Over $400 in Nintendo Stuff Held Hostage<\/a><\/p>\nIn this case, a guy bought a Wii U, it didn’t work, he replaced it via the retailer, only to find that his “transfer” of Wii content was “locked” to the original Wii U that he had already returned!<\/p>\n
“Console-locking” is just…… STUPID!<\/p>\n
Fortunately, I’ve only<\/strong> got about $20 worth of “Just Dance” DLC wrapped up in this, and I DID CALL Nintendo to initiate the transfer.\u00a0 The guy was really polite.\u00a0 He asked for the old Wii serial number, and the new Wii serial number, and initiated the transfer.\u00a0 He said I’d get an e-mail in 2-3 business days.<\/p>\nSo rather than a self-service transfer option, Nintendo has basically disowned the Wii, and disavowed all knowledge pertaining to it, and replaced all of that with the expectation that you’re going to go jump over small buildings to go trade your Wii in for a Wii U.\u00a0 The downside to going the “Replace Used” option is that this is marginally-supported by Nintendo.<\/p>\n
It’s the best option because you get to keep your content, the price point is 30% of new, you keep all of your GameCube functionality (if that’s important to you), and you are back to “normal”, after a painful phone call to Nintendo, who assumes you bought a Wii U, because, why WOULDN’T you.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/span>Conclusion:\u00a0 Nintendo Has a Few, Wii Problems<\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
<\/span>Get Rid of Console-locked DRM<\/span><\/h3>\nGuys….. Seriously…. this is something we learned in the 90’s:\u00a0 USING A HARDWARE KEY to prevent piracy is a pain in the ass.\u00a0 It’s troublesome for YOU, and it’s troublesome for your CUSTOMERS.<\/p>\n
Logic:\u00a0 EVERY piece of hardware will eventually die.\u00a0 If you have some kind of permissions, entitlements, or authorizations tied to hardware that CAN AND WILL die, that’s a problem.<\/p>\n
Entitlements should be tied to an account, linked to a phone number and an e-mail address.<\/p>\n
From what I’ve read, this is LARGELY the case with the new Wii U, and the “Nintendo Club” account (WHAT, am I six years old??) but there is obviously still a console-locked component that is problematic.<\/p>\n
Neither Sony nor Microsoft handle DRM with console locking.\u00a0 Get rid of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/span>The Wii U is a Failure.\u00a0 Get Over It<\/span><\/h3>\nThe fact that Wiis are selling for $240 new and $70 used is a clear message:\u00a0 There is still a lively, healthy market for the Wii.<\/p>\n
Give the market what it demands — tools and support for the Wii.<\/p>\n
Don’t deny it.\u00a0 Don’t disavow it.\u00a0 The Wii has a proud history as a ground-breaking, popular console.\u00a0 Don’t blame people because they don’t want to swallow the Wii U’s price tag and minimal title library.<\/p>\n
The best decision any company can make is to acknowledge its failures and move forward.<\/p>\n
Legitimize the Wii.\u00a0 Make a Wii Micro, with all of the features of the Wii (full-size).<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/span>Get Rid of the Wii Mini<\/span><\/h3>\nIt’s a rip-off.\u00a0 It’s bait-and-switch.\u00a0 You think you’re getting a Wii, but you’re getting about 1\/2 of a Wii.<\/p>\n
It costs a lot of money, and unsuspecting buyers think they are getting “a full Wii” in a smaller, “sporty red” package.<\/p>\n
Give the market what it wants:\u00a0 A small, cheap, fully-functional Wii.\u00a0 Sony did this with the PS2, and again with the PS3, and the model works!\u00a0 As long as you’re selling units, there’s a market.\u00a0 A healthy used market indicates the lack of a primary market.<\/p>\n
Make a Wii Micro, with all of the features of the Wii (full-size)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/span>Keep up the Excellent Customer Support<\/span><\/h3>\nWhen you call Nintendo, you can talk to a real, live person in all of about 2 minutes.\u00a0 The person to whom you’re connected is knowledgeable, and COMPLETELY EMPOWERED to help resolve your issues.\u00a0 (Unfortunately, they automatically assume you bought a Wii U, but that’s fixable)<\/p>\n
This is the best customer support model I’ve seen in 10 years.<\/strong><\/p>\nKeep up the good work, and MANY fortune-500 companies could learn from your support model!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/span>Bottom Line<\/span><\/h2>\nIf your Wii dies, buy a used one, at a reputable LOCAL used game store, where you can inspect the merchandise, and they should be able to hook it up for you to test.\u00a0 (I made the mistake of buying used, online — mine works but was pretty grimey)<\/p>\n
Test the following:<\/p>\n
\n- Able to connect a new WiiMote<\/li>\n
- Able to access the internet<\/li>\n
- Able to load a game from disc<\/li>\n
- Able to save a game<\/li>\n
- Able to load a game<\/li>\n
- Able to save or copy a game to the SD card (able to access the SD card)<\/li>\n
- Able to boot and play a GameCube (GC) game<\/li>\n
- Able to use a GameCube controller<\/li>\n
- Able to use a GameCube memory card (save, load)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Wipe it (it should be wiped), connect it to the internet.<\/p>\n
Call Nintendo:\u00a0 1 (800) 255-3700<\/strong><\/p>\nPick the option related to “I have a problem with my account”, otherwise, they will direct you to an online URL that really doesn’t work.<\/p>\n
Tell the rep you need to transfer all of your stuff from a Wii to another Wii, and emphasize that both systems are Wiis, NOT Wii U’s.<\/p>\n
Nintendo is incredibly helpful, and will be able to resolve any content you’ve purchased, and can walk you through copying game saves and other content to an SD Card, where it can be moved to the new system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 2007, I bought a Nintendo Wii, that finally died earlier this year.\u00a0 When I attempted to replace it, what I found was a Wii bit surprising. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analyses-and-responses","category-good-design-bad-design","category-tech-recommendations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2758"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2786,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2758\/revisions\/2786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}