How the Wii stole Christmas, or vice-versa

by Ross Miller { Nov 30th 2006 at 3:25PM }

A word of caution: you might need to reconsider where you position your Christmas tree. One Joystiq reader -- some call him Tim -- has tipped us off to some trouble he has been having playing Twilight Princess while a light-laden Christmas tree laid lovingly next to his TV. Turns out, his cursor was jumping "ALL OVER the place" and he has sent us pictures to prove it.

Continue reading for the evidence. And remember to keep your Christmas tree away from the Wiimote. It's probably good Feng Shui, anyways.

[Thanks, Tim!]

Tags: christmas, hard ware, HardWare, sensor bar, SensorBar

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Blake Snow @ Nov 30th 2006 2:36PM

Shnikes! The same thing has been happening to me (though not as problematic as the above) with my tree sitting next the TV. Felt like I was taking crazy pills...

vidGuy @ Nov 30th 2006 3:45PM

Wait, so you are telling me that incandescent Christmas lights, which emit an infrared spectrum as well as a visible spectrum, interfere with the Wii infrared? No way!
/ sarcasm

ANYTHING that emits on an infrared spectrum will interfere with cursor-pointing, as all the remote does is read an IR field to determine the cursor position. Simple and hardly news-worthy.

Hinkmania @ Nov 30th 2006 3:47PM

Duh.

Turo @ Nov 30th 2006 4:33PM

@2

i dont think this was meant to be a super serious post of warning. it had some interesting humor and just made fun of how it works. wow lighten up

kiswa @ Nov 30th 2006 3:49PM

I have to agree with vidGuy.

If you can use two candles to replace the sensor bar, what do you expect to happen with a couple hundred 'candles' off to one side? I mean, really....

Thrall @ Nov 30th 2006 4:57PM

sexy tv, sexy wii. Too bad I have no money for either. But I'm upgrading my PC for christmas..ahh pc gaming on christmas morning. Good times.

EdZ @ Nov 30th 2006 4:47PM

Awesome Princess Bride reference. Or is that twilight princess bride?

OK, terrible pun.

Joe Smith @ Nov 30th 2006 6:01PM

This could be especially bad ig you have LED Christmas lights as they put out a ton of IR. Also, make sure you don't have a lot of LEDs on teh electronics in the AV rack near the TV.

RDX @ Nov 30th 2006 3:56PM

It's Christmas time. This involves Christmas. Joystiq is a video game site. This involves video games. I swear, if a post doesn't impact the gaming community like never before people get irate. Chill out.

Vlad Bien-Aim� @ Nov 30th 2006 3:56PM

There's no real need to be so snobby, guys. Not everyone is exactly so keen on what what emits IR and what doesn't. And even when we do, no one expects an innocent Christmas tree. This post was more of a friendly warning then news. What's wrong with that?

mo @ Nov 30th 2006 3:57PM

oh my god we should freak out and sell our wiis

and we should all go buy ps3's or at least an xbox 360

oh no but who will but them?? no one even wants one its not like theres a shit load of people camping out for it or anything

o well i guess the only solution is no more christmas BUT WAIT how will i get more games?!?!

HOW COULD A THING LIKE THIS HAPPEN

thon @ Nov 30th 2006 4:44PM

i thought my wii cursor was being shakey for some reason, this confirms it!

Oh well, it didn't mess it up to interfere with my gaming, just thought my eyes were tired:)

emmzee @ Nov 30th 2006 4:04PM

Maybe he could, yknow, unplug the tree while he's playing? Wouldn't it be annoying when playing to have the bright, colorful lights of the tree in his peripheral vision anyways, so why have it on?

As a side note, prolly best not to put your Christmas tree anywhere near where you and your family will be flailing your arms around wildly ... like maybe when playing the Wii?

terry @ Nov 30th 2006 9:32PM

well, only idiots have x-mas trees this early anyway.

and this isn't news to anyone with common sense.

Erwos @ Nov 30th 2006 5:08PM

Yes, and you may want to think twice before putting your Chanukiah/menorah right in front of your TV, too.

JarasM @ Nov 30th 2006 4:29PM

Uh.. it's still 25 days till Xmas. I can understand shops, malls and the like, but why would you set up a christmas tree so early?

jayntampa @ Nov 30th 2006 5:00PM

I just got a new computer with a bright blue power button that flashes when the system goes into stand-by. I took me a moment to understand why my cursor kept being pulled right, then was normal, then right, then was normal ...

