistance..and one level had no sound except for a dude yelling commands/comments at us in game. The next level, the sound was back. WTF?

  This is about all I can think of right now. Some should be easy fixes, others who knows.

Blame CinemaScope

[tepples (727027)]

Is there even one good reason why every video I watch, be it Blu-Ray or DVD, needs to be letterboxed? Hello..there are like 80 lines missing from the top and the bottom of every movie. Widescreen video on widescreen set should not equal letterboxing.

Your TV is 1.78:1. A lot of widescreen movies are shot in 2.40:1 and transferred to DVD with black letterbox bars to pad it out to 1.78:1. Blame CinemaScope for introducing 2.40:1.

Heh...

[Otter (3800)]

People are evidently 'even more excited' by playing the little white console than the company anticipated, and they're investigating the possibility that the straps aren't strong enough.

Even by Zonk standards, this is some impressive spinning -- it's not a defect, it's just that the fantasticness of the Wii is so all-encompassing that the designers couldn't have anticipated how much players would love it!

Microsoft should have come up with that: "Players are so exhilarated by the 360 that they can sometimes set the carpet on fire!"

Re:

[Vo0k (760020)]

OTOH

Nintendo execs have acknowledged media reports of uncoordinated gamers causing damage to televisions, furniture and even fellow players.

But NOT to the wiimote which goes flying at high speed -every- time this happens and causes the whole damage to hardware and wetware mentioned! Now that's some bulletproof device!

Re:

[Shados (741919)]

Hahaha...lets send a few batches of Wiimotes to reinforce the suits of soldiers at war. A couple of Wiimotes strapped all over should garentee they come back alive.

Re:

[Bastian (66383)]

I'm not going to straight up say RTFA, but that sentence was just a paraphrase of Nintendo's spin-laden comments, not Zonk's own spinning. Give credit where credit is due.

Re:

[Otter (3800)]

I did straight-up RTFA, and would suggest that Gamasutra and Zonk each inserted their own preposterously positive spin on top of Nintendo's already preposterously positive spin. I mean, just the part I quoted is 89% Zonk, and 4% of the remaining 11% is a word he inserted into a supposed quote from Iwata.

Re:

[Programmer_In_Traini (566499)]

>>Even by Zonk standards, this is some impressive spinning -- it's not a defect, it's just that the fantasticness of the Wii is so all-encompassing that the designers couldn't have anticipated how much players would love it!

damn, that's a good post LOL

Re:

[Aladrin (926209)]

Oh, where are the mod points when you need them. -finishes laughing before he dies of asphyxiation-

Re:

[HappySqurriel (1010623)]

Honestly, I don't see the problem ...

I don't even use the strap and have yet to come close to doing something which would require a strap to prevent from throwing the Wiimote. You would have to be doing something pretty stupid ( http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/11/29 [penny-arcade.com] ) to put enough force behind the Wiimote to throw it, break the strap and break your TV.

Re:

[Babbster (107076)]

Or you are a little kid, or you have some carpal tunnel, or you have some arthritis, or you just generally have some trouble with gripping/coordination and haven't gotten used yet to moving your hand/arm around in the fashion encouraged by the Wiimote.

Why is that just because one person doesn't have a particular issue, that means that anyone who does have the issue is either dumb or "doing something pretty stupid?" I mean, clearly Nintendo saw losing the Wiimote during play as a possibility or there wou

Re:

[DotWarner (56614)]

Yes, but if you quote that one, you have to give equal time to this one, too... http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/11/13 [penny-arcade.com]

Re:

[MemoryDragon (544441)]

I did not know that Zonk and Myiamoto were the same persons, thanks for enlighting me.

What spin?!

[WidescreenFreak (830043)]

No, I'm sorry, but I don't agree at all that this is some type of spin. Nintendo designed the Wiimote to what they felt would be appropriate safety standards when used responsibly and with a modicum of common sense. How exactly it is their fault that a bunch of people are far too overzealous for their own good? The strap is there for backup. The Wiimote should never have left the people's hands in the first place.

This whole thing might convince me to put some adhesive rubber strips on the Wiimote for a better grip, (get your minds out of the gutter, guys...) but it's not Nintendo's fault if I act like a freaking maniac and the Wiimote flies out of my hand because I'm swinging it faster than I should or need to.

