Wii U's Poor Battery Life, Kinect Approaches Sales of Xbox - Nick's Gaming View Episode #99

"Coming up today on Nick’s Gaming View, Wii U’s GamePad suffers from poor battery life, Microsoft’s Kinect sells more than 80% of the entire market share of the original Xbox, and the Official PlayStation Magazine to officially become extinct, THIS IS NICK’S GAMING VIEW!"

-TheGamerAccess.com

[Rrobba]

80 hours for the standard controller is fantastic. And 4 hours for the tablet is pretty decent considering the 3DS/Vita have around that.

[hennessey86]

You need more thn that for the tablet controller anyway. Because you. Will always be close to a power source.

[MasterCornholio]

It does seem pretty poor for a controller but honestly how many people sit down and game for 4 straight hours? I'm a pretty avid gamer but even I don't do that.

Motorola RAZR i

[medman]

I know plenty of people that pull all nighters on games, especially when said game is a new release. I could see how a 4 hour battery life would be an inconvenience. Especially when you consider that is an estimation of drain from a full charge. It's going to cost you a pretty penny if you have to replace that controller. Don't drop it, don't spill a drink near it. I have no problem handing a child my 360 or PS3 controller, but I would have serious reservations about letting my kids use the Wii U's controller due to it's replacement cost alone. That is not a good thing.

[Hicken]

On a site full of people that call themselves "hardcore" gamers, you ask that question? In the past month, I've put in multiple 5+ hour gaming stints on my Vita(FFIX at the time, but now Front Mission 3), Borderlands 2, Gran Turismo, Tales of Graces f, and Breath of Fire III. And I've spent most of my time trying to sleep through a toothache.

The battery life on this controller is sad. No two ways about that.

[PirateThom]

1. Vita/3DS are fully featured hardware, they're doing processing, the Wii U tablet isn't.

2. Yes, nothing like going back to wired controllers.

3. So, because you don't no one else does? I tend to play games in large slots, so do a lot of people depending on the game.

Basically, these are all weak excuses for a controller having less than 4 hours of charge, especially when it takes about half of that time to achieve a full charge.

[eferreira]

well said

[Sanquine90]

Nothing wrong with wires. IF ninty give me a cable usb just for recharging the gamepad i am happy. Just like ps3 ( if your controller is empty voila usb cable:D)

[jmc8888]

One of the ports might be for extra battery pack, or larger one.

A pro controller for many (but not all) games can be used as a replacement during recharge.

At least it only takes 2.5 hours to recharge it.

It wouldn't surprise me that since you can replace the batteries, you can do like what you can do with the 360 battery pack....have one in the charger, so when one pack dies, pop in the new one.

So while none of this has been confirmed, and perhaps we need to wait a few weeks to get extra peripherals and stuff (charger beyond the one included in the deluxe and spare battery packs...unless the charger included can do it), the biggest thing about the battery being replaceable to me indicates that at some point in the future you'll be able to switch out the battery pack with a charged one.

We'll just have to see.

[profgerbik]

I get a good 6-7 hours out of my Vita at the most and I am being dead serious.

For a console I think that is pretty bad because many people will want to play the crap out of it at first and trust me more people than you think play games for over 4+ hours easily.

I can go through 4 hours on the Vita like it's nothing before I realize how much time has actually passed by seeing the clock every now and then between gameplay.

That is awful for something that isn't really doing anything besides streaming a video to a screen.

I was going to go on a rant about how Nintendo cut's cost at production once again but whatever figure it out on your own when you see the lack of features the Wii U should have.

[Death_Grin48]

You can play while charging the controller, so it's not a big deal.

"That is awful for something that isn't really doing anything besides streaming a video to a screen."

The gamepad does more than streaming a video. I won't bother telling them to you because I doubt you're the type to listen to facts.

[HateFanboys]

"Wii U's Poor Battery Life, Kinect Approaches Sales of Xbox"

Both are unacceptable in my book, Nintendo should have put a bigger, longer lasting battery in their controller, but no, you can always count on Nintendo to be cheap.

And Kinect? come on people, stop supporting this crap, seriously, Kinect games suck. Who is buying this sh!t? Wii owners? Casuals are ruining gaming, with their Wii's and mobile games and Kinect

[mcstorm]

Its kind of simple. Buy a dock or plugin the wiiu controller when you have finished playing and you dont have an issue.

[deafdani]

Apologists are funny. I''m a BIG Nintendo fan, but even I won't deny the truth: the Gamepad's battery life is terrible.

Between 3 and 5 hours for a device that doesn't do any processing? My android tablet has a battery life between 7 and 10 hours, and it does heavy processing, it has a higher resolution screen than the Wii U's gamepad, it's multitouch, it's wireless, it has gyro sensors, etc...

