Vomiting Wii

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 26th 2006 at 10:34AM }

Because turnabout is fair play, recently we showed Punch Jumps's video of their PS3 with busted disc feeder and now we present to you the vomiting Wii.

Loading mechanisms have become a little bit of a personal issue since my 8 month-old Xbox 360's loading tray busted and Microsoft wants to charge $139 (plus having to provide own box and paying shipping) to fix it. Stupid thing is less than a year old. Microsoft apparently doesn't have authorized repair centers around the country like Nintendo does. All busted Xbox 360s in the U.S. must be sent to Texas, where they are miraculously healed and sent back again. What's wrong with the PS2 redesign where the top just pops up, you place the disc in the system, close it up and no easily defective loading mechanism gets in the way?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Namssorg @ Nov 26th 2006 10:39AM

Haha.. this video was kind of funny :) It's like trying to feed a baby something it doesn't want. Ahh wii, even entertaining when you're broken.

Bonanza Bill @ Nov 26th 2006 10:43AM

PS2 redesign? Don't you mean GameCube from 5 years before?

DBX00 @ Nov 26th 2006 10:46AM

These loading mechanisms have worked in car stereos for over 15 years; I think the technology is proven enough. However, you're clearly goin to have damages caused by shipping or defective products in any manufacturing process. Since the invention of YouTube and blogs, it only really takes one to bring it to the attention of the world. I don't think that this will be a problem for either system in the long run.

nick @ Nov 26th 2006 10:46AM

But trayless disc loading is "rad" and it's so annoying the 360 doesn't have this feature

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/18/trayless-disk-loading-rad-xbox-360-annoyance-016/

Mephistopheles @ Nov 26th 2006 10:54AM

Having a lid-loading drive eliminates tray failures altogether.

hey alex @ Nov 26th 2006 10:54AM

Car stereos with slot loading CD mechanisms have had their share of problems too, from discs not loading/ejecting to scratching discs to not reading discs.

footlong! @ Nov 26th 2006 10:59AM

Mr. Sliwinski, what exactly is the problem with your 360's loading tray? Mine just recently began stopping about a centimeter from the console when i click to open it. I have to pull it out by hand. So im wondering if we're having similar problems and therefore share a similar $139 repair fee.

Neeks @ Nov 26th 2006 11:11AM

#9
No you cant. The only thing is, I'm wondering what type of cd it is. My Wii does teh same thing when I put in a music CD. But it loads games just fine.

unimental @ Nov 26th 2006 11:13AM

That looks just like the snack machine at work. Damn thing hardly ever takes a dollar bill.

Yuki~Summer Ver.~ @ Nov 26th 2006 11:14AM

"PS2 redesign? Don't you mean GameCube from 5 years before?"

You know that CD drives with a lid have been around a lot longer than that, you know? Ever heard of Dreamcast? Playstation? Saturn? Sega CD? Heck, CD players and stereos probably started using it earlier than that.

It's something I wish the industry never moved away from. I always prefered to open the lid and pop it in myself. It felt more secure that way, not like these automated slots and trays.

Now that we're on the subject of the good old days, man, I wish they'd switch back to jewel cases. Who was the genius that decided to switch to the huge "DVD cases"? Just put all the manuals online or on the disc something, then we can just run with slim cases like they use for CD-Rs. Now THAT'S a space saver.

If you're going to keep massive cases, at least use the space and put a plastic cartridge case around the discs like DVD-RAMs (or UMDs...but...bleh). Now that could solve a lot, too. Not slot loaders, not trays, not even flip-tops...cartridge slot! Man, I'm getting myself way too excited.

Anyway, that's my rant.

Kevin @ Nov 26th 2006 11:16AM

Heh, looks like it finally took it in the end.

Kyouryuu @ Nov 26th 2006 11:20AM

@2
Or the original PlayStation?