As far as I'm concerned, Nintendo is taking the high road by saying that they're going to look at making the wrist straps more secure whereas they could just as easily say, "The Wiimote wrist strap was not designed for people who don't know how to control themselves properly" and leave it at that.

And, no, that's not a troll or a flame. I'm just so tired of people pushing things beyond their limit of tolerance due to their own lack of self-control and common sense then blaming the manufacturer for it. If you buy a car, never take it out of first gear, red-line the engine by going 50 MPH, and end up in the hospital when the engine explodes, that's not the car manuacturer's fault for not making the engine more tolerant of your bad actions.

Nintendo just gained some credibility in my book.

As for Microsoft, I'm not as willing to let them off the hook. People have been putting consoles on the floor since the days of the Atari 2600, so that is not an unrealistic expectation. Yet Microsoft designed the 360 and its power supply to be a small toaster oven. They could have put a bit more planning into the heating/cooling system of the 360.

Re:What spin?!

[rlp (11898)]

Nintendo designed the Wiimote to what they felt would be appropriate safety standards when used responsibly and with a modicum of common sense.

And then released it to the gaming public!! The height of irresponsibility!

Re:

[Kris_J (10111)]

No, the spin is that the Wii's minor physical issue with a very small number of people losing grip of the controller is somehow comparable to the several patches Sony have had to release for the PS3.

If you look...

[Shados (741919)]

If you look at a wiimote from the more recent batches (especialy if its one that got sent by nintendo because of a defect or another, as a replacement), and compare the straps, the newer wiimotes have much, much better straps. So its already fixed in the newer batches, as far as I can tell.

Re:

[onosendai (79294)]

The Australi released console (and I'll predict Euro as they're probably the same package) straps don't seem to be anywhere near as weak as the stories of the US release makes out

Re:If you look...

[Trigun (685027)]

They didn't expect Americans to be fit enough to smash a television, and even should the unthinkable happen, the player would surely die of the shock of destroying his God.

Ooh, I'm going to hear it for that one.

Fix Your Wiimote

[eldavojohn (898314)]

If you're honestly worried about the strap breaking on your Wiimote, check out this quick how-to [flickr.com] on flickr. Just use some heavy duty fly fishing line to reinforce it.

Re:

[The-Bus (138060)]

I'd also recommend the $9-10 "controller gloves" that they sell as the rubberized grip is much more comfortable. They also come with an extra strap.

Buying some grip tape from a sports store would probably be just as good.

When you said 'fix'...

[maniac/dev/null (170211)]

I was hoping this there would be news of a Wii system update, perhaps to allow the Classic Controller to be used with Gamecube games on the Wii. As it is, you have to use a Gamecube controller. The Classic has all the buttons you would need, even the analog-style L and R triggers, but for some reason, it is not set up that way. I really don't want to buy a Wavebird, and I really REALLY don't want an ugly dongle sticking out of the top of my nice new Wii.

Fix the Wii`s European Virtual console

[palad1 (571416)]

The european virtual console is stuck @ 50 hertz, the games are about 15% slower and the screen has ugly black borders around it.

As much as I am a nintendo fanboy, I really must admit they badly botched the it on this one...

So please make eu games run @60Hz and use the overscan... pretty please?

Sony got it right - for me

[Murrow (144634)]

I'm a PS3 owner, and the new settings are the right ones for my non-1080p HDTV. So, I'm happy with them. The better choice, of course, is to make these choices more user configurable so people can get the mode they prefer for each situation.

I'm a little miffed that when a patch comes out they force me to install it before I can log into the playstation network. This patch had nothing to do with networking. Of course, the 360 works the same way.

Re:foobar

[dj961 (660026)]

Welcome to the world of console gaming, now with patches.

Re:foobar

[payndz (589033)]

This is something I seriously don't get about the latest generation of consoles. Every previous generation, one of the plus points was that once you buy the console, that's it - everything Just Works (tm Apple). Now the first thing you have to do when you switch on is download patches? WTF?

How long before the first console game that requires patches just to get rid of all the v1.0 gameplay bugs?

Re:

[Control Group (105494)]

Gears Of War required a patch on release day.

HTH
HAND