Wii unscrewed: inside the nunchuk

by James Ransom-Wiley { Sep 26th 2006 at 4:25PM }

Nope. No stinkin' flux capacitor in here. Just a bunch of plastic and junk. Next!

Tags: nunchuk

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

LethaL ImpuLse @ Sep 26th 2006 4:30PM

Omg you stole this from Kotaku.

Bpops @ Sep 26th 2006 4:32PM

NEVER diss the flux capacitor.

After all, it's.. what.. makes.. time.. travel.. possible!

Crosswayboy @ Sep 26th 2006 4:33PM

If the nunchuk was emotion sensitive it would be crying right now...

Mac Aoidh @ Sep 26th 2006 4:39PM

This isn't originally from Kotaku, some chinese blog...
(http://ruliweb2.dreamwiz.com/ruliboard/read.htm?num=4687&table=game_nin02&main=nin)

Anywho, that does NOT look worth €20...

FSK405K @ Sep 26th 2006 4:52PM

Nice screens. Thanks for finding them Joystiq.

FSK405K @ Sep 26th 2006 4:54PM

So where's the accelerometer? Is it bundled with the circuitry in the upper left of the last photo?

Model No.: RVL-004

"RVL"... "Revolution."
Not a surprise, as Nintendo model numbers usually involve the codename ("NTR" for DS, and "DOL" for GameCube, for example).

Still neat to see those pics of the inside.

But unless the motion-sensor in the Nunchuk is really pricey, that doesn't look like a $20 accessory (as others have stated).

crono141 @ Sep 26th 2006 4:58PM

You should see the inside of a Guitar Hero Controller. Costs them 5 bucks, I swear.

There is probably a very hefty markup on the nunchuck. There's probably only about a 10 dollar markup on the wiimote itself though, there is alot of tech in it.

aZn_1080p @ Sep 26th 2006 4:59PM

LOL looks like about $5 worth of stuff in there.. where's all the fanboys to tell us about all the 'revolutionary' technology this thing packs.

Todd @ Sep 26th 2006 5:00PM

Can't really claim to know what price anything "looks" like. Only the manufacturer can claim what something really costs to make. I can only hope one will jump on and respond to this blog on the real price of a nunchucks at cost. Otherwise, keep guessing...

brock2621 @ Sep 26th 2006 5:05PM

LoL How much are we paying for this again!?!

_habit_ @ Sep 26th 2006 5:09PM

I don't really care how much that thing costs to make, it's expensive to buy. As is the Wiimote. Good thing I'm waiting for the black Wii, so I should have enough Christmas and saved money to be able to buy a second controller and nunchuck, and some games (Twilight Princess, Red Steel, FE if its out, same with Mario Galaxy and others).

All that stuff purchased though it'll still be less than the PS3 XD, I'll probably have to wait until I have a job to buy that thing *only half joking about that*

Dracula Jones @ Sep 26th 2006 5:12PM

You also need to remember that the casing is hewn from pure ivory... so that's where most of the cost comes from.

Steve @ Sep 26th 2006 5:13PM

You people are such tools, sometimes, honestly... (this includes the individuals with the wonderfully sly comments on its price).

http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/repair/controller/102505%20002.jpg

How much are you paying for THAT, again?

FSK405K @ Sep 26th 2006 5:15PM

crono141, while each nunchuk costs like $5 or less to make, the first one cost $5,000,000. Cut them some slack.

_habit_ @ Sep 26th 2006 5:19PM

$40, but when you factor in rumble, a second analog stick, 2 D-pads, a bunch of other buttons, longer cord, and a larger...green technological thingy, the price is understandable.

reguy @ Sep 26th 2006 5:20PM

@ KSK405K

can i please have the source of that 5 million dollar claim? thank you.

reguy @ Sep 26th 2006 5:22PM

sorry man its FSK405K

minus_273 @ Sep 27th 2006 1:07PM

I love how fanboys are determining how much some thing is worth based on how it looks. What were you expecting? Some thing with tons of rows of ICs like a 286 from the 80s?

I find it more impressive that they pack so much tech into such a small form factor and probably added to the cost.

