Forecast channel under casual fire
by Alisha Karabinus 
{ Jan 3rd 2007 at 1:15PM }
IGN's Matt Casamassina, the world's crankiest Nintendo fan, is complaining again. We'll bet the sky is blue. This time, however, Matt may be correct; his latest rant regards the Forecast Channel's outdated reporting and with that, we have to agree. This morning, we compared the Forecast channel to the local news reports and to the Weather Underground, and the Wii was off by 14 degrees. Considering the current temp was from midnight, however, that's not too suprising.Matt C.'s final statement is that if they can't get it right, they shouldn't bother, and to hell with the fact that the Forecast Channel is interesting, pretty ... and new. He doesn't want to be tempted by something that isn't up-to-the-minute correct. We can see that point, but pose one in return: how often do you check the weather to get the current temperature and conditions? We usually just, y'know, walk outside for that. When it came to the daily high and low temperature, as well as condition and the extended predictions, the Forecast Channel was spot on with the other guys. It was only the current temperature that was incorrect. While that's certainly mind-boggingly annoying, it's probably also fixable.
Canadian commenters at IGN noted that they weren't having the reporting problems that Matt (and we) seemed to have, and we'd be curious to hear about how up to date the Forecast Channel is elsewhere. For instance, is it on the money in Japan? As the provider is headquartered there, we'd guess so.
So what do you guys think? Is it a big deal to you whether (heh) or not the current displayed temp is accurate? Is it accurate for you? Do you think the system will change over time? We say yes to that last.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Moe @ Jan 3rd 2007 1:47PM
I have to agree. Why have a service that is not accurate. My weather in New York is off by 4 hrs. sometimes it stopped raining in the last 2 hrs and then it says its raining. I realize, all I have to do is look out the window to see if its raining, but give me a tool that predicts the weather for the day and gives me that accuracy. Afterall it is a service. WORK!!
Joshua Smith @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:01PM
I used it to see if I needed to go outside and defrost my car before work (before I started my WII workout). It said 52 outside, and when I went outside, it was about 40. Oh well, at least I didn't have to defrost my car. When they get it right, it'll be nice not to have to open the shade, to let light in when I'm playing Zelda.
Jackson Pritt @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:05PM
Every night after I finish up messing around with my Wii I check the Forecast Channel before going to bed to see what the weather is going to be like the next day so I know what to expect the next morning on my way to/from work.
So far the Forecast Channel has been just as accurate with next-day predictions as weather.com, so for my needs it works perfectly. When it comes to checking the weather with my Wii I'm much more interested in what the weather is going to be like in the future than what the weather is like right now.
Alex @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:07PM
Why the hell is Matt's blog newsworthy? I can't believe you piggyback off of this. He doesn't even have any news within the blog entry yet you make story on your page? Come on. It's a rant.
At least disguise your stories so they seem somewhat original. You don't have to quote Matt on everything or refer to his latest posting.
webrunner @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:56PM
It's the FORECAST channel
not the CURRENT WEATHER channel.
crumb @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:23PM
Holy freaking crap. This is a big deal about nothing. Don't take this like I'm trying to down-play this bullshit, but what's the reason behind whining about how the displayed Current Temperature is offset by several degrees?
I can see the channel as much more useful as a weather predictor; just like Jackson Pritt mentions above this post. In case you wanted to know what's going to happen tomorrow or the day after instead of browsing the ad-littered weather.com or waiting for the next newscast on TV.
Honestly, who really gives a shit? It's not aimed at me (19 year old gamer) and it's certainly not aimed for IGN-Matt. This is a console for everyone (read: adults), right?
Michael @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:18PM
I think one of the problems I had with the Forecast Channel was the inability to pick a ZIP code. Only choosing the city can give inaccurate information. I live in Las Vegas, NV (which is several hundred square miles in size) and the temperature can vary greatly between the different areas of "Las Vegas", but the Forecast Channel only tells me the official temperature for the city (which is recored in the south end at the airport). I have a personal weather station to give me the actual temperature and weather conditions in and around my house, other than that I use the Forecast channel to check out other locales and for fun. That globe is neat. :)
DiRT @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:37PM
A better solution would be a channel on the main page that acts as an Opera bookmark to the weather page of your choice.
Steve @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:57PM
Yeah, sniping at the current conditions is nitpicking (though if it's going to be stale by the time you see it, then why show it?) but I'll agree that they do need a better weather provider. On Monday in Boston, the Forecast Channel said it was going to be 46F and snowing. It doesn't take a meteorologist to know that you're not going to get very much snow when the air temperature is 15 degrees above freezing. (And, by the way, it rained cats and dogs, but I didn't see one snowflake.)