It's not so much that disk tray technology isn't heavily used in car stereos - it's just one more thing that can needlessly go wrong on a console that has little to no benefit for the user. Out of the many hours you use a console, how many are spent inserting and removing a disk? Not much. Plus, you can open the drive without having to power on the system (a minor annoyance about the PS2).

The Wii's disk loading mechanism is unusual because in addition to being automatic, it has to accept standard DVDs and GameCube disks that are different diameters. If they let the user do it themselves, as with the GameCube, they might have shaved a few more dollars off the manufacturing cost.

The only downfall to the PSOne/GameCube system is needing to have clearance for the lid to open somewhere.

Raymond Dubisky @ Nov 26th 2006 11:23AM

Jewel cases are absolutely horrid. I don't know how many have busted from the simple act of opening them. I prefer the plastic cases, though I wouldn't mind the form factor of the old jewel cases in plastic.

The Man @ Nov 26th 2006 11:24AM

Anybody else notice that you can see right through the disc in the
video. Totally bogus story...

Jonii @ Nov 26th 2006 11:27AM

Slot loading is nice in function, but is more likely to break than a tray. Ask any early G5 iMac owner. And if you've got kids around, its just safer... Why do you think DVD players haven't adoped this technology?

capnrico @ Nov 26th 2006 11:29AM

It's a reflection, silly.

capnrico @ Nov 26th 2006 11:31AM

It's a reflection, dummy.

B-Laze @ Nov 26th 2006 11:33AM

@14

The disc is real. You're looking at the reflective side of the disc. Dumbass...

Kevin @ Nov 26th 2006 11:36AM

Besides, it's not like this is a HUGE problem. We have 1 reported defective unit of a PS3 and a Wii now. Has this happened to any other PS3 or Wii owners?

The Man @ Nov 26th 2006 11:37AM

Did you step through the video? Also show the disc front and back, are finger prints or dust on the disc. Dumbass...

Knoxximus @ Nov 26th 2006 11:37AM

Looks like it's great for when the kids get tired of their Hot Wheels and decide they would rather roll discs around instead.

"Hey Dad! Can we play Nintendo?"

"It's broken"

"Yeah, we know! *heh heh heh*"

BIGGEN @ Nov 26th 2006 11:40AM

i could watch that for hours for some reason. see, you have to go by the old method from the NES, blow on the dics, and it will load, no problems. LOL

Savok @ Nov 26th 2006 11:42AM

The best part of a top loader/lid thing isn't even the fact it's mind numbingly simple. The best part is getting easy ACCESS TO THE LASER. I like being able to clean my consoles without voiding the god damn warranty, makes life so much easier.

Steve2 @ Nov 26th 2006 11:44AM

Jonil:
They haven't adopted this technology because it costs a little more.

I love slot loaders. I used a slot-loading DVD drive in my PC for years. I dumped it when I went to a single drive to save power and increase airflow (the slot-loader didn't write discs, just read them).

The problem with top loaders like the PS1, Saturn, etc. is that a top loader takes up too much space. A top-loading unit must be on top of the stack. So, if you have 4 consoles and all top-load, you need to place them side-by side. If you have tray or slot loaders, you can put them on top of each other, or stand them up next to each other.

I find the tray loading to be awkward on vertical 360s. Yes, it works, but it's annoying. You have to pay more attention while loading than when putting a disc in a slot or dropping a disc in a horizontal tray. I keep my 360 horizontal right now, but that's partially because I need to have the top-loading Gamecube on top of it. When I put my Wii in the regular stack (when I get a component cable), I may set my Wii and 360 vertical. I could even fit the PS3 next to them both, putting 3 consoles (two of them huge!) in the space I used to fit two.

Note to the article author:
I have been trying to get my 360 repaired since the 7th of November. It broke when I tried to play Gears of War. I called Microsoft and they said it would be 8-10 business days to get it fixed (two weeks). They would send me a box to send the 360 in, then put it in, send it to them, then they send it back fixed. It took them until the 20th just to get the box to put it in to me. I had to fall back 4 times and talk to "Max". I'm glad I got all the talking done before the HD video service came out though, as I hear that services works poorly and is probably hogging the repair reps.

