WiiConnect24: Ensuring Vampirism
by EcoGeek.org on 11.23.06
One of Nintendo's biggest accomplishments with the new Nintendo Wii is its extremely low power consumption. During gameplay, the device uses only 17 watts, less electricity than a compact fluorescent light bulb (not including the display.) The Wii uses at least ten times less power than either the PS3 or the Xbox 360.
However, the Wii has been marketed along with an online service from Nintendo called WiiConnect24. This service encourages users to keep their Wii's on all the time, while delivering them services like free games, firmware updates, news, and some social networking. The problem is that WiiConnect24 prevents the Wii from having a true power-save standby, and keeps the device on all the time. Initial reports show the Wii using about 10 watts of power in standby mode, five times that of the XBOX 360 and ten times EU recommendations.
The only solution, of course, is to unplug your Wii at the source, thus not making as much use of the WiiConnect24 service. Not since the first generation of gaming systems has there been such an efficient in-home system. After all that work to ensure plenty of performance without a lot of power, WiiConnect24 seems like a short-sighted move by Nintendo.
::Kotaku and ::Phicons. See also: ::THTV: Vampire Power!
Would one of those "smart" powerbars do the trick? Turn off the TV, and with it goes your VCR, DVD, and Wii? I'd assume that turning your concole on 10 minutes early for updates would be better than 24 hours a day.
Anyone know where to buy these powerbars in Canada?
Not since the first generation of gaming systems has there been such an efficient in-home system.
Don't you mean inefficient?
"Don't you mean inefficient?"
I don't think he did. The system *is* very efficient when you're playing. It's when you're not playing - in the standby mode - that it is inefficient.
GrammarNazi :: probably not. as was mentioned, the Wii uses even less power than a CF bulb (~10 times less than a 360). Apart from WiiConnect24, this is a very, very efficient bit of electronics.
To be fair to Nintendo, all of the consoles have a standby mode by default. I think there is a power switch on the PS2 and PS3 but it's in the back and no one's going to mess with it (not sure about 360).
and... it's only 10 watts. if you're concerned about this small amount of power drain tell people to not -turn on- their 360 or PS3.
"10 times less"
How do you quantify ten times less? Do you mean that it consumes a tenth of the energy that the xbox or ps3 do?
Yes, in fact I do mean that.
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/wii/wiis-uses-about-onetenth-power-of-360-216051.php
Also, that's just the 360. looks like it's using over 20 times less than the PS3.
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/ps3-twice-as-powerhungry-as-xbox-360-211005.php
and according to that last article is uses far less than even the PS2.
Additional thoughts,
The Wii is smaller than either of the other new consoles and thus uses less materials, and thus less packaging, and thus less energy to transport etc.
How 'green' those extra bits are are another matter. I seem to recall that the games and accessories are just as ungreen as anything else, blister packs abound.
Also it doesn't, for now. play movies, meaning that if one were a DVD watching person, one would have to have a seperate DVD player. For most game afficionados, they likely already have a game machine which does this. But it still discouragingly affects minilimalist first time buys.
However as the Wii is meant to work on ordinary TVs, and is not designed to take advantage of any enhanced resolution higher than 480p, it doesn't encourage/require buying a new HDTV and all that consequent footprint. But maybe a lowpower LCD HDTV might be better move than keeping the old CRT...maybe not.
How is 17 watts less than the 7-watt CF bulbs I have all over my house?
Wiiconnect 24 IS NOT standby!!!
The wii actually has THREE power levels,
1, Green, that means ON, for playing
2, Orange, WiiConnect24, which uses less power than ON, for recieving e-mail.
3, Red, Standby, PowerSave Mode, Compliant to all standards, No Connection to internet.
( and ofcourse 4, unplugged ;))
You can access Red by DISABLEING WiiConnect24.
Hope that this clears all the fuzz and hoping to get the article more clear.
I can't install wiiconnect24.It said that:Wiiconnect24 and Wii Shop channel service is not currently being offered
alexis, I have the same problem, I can't get to wii shop channel because of this problem, damn it! I want to play VC games, but I can't do sh**.. can someone help??
wii connect is sh*t i got the same prob and i cant find eneywhere that tells me what to do