Nintendo Wii Fanboy

It's time for our irregular check-in: how's things with your Wii? Any difficulties? Broken straps or remotes? Disc read errors? We've certainly seen fewer problems than with certain other systems, but that doesn't mean they don't happen. Share your lamentations and horror stories. Our sympathies are with you.

[Image from one early story here.]

Brian McConnell left his son, Adam, alone with a game of Wii Sports: Tennis for only a few moments to fetch a drink, but that was all the time the little demon needed. Not even a Wii remote strap could've saved Brian's plasma TV once the three-year-old set his mind on avenging a lost match.

Brian came back to the living room to find his £1,000 television ruined, its 42-inch screen bashed by his Wiimote-wielding progeny. Queue up the darth_vader_nooo.jpg images.

The forgiving father let Adam off the hook with only a light lecture and a two-week Wii ban. That's a lot more lenient than the hanging, drawing, and quartering punishment one of our NintenDadz would've sought.

[Via Engadget]

It's been a while since we asked, and while we hate to think of dead Wiis and broken nunchuks, we're sure there are a few out there. Some of them probably even belong to you guys. As much as it must hurt to discuss it, tell us your horror stories. We want to hear about your disc read errors and flailing, overzealous friends. Give us your bricks and your replacement stories, and we'll give you sympathy in return.

When it comes to your Wii, have you had to replace anything yet? We're not talking about televisions here (let's hope you're not one of those victims), but actual system-related gear. Any controller malfunctions? We're particularly concerned about the cord connecting the remote and nunchuk -- it seems just a little short in moments of excitement, but maybe we flail a little too enthusiastically. What about the sensor bar? Any ripped cords or crushed plastic? Any problems with the system itself so far? Not anything that was broken out of the box, mind you, and not errors, but things you had to replace due to failure. Yeah, we know, it's specific. But we're curious about how long all these little items are going to last, since the controllers aren't exactly cheap. So how are they doing so far?

Since the release of the Wii, we've gotten a few e-mails from people reporting that they've had various problems with their systems -- and we're not talking straps here, but actual technical difficulties. In light of that, we figured it was a good time to open the floor to everyone and ask: have you had any issues with your Wii? Controllers not working, discs not reading, tears, recriminations, explosions ... any problems at all? If so, we want to hear about it.

Certainly, the Wii isn't having the technical issues that the Xbox 360 had at launch. Still, no batch of hardware is without defect, and scattered reports from around the country bring several issues into the harsh light of reality.

The first issue, and perhaps most prevalent, is a recent WiiConnect24 update causing recurrent error codes for any and all online functionality. It only happens to a few, causing error codes 110213 and 32002 (how many errors can this thing have?). The solution? If you don't mind losing saved data (and most importantly, Virtual Console games, which are tied to a specific system), you can contact Nintendo and they'll send you a new unit within 3 to 4 business days. The other is a bit trickier; you'll have to contact Nintendo and have them send you a shipping label, with which you may send your Wii off to repair-land. This option will take at least two weeks, so it's best avoided.

Another problem seems to stem not from the Wii, but from the power supply and adapter. If you have a voltmeter handy (and you should!) you can check if the adapter if properly outputting power. If you believe this is the problem, there's a handy fix-it-yourself solution: while the Gamecube power supply doesn't quite fit into the Wii, you can make it fit. Here's some advice from reader Jay:

"I took a knife and bent out the plastic sides in order to get it to fit into the Wii. Make sure to put positive w/ positive and negative w/ negative, which is listed on the the back of the brick. But, if you're lazy, the flat (read: not round/circular) side goes in to side which has like and angled cut off piece. Well lo and behold, the red standby light turned on and the Wii worked! [By the way], the modded adapter sill works in the Gamecube, but you may have to tape it in to make sure it doesn't fall out."

Rock on, Jay. Are you guys having any other problems, and if so, do you have some possible solutions?

[Image courtesy of smashmywii.com, which, by the way, has their official video available for download.]

[Oh, and thanks Jay!]

Brooke Burgess, the individual behind Broken Saints, recently took part in an audio interview with gaming site Cubed3. The obvious question came up regarding a Wii version of the game and how far along in development it is and like a champ, Brooke implied that a version of the game will be making its way to the console.

"I can't confirm much. The reason is I'm under a series of NDAs, which will tell you something!"

For those of you looking to bypass the login process, go here and right-click, save as on the link.

[Via NeoGAF]

A trailer has popped up on You Tube showing the trailer that was unveiled during the recent comics convention known as Comic-Con in San Diego. Some of the video's segments look like in-game footage and overall the trailer shows some very inspired artistic styles, so color us interested in Broken Saints: The Game.

The video might be considered NSFW for a short clip of a naked lady from a distant view, so keep that in mind before clicking on to watch the video embedded in the second half of this post.

[Via Codename Revolution]