Nintendo Downplays Reports of 3DS Flaws

RedEaredSlider writes "Shorty after the US launch of Nintendo's last portable console, 3DS owners have begun reporting issues with the device. In one case, dubbed the 'black screen of death,' users reported instances where their 3DS screens grew black shortly before their consoles became unresponsive. Other owners documented errors involving a screen instructing them to restart their systems. Nintendo has taken notice of the issues, and offered 3DS users a fix for the error. 'If anyone is experiencing any problems with their Nintendo 3DS console, we recommend that in the first instance they download and install the latest system update, now available online,' the company said in a statement." The 3DS's launch was reportedly more successful than the DSi's. iFixit did a nice teardown of the device a while back, and Nukezilla's Peter Silk put the screen under a microscope.

Comments

PEBDAC?

[Buggz]

users reported instances where their 3DS screens grew black shortly before their consoles became unresponsive

That happens to me all the time. Then I charge the battery.

Downplays?

[damnbunni]

Er, they released a firmware update to fix the software issue, and while they did say they haven't gotten all that many complaints about the hinges, they do appear to be fixing/replacing them for people with a bad hinge.

'Downplays' may be putting it a bit too strongly.

Re:Downplays?

[dunezone]

Nintendo has probably the best customer service of all three major players in the console market. They were still repairing the NES up until about 5 years ago. I read a story where one guy called up their support but since he only lived 5 minutes from their corporate HQ he convinced them to have him come bring his dead Wii and they repaired it.

My experiences with the 3DS thus far

[RogueyWon]

I picked up my 3DS at UK launch on Friday. So far, I've had a single black-screen (which happened on quitting a game), which isn't a major irritation. The hinges, however, are very, very loose - if the thing isn't in the "full open" position, it tends to either flop towards that or to flop closed. Other than that, it feels like a fairly nice piece of kit, rather than the "plastic toy" feel you got from the DS.

The biggest problem for me has been headaches associated with even the mildest 3d settings. I've made a more detailed post about that (and other experiences with the machine more generally) in my journal, though it may be a bit on the tl;dr side.

Obviously, turning the 3d off solves this problem, but that does leave you with a machine that is basically an expensive and slightly underpowered PSP with a touchscreen.

Re:My experiences with the 3DS thus far

[losthought]

I picked up my 3DS Sunday morning. My particular kit is very sturdy--including the hinge. A friend who bought his at the same time has had a minor issue with his hinge, though; basically with the same complaint the parent describes. He picked up the the black unit while I got the cobalt. I wonder if anyone has found any correlation between the color of the systems and hinge problems?

I have also experienced the black screen of death 3 times. One of those was after the firmware update. However, every single one of the crashes occurred within Ghost Recon: Shadow Warriors (a lot of fun, by the way) so I'm not sure that isn't just a problem with that particular bit of software. I also have Super Street Figher IV, which I have played extensively with no trouble.

Issues--head-aches, etc--seems to vary largely by person. I've yet to get headaches while using it but have experienced some discomfort with certain settings and games. I found that when I keep 3D on the lower end of the slider that I am able to play continuously with no trouble. On the upper end of the slider, though, I do experience many of the problems others have reported.

I've seen it post-update.

[Karl J. Smith]

The first thing I did was update the firmware it when I got it on Sunday so that I could see the "OK Go" video. I never saw the "bsod" requesting that you power off and on again until yesterday when I was playing Ghost: Recon for the first time. I just saw it again today, also while playing Ghost:Recon. The exact wording is "An error has occurred. Hold down the POWER button to turn off the power, then turn it on and try again. For help, visit support.nintendo.com."

I just looked for another update, and there is none.

So the issue still exists with all current patches applied, and seems to show up in Ghost:Recon, at least for me.