Nintendo Wiimote details emerge

The comments here are absolutely astounding (especially the one about saving enough money on batteries to cover the extra cost of a PS3 that's just hilarious). Seriously I already own one of the 15 minute rechargers for my camera. It was like 20 bucks and it came with batteries. My god quit whining. The wavebirds took AAs and IMO they were the best wireless controller on the market

I don't care if the Wii uses AAs, as long as they integrate a charging solution into the console. I don't want to buy a battery charger for just the Wii — I have a small apartment with few outlets.

You people seem to think that by being rechargable that the 360 controllers are magically cost free. I can guarentee you that the cost in power will be about equal with AAs and your local power company.

Also... to the person that said hed be replacing his batteries every two days...

You have no life.

Don't forget that fully charged rechargeable AA's will typically last at least three times longer than a standard alkaline. It appears that the quoted times are for an alkaline battery, and this would suggest that you could get 90 hour to 180 hours or more on one charge. And as someone else mentioned, newer, higer capacity rechargeables are introduced all of the time.

"You have no life."

Clearly, neither do you.

I'd like to remind everyone that your batteries need to be properly disposed of when they no longer function correctly. That does not mean your waste bin or garbage can.

Batteries may properly disposed of at any local recyclying center.

Now by all means, please continue your spirited debate.

All you guy crying about AA batteries are a bunch of pussies! who give a shit about it? you can buy rechargable batteries DUH!, and why is everybodi making it seem like it's a bid deal anyways! look at the waivebird, dumbasses!

"look at the waivebird, dumbasses!"

yeah, exactly... it sucks. i think that's the point everyone is trying to make.

Wow... um... I can't beleive people are complaining about the controller using AA batteries... Would you people be happier with it using a $40 priority battery pack? probally not, I think we are dealing with fanboys, or maybe the anti-nintendo fanboys...

You can use the rechargable AA's for other things too, not just the controller. Much more cost effective than having a bunch of expensive battery packs that can only be used with 1 thing.

I cant beleive people are arguing over BATTERIES!??
Something so common in our world today and has been for a long time. Cd Players, I Pod, 360 controller, just about anything that does not plug into the walls in our homes, use batteries. GET OVER IT!

Using AAs doesn't mean you can't ALSO have a rechargeable battery pack.

Wavebird cradle-charging battery pack:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=782081

GBA cradle-charging battery pack:
http://gear.ign.com/articles/306/306554p1.html

The GBA SP and DSs have built in lithium batteries because AAs wouldn't fit in the casing.

Your all lame. Getting upset about the batteries is the lamest things I have ever heard. Nintendo will release a battery pack just like microsoft did....it will be rechargeable just like the DS...it will prolly ship with a cool docking station that holds two or more Wiimotes....just everyone relax already. Christ its like you WANT to be upset about something trivial. Do you have a problem with your television remote using AA or AAA batteries? No you dont. How about your smoke detector using a 9 Volt battery? But the Wiimote USES AA BATTERIES???!?!?!?! HEAVEN FORBID!!!! Get your priorities in order you loser game dorks.....

you do realize that its costs money to recharge batteries too, so its not like you are going to see much of a price difference there.

Considering I've spent about 15-20 dollars on batteries ever since 360 came out and I have 4-player going on 2-3 times a week since release date, I think I should be ok, along with everyone else.

Waa waa waa my pussy hurts. This is the lamest comment thread ever. My Xbox 360 controller uses AA's. My Logitech PS2 wireless controller uses AA's. My WaveBird uses AA's. Notice how I'm not cutting my wrists over it?

Tards.

Anyways, what I ORIGINALLY came to leave a comment on, before I saw all the bitching going on...

Was the non-volatile memory. This is probably going to be used to store a very rudimentary "profile" of sorts. I don't have the article handy (a quick look at the Nintendo Wii page on Wikipedia should have it), but someone from Nintendo said that it would be likely that the console would have different settings depending on which controller was used to turn on or access the system.

I think they should've put an SD card inside the actual Wiimote. That way you can just bring the damn thing wherever you go to a friend's house, and presto!

You have all your saved games and preferences with you. Oh well.

I would've prefered a recharagable Wiimote, as well, but I don't have a problem with AAs. All my remotes run on AAs (well, I think some might run on AAAs) and my Wavebird runs on AAs. My digital camera even runs on AAs.

And I game only a few hours a day. Those 30 hours will last me a while.

Though I'm sure Nintendo or some third-party company will make a charger pack for the controller later on.

http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp

You can buy nimh rechargeable AA's for about the same price per battery as high end energizers. Buy enough to replace all the batteries in your house + a charger and you'll never think about buying batteries again.

This is really getting to be a bit of a silly argument. AAs are fine, whether they're old school alkalines or rechargables. Non-replacable (well, by an ordinary consumer) batteries...suck, really. Proprietary batteries cost a lot more, you have to send 'em in to get replaced, and my favourite bit, you need to have downtime to charge the buggers.
With AAs, whether using rechargables (although you'd need to have one set to spare) or alkys, it takes all of a minute to replace the things and you're good to go for another set of gaming fun. If you have a built-in battery die out in the middle of your game, you have to stick the thing on its cradle (that too sucks - extra cost to manufacture the thing, and takes up space and a plug) and wait the couple of hours until it's charged up again.