Bpops @ Sep 26th 2006 5:28PM

Guys, come on please. Can we get back on to topic? We were discussing the flux capacitor. Thanks.

Evan @ Sep 26th 2006 5:32PM

@20 can i please have the source of that 5 million dollar claim?

Engineering ain't cheap. The Cell processor cost $4 BILLION to develop! There's easily $5 million worth of engineering behind Nintendo's motion technology.

Steve @ Sep 26th 2006 5:33PM

Bbop, only the X360 power supply can put out 1.21 jiggawats of power anyway.

$40 for an X360 pad is just as much of a "rip off" as $20 for a Nunchuk. Extra analog sticks and d-pads cost pennies to add onto the circuit board. Rumble motors/accelerometers/etc - none of these are all that expensive. Microsoft, however, is gouging even more than Nintendo is because their controllers are one of the ways they cut down the losses taken on the console.

Nintendo pricing their controllers is their way of recouping the millions spent in R&D on the tech. Next year, in July, there will be a price drop on the console and likely the controllers as well.

aceregan @ Sep 26th 2006 5:50PM

I used a flux capacitor to great effect on a date once.

I knew the girl was a huge BttF fan based on some friends saying she was obsessed. So I actually did a design document for the flux capacitor based on a screencap of when Doc shows Marty that picture. Then I wore a band-aid on my forehead, and when she asked about it, I began to relate the story almost exactly like Doc, how I had been adjusting something and fell and hit my head on the sink. She had this look of concern like "Oh you poor baby", not yet getting the reference(which was my intention). Then I slowly reached into my coat pocket and looked her in the eye deadpan and said "And then, I drew this...", handing her the diagram.

She burst into a fit of laughter. It was one of my most particularly suave moments. She loved it.

Dracula Jones @ Sep 26th 2006 5:38PM

Let's just suppose there WAS a flux capacitor in there... you're playing some Wii Sports and, y'know, you're wildly flailing your arms around... and your nunchuck arm totally hits 88 the moment you're hit by 1.21 gigawatts (A bolt of lightning!)... that's a PR disaster, especially if Biff gets involved. And you KNOW he will.

Al @ Sep 26th 2006 5:42PM

Did someone smuggle this out via a certain bodily orifice? It's so dirty and grimey. I'm a bit scared now.

Bpops @ Sep 26th 2006 5:41PM

@26

THANKYOU! :)

crono141 @ Sep 26th 2006 5:43PM

FSK405K:

Hey man, I was talking about the guitar hero controller.

Nunchuck already exists, I have it at home. Its called a gyration air mouse. The nunchuck is only different in that it houses a 3 axis accelerometer, instead of gyrations 2 axis. These parts can be obtained very cheaply.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=308

The nunchuck is 20 dollars. Nintendo probably has a deal with somebody to get the accel for cheap. It probably costs them 10-15 dollars to make, since the accel is the most expensive part.

The wiimote is a different story. There's 6 axis accel in there, IR transmitter, speaker, blu-tooth, etc. I figure (just a guess) that it costs Nintendo about $35 or more per unit, and selling it to us for $40.

Guitar hero controller, however (which is what I was talking about costing 5 bucks) is molded plastic with a rocker toggle for the strum bar, 5 buttons, and a variable resistor for the wammy bar.

5 bucks, tops. They sell it to us for $40. If people want to complain about an expensive controller, go knock on Red Octane's door.

reguy @ Sep 26th 2006 5:44PM

@ evan

so you guys just make up numbers? man and here i am sticking to evidence like a sucker.

ok let me give it a try.
when all is said and done the xbox 360 will have lost 13 trillion dollars!!!!
take that stupid MS, err i mean M$

wow, being vacuous is fun.
wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Mr. Khan @ Sep 26th 2006 6:13PM

Nice to see that i'm not the only BttF nerd floating around cyberspace (although honestly i've never bothered to check)

After seeing that, i agree that the Nunchuck at least is a ripoff, but you only have to buy it once....

Vince @ Sep 26th 2006 6:21PM

Such tools... Get a clue, guys.

