Support NeoGAF

[Superblatt]

I know there are already several Wii U threads, but thought one dedicated to the new controller was worthwhile. Personally, I think the ergonomics are great and it's worked just fine, generally speaking, thus far. Weight is also lighter than I expected. Overall, it's a solid piece of hardware...with one glaring exception...the ridiculously terrible range. Our dining room is next to our TV room -- I'm talking 15 feet -- and it starts to lose all signal when I am not even 12 feet away. Another room? Not even a chance in hell. Do you have walls in your house? You know where this is heading...

My dream of playing in the shitter or in bed has been crushed. Off TV play is a truly wonderful concept, especially for those with wives and a baby, like me, but this is not what I was expecting AT ALL. I'm very disappointed to see the biggest exclusive feature of the console, in my opinion, is gimped. Any similar experiences?

 

[Like the hat?]

Works in just about every room of my house, but the console is pretty centrally located. The only place I have had it drop is on the stairs going to the 2nd floor, but once I reach the top of the stairs, it works fine.

(4 bed, 2.5 bath single family home with a full furnished basent)

 

[Skyzard]

I thought 15 feet was a conservative estimate...fully charged? Nice one, "proprietary wifi".

Hmm, seems severely different for Like the hat? (impressive in fact)...check those batteries? Perhaps interference with something else in the room or poor placement of the wiiU.

 

[jetjevons]

I hear nothing but dissapointing things regarding functional gamepad distance. Maybe Nintendo will release a signal booster type device later?

 

[Jetku]

I can play fine in the bathroom, my bedroom, and the bathroom in my bedroom (2 walls/doors and 30-35 feet)

 

[Superblatt]

Works in just about every room of my house, but the console is pretty centrally located. The only place I have had it drop is on the stairs going to the 2nd floor, but once I reach the top of the stairs, it works fine.

(4 bed, 2.5 bath single family home with a full furnished basent)

Seriously? Must be that my house is all solid brick. Built in 1938. Still bull, as my wifi signal works fine everywhere.

 

[famousmortimer]

Curious to see more feedback. Wonder why it's all over the place....? This feature is what would push me over the fence with the WiiU, but my bedroom is 30 feet + a kitchen inbetween from where I play games.

 

[bounchfx]

its right behind the wall from my bathroom and it doesn't freaking work. guh. . I'm talking like 7 feet max.

 

[Like the hat?]

Seriously? Must be that me house is all solid brick. Built in 1938.

Could be, tbh. I'm all wood and drywall for the most part (house built in 1990)

One stupid thing I noticed though is that when I had my 360wifi dongle plugged in and my 360 on standby, my Wii u refused to connect to the Internet. Unplugged it and connected perfectly. Plugged it back in and my Wii u pretty much immediately drop pester connection.

 

[Brazil]

Curious to see more feedback. Wonder why it's all over the place....? This feature is what would push me over the fence with the WiiU, but my bedroom is 30 feet + a kitchen inbetween from where I play games.

Different houses are made out of different materials, and can be in areas with different levels of interference. Wireless technologies are always like this.

 

[Maedhros]

Seriously? Must be that my house is all solid brick. Built in 1938. Still bull, as my wifi signal works fine everywhere.

Aren't houses usually made of brick?

Oh, 'Murica.

 

[Skyzard]

Maybe it works better when it's outside and not under one of those TV holder shelve things.

 

[syko de4d]

battery life would interest me. Yesterday the one site talked about only 3 hour, is this true?

 

[famousmortimer]

Different houses are made out of different materials, and can be in areas with different levels of interference. Wireless technologies are always like this.

Yeah, i figured that, but I didn't think it would be this drastic.


That said if my wireless router is 1 bar in my bedroom im guessing a wiiu from pretty much the same spot doesn't have a chance in hell...

 

[Aquamarine]

As expected, it works through one wall for me (walls are solid concrete and brick).

What surprised me is that it actually worked through TWO walls that were very close to each other in one location.

 

[Superblatt]

Aren't houses usually made of brick?

Oh, 'Murica.

You would assume, lol. Majority of US homes these days are nothing but wood, stucco and insulation. Thank god I have a real house.

 

[gamergirly]

Curious to see more feedback. Wonder why it's all over the place....? This feature is what would push me over the fence with the WiiU, but my bedroom is 30 feet + a kitchen inbetween from where I play games.

Most of the feedback I've seen has been pretty positive. The only negativity is it either not fitting someone's hands a certain way or not feeling the way somebody thinks it should

 

[Fusebox]

Any iPad 3 owners got the gamepad yet? How it going from the iPad retina to the gamepad, do your eyeballs fall out or is it fine?

 

[Htown]

The answer, as always, is "it depends."

Not just on distance, but the amount of interference being generated nearby.

