"Oh Happy Day"

by Matthew C.
2008.02.07

"Oh happy day!"

OK... well... not that great, but I'm still in a better mood than before. I must really be a nerd if I get this excited over this, but anyway...

I just received any email from Nintendo telling me that my console is on its way back. I recently sent my Wii console to Nintendo for repairs. It was experiencing a very minor overheating issue that was creating "dead pixels" in some instances. Seeing as my warranty was almost up, I figured I'd take the opportunity to send my console in. Seeing as I've lived with the "problem" for over a year, it's really not a top priority.

However I figured now is as good a time as any to be without my console. Actually, it's probably one of the best times. I'm not currently obsessed with playing any games and there seems to be a lull in video game releases. Things would definitely be more painful once Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros Brawl are released. Actually, with the games yet to come out, WiiWare, and Virtual Console games... 2008 is off to a great start.

One unfortunate consequence of the repair process, and I knew this beforehand, is that my console number will change. This means I'll have to get in touch with everyone again and trade console numbers. This is because Nintendo isn't sending me back the same console. In the interest of speed, they're sending me a refurbished console while keeping my original one to work on it some more. (They won't be sending it back to me, but rather to someone else once it's "fixed".)

So to break down the timeline:

• Jan 24, 2008 - Contacted Nintendo, they provided pre-paid shipping label
• Jan 31, 2008 - "Old" console shipped via FedEx
• Feb 4, 2008 - Nintendo received "old" console (LU10317____)
• Feb 6, 2008 - Nintendo shipped "new" console (LU52840____) via UPS
• Feb 11, 2008 - "New" console in action

So while I'll have to "re-do" some things on the new console, I'm really not that worried. I'll let you know if things are really messed up. :)

Another reason for my mood is that I found out today that the Japanese game known as Tales of Symphonia: Knights of Ratatosk is coming to North America as Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. I really enjoyed the original Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube and am anxious to play this follow-up.


2008.02.12

I'm back!

I received my console yesterday and to my surprise, my console number DID NOT change! While this enables me to communicate with consoles already in my "address book", I still spent all of last night re-downloading Virtual Console games and Channels. While my console number hasn't changed, the console's serial number has, so my system is seen as "a different Wii" so I can't edit any of the Miis I previously created (without re-creating them) or bring any previously saved channels or games from my SD card. Basically, the game saves are OK, but the VC games themselves have to be re-downloaded (which can be done for free).

Basically I don't think I "lost" anything. I just have to re-do some things. (The "new" console didn't have the most current system or channel updates, so I had to re-do that as well.)


2008.02.13

I just wrote an email to the Ninendo's repair people. It read:

"I just wanted to say 'thanks' for the quality work done by Nintendo. I recently sent my Wii console to the New York repair facility (Repair Order #6294899) and was impressed by the thorough communication I received throughout the process and quick turnaround.

I understand the issue of sending me a different console (than I sent you) was done in the essence of time. (This way you can spend more time fixing my previous console before sending it to someone else.) I thank everyone involved with transferring the data from my previous console and allowing me to keep my previous Wii Console Number. (This makes for seamless communication with prior contacts.)

Again thanks to everyone responsible.
- Matthew

p.s.
Feel free to share this with those involved and their bosses."