A look at inner workings of Joycon and Nintendo Switch
github.com
github.com
You can get into scenarios where things are 'off', but nothing 10 y/o me wouldn't have figured out quickly I think. It is pretty well done overall; much better than the bottom charging port.
I haven’t had any issues personally though, I think it’s a great console!
"Also, in a bizarre move, Nintendo didn't use the traditional "one side pulled-up other side to ground" way of reading buttons, instead they used a keypad configuration where buttons are arranged in rows and columns. They used the keypad scanner built-in inside the BCM20734 with 128KHz clock for reading the buttons. That means it would be extremely hard to spoof button presses for TAS and twitch-plays. Maybe the Pro controller is different, need to buy one though."
Why would a 128KHz polling prevent spoofed button presses? Seems like a NPN transistor could easily spoof that - if TAS players are looking at that. Or am I just missing something how TAS players do it now?
I know its not the legit real controller, but buttons are buttons (analog or digital). As long as you don't mod the console itself, that should be fine for the TAS community, no?
I believe the main issue is that it's very easy to electrically simulate button presses and be confident that the rest of the system is functioning correctly. Once you start simulating the entire controller and its protocol for communicating with the console, you start to enter a realm where it may be possible to trigger inputs that are not physically possible with the actual controller hardware.
http://tasvideos.org/TASBot.html
In addition to TASBot, there's also a growing practice of using physical rigs to "verify" tool-assisted runs:
http://tasvideos.org/ConsoleVerificationGuide.html
This isn't generally regarded as necessary for a TAS to be valid, but it allows it to work on TASBot and similar rigs, which can help it get in front of a wider audience. It also helps figure out which TAS techniques are theoretically possible in non-TAS runs.
This is all super cool, thanks everyone.
Citation: http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a...
The MEMS accelerometer they use costs $1.88 each when buying 500 at a time. Presumably the other chips are about that much as well. There are a lot of connectors on the PCB, but in bulk they, the case, and the battery should be fairly inexpensive.
The entire concept of the Switch as a multiplayer in-couch experience is heavily undermined by the excessive cost of a controller.
It's also a lot of small parts that have to be assembled once you add in additional components like the docking rails and physical controls
[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Switch+Teardown/782...
I guess it's a way to make a nice profit from what is effectively a captive audience. You can either buy the original peripherals at extortionate prices or you can try your luck with off-brand copies.
Typically the first generation of controllers are not sold at a large profit. They get cost reduced and a couple iterations in they are major money makers.
> You can either buy the original peripherals at extortionate prices or you can try your luck with off-brand copies.
AFAIK all major consoles have security chips for their controllers, collecting a licensing fee from 3rd party peripheral manufacturers may sound nice, but if the team doing the licensing is the same team who gets credited for profits from first party sales, then there is a huge conflict of interest. This is why the market for third party controllers can be a bit slim for some consoles. It is up to the political whims, and fiscal arrangement, of a company during that console's lifetime.
i would expect most of the profit comes from licensing fees and royalties, anyway. that's where they'll recouperate the engineering cost.
It doesn't have wireless, vibration motors, or accelerometers.
This model has wireless and vibration motors, not sure about accelerometers:
https://smile.amazon.com/Logitech-940-000117-Gamepad-F710/dp...
The default Windows drivers and associated "configuration" program are rather badly out of date though, and to get it working on a Windows 10 system I had to override it to use the XBox gamepad driver instead.
The Linux drivers worked just fine out of the box though.
It's because people will pay $80.
This is a common misconception, that the price of a product is calculated using "how much it costs to manufacture, plus some profit margin percentage". That is false. Cost to produce only sets a floor on retail price (and sometimes not even that); apart from that they have nothing to do with each other. You charge what the market will bear.
I believe Nintendo would be better off making little to no money on the Joycons. As a spillover of Switch owners having more Joycons and thus the ability to play with their friends, Nintendo will sell more multiplayer games and more Switches.
The drawbacks are the missing motion, "minus", and ZL buttons. If the game works without that and you have some gamecube controllers already, getting an adapter could be a good idea.
What's funny if you abstract this concept out a bit in becomes "I believe the company would be better off making little to no money on their products."
Joking aside, that sounds like quite the gamble to me. And it doesn't appear to me that Nintendo likes that gamble, as they have been pretty averse to taking losses on hardware in the past.
Not to mention I don't know of too many other console makers that are willing to take losses on the accessories.
Or even the licensed minecraft controller, which is identical apart from being green and costing $72: https://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Wireless-Controller-Minecraft-Cr...
Remember, electronics cost has basically nothing to do with BOM cost, other than that the bare minimum for profitability is going to be roughly twice the BOM cost.
Also, with regards to the retail markup, big brands generally do not sell directly to department stores, they will rent the space out instead.
[0] https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/251038-theres-no-profit-m...
Having talked to a few people who were directly involved, for controllers the manufacturer get maybe 10% of the purchase price as profit, the store would take 40%+. The markup was basically 100% from what the distributor charged.
This is also why for the longest time consoles shipped with bare bones everything. E.g. External wifi, sometimes extra video cables were even needed. Anything to help the store turn an actual profit on selling the physical consoles.
This story has a developer explaining:
https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/1/15499328/tumbleseed-hd-rumb...
The gist appears to be that the HD rumble effect allows intensity and speed to be controlled separately. Traditional rumble uses a weighted motor which shakes harder and faster as current increases. I definitely have noticed rumble effects in Mario Odyssey that feel like light, rapid trembles as well as heavy chugging thuds. There's boss fights where the sensation of the rumble actually gives you an idea of how successfully your hits are landing, and it really works. However it works, it's pretty stunning.
1) The "fizz" when you're swimming in a carbonated sea
2) Rumbling motorbikes in the city and elsewhere
3) The scrabbling feet of a "Jaxi"
These aren't the only things with rumble, just the ones that I thought felt most unique. I've also heard that in Mario Kart, the sound of picking up a coin is essentially played by the joycon's rumble, even when the audio is off.
btw nice trick for vscored panels to avoid huge number of test points https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BDcEqEaKg