I wanted to take a few moments to clarify a story that was posted a few days ago, "Super Smash Bros. Brawl errors: More than meets the eye." Written by Ron "I called the Wii nunchuck a Wiichuck" Workman, this post has drawn a lot of ire and even caused a bit of confusion, so I do feel it necessary to clear a few things up.
If anything, Ron's post needs to be viewed as an "investigative" piece, and should not be taken as official information and/or confirmation from Nintendo. In his own words, Ron did some "Matlockery" into the situation that has been arising with Super Smash Bros. Brawl disc errors on the Wii console. In the original article, Ron cites a few unnamed sources as well as some anecdotal evidence to make his point that Nintendo's position regarding "contamination" on the lens may not be the only reason behind these disc errors.
To be clear, Nintendo has not officially gone on record regarding percentages or numbers of users who have experienced Super Smash Bros. Brawl errors in Japan or North America. A spokesperson for Nintendo of America has issued the following statement on the matter:
Nintendo of America has received some reports that a very small number of Wii consoles cannot properly read the dual-layered disc for the new Super Smash Bros. Brawl game. Upon examination, Nintendo has preliminarily determined that this disc-read error is caused by the soiling of the consoles’ optical lens by environmental factors such as excessive dust and cigarette smoke. Nintendo is offering to clean these systems free of charge, and recommends that consumers do not attempt to clean the systems on their own. Information regarding the cleaning service can be found at support.nintendo.com or by calling customer service at 1-800-255-3700.
While I will always back Ron (or any other writer on Destructoid) and his sources, his original article should be viewed as investigative and purely speculative. We're sorry if this has caused any confusion or if it made baby kittens cry.
Contest:
2:45 PM on 03.13.2008
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Ron has to buy me a beer, though. An imported one!
That's only a temporary fix though and if you send it in it's a free repair from Nintendo, with free shipping. If you really want to play Smash now, give it a try before you ship off your Wii.
If the thing needs to be sent in to be cleaned, then perhaps Nintendo needs to physically do some work under the hood...
This is something Ron brought up in his story, and something Nintendo wouldn't comment on. (Trust me, I tried.)
Nintendo just sent me an email saying its being worked on at the moment, so I'm being patient... now.
Baby kittens! Did you try them?
Thanks for the update, I didn't read the original article.
If Nintendo is skirting the issue, then I guess that's all that needs to be said.
Shameless plug time: The next episode of Failcast, which should be out later today, has a special segment where we let Mr. Workmeng himself talk about this very issue... CHECK IT OUT
I hate Nintendo fanboys, they're so out of touch with reality.
This wasn't really a correction, it was more of a clarification. Ron will admit as much, he's not a journalist ... he's simply Ron Workman. That said, Ron is an extremely intelligent guy who has connections and an insight into this industry that (regardless of how it's presented) shouldn't be entirely ignored.
Also, I have sixteen copies of Metal Gear Solid 4 on the 360 sitting right here on my desk.
You should have used bottled air. Canned air has metal shavings that shred lenses on a molecular level.
Regardless of what the solution is, I gave in for a refurbished Wii.
So much for "free"
Cunts.
The stupid press release above pretty clearly implies there is a defect. Why would you offer to fix or replace something that isn't defective? Isn't being prone to failure due to dust or smoke after just a few years itself a defect? OMG, YOU SPENT LIKE 5 PARAGRAPHS arguing that it is a defect!
It got Wii-fanboy ire because the whole thing came off as a anti-Wii-fanboy rant, I'm pretty sure. Fanboys are cannibals, they usually only prey on other fanboys. :)
I got my first Wii in February of 2007.. after a while it started having these vertical graphical glitches that seemed to get worse daily. I found some YouTube videos of people with the same problem. I called Nintendo and they offered to "fix" my system..
The new one worked (they replaced the whole thing) for a few months, then sure enough, the "new" system started doing the same thing. I called Nintendo and explained I had it replaced once already, and he was all super-defensive when I suggested this was a known problem because this is the 2nd Wii I've owned that this happened to, and I've seen video on YouTube of other people's Wiis that had the same problem. He was all, "THIS ISN'T A KNOWN ISSUE, WE DON'T HAVE THE RED RING OF DEATH LIKE MICROSOFT! THE INTERNET IS JUST A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE GO TO WHINE ABOUT EVERY LITTLE PROBLEM"...
no shit, this is what he told me. After investigating further & asking for my serial # he said that my Wii was "red flagged" to be replaced (ummm, probably because Nintendo knew what the issue was and what consoles had it, but never released any press releases about it... Nintendo tries to keep their problems hush hush)
Anyways, they replaced my Wii again and the new one (3rd times a charm I guess) works fine, and even though they won't admit it, Nintendo knew what was wrong with the other two Wii's and finally fixed the issue.
Point being, Nintendo hides their problems like shameful parents hiding a retarded child they keep in the basement.
Sounds like an oxy-moron to me.
I have a launch day console and I'm experiencing this error. Nintendo will fix it for free, even though it is out of warranty.
This isn't some kind of conspiracy or cover up. Nintendo recognizes that there's a problem, and they're offering to fix it for free, and not denying it or making us wait a year after they've cracked under the pressure (I'm looking at you, Microsoft).
The point is, who really cares what the actual problem is? Nintendo isn't obliged to give us any details and they're doing the right thing. How can anyone fault them for that?
It is fucking sad that consoles in general are like this these days...
Actually it's not hard to believe that Nintendo would try to cover something like this up. If you look at what happened to the Xbox 360 with the RROD, any console maker would want to keep things hush hush. Especially Nintendo, with the kajillions of consoles that they've sold if they had to do a recall, it would probably bankrupt them.