Confirmed - Joycon Latches Will Break If You Break Them (Giant Bomb)

AuthenticM said:
I am genuinely confused here. What is going on? I can't even tell who's on who's side, or even what the sides are.
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There are no sides. Giant Bomb dropped their Switch 4-5 feet onto a concrete floor, then said that the joycons felt a bit loose while explicitly saying they dropped it, demonstrated this looseness (which, still required a fair amount of force) and a lot of people took that to mean this was the case with every Switch, not just their dropped Switch.

They have now clarified that it's not the same with another, just the dropped one. Basically they broke a component, so the joycons are a bit looser while they sit connected on the Switch. The console still works fine, the joycons still work fine.

Nothing really more to see here than that.
 
We need multiple floor surface drop survival tests now. That would be beneficial to the potential users at home. Control height at 0, then 1 foot increments.
 
Jaded Alyx said:
Your GameCube doesn't have slide on controllers with a release mechanism...
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Metal B said:
Anytime you drop something, there is a chance, that something can break. Some products have a higher and others a lower chance. This could simply be bad luck. That's why nobody (except idiots) create a statistic with just one case.
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akidnamededdy said:
That thing had a handle NO REASON TO DROP IT
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and I thought I didn't understand well enough sarcasm
 
Kouriozan said:
That thread title change.

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asagami_ said:
Damn you, I was going to post this:

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If the drop broke the tabs it would be pretty easy to tell. I'm sure the drop did something harmful but I think the latch mechanism might just be of inferior design.
 
oti xero said:
Gb could've handled this whole thing better. But come on people. Relax.
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They made an offhand comment, said they weren't positive if it had been like that prior to being dropped, and emphasized they wanted to test it on another unit before making any kind of conclusion.

How would you have handled it?
 
Not that big a deal in the grand schemes of things, but

-Some people drop things a lot
-Kids drop things a lot
-more portability=more dropportunity
-If the latches fail then it seems like it'd be hard to hold the system portably without it sliding out of your hands
-GB didn't make anything close to a big deal out of it
-Hopefully the latches/rails don't erode/weaken after much continued use if a good drop can compromise them
 
Kaako said:
We need multiple floor surface drop survival tests now. That would be beneficial to the potential users at home. Control height at 0, then 1 foot increments.
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Related:

The Wii's robust simplicity was what helped it appeal to a wider audience, and the same robust, playful philosophy could be seen in the handheld DS. Iwata, mindful of the younger audience he had in mind for the hardware, demanded that the final unit pass his own self-defined test. "If a kid puts a game console in the basket of their bicycle, then has to make a sudden stop, the console can come flying out - and it's not going to land on carpet. So I told [the designers] to make it so it could survive being dropped from 1.5 meters onto concrete. The hardware design team screamed, but proceeded to figure out how to pass the test."
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Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-take-the-conventional-path-remembering-iwata

Miss Iwata ;_;
 
I just don't understand the type of press who receive a new console from a company in order to review it and some launch games, and end up putting the damn thing through some crazy durability test basically, dropping it, throwing the controllers, trying to eat cartridges... Then claim that they're worried that it's not built well enough, and the joycons will likely stop staying attached to the tablet, leading to the tablet being dropped often.
 
Mushroomer25 said:
They made an offhand comment, said they weren't positive if it had been like that prior to being dropped, and emphasized they wanted to test it on another unit before making any kind of conclusion.

How would you have handled it?
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More communication. Someone from GB could've dropped in here to post a summary of what happened. Nintendo hardcore fans would not change their tune but just getting clarity would've helped.

All of this is so meaningless anyway once the console is out. But you know, launches.
 
Conkerkid11 said:
I just don't understand the type of press who receive a new console from a company in order to review it and some launch games, and end up putting the damn thing through some crazy durability test basically, dropping it, throwing the controllers, trying to eat cartridges... Then claim that they're worried that it's not built well enough, and the joycons will likely stop staying attached to the tablet, leading to the tablet being dropped often.
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I'm surprised they didn't try to flush it down a toilet, the animals.
 
Well, good on you for taking the L on this one, OP.

Still frustrates me though that this is the alarmist nature that seems to be the norm on GAF lately.

Conkerkid11 said:
I just don't understand the type of press who receive a new console from a company in order to review it and some launch games, and end up putting the damn thing through some crazy durability test basically, dropping it, throwing the controllers, trying to eat cartridges... Then claim that they're worried that it's not built well enough, and the joycons will likely stop staying attached to the tablet, leading to the tablet being dropped often.
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To be fair, that's a mischaracterization of what occurred here. The one thing I can fault Jeff for is that he put the idea out into the world, after concerned, and then took several days to actually check to see if that idea had merit. I'm sure he didn't think it mattered much, but he did bring it up numerous times, so at some point, he needed to make good on testing his concerns.
 
I mean, in regards of the title, it makes sense that if you break something, it becomes broken. I do wonder how strong these latches are though, because dropping handheld devices isn't outside of my expertise unfortunately.

That said, I don't think this isolated case can tell us anything in regards to the scale of mass consumption. Almost any similar device can break if it lands wrong.
 
oti xero said:
More communication. Someone from GB could've dropped in here to post a summary of what happened. Nintendo hardcore fans would not change their tune but just getting clarity would've helped.

All of this is so meaningless anyway once the console is out. But you know, launches.
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All this has happened in the span of like 40 minutes
 
Joycon Latches Will Break If You Break Them
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Wait what ?
Does the sentence actually says : "It breaks if you break it" ?
Is that supposed to be some kind of joke topic or something ?
 
Harmen said:
I mean, in regards of the title, it makes sense that if you break something, it becomes broken. I do wonder how strong these latches are though, because dropping handheld devices isn't outside of my expertise unfortunately.

That said, I don't think this isolated case can tell us anything in regards to the scale of mass consumption. Almost any similar device can break if it lands wrong.
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The thing is, it didn't break. The joycons still work fine, and they attach and detach from the Switch fine. They're just a bit more loose, so you can detach them without pressing the release button. It still took them a good bit of force to do that though.
 
RecRoulette said:
My 3DS was a tank that fell on hard surfaces multiple times and kept on trucking, preorder cancelled.

Seriously though, are there cases for the Switch that you can use while playing them?
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Mine broke in half from a relatively small fall. A FE limited edition I couldn't get back
On topic, I may buy a Switch earlier than expected. Glad to see the issues reported aren't as bad as they initially seemed
 
Waji said:
Wait what ?
Does the sentence actually says : "It breaks if you break it" ?
Is that supposed to be some kind of joke topic or something ?
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Originally they tried to spin it in that they were worried the latches were too weak, and eventually over time, the tablet would just start coming loose and falling while holding it by the joycons.

Really, they just mishandled it, dropped it on concrete at one point, and that's what broke them.

They tried to suggest they stop working over time. Really, it was them breaking them that caused them to stop working.

Breakage said:
I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of broken kickstands.
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What? Can you even break the kickstand?
 
TenCentCoast said:
Oh, you sweet summer child.
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Yeah i never followed reviews that much, especially back then (as i didn't even have a proper DSL connection... yeah Italy's situation on that front was THAT shitty), so i just used to read the official italian Nintendo magazine and a couple of amazing PC magazines. I only knew there was a big fuss about the 8.8 score to TP by some big american website but i didn't know the score came from him lol
 
Leninpest said:
I think it's good to clarify too that the Switch survived, but the Joy-Cons were looser afterwards. They still were able to connect to the system without any issues and functioned properly.
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The fact the Switch survived is fantastic. God bless Nintendium.

To anybody, please, dont drop your electronics in concrete.
 
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