Jackson Pritt @ Nov 30th 2006 4:18PM

I see nothing wrong with this post. It's not Wii-bashing, it's just giving a helpful tip for people who might not realize what the problem was if the have a similar setup.

Lighten up, it's the holidays! ^_^

visitsLots @ Nov 30th 2006 4:11PM

It makes sense why this would be as a news post. There ARE people that come here, afterall, that wouldn't realize something like a Christmas tree screwing with a Wii's sensor bar. So, by them putting this up, they're simply informing/clarifying for the people that do not have the full knowledge on how the infrared structure works.

People should calm down. It's not the end of the world if Joystiq has a few news posts that aren't deemed exactly "news-worthy." (Might I add, the bloggers have every right to blog what they feel they want to blog about. So, if they want to put up a post that says they can't masturbate during a given day, because their arm hurts after playing the Wii too long, then they should be able to...)

Not really a post like THAT, but still ;)

Xiath @ Nov 30th 2006 4:54PM

Don't have to worry about that seeing as a menorah goes next to the window that shines out to the street and far away from any possible TV I could plug my Wii into (when I get one =/)

Anyway, I love The Princess Bride reference

gok @ Nov 30th 2006 4:13PM

"and we should all go buy xbox 360 or at least an ps3"

Corrected.

AirIntake @ Nov 30th 2006 4:14PM

While it's not a catastrophic problem, it is an issue that must be considered. While playing any other system, my friends could light their smokes, my girlfriend her scented candles, I could have my lava lamp on etc with no problems. Now, all of those things (and more)can't be done during Wii gaming. While it may not bother you (or me), it may be a bit of an issue for some people. Nobody likes to change their habbits.

Lorben @ Nov 30th 2006 4:15PM

Nice Princess Bride reference.

webrunner @ Nov 30th 2006 5:15PM

Please note: In these images the sensitivity is on MAXIMUM. I've tested it with a string of Christmas lights, right next to the wiimote with the system across the room, and at the lowest sensitivity it picked up the sensor bar and not the lights.

koala @ Nov 30th 2006 4:27PM

princess bride quote! hehehe

kiswa @ Dec 1st 2006 7:52AM

I feel the need to clarify. My previous comment was not a slight toward the blog poster or the posting itself.

It just seemed obvious to me that a multitude of little points of heat (IR) would probably cause an IR sensor to react to them.

Of course, having read the comments on this site for some time now, it should have been equally obvious to me that there are plenty of people who probably don't know that heat=IR. ;)

VerdigriS @ Nov 30th 2006 4:31PM

So is the Christmas Tree going to snip all of the Wii cords off? And then maybe disable its Wifi capabilities? Ooh ooh and then it could take all of the batteries out of the Wii remotes!

TO THE PAIN!!!!

Spence @ Nov 30th 2006 4:37PM

If this was a PS3 flaw, the article would more likely ask "how can Sony take yet another set back in the launch of the PS3?"

I'm getting tired of the double standard.

Maximus @ Dec 1st 2006 1:08AM

*fuck nintendo

ncxcstud @ Nov 30th 2006 4:45PM

#15

It's been tradition in my and my wife's family to put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. My family has been doing it for as long as I can remember (24 years) and my wife's for over 25...

tylersmyler @ Nov 30th 2006 5:11PM

THE SIMPLE SOLUTION: Get TWO Christmas trees... one on either side of your tv.. now your festive AND gaming.

Happy holidays..

hey, does anyone have any links to vids of people dropping/throwing/breaking/falling with their Wii's?

Steve @ Dec 1st 2006 8:55AM

Will the same problem happen with a Holiday Tree? It would suck for all those kids who wake up early on Holiday and find that they can't use their Wii.

teh moderat0rz @ Dec 3rd 2006 12:06PM

I don't think a wii could fight "to the pain." it would take a whole lot of gutting for children to walk by it and cry, My God, what is that? I mean, if I saw a wii taken apart i'd be mad but more piteous than afraid. since mine is awesome as hell.

In short, great pun but could use some tweaking.

Nah, just kidding, I love it. I'm not REALLY an asshole like mo.

TehSudds @ Nov 30th 2006 5:22PM

Switch to LED lights.

Booyah

Gavin @ Nov 30th 2006 6:56PM

This is EXACTLY the kind of thing you don't want to be a problem because casual gamers are supposedly their target audience and they are they kind of people that will not be able to figure out why their Wii doesn't work. Nintendo appologists want to pretend like every problem for the Wii is nothing but a matter of perception and want to spin it into trivial matters while they look at every issue with the PS3 as CATASTROPHE FOR TEH SONYZ!!! You fanboys are like Fox News employees.

barb dybwad @ Nov 30th 2006 6:39PM

@ kiswa @ Hinkmania @ vidGuy

ummm... because it's funny?

remember fun?