I've got a proprietary battery in my old Nikon camera. Great camera, but the battery life sucks, and a new replacement battery costs something ridiculous (50-70 bucks). My new camera uses AAs, and that was one of the major points of my deciding to get that one. There was another camera for the same price, with an extra megapixel, and wifi connection, but it used a proprietary battery, which is really bad with a camera if you're carrying it around for days with nowhere to charge it. I'm not saying you'll use the Wiimote in the deep woods or whatever, but AAs are just...easier for everyone.

*I don't know if this has been posted yet, but I figured I'd throw in my two cents.*

So here it is: I was very disheartened by this news, since I've been assuming that they'd use the SP/DS batteries. But actually, I'd rather it use AA batteries than GBA/DS-style plug-in-to-recharge batteries, because let's say I have four Wiimotes (which isn't such a far-fetched idea, imho) -- they would require a total of FOUR power outlets to simultaneously recharge, thereby making it a huge inconvenience.

Here is an easy solution and requires only some patients, a soldering iron (throwaway tip or good luck scraping it after). Go get one of those Mad Catz GBA (not sp) rechargeable battery pack. I'm talking about the one where the recharger plugs directly into the battery pack. Once you get your wiimote just Jigga-Rig that shit to fit in side the wiimote controller and wham you got a rechargable wiimiote where you dont have to take the batteries out. Obviously as stated before this will only work with the original GBA battery packs (which may be in a bargain bin near you!!!). I did this with a remote that I got tired of changing the batteries in. I had an old GBA mad cats clip in battery pack and I cut away some of the plastic and have had a rechargeable remote since.

Well, I haven't seen anyone mention this, and I think it's a good point; that is, Wii can't have a charger cable.

Sounds dumb right? Think about it, with your 360, you just leave the cord plugged in and pass along the juice when other controllers need it. But the 360 controller does not need to be moved around in the air for it function, like the Wii's does.

"So plug it in when you're done using it" yes, this would work. Unfortunately, batteries die when they're being used. (forgetting to charge your controller would be a horrible reason to lose a pivotal game of SSB:Dojo) If you can't charge on the fly, what does that leave you? Having two expensive recharging battery sets for each Wiimote.. or AA's?

I think, given the controller's limitations (which come from its advantages ironically) AA's are the way to go. Its a pain, but the AA route still lets you use rechareable energy sources if you so choose.

I've been with Nintendo since the NES, and I've never complained about method of power. Actually, I lie, the original Gameboy was a powerhog, and the GBPocket, I could never find batteries around the house for. Still, a wireless remote that runs on AA batteries? Unheard of, says the Sony fanboys! Of course, Sony also makes you pay $800000 for a console, then another $300 for batteries. Sure, these numbers are 100% untrue (but the ratios probably aren't), but Nintendo has always been good at working out power situations.

The GBA SP, GBA Micro, and the DS all have chargers because it doesn't matter if you play next to a wall or on an airplane, because... Shocker, they're handheld devices. So, chargers work with that. However, when you're sitting on a couch and being lazy, batteries are always the way to go. I could probably find at least 7 AAs in my couch if I looked.

Anyways, long story short, Nintendo = Win for AA batteries. Until Mario Brand comes out with AAs that say "best for the Wii."

I find it amazing that something as simple as "OMG BATTERIES" emerges, and 70+ posts have been made about it.

With all this medial hysteria, people really are going to buy millions of these things... even if they don't know why they should own one. Nintendo has learned a lot from Apple.

To those who extol the virtues of AA batteries:

Would you prefer it if the DS or the GBA went back to AA batteries? Because the GBA did have AA batteries at one point. And Nintendo switched to rechargeable because AA batteries couldn't cut it. So I guess the defenders of AA batteries are saying that it was a mistake to release the GBA SP with a lithium battery pack because AA batteries are teh-shiznit.

I guess the only consistency with Nintendo Fanboys is that Nintendo is never wrong.

hey, the gamecube and xbox360 controllers both use AA too and it works just fine for me, and they'll probably just make a rechargable adapter to use like they did for the 360.

Samuel Abram, you are a dolt. Portable consoles and gaming controllers are APPLES AND ORANGES. You can still play a DS or PSP or SP or [More Acronyms!] while using AC power. In fact, I do this all the time when I'm playing at home. But somehow, when you're playing with a WIRELESS controller, the thought of some stupid wire dangling around our legs is just so archaic. What's that? Batteries dead? Shit, now I have to play in wired mode. Or worse, stop playing altogether to dock the damn thing. OH SHIT! WAIT! I can just snap in some new AA batteries! I'm good to go like a Crunch Wrap Supreme. Or a punch to your face for being a moron.

I've been reading this thread and many people have good points, but 2 arrogant and ignorant people have just pissed me off. Daryll, you are such a moron, the wavebird had the longest battery life out of all the wireless controllers, you're just a microsoft, sony, or anti-nintendo fanboy. and Samuel Abram, you moron, the reason the DS or Sp didn't use AA batteries is beacause the batteries would't fit in the casing. Anyway, I personally think that having to recharge my DS every few hours is alot more of a hassle than just switching batteries.

And to those who think that 30-60 hours isn't enough for hardcore gamers are pathetic. If you think that 30-60 hours would barely last 2 days are just losers with no life. In order to go through 30-60 hours of battery life in 2 days would mean that you play games 15 hours up every day. If that is what you think the definition of a hardcore gamer is, then I don't want to be a loser who has no job and lives with his mom.

I have a Gameboy Advance, and it doesn't get nearly as much battery life as the wii-mote does, but it last a good week or so. I just wanted to post this so all you losers stop complaining.