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Multiple reports of joycon connectivity issues in Switch previews

J

Jofamo

Member
dmaul1114 said:
Could it also be that the dock is blocking the Bluetooth signal enough to make it drop out sometimes/past certain distances? And it works in tabletop as the tablet is out in the open and not obstructed by the dock?

EDIT: Lol, did read the above post first.
Click to expand...

I think it'd be less to do with the Dock itself, and more to do with the JoyCon. The Pro Controller likely uses the same kind of technology, but has no problems in any mode.

Essentially, the JoyCon have three configurations;

Attached to the Switch (Handheld)
Disconnected from the Switch (Tabletop)
Disconnected from the Switch (TV Mode/Docked).

From what I can see, it's only the last configuration that's having trouble with signal. I'm leaning towards the JoyCon entering into a low power Bluetooth mode when the Switch is docked.
 
N

Nairume

Banned
Jofamo said:
I think it'd be less to do with the Dock itself, and more to do with the JoyCon. The Pro Controller likely uses the same kind of technology, but has no problems in any mode.

Essentially, the JoyCon have three configurations;

Attached to the Switch (Handheld)
Disconnected from the Switch (Tabletop)
Disconnected from the Switch (TV Mode/Docked).

From what I can see, it's only the last configuration that's having trouble with signal. I'm leaning towards the JoyCon entering into a low power Bluetooth mode when the Switch is docked.
Click to expand...
Going by that, it sounds like the possibility is that the joycons probably are in a low power mode when in tabletop (since there'd be less need for a stronger signal but probably even more need to conserve battery power) and is supposed to put out a stronger signal when the system is docked but isn't for whatever reason.
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Or it can be that Nick Robinson used not the joycon that came with the Switch but an additional one, as have been also reported by others.
Or maybe Nick Robinson's joycon was not part of the bad batch.
 
M

mnz

Unconfirmed Member
bytesized said:
In their previous podcast I think they mentioned how hard it was for them to take off the joy con straps from the controllers going so far as to say that they had to be "jancked out" from the controller by pulling it out with a lot of force.

I think what's happened is that they did not know that to remove the straps you need to press on the release latch at the bottom of the strap and the release button on the joycon controller so they probably fucked up the mechanism and the joycons don't attach to the system anymore.

I'm pretty sure this is all their fault.
Click to expand...
I mean, that's a nice story you came up with, but when that occured was when they had the 1-2-Switch demonstration from Nintendo. It's in the video even:
https://youtu.be/_sklH_gwkMs?t=9m
 
2

2 Slice Toaster

Member
UberTag said:
Yeah, this has always come off as a non-issue to me. It was clear plain as day that the Giant Bomb crew were mishandling their Switches.
All this did was distract from the actual issue of Joy-Con bluetooth signal interference.

That's the opposite of what I expect from a reputable gaming media site, incidentally.
Click to expand...

Seriously. They need to get in front of this right now and issue a very public apology to Nintendo as well as their subscribers or they are really running the risk of wrecking their credibility. Permanently.
 
P

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
2 Slice Toaster said:
Seriously. They need to get in front of this right now and issue a very public apology to Nintendo as well as their subscribers or they are really running the risk of wrecking their credibility. Permanently.
Click to expand...

As opposed to an electronics corporation remaining deadly silent about controller connectivity issues all the way up to launch. What does that 'permanently' do to credibility?

I keep getting the vibe that Nintendo just doesn't have the heart to do this hardware launch stuff anymore.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
2 Slice Toaster said:
Seriously. They need to get in front of this right now and issue a very public apology to Nintendo as well as their subscribers or they are really running the risk of wrecking their credibility. Permanently.
Click to expand...

zyex3.gif


Dude, don't tell me you're serious.
 
M

MrBlonde

Member
Has Nintendo said anything about these joy con issues? The IGN or Gamestop review cant remember which one said the same thing. I might hold off on a launch system until this is fixed. Would a simple update take of it or would there be more to it?
 
F

flkraven

Member
lol. Guys that have used every console in the industry for decades and whose job it is to play games every single day broke their console within a week of receiving it. Should we blame the console design? No way, let's blame Giant Bomb and ask that they issue an apology. lo fucking l.
 
N

nynt9

Member
2 Slice Toaster said:
Seriously. They need to get in front of this right now and issue a very public apology to Nintendo as well as their subscribers or they are really running the risk of wrecking their credibility. Permanently.
Click to expand...