Crack open a PS2 controller. How much stuff is in there... yet they still go for $24? Think for a second, now... an accellerometer of that type would go for about $25. Even if they got it down to 15, believe it or not, plastic does cost a bit more than you would think.

Gabriel @ Sep 26th 2006 6:21PM

@31. aceregan

You are the Don Juan of geek-ish girls.
I admire and envy you.

Vince @ Sep 26th 2006 6:23PM

Ooh... the cell chip is soo small...

It must be a ripoff. Not worth the several million that IBM spent researching it. You know, cause if its small, its worthless.

FSK405K @ Sep 26th 2006 6:25PM

crono, re: 29...

Yes, like I said, all the parts of pretty much any Nintendo product aren't that expensive, individually. It's not even expensive to put them together, in the scheme of things. But...

How many Nintendo engineers, PR folks, ergonomics experts, Miyamoto-type input providers, and other folks worked for weeks and weeks to design, test, troubleshoot, eliminate bad design elements, etc. for the Nunchuk and Wiimote? They aren't cheap. It's like manufacturing pharmaceuticals...pill 1: $100,000,000, pill 2: $0.20.

FSK405K @ Sep 26th 2006 6:31PM

oops, sorry crono.....looks like I should have read your post more carefully. It still wouldn't suprise me if each Wiimote only costs $10 or $15 to make, even with all the whizbang stuff.

eric j. @ Sep 26th 2006 6:31PM

the only thing im concerned about is if the wire that connects the wiimote to the nunchuck will be long enough to me to flail my arms about while playing, i doubt it's full reach which is normally your exact height. appears to be around 2 feet which i think is too short. i have a feeling i may be yanking the port out too often.

Evan @ Sep 26th 2006 6:33PM

@30 I'm not making up any numbers.

"Under Kutaragi, over $4 billion for the three business years ending March 31, 2007, were invested in semiconductor development for Cell and other key devices."
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3030&Itemid=35

Also,

"Another $1.7 billion in CELL research pledged by Kutaragi"
http://spong.com/article/5014/

[IBM Corp., Toshiba Corp., Sony Corp. and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.] have spent "several billion dollars" developing the cell:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/08/25/cell/index.php

"Sony sinks $1.6 billion into 'Cell' plant"
http://news.com.com/Sony+sinks+1.6+billion+into+Cell+plant/2100-1041_3-997596.html

Sony really has spent billions of dollars developing the PS3, before manufacturing the first consumer unit!

FSK405K @ Sep 26th 2006 6:59PM

Ya, I'm worried about Wii cord length, too. In addition to the Nunchuk length, what will really screw me is the 10-foot length of the sensor bar cord. I really need an extension for that. My consoles sit under my couch, at the back of the room, and above the couch is my video projector. The screen is all the way across the room.

r-deezy @ Sep 26th 2006 7:09PM

The $20 being charged for the Nunchuck includes not only a profit for Ninty, but also the retailers selling the Nunchuck to the end consumer. Factor in shipping costs & overhead, and $20 sounds about right.

By Q1 2007 (at the latest) I expect to see the COMPLETE controller sold in the same package for $50.

TJ @ Sep 26th 2006 7:09PM

@38:

Trust me, the cord is pleanty long enough. I played it just last Friday and was curious about the same thing.
I couldn't QUITE stretch my arms all the way apart, but I'm estimating the cord to be about 4 feet long.

TJ @ Sep 26th 2006 7:15PM

@40:

That would be a concern for me also, the sensor bar wire length that is, but at least the bar itself is actually rather small. (Like has been said elsewhere, about the same as 2 pencils taped togeather)
As long as you have it in line between your playing area and the projected screen, you should be just fine. Maybe mount it on a coffee table?
Only other thing I could think of (if they don't offer an extension) is to get handy with some wirestrippers and get some thin-guage wire from the hardware store.

Spiza @ Sep 26th 2006 7:15PM

You would think someone would know that electronics is not about what it looks like, but what it can do. Ever looked at your cpu? Looks like a peice of plastic, piece of metal, and lots of pins on the other side. oooooh, aaaaah.

