Hardware In Nintendo We Trust

[Clarky]

besides Nintendo managing to cripple some with firmware updates

Were those un-modded consoles?

from what I read, some were.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Not sure what all the fuss is about. Build quality of products get less and less as products become more sophisticated. This isn't just a problem with Nintendo. It's a problem with every company.

It's almost a physics problem. To get those neat new chips you need smaller connections to cram more components in, to put it in perspective look at the size of SMT parts compared to the old style of pin mounted stuff from the early 80's. SMT is lovely but it is far less durable, and with out SMT a board with the same component count these days for something like the Wii would require a power supply the size of a small fridge and a mother board the size of a dinner table....

Stone tablets be way tougher than news papers yo! lol

Edit: That and todays consoles are optical based, and that adds a metric ton of parts when compared to carts. I must admit I do miss the near instant load times playing on ye old SNES... Ahh well something is a virtue or something.

 

[tbgtbg]

Lots of people seem to believe original NES systems are built to last, my NES did not hold up, nor did a used one I bought. I did not mistreat it at all.

And yet mine's still working just fine since 86-87, no special cleaning or babying of it ever. Meanwhile I've had to replace both a PSX and a PS2 after just a few years.

 

[yuyuyup]

Lots of people seem to believe original NES systems are built to last, my NES did not hold up, nor did a used one I bought. I did not mistreat it at all.

And yet mine's still working just fine since 86-87, no special cleaning or babying of it ever. Meanwhile I've had to replace both a PSX and a PS2 after just a few years.

Well someone spilled a beer on my ps1 w/ open lid and it still worked

EDIT I'M SORRY this response is clearly off topic, please report this for immediate and embarrassing deletion

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

keeping in line with Nintendo's built quality for consoles, seeing the worst the Wii suffered was lasers going slighty dodgy with dual layer games due to crap like in the air I cannot comment on too many problems I have read about....well besides Nintendo managing to cripple some with firmware updates

WiiConnect24 overheated the graphics chip in my launch Wii, and now I have hideous mis-colored pixels when I play most any game.

Some pics I found:
http://www.cheapassg...ad.php?t=133801

And a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIPvaF_QEhQ

 

[Clarky]

WiiConnect24 overheated the graphics chip in my launch Wii, and now I have hideous mis-colored pixels when I play most any game.

good point, forgot about that one. I know it don't apply to you but it is easily avoided

 

[TripleSMoon]

WiiConnect24 overheated the graphics chip in my launch Wii, and now I have hideous mis-colored pixels when I play most any game.

I got my Wii used at GameStop this April. No idea how old of a model it is, but WiiConnect24 made it pretty damn warm on a regular basis, even when it was off. I read about this issue you described a few weeks ago, and you can bet I disabled WiiConnect24 first thing afterward. So glad I heard about it before anything bad happened.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Admittedly build quality has gone downhill a bit. Not into the "feels like cheap Chinese plastic" category but enough that it's noticeable. My GBC works just as good as it did from day one, my DS Phat is still working despite a large amount of abuse, and I've got a functioning Gamecube (well now a Dustcube) and Wii. Controller wise, all my Gamecube controllers work, all my Wii remotes work.

But I hear a lot of all-too-common horror stories about their newer handhelds. DS Lites will have hinges and/or triggers fail after two years, same with DSi's. The 3DS got a lot of flack for having the screens scratch each other and shoddy circle pads or triggers.

For the Wii U, I still don't expect "cheap Chinese plastic", I never would from Nintendo, but there is a noticeable shift in the quality of their electronics.

I'd say that has a large part of them having to change the materials they used because of activists group. But I'd still put faith in dropping my Wii/GameCube N64/3DS over dropping my PS3. Hell, I have dropped my 3DS and XL from about 5-6 feet up onto the ground with no padding, picked it up, and still works perfectly.