Anyway, if you want that 360 fixed, expect it to take 3 weeks at least.

I'm very bummed I managed to snag a copy of Gears of War first day and didn't even get to play it on Emergence Day. Still have only played it a couple hours on a friends 360.

BIGGEN @ Nov 26th 2006 11:44AM

and yes, i know NES used cartridges, before you f*ckers even say anything.

Video @ Nov 26th 2006 11:52AM

"Did you step through the video? Also show the disc front and back, are finger prints or dust on the disc. Dumbass..."

Way to try to comeback after making your ignorant comment, but you still fail. It's not "fake," but if it hurts you that badly you can just keep trying to convince yourself that it is.

The Man @ Nov 26th 2006 12:01PM

@26

How did I fail? I pointed out my opinion of the story. And if you believe everything you see in blog videos and blog stories. You are an idiot.

Big Ed @ Nov 26th 2006 12:06PM

My imac does the same thing. It doesn't bother me much when I think of it as a game of "catch the DVD".

Mephistopheles @ Nov 26th 2006 12:08PM

Lol, you can see through discs if they don't have a label on one of the sides. Hold a non-labeled disc up to the light and you can see right through it.

Luis Zapata @ Nov 26th 2006 12:09PM

Maybe he forgot to take out the previous GameCube disk. Notice how the first time he inserts the disc, it seems to stop with something. And subsequently getting deeper until it accepted the disc. Well, who know either way he will get it repaired for free. That's the thing about the warranty, if the slot malfunctions it will probably either happen in the early days of the console's life or it won't at all.

BTW, can anybody give me a PS3 for Christmas? :P plz

pop @ Nov 26th 2006 12:14PM

Good point at least they can repair the drive under warranty. Too bad sony cant repair the PS3 HD video scaling issue with firmware. Someone at sony and Nvidia should be fired over that.

nirv @ Nov 26th 2006 12:32PM

It's the dumb cross-eyed kid who did it himself. Watch as the CD drops onto the DIRTY FLOOR and without cleaning it, he just puts it right back into the Wii. He's a dumb bucktooth kid who doesn't take care of his machine and that's why it's a paper weight now.

The ZeroCorpse @ Nov 26th 2006 12:34PM

I'll go you one better. The FIRST video game system to use CD-ROM, the TurboGrafx-16, had not only a flip-lid CD drive, but the drive was removable and usable as a portable audio CD player, sort of like a Walkman without batteries (you had to plug it in, unfortunately). When you were done listening to music on CD in another room, you just popped the player back into the dock, and fired up a game on your TG-CD.

The TurboDuo maintained the flip-lid, by the way, and it was a great design. When Sega came around and made the ill-fated Sega CD, the first model went with the tray loader, and then they too realized that the loading mechanism could be a headache and switched to top-loaders.

And remember something about Sony: They wanted us all to have CDs in cartridges so they could restrict us from using them as freely as we do now. The result? While most other publisher are letting people play CDs wherever they want, Sony's music doesn't come on CD Audio, but on their proprietary DRM discs instead. They can't even legally put the CD Audio logo on theirs. If Sony had their way, Blu-Ray would have been in cartridges, too. They lost that battle, and so we all lucked out in not having to buy games for the PS3 that resemble UMD.

Yeah, this history lesson turned into an anti-Sony rant. I'm not sure how that happened, but it's not hard to do when you start listing all the crap Sony has done to retard progress in favor of profit.

Joshua @ Nov 26th 2006 12:58PM

This happened to my powerbook twice. Instead of sending it back again I started using a tray loading drive via firewire. Guess theres nothin you can do but get a new unit with the wii though.

pop @ Nov 26th 2006 1:02PM

Anyone out there with a wii? Put a blank CDR in the drive and I bet it reacts like the one in the video. I think that would prove this story a fake.

