Hardware Weird Wii U gamepad charging cradle

[bowser]

I bought a Wii U used yesterday and it came with an official charging cradle that has some kind of computer chip on the front. Pictures in the spoiler for a side by side comparison with a normal charging cradle.

Spoiler

Is it some kind of RFID chip? I did some (brief) research about Renesas and it seems to be a Japanese chip maker that makes components for the Wii U.

 

[matt1tude]

That looks very odd, sorry i can't give you an answer. It's a very peculiar thing. May just be a very early model, like almost prototype model

 

[driverdis]

AMD Nintendo Renesas 40nm == Latte (the GPU of the Wii U) , as it is 40nm and manufactured by Renesas. now as to why a cradle has a chip on the front with that written on the dock, I have no idea.

 

[jayjay123]

Doesnt look modded either. Perhaps a collectors item

 

[jayjay123]

Doesnt look modded either. Perhaps a collectors item

 

[Elusivo]

Real chip or a hologram? looks cool tho ^^

 

[Oxybelis]

It's Latte. Anything unusual about Wii U? Old profiles?

Spoiler

 

[bowser]

Real chip or a hologram? looks cool tho ^^

It's not a hologram. There's definitely something embedded there.

 

[BMinkie]

omg cut your nails bro

probably a bootleg cradle but it does looks like it has the offical seal on the back wierd

 

[pwsincd]

looks like some kinda display model of some kinda demo issue to someone or other.

 

[pwsincd]

can you take a higher resolution picture of the chip ? its pixelated if i zoom into your image.

 

[bowser]

omg cut your nails bro
probably a bootleg cradle but it does looks like it has the offical seal on the back wierd

Yeah I knew someone was going to make a comment about the nails lol. Just me being lazy.
It's definitely not a bootleg for sure. I can tell by the quality.

can you take a higher resolution picture of the chip ? its pixelated if i zoom into your image.

The pixels are actually some kind of dotted surface over the chip below and it scratches easily. But here are (hopefully) better resolution images. I'll try to get better pictures in the daytime tomorrow.

Spoiler

 

[tbgtbg]

Have you opened it up? Is that chip actually connected to anything? I can't see what purpose such a thing would serve, and it seems otherwise that the cradle is entirely retail, no signs of it being an earlier prototype. Maybe it was some sort of gift to someone at the company who worked on that chip? Kinda weird, but only thing I can think of.

 

[genxor]

Maybe it was some sort of gift to someone at the company who worked on that chip? Kinda weird, but only thing I can think of.

Yeah, I think it looks like that for sure.

 

[jayjay123]

Have you opened it up? Is that chip actually connected to anything? I can't see what purpose such a thing would serve, and it seems otherwise that the cradle is entirely retail, no signs of it being an earlier prototype. Maybe it was some sort of gift to someone at the company who worked on that chip? Kinda weird, but only thing I can think of.

No, it won't be connected to anything... just for show. Perhaps a die-hard nintendo fan took his dead Wii-U and made that out of it lol.

 

[jayjay123]

I think I've figured it out... OP has access to a CNC and had that cut... then got local trophy shop to do the plaque which he pasted on along with a chip from an old thingamabob

So what do I win?

 

[HtheB]

Weird that no one is even bothering to ask what the chip actually does, or what purpose it is in there...... (no hype? anyone?)

 

[Gus122000]

What I can't shake off is how it says 'Arecibo' as it makes me think of the Arecibo observatory.

 

[bowser]

Weird that no one is even bothering to ask what the chip actually does, or what purpose it is in there...... (no hype? anyone?)

So I opened it up today and the chip isn't connected to anything inside. It's just embedded on the front for show. So I guess this really was just a kind of gift to someone. Hope it's a rare collector's item

 

[Foxi4]

I agree with what the others had to say - the chip on the outside is for show and the item itself is probably a display piece used on hardware presentations. Someone probably "borrowed" it from Nintendo or AMD. Nice collector's item right there.

EDIT: Considering how "nice" it looks like, it could also be a commemorative item or a prize for someone involved in the development of the Wii U, but I'd expect those to have a name printed on them as well.