 

[terrisus]

Yeah, the main thing I'm disappointed in, is that the range can't even go from the room with our television stuff to our bedroom which is probably like 25 feet away. It hardly even makes it half-way there before it starts to cut off.

It's not like I was expecting to take it anywhere in the house or something, but this is literally just down the hall a bit.

I mean, yeah, our wireless router is in the bedroom as well, so that's probably causing interference. Still though.

 

[Deleted member 81567]

I took it upstairs to bed and it's working perfectly fine. Just one wall to my bedroom, but left the door open.

 

[Baconsammy]

4 bedroom 2 story house. Apparently my walls are well insulated because the Pad dropped connection as I left the living room and went down the hall. Not even 10 feet from the Wii U, but not 10 feet in a straight shot. About 5 feet and then out of the room between walls. Any thought I had of using it upstairs is dead.

Any iPad 3 owners got the gamepad yet? How it going from the iPad retina to the gamepad, do your eyeballs fall out or is it fine?

For text it's awful. For games, it's similar to an iPad 2. Not bad at all. Mario looks great on it. The light bleed on my pad is really bad though.

 

[Superblatt]

The answer, as always, is "it depends."

Not just on distance, but the amount of interference being generated nearby.

So "hardcore" gamers that live in a brick house in Chicago can expect to get 7-10ft tops.

 

[Htown]

I don't know what hardcore vs casual has to do with anything, but the answer is "maybe."

See here.

 

[Skyzard]

Is it using the router at all? I thought it was a connection from the WiiU itself? Although doing it through the router may have been nice too as an option.

If you have something like this, try putting it on top or to the side..

although wood probably wouldn't be too bad. Metal would be terrible.

 

[Superblatt]

I don't know what hardcore vs casual has to do with anything, but the answer is "maybe."

See here.

Meaning more signals and general computer bs/potential inteference in my house.

 

[MikeE21286]

ID say I get about 25 feet or so.

 

[Margalis]

Point in the direction of the system without your body between it and the console for starters...

Human body - not good at conducting wifi.

 

[SephCast]

Mine worked decently once I stopped moving in my room. I live in a 2 story apartment and my room is downstairs, probably like 40 feet away, diagonally through walls. It's weird that the OPs is only working 15 feet, might be defective or something.

 

[flipswitch]

4 bedroom 2 story house. Apparently my walls are well insulated because the Pad dropped connection as I left the living room and went down the hall. Not even 10 feet from the Wii U, but not 10 feet in a straight shot. About 5 feet and then out of the room between walls. Any thought I had of using it upstairs is dead.



For text it's awful. For games, it's similar to an iPad 2. Not bad at all. Mario looks great on it. The light bleed on my pad is really bad though.

Does the game pad 'wash out' from extreme angles?

 

[Why would you do that?]

Old houses/apartments have thick walls made of solid plaster on top of horizontal wood lathes. They're called lath and plaster walls. Sometimes, they have a metal mesh inside the walls, which will kill wireless signals a lot. Newer walls (since the late 1950s in America) have thinner drywall walls.

info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lath_and_plaster

Various factors like that and wireless interference will affect the Wii U signal. I have a friend who can only use it in one room of his house, while a different friend of mine has a much higher range.

 

[AlexMeloche]

Can use it anywhere in the basement and upstairs. It's better than I thought.

 

[dwu8991]

4 bedroom 2 story house. Apparently my walls are well insulated because the Pad dropped connection as I left the living room and went down the hall. Not even 10 feet from the Wii U, but not 10 feet in a straight shot. About 5 feet and then out of the room between walls. Any thought I had of using it upstairs is dead.



For text it's awful. For games, it's similar to an iPad 2. Not bad at all. Mario looks great on it. The light bleed on my pad is really bad though.

You must have a lot of wifi interference

5 feet is the worst distance i've heard so far !

 

[Jasper Avenue]

Works great in our place. No interference in our loft or in our bedroom, while I have the Wii U set up in my office.

 

[SephCast]

Everyone who's testing it, sit at the far spot for a little bit. With movement, it lags, but once you stabilize your position, it usually works fine.

 

[Sorcerer Supreme]

I tried to use the Wii U pad in the room RIGHT NEXT to where system is located and it was a no go in the area where I would use it the most which is by my desk and bed.

 

[VanWinkle]

It KIND of works up to my bathroom, which is about 15 ft away AT MOST (probably less) but lots of stuff around between here and there I don't know how fair that is. But real world use, I would like it to be better.

 

[krae_man]

It works in my Bedroom and there is another bedroom between my bedroom and the living room. My bedroom would be the furthest place from the TV I would play it so I'm happy with it.

 

[Baconsammy]

You must have a lot of wifi interference

5 feet is the worst distance i've heard so far !

It's 10 feet. 5 feet is when I leave direct line of sight with the Wii U. Then it degrades dramatically. In the room with the Wii U, I can get well over 10 feet without degradation. It's walls that are killing it for me.