The honor (and shame) of one's favorite toy maker isn't a life or death situation for most bruh. GB will be fine. The video wasn't public so any backlash that came from it was with people misappropriating private footage, direct your bizarre anger to them instead!

Or to. Nintendo for not addressing these connection issues.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
EloquentM said:
It looks like it's just a weak signal and not an actual hardware issue. Shouldn't controller firmware updates be able to increase radio frequency? Idk anything though.


Ummm 99%?
Click to expand...
If it's consistent across multiple units? Yep. It's a hardware design issue if that's the case.

BlastProcessing said:
So different Switches have different software?
Click to expand...
Not even sure what you're trying to ask since I mentioned nothing about different software. Rephrase and try again. Or did you mean to quote someone else?
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
BlastProcessing said:
Why wouldn't a software problem also be consistent across multiple units?
Click to expand...
Oh. Sure. That said, software is probably not the reason for what pretty clearly appears to be an antennae positioning and/or signal strength issue based on DFs testing. If it's simply signal strength, it can probably be improved to some degree with some sort of firmware update, but it will never be "strong"; merely "improved". If it's the antennae placement or design, this may simply be what it is until the inevitable redesign hits. Either way, it's a problem caused most likely by low-power hardware chosen to help save battery life. We'll see, though. I gave it a 1% chance for wiggle room. This will not be the first product with wireless range issues we've seen and most don't really get significantly better. It won't be the last either.
 
M

mrklaw

MrArseFace
EloquentM said:
It looks like it's just a weak signal and not an actual hardware issue. Shouldn't controller firmware updates be able to increase radio frequency? Idk anything though.


Ummm 99%?
Click to expand...

Why would the left joycon be a weaker signal than the right? Could it be a chassis issue? It has metal rails to strongly attach to the main unit so perhaps it has a metal body too? That could attenuate the signal.

The right joycon has an IR camera and NFC reader so might have more holes in the body which might let more signal out?
 
B

BlastProcessing

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
Oh. Sure. That said, software is probably not the reason for what pretty clearly appears to be an antennae positioning and/or signal strength issue based on DFs testing. If it's simply signal strength, it can probably be improved to some degree with some sort of firmware update, but it will never be "strong"; merely "improved". If it's the antennae placement or design, this may simply be what it is until the inevitable redesign hits. Either way, it's a problem caused most likely by low-power hardware chosen to help save battery life. We'll see, though. I gave it a 1% chance for wiggle room. This will not be the first product with wireless range issues we've seen and most don't really get significantly better. It won't be the last either.
Click to expand...

The way that the software handles signal attenuation is a large potential factor here. Packet size, redundancy, and signal tolerances are all software issues that could affect this and aren't solely at the mercy of signal strength or hardware antennas.

I have no idea where you are pulling this 1% buisness from.
 
M

maxcriden

Member
I really, really would like for there to be a clear statement from Nintendo about this today or tomorrow at the absolute latest. What causes it, how frequently it happens, and what if anything they can do or are doing to fix it. The amount of murkiness surrounding it is perplexing, especially given the variety of issues people are having.

The consensus seems to be that even if you sit 5-6 feet from the TV and don't cover the JCL signal part (which is where exactly?) or rail with your hand, you still may have issues, but they will be less likely to be as frequent. But the further away you are and the more of the JCL that's covered, especially the signal part or rail, the likelier it is to happen.

Is that everyone else's takeaway?

And do these issues occur as often in the included, non-charging grip? My understanding is that they occur much less if at all when using the charging grip.
 
M

mstevens

Member
flkraven said:
lol. Guys that have used every console in the industry for decades and whose job it is to play games every single day broke their console within a week of receiving it. Should we blame the console design? No way, let's blame Giant Bomb and ask that they issue an apology. lo fucking l.
Click to expand...

I mean the apology idea is insane, but they dropped the thing on the concrete.
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
What software issue would create different signal strengths for left and right joycons? That would be one hell of a creative bug.
 
N

nynt9

Member
maxcriden said:
I really, really would like for there to be a clear statement from Nintendo about this today or tomorrow at the absolute latest. What causes it, how frequently it happens, and what if anything they can do or are doing to fix it. The amount of murkiness surrounding it is perplexing, especially given the variety of issues people are having.