Those nand gate 32gb hard drives look real impressive too.

ksih @ Sep 26th 2006 7:50PM

Riight, because with electronics, when it is small it must be cheap right? Therefor not worth 20$. Stupid 500$ processor. Heck, the chip is only like a quarter inch right? No WAY that is worth 500$.

Oh, and lets not forget the tens of millions of dollars spent on research.

Then lets tack on advertising, engineering, product desing...

Concerned @ Sep 26th 2006 9:36PM

Materials are more expensive then we think

we should be THANKFUL that its at 20 bucks
thats actually VERY cheap

Thank you nintendo,Sony and microsoft for making your accesorys

Mike @ Sep 27th 2006 9:07AM

The price is the price. Sue them for trying to make a profit. More importantly, the nunchuck doesn't have a rumble feature? Let's see. I'm Link with my sword now in my right hand and shield in left hand. I block with my shield and my right hand rumbles. Good job Nintendo. I'm still buying though.

Pince @ Sep 27th 2006 2:09AM

An example of the logic being presented in this post:

How much does a new Razr cost? $240? Ummm well thats stoopid. Have you seen how thin they are. That should cost less...for that matter, I can buy a microwave for like 30 or $40...microwaves are much bigger than a phone and they have more...circuits...and shit.

So the basic logic is that if something has a small circuitboard, it must be cheap. Lets completely ignore the fact that almost none of you can tell the relative complexity of the electronic devices simply by seeing a quick photo? What the hell did you expect the nuchuk to be filled with to make it worth your precious $20; jewels and fairy dust.

Morons.
You all have bought much less complicated or useful things for more than $20 before, I assure you. Anyone who is not a certified market analyst or someone directly involved with production of controllers, stop bitching.

Waccoon @ Sep 27th 2006 6:11AM

A product costs what a company thinks people will pay. That's all there is to it.

The accelerometer is likely built inside the controller chip, and the analog stick would be the most expensive component on the board... and there's only one. This thing costs less to make than a Dual Shock, that's for sure.

In any case, it's not terribly interesting on the inside.

*FSK405K: "crono141, while each nunchuk costs like $5 or less to make, the first one cost $5,000,000. Cut them some slack."

If Nintendo is the underdog in sales and they still make billions, no slack should be cut. Only Nintendo would garner a fandom so dedicated as to defend every penny the company wants for its products.

Ethernet port? Naw, that would add a whole ten cents to the cost, and that's unacceptable! Let's pay for an adapter instead! Hell, if it costs less than $30, I'll buy two, just to ensure Nintendo gets every bit of profit they deserve!

*crono141: "The wiimote is a different story. There's 6 axis accel in there, IR transmitter, speaker, blu-tooth, etc. I figure (just a guess) that it costs Nintendo about $35 or more per unit, and selling it to us for $40."

My guess is about $12-$15 for the Wiimote, including all packaging. If you make 10,000 at a time, they do not cost a lot to make. Plus, this stuff is all made in China, where 20" televisions can be built to be sold at $100 for a profit.

My dad's company makes custom ICs. How'd you like to pay 35 cents each for your own chip, in volume?

Ouch. @ Sep 27th 2006 6:17AM

But really, 20 bucks for a SEMI controller? It's an accelerometer and an analog. It doesn't even function itself.
I'd pay 40 bucks for a 360 controller because:
1) It's the best dual-analog layout all around
2) Build quality is spectacular, with none of the cheapness.
3) I can use it on the PC. Finally a good dual-analog. (Now mouse/keyboard BS here)

Now how many of that we can say of the Wii? Maybe N is just too concerned on making profits by seperating components here and there. Oh well, WHERES THE FLUX CAPACITOR!!??

Branewalker @ Sep 27th 2006 1:00PM

Well, crap. No modular analog unit. Well, a least that looks like the same analog unit that's in the gamecube controllers right now, so I guess when I wear one of these out, I can buy a gamecube controller and get two replacement parts.

Long live the N64 Analog Stick module! May it be remembered fondly....o was I the only one who actually BUGGED Nintendo when the controller wore out afte 6 months? They sent me some replacement parts that take literally a minute to install and fully replace the analog stick. Gamecube controllers and all other analog sticks require a minimum of 10 solder joints! =(

--Branewalker