Does the game pad 'wash out' from extreme angles?

Haven't tried that. From all the angles I've used it, I've been very pleased. It's not a great screen, but it's infinitely better than the 3DS XL. I wish the XL had a screen this good (resolution and clarity)

 

[gatti-man]

Any iPad 3 owners got the gamepad yet? How it going from the iPad retina to the gamepad, do your eyeballs fall out or is it fine?

I have an iPad 3, playing games on it is great and the blops map is a cool touch.

 

[DeuceGamer]

It picks up great for me. Luckily my Living Room is located in the center of my house though

Also, want to mention that it's very comfortable and so far, it feels great. It's even comfortable with a finger on both the tR/RZ and L/LZ.

 

[antonz]

Ive managed about 45 feet with no real obstacles between me and the system. Throw in a wall and it shortens a bit but overall I am happy. I have access to it within the key areas of my house

 

[Margalis]

So out of everyone in the world BaconSammy has the worst range. Shocking development!

Does the game pad 'wash out' from extreme angles?

Not really. A little loss of contrast and overall dimming.

 

[domlolz]

I have an iPad 3, playing games on it is great and the blops map is a cool touch.

but when do you even get a chance to look down at your map while playing? that just sounds like a bad idea in a fast paced multiplayer game like cod

 

[GameplayWhore]

Old houses/apartments have thick walls made of solid plaster on top of horizontal wood lathes. They're called lath and plaster walls. Sometimes, they have a metal mesh inside the walls, which will kill wireless signals a lot. Newer walls (since the late 1950s in America) have thinner drywall walls.

info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lath_and_plaster

Various factors like that and wireless interference will affect the Wii U signal. I have a friend who can only use it in one room of his house, while a different friend of mine has a much higher range.

Oh, no no no. No no no nono nonononononono no!

I have these walls.

I still remain optimistic. My bathroom is set up so that if you opened the door, if would be one-wall-bounce, straight-line view of the TV in the living room, distance between 15 and 20 feet. Not unlike that infamous Nintendo Wavebird ad with the mirror (except I don't have a mirror there). Who knows, though — maybe if it doesn't quite work that far normally I could put some kind of radio-reflective material against that wall to help propogate the signal.

(through-wall distance is eleven feet -- coincidentally, my router is about midpoint of that line)


Can't wait to try this next year or so when I get a system.

 

[totowhoa]

Wii U is in my living room... Pretty close to the center of the downstairs. I can go all over the downstairs just fine except my kitchen where it needs to go through a couple of walls because of a weird layout. Upstairs is 100% fine too in both bedrooms on the bed as long as I sit still (and I don't have to be frozen, but if I want to get up or move the game pad considerably at all I need to pause first because of skips... played about five minutes lying down without a problem). Really impressed with it -- I can be everywhere I would want to and I can keep playing my game. Awesome. I will be able to make good use of this off screen play

I do have to pause the game while going upstairs and getting situated though. Walking really jacks it up after a certain distance. But once settled, it runs without a hitch. I should also note that I don't have any unusually thick walls or anything I suppose. Just my kitchen that wraps around the house a funny way so that the signal needs to travel through three walls, effectively killing it.

Edit: my place is somewhat compact maybe, about 30x30 and two stories. It's perfectly square and my Wii U sits about six feet from dead center (it sits away from my kitchen, so that may add to that issue, but pretty sure it's mostly walls since its on the same floor)

 

[dwebo]

Seriously? Must be that my house is all solid brick. Built in 1938. Still bull, as my wifi signal works fine everywhere.

your wifi is probably 2.4ghz which penetrates walls/obstructions much better than the 5ghz the wiiu apparently uses for communicating with the gamepad

 

[Davey Cakes]

I can't really use mine outside of the room that the Wii U is situated in. So it looks like 15 feet at best. Interesting how people are having different experiences.

 

[Proc]

Any iPad 3 owners got the gamepad yet? How it going from the iPad retina to the gamepad, do your eyeballs fall out or is it fine?

Quite the opposite. I have iPad the third and I'm having tons of fun gaming on the pad exclusively tonight with headphones. My 47 led tv is shut off. Playing blops multiplayer in bed with the lights out and headphone is a new experience I'm really digging. Less intense on the eyes. The screen being so close to your face is pretty immersive too. Coupled with a familiar control scheme, I find it very easy to get sucked into this game. Gaming on the pad has been a very pleasant surprise. It's what makes the wiiu unique and apart from the other consoles on my shelf. Just imagine aaa gaming experience on a handheld device. It's something new and pretty rad to experience. I write this as Trent Reznor's theme song to blops loops in the background. What a sick tune.

 

[zoukka]

Yeah it better work in my bedroom, one the biggest reasons to get a Wii U really.