The consensus seems to be that even if you sit 5-6 feet from the TV and don't cover the JCL signal part (which is where exactly?) or rail with your hand, you still may have issues, but they will be less likely to be as frequent. But the further away you are and the more of the JCL that's covered, especially the signal part or rail, the likelier it is to happen.

Is that everyone else's takeaway?

And do these issues occur as often in the included, non-charging grip? My understanding is that they occur much less if at all when using the charging grip.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. And we don't even know if it's fixable.
 
E

EloquentM

aka Mannny
KingSnake said:
What software issue would create different signal strengths for left and right joycons? That would be one hell of a creative bug.
Click to expand...
If the firmware of either joycon has different strength configuration for the Bluetooth radio shouldn't that create descrpancies as well? As it stands there's less chance for interference in the left joycon as it has less hardware so why is that one reporting the most problems?
 
P

Professor Lexicovermis

Member
bytesized said:
Quoting myself to let you guys know that giant bomb did OBVIOUSLY break their switch because they either had no idea or really cared about knowing how the joycon attachment worked.


Here's a tweet from Jeff conforming that they broke their joycons probably for the reason I described above.

https://twitter.com/jeffgerstmann/status/836711678343467008

https://twitter.com/jeffgerstmann/status/836738922801586176

Of course, they "did not know" and their console "just broke" (just what a little kid would say to avoid responsibility). Of course they knew what was going on but still they just went ahead trying to present the switch as a defective design as a way to gain attention and get the whole gif machine rolling...

BTW, I really like Giant Bomb, I just think they like to play dumb from time to time.
Click to expand...

...I feel vindicated now.
 
B

BlastProcessing

Member
KingSnake said:
What software issue would create different signal strengths for left and right joycons? That would be one hell of a creative bug.
Click to expand...

The right Joycon has a few extra features and would probably be treated slightly differently in software. The main difference would probably be the IR Camera. To assure that the camera data transmitted well enough to be useful, I would assume that some part of the right Joycon's wireless implementation is more robust. Whether that extra bit of performance comes from a software or hardware tweak is unknown.
 
Interfectum

Interfectum

Member
The fact that Nintendo knowingly let the press run with "yeah joycons seem busted" instead of issuing some PR about it tells me they aren't going to fix it at launch (aka 'firmware update will fix any issues some are having'). I hope I'm wrong.
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
BlastProcessing said:
The right Joycon has a few extra features and would probably be treated slightly differently in software. The main difference would probably be the IR Camera. To assure that the camera data transmitted well enough to be useful, I would assume that some part of the right Joycon's wireless implementation is more robust. Whether that extra bit of performance comes from a software or hardware tweak is unknown.
Click to expand...

That wouldn't explain why then some left joycons have no issue under the same conditions (like we had the report from Phazon that the left joycon that came with the Switch had issues while the additional one that he got has no issues).
 
E

EloquentM

aka Mannny
KingSnake said:
That wouldn't explain why then some left joycons have no issue under the same conditions (like we had the report from Phazon that the left joycon that came with the Switch had issues while the additional one that he got has no issues).
Click to expand...
Controllers often have their own firmware don't they? From Xbox, to dual shocks, to the Wii U game pads. How is this any different?
 
B

BlastProcessing

Member
KingSnake said:
That wouldn't explain why then some left joycons have no issue under the same conditions (like we had the report from Phazon that the left joycon that came with the Switch had issues while the additional one that he got has no issues).
Click to expand...

You're right, it wouldn't. But there are too many variables right now for me to feel comfortable drawing conclusions from different people's testing.
 
O

Otnopolit

Member
Interfectum said:
The fact that Nintendo knowingly let the press run with "yeah joycons seem busted" instead of issuing some PR about it tells me they aren't going to fix it at launch (aka 'firmware update will fix any issues some are having'). I hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

In all honesty, it doesn't sound like something that they see as needs a "fix" so much as it needs an "adjustment". I think I agree, knowing that they don't work as well as they very rightly should, but they do work.
 
F

forknknife

Banned
mnz said:
I mean, that's a nice story you came up with, but when that occured was when they had the 1-2-Switch demonstration from Nintendo. It's in the video even:
https://youtu.be/_sklH_gwkMs?t=9m
Click to expand...

Hmmm no, I think it was in their podcast when they talked about it.

Anyway, what's true is that I've seen others have trouble with the straps so probably Nintendo could have made things better so that sliding the straps in the wrong position wouldn't be a thing.
 
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