Jeramy @ Nov 26th 2006 1:14PM

@footlong!

yeah, the 360 at my dad's has started doing that too. it all started after i figured out how to take the faceplate off. i thought i put it on wrong but it did it without the faceplate on. sometimes it opens normally but now it's starting to be more prevalent. i can usually press down on the tray top and it will then slide open. mine works fine, but my dad's is older and is starting to show its age.

about the last paragraph,

while i agree that top-loading drives can be quite useful, tray-loading drives do have their place. you sure as hell can't stack anything on top of a dreamcast and you'd have to plan enough space above for the drive to open. look at your pc right now. more than likely it wouldn't work out with a top-loader. and tray-loaders (slot-loaders especially) just feel more high-tech. top-loaders can often give a flemsy cheap impression. but it is nice not having to find a pin to open up the drive when it starts schvitsing out. so, really, they both have their places but i personally prefer tray/slot loaders.

vidGuy @ Nov 26th 2006 1:20PM

My 100% working Wii makes the same noise if you put a blank CD or DVD in, but it still takes in the disc. I have tried several discs and they all do the same thing - accept the disc and make a lot of racket.

I refuse to try it for fear of breaking my new console, but I bet the reason the disc gets spit out is there is already a GC disc in it.

Sam Machkovech @ Nov 26th 2006 1:22PM

Where in TX must you send busted 360s? I'd love to know what city.

jakbar @ Nov 26th 2006 1:34PM

Never try to insert a disc when the system is off or in standby. Notice the Wii's LED is yellow, indicating it is in WiiConnect 24 standby mode. I would strongly reccomend turning the system on before inserting any discs.

missingno @ Nov 26th 2006 1:35PM

They should make an improved function like that. Replace the normal eject button with one that shoots the disc out to roll around. That'd make the Wii fun to play with even when you haven't even turned it on! ^_^

Rob @ Nov 26th 2006 1:36PM

The new PS2 loading blows chunks. You have to put too much pressure on the disk

As @2 says, the Gamecube was first (of the current gen), and better, with the disk release.

otakucode @ Nov 26th 2006 1:37PM

Xbox 360s with DVD drive problems are fixable by the consumer, but take a bit of knowledge and still cost a good deal. You can get a replacement DVDROM drive for $80 - $90. Replacing the drive involves reading the firmware from the original drive in there, and flashing the firmware onto the replacement drive you get.... if they're from the same manufacturer. It gets a little more complicated if you try to replace, say, a Toshiba-Samsung DVDROM with a Hitachi one. But still faster and cheaper than giving it back to Microsoft to fix.

mkoracer @ Nov 26th 2006 1:39PM

@35 Yo, I would hope that if I put in a CDR into a Wii it wouldn't make that sickly crackling sound it makes at the end! And PLUS why would dude fake this??? to get a job as a hand model?

It is also interesting that the 360s tray loading mechanism has it's problems too... even though you'd think that "tray loading" would have been perfected after 20 years of use in PCs

Shagi @ Nov 26th 2006 1:45PM

I've had a slot loader in my car for 10+ years and a slot loading Pioneer drive in my PC for 5+ years and I've never had a problem with either one.

Please take me back to the prehistoric days of top loading and extra large footprints to accomodate this cause a few jackasses are worried they might win the broken drive lottery.

Optimus Prime @ Nov 26th 2006 1:46PM

Is it normal for the disc to just drop like that when its ejected? What happens if you're not there to catch it.

Dux @ Nov 26th 2006 1:48PM

Yea I feel you, almost. I have to send my 9 month old Xbox 360 to Texas for Disc-Tray and overall repairs too, but they are giving it for free to me.

pop @ Nov 26th 2006 1:50PM

@44
"to get a job as a hand model?"
A ps3 fanboy

People fake videos all the time, for a bit of the limelight. You can see right through the disc. It’s not a wii disc you can see through it. I can see a reflection on the front of the disc and I can see right through to the floor on the other side.