So, yeah. My guess is that the gamepad has a pretty small battery on it, hence the short battery life. Maybe Nintendo did it to cut costs, or to avoid making the gamepad too heavy, or a combination of the two. Either way, the fact remains that 3 to 5 hours of charge for a game controller is terrible.

Oh, well. I can still live with that, luckily for me, I have a power outlet pretty close to my couch, where I do all my gaming. But not everyone is going to have it so convenient, the cases will vary according to each gamer's setup.

[Sanquine90]

Do not get why you get downvotes:) Maybe because you speak the thruth which hurts. Please stop defending a minor issue:) Every console has it flaws:D

[profgerbik]

True but for something that relies on that tablet experience to supposdely be the new Wii U experience.

It does kind of suck hearing that for many.

"Between 3 and 5 hours for a device that doesn't do any processing? My android tablet has a battery life between 7 and 10 hours, and it does heavy processing, it has a higher resolution screen than the Wii U's gamepad, it's multitouch, it's wireless, it has gyro sensors, etc..."

I been saying that about the Vita and how it offers more also forever but no one likes to hear it that either.

No multi-touch on a system that boasts a tablet controller experience.. was a no go for me. Literally why I didn't bother buying it and I was honestly really was.

It has an old ass VGA screen also(Who the fuck uses VGA anymore seriously, not even smart phones).. I used it in person thought which was what really killed it and the quality on that tablet screen is awful, it looks like an old box television which would be expected with a crappy VGA screen.

I could go on and on about how many features it's lacking for a system this late, it should not be lacking any of which I would be ranting about..

At that point for me it might as well be called the Wii XL.

[Death_Grin48]

The problem is this guy is making a big deal out of it, when you can simply charge the controller while playing.

It doesn't need multitouch because it already has buttons; the Wii U would cost a fortune if it would have a higher resolution and a bigger battery, and it's not a big deal because you're gonna spend most your time playing on the TV then on the controller; the gamepad HAS a gyroscope, so I don't know what this guy is blabbing on about...

So yeah, this guy is making it a big issue when it really isn't.

[Deku-Johnny]

3-5 hours is not terrible. It doesn't anymore than that because once the light starts blinking you can just plug it in and keep playing as you can't use it out of the house whereas tablets can be taken out with you so they might need to last longer. It's the same battery life as the 3DS and Vita are not many people say they're that bad. As it is wireless you can move closer to a plug socket if you're not always close to one.

[deafdani]

@Death_Grin48:

"The problem is this guy is making a big deal out of it, when you can simply charge the controller while playing."

That negates the "wireless" aspect of the controller a bit, don't you think? More so when you need a full 2 and a half hours to recharge the controller, only to be able to play it for 3 to 5 hours until the next recharge. No, I'm not making a big deal out of it, I'm pointing out an obvious flaw in the controller.

"It doesn't need multitouch because it already has buttons; the Wii U would cost a fortune if it would have a higher resolution and a bigger battery, and it's not a big deal because you're gonna spend most your time playing on the TV then on the controller; the gamepad HAS a gyroscope, so I don't know what this guy is blabbing on about..."

You missed my point here a bit. I'm not saying it needs multitouch, and I never said it doesn't have gyro controls (I know it does), and I don't think it really need a high-res screen. I was just comparing the gamepad to another device that does pretty much all the gamepad does, and MORE, and STILL has a longer battery life. That's why I pointed out this is probably a matter of the battery being too small, to cut costs -which I can understand, but doesn't change the fact that it gives the controller a way shorter battery life than it could have.

Although there's ONE thing I didn't think about: the rumble. My android tablet doesn't have rumble, whereas the Wii U's gamepad does, and it most probably is one of the things factoring in for the shorter battery life. More so when you consider the Pro Controller has a whooping 80 hours long battery life, but numerous reports claim that the rumble is so weak, it's almost imperceptible. That's not a coincidence, I guess.

Again, I'm not making a big deal out of it; I'm just criticizing one of the console's aspects, and come on, do you really think it wouldn't have been better if the GamePad had a longer battery life, even if that meant putting in a bit bigger battery, making the controller a tad heavier, and making the overall cost of the console $10 more? I know I would've happily paid those extra $10 or so if that meant the controller had a better battery life.

But it doesn't, it's what there is, and I will take it anyway. I still hope Nintendo improves on this aspect on the future.

[medman]

What?

[Schawk]

plenty of time for me, if i need more time i will use the pro controller

[ALLWRONG]

For a controller with a screen and rumble the battery life is just fine.

Nice try though.

[Deku-Johnny]

"3-5 hours of gameplay time with a recharge length of 2.5 hours. With most wireless gaming controllers on the market today accomplishing at least double this time." - Most wireless gaming controllers on the marker today don't have a touchscreen...