 

[VampireLordAlucard]

Not sure what all the fuss is about. Build quality of products get less and less as products become more sophisticated. This isn't just a problem with Nintendo. It's a problem with every company.

It's almost a physics problem. To get those neat new chips you need smaller connections to cram more components in, to put it in perspective look at the size of SMT parts compared to the old style of pin mounted stuff from the early 80's. SMT is lovely but it is far less durable, and with out SMT a board with the same component count these days for something like the Wii would require a power supply the size of a small fridge and a mother board the size of a dinner table....

Stone tablets be way tougher than news papers yo! lol

Edit: That and todays consoles are optical based, and that adds a metric ton of parts when compared to carts. I must admit I do miss the near instant load times playing on ye old SNES... Ahh well something is a virtue or something.

I somewhat disagree - there are plenty of examples where sophistication improves build quality.

• What about the Xbox 360's original 90 nm process CPU compared to the current 45 nm process CPU/GPU combo?
• Think the NES is durable? What about modern NES clones, which replicate the entire system in a single chip?
• Flash drives compared to old hard drives?
• Transistors compared to vacuum tubes?

 

[TripleSMoon]

I somewhat disagree - there are plenty of examples where sophistication improves build quality.

• What about the Xbox 360's original 90 nm process CPU compared to the current 45 nm process CPU/GPU combo?
• Think the NES is durable? What about modern NES clones, which replicate the entire system in a single chip?
• Flash drives compared to old hard drives?
• Transistors compared to vacuum tubes?

Newer 360s are simply revisions of the same hardware. Of course they're going to be able to do the exact same thing better a second time. Same how the NES top loader was a MUCH better system than the original NES (especially when it came to loading and reading carts).

Also, modern NES clones are complete crap compared to the actual NES (compatibility-wise), so I'm not sure that's a fair comparison.

Flash drives are an example of something that has gotten simpler over the years, as opposed to game consoles with tons of parts, which only get more complex over time.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I'd say that has a large part of them having to change the materials they used because of activists group. But I'd still put faith in dropping my Wii/GameCube N64/3DS over dropping my PS3. Hell, I have dropped my 3DS and XL from about 5-6 feet up onto the ground with no padding, picked it up, and still works perfectly.

Honestly Nintendo is still ranked one of the worst in using conflict materials last time I checked. So I don't see activism factoring in.

 

[TripleSMoon]

One thing I gotta say I've noticed about Nintendo is that almost every control peripheral they've made for the Wii itself feels really cheap. The wiimote itself is the exception, and feels really strong and durable. But the classic controller, classic controller pro, and ESPECIALLY the nunchuck all feel like really cheap pieces of plastic that might break at any second.

 

[Eerpow]

I'd say that has a large part of them having to change the materials they used because of activists group. But I'd still put faith in dropping my Wii/GameCube N64/3DS over dropping my PS3. Hell, I have dropped my 3DS and XL from about 5-6 feet up onto the ground with no padding, picked it up, and still works perfectly.

Honestly Nintendo is still ranked one of the worst in using conflict materials last time I checked. So I don't see activism factoring in.

Not true, it was a just a rumor started by activist groups. Their 3DS game boxes even have holes in order to waste less plastic even.

Nintendo's reply concerning conflict materials:

"All production partners have agreed to comply with our guidelines. Further, we have obtained individual confirmation from each production partner that they agree not to use conflict minerals.

Nintendo outsources the manufacture and assembly of all Nintendo products to our production partners. We established the Nintendo Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Procurement Guidelines in 2008, which were revised in 2011. Nintendo disseminated these guidelines to all of our production partners.

Nintendo's CSR Procurement Guidelines provide specific directions to our production partners regarding socially responsible procurement practices. We implemented these guidelines based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines that focus on protecting human rights, ensuring workplace safety, promoting corporate ethics, and safeguarding the environment. These guidelines include provisions on avoiding the use of conflict minerals and the importance of investigating the source of raw materials."