Wired’s GeekDad recently had quite an interesting experience with Nintendo’s tech support line, regarding the functionality (or lack thereof) of his Wii remote. After opening up an xmas Wii for his kids and putting the thing to work for a while, the motion detection on one of the remotes went dead.
Replacing the batteries, re-synching, and resetting the remote yielded no breakthroughs with the problem, so the GeekDad sucked it up and gave Nintedo a call. The conversation went a little something like this:
Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady: "Okay – I want you to take the remote, button side down and smack it into the palm of your hand two or three times."
Russ: "You’ve got to be kidding"
Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady: "No sir, do it hard enough that I can hear it across the phone line but not hard enough to damage the remote"
Russ: "You’re sure?"
Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady: "Yes, sir."
Guess what…it worked! Seems the accelerometer must have been stuck or something.
So just remember, my dear GN readers, if your Wii becomes limp, just smack it around a little bit. It will be working in no time!
