Joy-Con connectivity issues have plagued Nintendo Switch owners since the launch of the console, more than two years ago. Recently, Joy-Con drift has become a topic of interest once more, due to fans vocally expressing their disappointment. With no real solution in sight, it appears that a law firm is stepping in to see if they can make things happen. The law firm, called Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP, is a three-decade old institution that focuses on class action lawsuits. According to CSK&D, they have begun an investigation into a possible class-action lawsuit against Nintendo for selling faulty Joy-Cons that have phantom input and interfere with gaming.

You can fill out the form in the link below to offer your personal experiences with your Joy-Cons to help give the firm more information to work with. If enough reports come in, then CSK&D will move forward with their lawsuit. Whether this will result in a solution or even make it to court is unclear, but the threat of legal action could perhaps spur Nintendo into coming up with a fix or revision for future Joy-con releases.

Source

 

[Paulsar99]

I remember watching this a while back and kinda makes sense the whole joycon drift thing.

 

[Foxi4]

Thanks for these technical info.

The VITA 2000 is a textbook example of faulty sticks, Nintendo just did the same.
But I see a simple way to manage it: "Software calibration"...
Just let us edit the dead zone and BAM, your "not so eternal sitcks" can be used way longer (with a simple default setting to avoid mistakes).

No stick calibration makes me think of sheer planned obsolesence.

Editing the dead zone would not solve the issue. When a carbon trace loses its structural integrity, it doesn't only change its resistance along its length, it also starts "slipping". What I mean by that is that the reading "sticks" to a certain value regardless of the position of the contact along the race - say, you push the stick up, the resistance changes, you release it, the physical stick centers, but the reading doesn't change, or changes very slowly, lagging behind the physical position of the stick. This can be remedied by replacing the faulty component, either the contact or the race, but it can't be avoided - it's normal wear and tear. Changing the dead zone won't solve your problem, the reading is permanently off. In fact, most controllers already automatically calibrate their dead zone as you use them, or at least have a high tolerance for erroneous readings, otherwise they would be extremely inaccurate. This is a handy little website I use to test gamepad inputs whenever I'm fixing controllers - grab any controller you own and I'll bet you it's not centered, even straight out of the factory.

https://html5gamepad.com/

 

[Deleted User]

Changing the dead zone won't solve your problem, the reading is permanently off. In fact, most controllers already automatically calibrate their dead zone as you use them, otherwise they would be extremely inaccurate.

https://html5gamepad.com/

Sure, but I wasn't argueing against this.
Here we have to issues:
- ghost offset (misreading while no input)
- wrong reading (misreading while input)

Calibration would solve the first one.
Auto calibration exist since dreamcast, maybe even PS1 *hitty dual shocks, but on VITA2000, it never solved anything.
Manual calibration of dead zone would give, at least, more control on weariness compensation or faulty firmware.

But you're right, you can't go against ageing, just deal with it. I'm happy with getting old btw

 

[MagnesG]

@cucholix @ploggy let's settle this once and for all!
Fuck off, Nintendo, and your cheap-ass sticks!
It's finally time for someone to put them in their place.

How does it feel being sued, huh, Nintendo?
Got a taste of the same medicine that Nintendo loves so much.
Hope they get their asses kicked as karma for what they've done to fan projects and the emulation scene.

Oh maybe they will after a few years.

 

[NoNAND]

My joycons have been acting up weirdly lately. When i got my switch they used to work flawlessly but after a year went by the drifting thing started happening. It's been bugging me ever since. Here s hoping Nintendo provides us with better joycon revisions in the near future.

 

[Foxi4]

Sure, but I wasn't argueing against this.
Here we have to issues:
- ghost offset (misreading while no input)
- wrong reading (misreading while input)

Calibration would solve the first one.
Auto calibration exist since dreamcast, maybe even PS1 *hitty dual shocks, but on VITA2000, it never solved anything.
Manual calibration of dead zone would give, at least, more control on weariness compensation or faulty firmware.

But you're right, you can't go against ageing, just deal with it. I'm happy with getting old btw

More options is more better, I can't argue with that.

 

[Pipistrele]

@cucholix @ploggy let's settle this once and for all!
Fuck off, Nintendo, and your cheap-ass sticks!
It's finally time for someone to put them in their place.

How does it feel being sued, huh, Nintendo?
Got a taste of the same medicine that Nintendo loves so much.
Hope they get their asses kicked as karma for what they've done to fan projects and the emulation scene.

As one and only mister Nintendo, I am upset by your rudeness No N64 virtual console for you, pesky young lad.

 

[Zumoly]

I think I understand now why Nintendo didn't work hard on the joy con's durability.
To sell more joy cons off course!!

 

[Clydefrosch]

Honestly, all you guys wanted sticks when pads was probably the better option for a thin partially portable system

 

[Foxi4]

Honestly, all you guys wanted sticks when pads was probably the better option for a thin partially portable system

I would like to see a return of the microswitch stick - it's infinitely more reliable than an analog stick and it can emulate it fairly well by providing 8 directions of movement in a familiar form factor. It's easily one of the highlights of the Neo Geo Pocket and I don't understand why it wasn't used more often in portable consoles. Microswitches are hard to misinterpret in terms of input, it's either a 1 or a 0, and they're very thin, so they're perfect for this application.

