WarioWare DS Touched in the Head

The erm....unique style of the WarioWare games has always led to odd experiences, but Gamespot is reporting a strange bug that essentially means certain Warioware DS mini-games are uncompletable if you attempt to play the game on a DS from a specific batch of handhelds. Most DSs are unaffected. From the article: "Ma-me Denkyuu (Miniature Light Bulb) - The player is supposed to draw cords to connect a light bulb to a battery, but the cords can't be drawn. Douka-sen (Fuse) - The player is supposed to draw a fuse between a bomb to a fire source, but the fuse can't be drawn. Kurai Heya (Dark Room) - The player is supposed to find a man hiding in a dark room by shining him with a flashlight for a certain amount of time, but the flashlight keeps blinking and the game can't be completed. "

Lacking in technical details

[antifoidulus]

It's hard to tell if it's a problem with those certain DSes or it's a problem with the game. If it's a problem with the DSes, why does it appear only in that game? And of course, Nintendo is only replacing the game, not the system. If it's a software problem, what makes the DSes that it affects different from all the other ones? I need details!

Re:Lacking in technical details

[jackbird]

In 6 months it will be discovered that this cartridge/handheld combination is needed to run Linux on the DS.

Re:Lacking in technical details

[MyDixieWrecked]

I never had any issues with any of the games mentioned, or any of the other games for that matter.

I got the Wario game like 2 days after it was released in a store in chinatown, and I got my DS the day it came out.

I have actually heard of this issue before, but not the details. I've only read about "problems where certain games can't be completed"

Technical explanation?

[LordOfYourPants]

Anyone have a technical explanation for why this is not the case? An alignment issue between the screen and the touchpad on top of it? A clock timing issue? A stylus issue in manufacturing? The software may be buggy but I'm wondering what kind of small margin of error in hardware exposed it.

Would have been nice if the article explained a bit more.

Clock timing

[Anonymous Coward]

If the flashlight keeps blinking in the "search in the dark" game, that means that the game is polling the touchpad more frequently than the pad refreshes its information. It polls the pad, finds no data for the stylus position, and turns off the light.

It's a little odd that the pad doesn't keep the information regarding the last touch until the next charge cycle, but I suppose that's why it's only a small portion of the DSs. Must be a difference between suppliers.

And your sources would be?

[billybob]

I like how you state this as if it's absolute fact and there could be no other explanation. It's a reasonable theory but unless you worked on the hardware for the DS or have a source that did, I have a hard time accepting it. :P

Re:PSP and DS? I will wait.

[cowscows]

Does it get the wireless multiplayer games job done? Yeah, mine doesn't either.

Re:PSP and DS? I will wait.

[Chess_the_cat]

Yeah actually it does. You just need to buy the GBA SP wireless adaptor. [lik-sang.com]

Re:PSP and DS? I will wait.

[Jagasian]

Why don't you also quote the bit-width of the DS CPU, so that you can justify to yourself how the DS is superior to the GBA.

No problem on mine.

[Mozillabird]

Is it just a bug in certain cartridges? I've played that minigame on WarioWare Touched and I didn't have any trouble with it, so it can't be on all of them.

Re:No problem on mine.

[Fred Or Alive]

Did you even read the Slashdot post, let alone the article? The problem is with certain DS consoles themselves, not the game.

IMO

[Grayskies]

This sounds like a case of last-minute firmware revisions to the touchscreens. I wonder why its not that widespread. Maybe those DSes that are affected are of a slightly older generation?

Re:IMO

[Babbster]

"Slightly older generation"? I would certainly hope not for a device that's been out, what, a month? Ouch!

Re:IMO

[Firehawke]

There's some talk on the DS hacking forums about the touchscreen having been changed between two revisions of the hardware already.

Details here [gbadev.org]

I personally plan to check my hardware very carefully when I get mine and be ready to return it if I get one of the bad units.

What the summary fails to mention...

[Bagels]

is that Nintendo is doing free replacements of the game, starting today, for all those affected. Not good that this bug wormed its way in, but still, they've got the right response to it...

Like Sony/PS2/DRE

[TechniMyoko]

Nintendo replaces cards affected by this for free. I'd say let us never speak of this again, but the DRE debate rages on...

Re:Like Sony/PS2/DRE

[Cymoro]

I'm sure we'll still be talking about the problem towards the end of the DS's lifespan when Nintendo finally releases the DSone, a smaller, more compact version of the DS, which will have problems all of its own, like faulty screens.

Re:Like Sony/PS2/DRE

[karnal]

Yea, and they'll leave out the headphone jack (ala GBA SP) too.

Re:Like Sony/PS2/DRE

[Cymoro]

Oh, don't wory about that, they'll sell something for that a week after launch.

Fix!

[B00yah]

If you go get yourself one of those stick on screen protectors (ala fellows-style for the ipaq/palm), it makes those games completable. I've also found it adds to the accuracy of the touch screen.