Tim (daroga) @ Nov 30th 2006 6:05PM

Hey guys,

This is my setup that I sent in, and it wasn't meant to be Wii bashing at all. I love the system, and really just thought it was kinda funny after I put two and two together as to what was going on. Just wanted to do a heads up for people that may not be aware of these things, or may want to strategically place their holiday decorations. :)

As to the sensitivity, it had been set a 3 when I noticed a problem, it was jacked up to 5 for the pics after I had been playing with it. Even at setting 1 the lights cause issues (thought less severe). These are "super bright" lights or something, supposedly 50% brighter than other lights? I don't know, but a lower powered light or even the tinted lights might cause less of a problem.

This was sent in as a timely, silly story. Nothing for any of you to get all upset about, really. :)

Tim

Xeroderma @ Nov 30th 2006 6:08PM

Just turn the tree off!!

Hannah @ Nov 30th 2006 6:19PM

Who woulda thought all the holier-than-thou IR nerds would come out of the woodwork for this? Quoth the Television, "can't we all just get along?" Or at the very least, "can't we remove the tree embedded up our bums?"

Being completely non IR-savvy myself, I was going to be setting up the Christimas tree right next to my TV (small apartment, so sue me!). Glad I read this first! Thanks, Tim :)

Alex D @ Nov 30th 2006 6:27PM

To the "yet another yadayada" comment (n18 i think);

Joystiq isn't trying to bash anyone, the PS3 just HAS more issues than the Wii at the moment, nothing more (flame away!). Further more, as Vlad pointed out, this is merely a humourous take on the current "issue" (I'd say problem but this is an american blog ;) that the Wii has (and most likely will always more or less have) with parasite Infrared.

Oh, and chill out, if you're so pissed by free content that you choose to read, don't, and don't bitch, oh, and, i forgot, stop being obsessed with one console over another, and...well, just chill out man.

Spartacus @ Nov 30th 2006 7:27PM

Two things:

1. Forget the Princess Bride reference, what about the Monty Python reference?! I can't even tell if it was intended, but it made me chuckle.

2. The Wiimote simply uses IR to triangulate it's position. To do so, you need a minimum of 3 points, but I don't understand why MORE than that would cause the remote to be confused. It should just pick 2 random points as a reference. Maybe big N should've opted for a 2.4GHz or (god forbid) a Bluetooth signal instead of IR so the Wiimote would sync up with the sensor bar only...

ttr @ Nov 30th 2006 7:37PM

@Gavin
It doesn't matter if the controls screw up for casual gamers, since they have no idea how to play anyways. They'll just think the controls are acting as normal. But SONY has a major issue with the SIXAXIS, since if you try to use it during an earthquake, the controls will get all wonky like the Wii here. And this is a MAJOR issue with hardcore gamers which is what SONY is marketting to.

SONY ftl!

mocax @ Nov 30th 2006 8:09PM

Wouldn't the flashy lights be annoyingly distracting even when watching TV?

ConstyXIV @ Nov 30th 2006 8:04PM

@38:
Suprise, the Wiimote does use Bluetooth. All the sensor bar does is pump out IR light for the Wiimote to pick up to figure out where it is in space. All data goes over Bluetooth.

crimemasterGogo @ Nov 30th 2006 8:06PM

woohoo first time being a muslim is gonna come in handy, dont have a tree so shouldnt cause any problems. And am i the only one who finds the idea of an old man coming down the chimney and asking your children if they have bben bad kinda wrong?

Turo @ Nov 30th 2006 10:05PM

@42

its called being festive. oh and about the article, it was just a humorous warning and make fun type of thing. geeze settle down scrooge. even people with common sense might not be as die hard as you or i and wouldnt know. people like you make me sad.

Yagami-Iori @ Nov 30th 2006 11:35PM

Man, I love how overly defensive some of the Nintendo fans get about the sensor bar (this coming from a Nintendo fan).

Nintendo really didn't think 100% when putting out a technology that worked on what apparently, is a very low frequency IR to do the sensor bar technology. I mean, we have frickin candles that can replace what is suppose to be new technology? What's next, a Wii game where you use thw Wiimote with a hula hoop to play a vitual game of moving a wooden hoop down an ole timey brick roadway?