 

[Duo8]

I would like to see a return of the microswitch stick - it's infinitely more reliable than an analog stick and it can emulate it fairly well by providing 8 directions of movement in a familiar form factor. It's easily one of the highlights of the Neo Geo Pocket and I don't understand why it wasn't used more often in portable consoles. Microswitches are hard to misinterpret in terms of input, it's either a 1 or a 0, and they're very thin, so they're perfect for this application.

View attachment 173503

They're not analog though no?

 

[Foxi4]

They're not analog though no?

No, they're digital 8-directional switches. Quite robust, plenty accurate (you don't get full 360 degrees of movement, but 8 directions is enough for most applications) and very low-profile. Not exactly an analog stick, but if they insist on making devices that are thin to the detriment of the user, they're better. As far as I'm concerned, they could just make the console a little thicker and use a standard analog assembly.

 

[tatumanu]

This is a real issue, and quite a design flaw. Sure Nintendo fixes drifting sticks for free IF your Switch is under warranty. But for example mine started to drift as my warranty expired, so i had to get 3rd party sticks.

Another problem the flex cable that connect to the SL RL button rail. Its bent on top of the battery and it will break eventually.

ANOTHER problem, the R button is a micro trigger held to the main board by its solder points, the plastic holding it in place has a little gap meaning with a lot of use or dropping the joy con will break the micro trigger right off!

I love Nintendo and i don't think they are pulling an Apple here but this really has to be addressed in the design of the joy con.

 

[sergux]

i remember the bad feeling when i unboxed the switch, both joycons lost randomly their connection on dock mode and the left joycon drifts.
You got my axe for all the people which have a bad christmas as i had.

 

[Foxi4]

This is a real issue, and quite a design flaw. Sure Nintendo fixes drifting sticks for free IF your Switch is under warranty. But for example mine started to drift as my warranty expired, so i had to get 3rd party sticks.

Another problem the flex cable that connect to the SL RL button rail. Its bent on top of the battery and it will break eventually.

ANOTHER problem, the R button is a micro trigger held to the main board by its solder points, the plastic holding it in place has a little gap meaning with a lot of use or dropping the joy con will break the micro trigger right off!

I love Nintendo and i don't think they are pulling an Apple here but this really has to be addressed in the design of the joy con.

The bumper microswitches are mounted exactly the same way as all vertical microswitches are - using two additional pins on each side. The switches on the 360 controller are mounted the same way, it's actually fairly robust. The gap is there to allow for some flexibility - if the switch was mounted too snug, you could accidentally lift a trace. By giving it a little bit of room the microswitch will just bend back a little and, hopefully, spring back into place, but I can see what you mean - there is potential for it bending permanently depending on how ductile the metal is. They could implement a secondary vertical board to mount the microswitch flat, but I don't think it's too offensive.

As for the flex cable, I wouldn't worry about it at all - it's not a moving part, so there is no reason for it to develop a fault unless it's pinched during assembly. Flex cables fail when they're repeatedly flexed back and forth, that's why we see screen failure on clamshell systems like the DS or the 3DS whereas Circle Pad or mic faults are relatively rare unless it's the user who was messing about. Cables in general work harden, they don't disintegrate randomly.

 

[kuwanger]

True, but still, I don't seem to recall MS or Sony being sued for faulty controllers.

Microsoft ate a lot of cost to fix RROD in their push to get good PR as they wanted to expand into the video game space. I'm not sure what Sony's actual response to general issues of overheating for the PS3 or other issues Sony has had, but they're enough of a juggernaut to weather most things (like the Sony rootkit). Nintendo, though, has generally been rather good with QA to not have a systemic problem with their hardware. They're not really prepared to eat the cost and may not be able to afford it at that level.

PS - If you can find some news articles about previous Sony issues and their response or lawsuits that followed I'd be interested. I do know they've had issues in the past, but I have no idea how wide spread they were or if there was enough backlash against it to result in legal action or a company response. It sounds like this Joy-Con problem is a big issue, though.

 

[tatumanu]

The bumper microswitches are mounted exactly the same way as all vertical microswitches are - using two additional pins on each side. The switches on the 360 controller are mounted the same way, it's actually fairly robust. The gap is there to allow for some flexibility - if the switch was mounted too snug, you could accidentally lift a trace. By giving it a little bit of room the microswitch will just bend back a little and, hopefully, spring back into place, but I can see what you mean - there is potential for it bending permanently depending on how ductile the metal is. They could implement a secondary vertical board to mount the microswitch flat, but I don't think it's too offensive.

As for the flex cable, I wouldn't worry about it at all - it's not a moving part, so there is no reason for it to develop a fault unless it's pinched during assembly. Flex cables fail when they're repeatedly flexed back and forth, that's why we see screen failure on clamshell systems like the DS or the 3DS whereas Circle Pad or mic faults are relatively rare unless it's the user who was messing about. Cables in general work harden, they don't disintegrate randomly.

View attachment 173508

Thanks for the reply, my R button got bent and snapped off and i noticed that happening to many people online. After reading your reply maybe its a soldering or manufacturing problem and not a design flaw.
As for the flex cable, I had a DS with that problem, but as for the Switch, they bent the flex cable like completely over the battery so the plastic is already distorted and semi broken and with vibrations of the rumble and stuff it starts to get worse. So yeah i'm still convinced it's a design flaw just as the flex cable on the DS was totally a design flaw of the barrel holding the flex and eventually chewing it.

 

[Phenj]

As a victim of joycon drift, thank god.

 

[CoupureElectrique]

*tries to hide smile*

 

[Phenj]

Only in the USA looks like. Useless