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Wii U General Discussion


Hero-of-Time

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I see Nintendo are being blamed for the limitations of wireless technology now?

 

They did design the technology.

 

I can't leave the room the Wii U is in without losing connection, even if I'm in the doorway with direct line of sight.

 

I would have expected it to at least work in the next room.

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Never thought I'd be agreeing with Wii...

 

And add me to the my game pad goes anywhere. Apart from the kitchen... :heh:

 

I only ever have it in my room or the living room though and my room is directly below that so that's probably why.

 

I thought off screen play was bigged up (rightly so) but don't recall them bigging up being able to play anywhere in the house?

 

your bedroom is underneath the living room... do you live in upside down land:laughing:

 

Yeah when I had mine it started to struggle going past one room. Whats the point of that feature if I cant take the gamepad with me while I go for a shit???

 

*I think we just figured out the real reason I got rid of my Wii U

 

probably a saving grace, otherwise you could be in there for hours.

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Really wish it was the other way around sometimes...

 

Xbox have just somewhat copied the PlayStation Plus free games giveaway btw (confirmed extension of their Live free games offer that they ran before). Sony have some good ideas.

 

It's funny because Nintendo need to copy what Sony (and MS) are doing in so many aspects (particularly online/OS/3rd party relations). Yet people here see copying as some sort of a bad thing, snubbing Sony over taking popular ideas and implementing them.

 

It's adapt or die, and with the Wii U it sure seems more like the latter these days.

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They did design the technology.

 

I can't leave the room the Wii U is in without losing connection, even if I'm in the doorway with direct line of sight.

 

I would have expected it to at least work in the next room.

 

They adapted a wireless protocol but it's still wireless, it still gets affected by the environment and is going to vary with everyone.

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They adapted a wireless protocol but it's still wireless, it still gets affected by the environment and is going to vary with everyone.

 

Genuinely had a conversation with someone today about why wireless wasn't getting from one of their buildings to the other. It went a little like this:

 

ME: Do you mind me asking a little bit about the type of walls the property has

HER: Oh it's a new build...

ME: Do you have foil backed insulation?

HER: Oh yeah! It's all in the new extension. Do you think that might be a problem?

ME: Definitely. Standard Wi-Fi struggles to get through two layers of brick and the metal foil is even worse. It's like having a big barrier to your Wi-Fi.

HER: Oh yes, I guess it would. Strangely I did know that already!

 

So there you go.... people have the knowledge but rarely apply it or even allow themselves to be aware enough of the situation to be able to explain it enough themselves. Physic doesn't magically change just because it's Wi-Fi.

 

What's that I hear you say? Your 2.4GHz wireless headset cuts out sometimes? Would it be because you have the base station sitting on top of the router? Of course it is!

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They did design the technology.

 

I can't leave the room the Wii U is in without losing connection, even if I'm in the doorway with direct line of sight.

 

I would have expected it to at least work in the next room.

I can only use it in my living room. Dang those modern walls...
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Does anyone else find the GamePad's range to be pretty bad? It takes seven steps before it has problems, and a wall will reduce the range to less than 2m.

 

Is your Wii U next to a wireless router? If so, try moving it a bit further away (the router's signal might be interfering with the Gamepad signal)

 

Also, try and remove as many physical obstructions as you can (opening doors might help too).

 

Unfortunately, the thicker your wall, the less range you're gonna get on the Gamepad (the materials used in the wall will affect it too). Also the human body is a big obstruction to wireless signals too (water is WiFi's worst nightmare!) - so try playing while pointing the Gamepad in the direction of the console itself...

 

The range is low, but that's the price you pay for a flawless experience with zero lag.

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There's a few metres between the Wii U and the router, and there's nowhere for either to be moved to (they're both hooked to the TV).

 

It's not a big deal for me (as I won't be using off-TV play), I was just quite surprised by the range.

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There's a few metres between the Wii U and the router, and there's nowhere for either to be moved to (they're both hooked to the TV).

 

It's not a big deal for me (as I won't be using off-TV play), I was just quite surprised by the range.

 

That sucks :( Not much else you can do unfortunately. I'm lucky in that it works in just about every room in my house, but that's just the luck of the draw :hmm:

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Also the human body is a big obstruction to wireless signals too (water is WiFi's worst nightmare!) - so try playing while pointing the Gamepad in the direction of the console itself...

 

The range is low, but that's the price you pay for a flawless experience with zero lag.

 

Bang on the money, the human body is an annoyingly large sac of water. Whilst Dcubed is right about having the controller between you and the consoles, that actual angle that you hold it at isn't going to make much of a difference I'm 99% sure that the wireless involved will be using SDM rather than OFDM.

 

Yes the wireless range isn't great in a real situation but in free space it works pretty well. A lot has to be taken into account when they were choosing the design including: data bandwidth required, overheads that lead to latency, chance of interference from other common devices, RF isolation from the other stuff in the console, battery life in the pad.

 

Sure they could have the pad cranking on 100mW constantly but you're likely to end up cooking your crotch or have a battery life of 15 mins. I'm pretty happy with how they chose it.

 

Also keep in mind that this is a Japanese company we are talking about here... they have really think walls over there generally speaking.

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Off-TV play isn't really something to use between rooms. It's more of an elegant solution to someone needing the main TV and the child/gamer being able to keep playing in the same room.

 

That said, the limited range is definitely annoying and I'd love for Nintendo to release some kind of signal booster to allow me to play on the gamepad in bed.

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That said, the limited range is definitely annoying and I'd love for Nintendo to release some kind of signal booster to allow me to play on the gamepad in bed.

 

Yeah, I doubt that's going to happen for several reasons, mostly surrounding frequency misuse and how it would increase the chances of people doing so.

That and "boosters" are the thing of the devil in terms of RF.

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Yeah, I doubt that's going to happen for several reasons, mostly surrounding frequency misuse and how it would increase the chances of people doing so.

That and "boosters" are the thing of the devil in terms of RF.

 

Plus it would also probably introduce input latency, which would completely destroy the Off TV play experience all together anyway.

 

As a last-ditch-solution, you could always try repositioning the console further away from the TV and using a longer HDMI cable... :hmm:

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@Cube just out of interest mate, does your router use both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz? Quick way to check is if it says 802.11 a/b/g/n. Having 802.11a would confirm that it does and that is likely to be the BIGGEST problem. Possible direct interference between your router and the link between the console and the pad.

 

If you could turn it off then that's going to help things. Must admit though that your house sounds like a bit of a RF prison.

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The PS4 screenshots are impressive of course, but so uninteresting. No character, just the same gritty graphics we've seen a million times. It's all about art style IMO and that's where Nintendo is best.

 

In fairness that is a user generated thread, so you need to raise your issue toward them and not the console. If I was posting on that thread I'd include Hohokum, Octodad, Resogun, Time, Knack (did spot it), Doki Doki Universe, infamous SS etc.

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