Author X @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:21PM
I agree that it's fine if you ignore the "current" conditions, which are always at least 5 hours behind where I am (though, interestingly enough, accurate about what the weather was like 5 hours ago), but the problem is that current weather is the default. That's what people first see, and that's the only one you can check from the Wii menu. It would just be a lot more convenient, and make them look a lot less stupid, if they had "Today" as the default instead of a complete accurate measurement of the weather five hours ago labeled as "Current." Heck, just change current to "Last Measured" and it would be fine.
Mike @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:15PM
I am a bit dismayed by the channel. Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool as heck, but it's disconcerting to check it at midnight and see half of the US east coast showing bright suns and 65 degree current temps. Some of the temps aren't updated for 10+ hours. When you zoom in it says "as of 12 pm" but it looks bad to see suns and moons equally distributed on current conditions.
One other thing...when my Weather channel flips by itself from my city to "US Average," the numbers don't change. Is my city ALWAYS the EXACT US average?
Loban @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:09PM
For those of you complaining that this is not a big deal, you're really not seeing the point here. It doesn't matter whether or not anyone actually checks the current weather using the forecast channel, it's the fact that it doesn't function as it should. It's the principal of the thing really. If a feature is included, it should at least work no matter if noone actually uses it or not. If they're not going to bother making it accurate, why even bother including it at all.
I don't give care if the forecast channel includes the current temperature on Mars(a feature noone would find useful except maybe NASA), if it's not accurate, why is it included?
Again, the point here isn't that noone uses it, the point is that it's not accurate when it should be and therefore is useless and of poor quality.
Dave @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:19PM
When I wake up in the morning, I like to turn on my Wii to see what the temperature is outside. If it's freezing, I'll know to take a shorter shower and run out early to warmup my car. But since the Wii is sometimes (often) 6 hours behind, I can't so much do this. However, the forecasts and worldwide weather is pretty cool.
Nushio @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:47PM
Monterrey, NL, Mexico is waaaaaaaay behind US.
While the weather is ok for high and low, current is way wrong (2°C and raining while its around 20°C and Sunny? A chimp could make a better prediction! Or even the old "Count cricket chirpings" method :P)
Ben @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:07PM
Well I live in Canada (London Ontario) and its usually off by 5 hours but the other day it was off by 12 so I'm not sure how others are having more luck than I am....
barry @ Jan 3rd 2007 5:12PM
I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba and my temperatures are pretty spot on. Nintendo gave a forecast of +4 as a high at 6am this morning (it was 8am when i checked it) and today's actual high is +6. I haven't noticed the Forecast channel being behind at all....usually just off by about 2 hours at the time i check it. I'm impressed....but i can't speak for the other cities.
But what is with the lack of 5-day forecasts for a lot of the cities?
Alisha Karabinus @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:12PM
@Alex, #3
We are a blog, not a newspaper, and we don't just report news, y'know. We also talk about what's worth talking about, and this is, if nothing else, apparently an interesting subject for discussion, since people are just discussing away!
To others: I do think it should work properly (and I agree about the five day forecasts for more cities!), but I expect that, like the browser, this isn't quite finished. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it will improve.
One thing I don't get -- turning on your Wii, fumbling for Wiimote, waiting for channel to load... me, I think it would be faster/easier to pull up local weather on the computer. Me, I tend to check out the forecast channel when I'm already doing other stuff with my Wii... i.e., it's not a big draw for me itself, but I use it occasionally. So maybe it's not as big a deal for someone like me. I'd be more likely to be cranky if the extended forecasts were wrong.
Jared @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:33PM
Here's what I think.
The Forecast Channel itself is based on a service provided by WeatherNews - http://www.weathernews.com. In my opinion, a company that entirely bases their business on reporting weather would need to be very accurate, especially for Nintendo to contract with them. In fact on their homepage, they have the current temperature of a few populous cities around the world.
Now, the channel iteslf is obviously based on getting its data through WiiConnect24. So, why isn't it pulling in the latest data each minute or every few minutes?
My guess - Nintendo didn't want millions of consoles hammering servers as well as clogging up who knows how much bandwidth (not just Nintendo's but personal) to report real-time temperatures and forecasts. Remember, it's not just pulling in local info, it's pulling in info for all the cities on the globe.
Can you imagine playing online (when it finally does roll out) and having lag because the Forecast Channel needs to pull up the latest stats? Or trying to download some VC games, but lagging bad? People would go nuts, and throw a bigger fit over the lag in my opinion. It's a gaming console, not a weather widget. I believe Nintendo thought the same, and made the call to program a refresh every few hours as opposed to every few minutes.
Sure, the feature is there. But really, it's more of a novelty for consumers than a new means for the National Weather Service to migrate to.
Mr. Khan @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:42PM
Maybe easier for you, Alisha, but my PC takes 5 minutes to boot up (no lie)
Wii takes 15 seconds to load
Forecast channels been good for everything except registering time (not the fact that the sun/moon thing actually BEHIND, but it seemed to me that Forecast Channel just randomly assigned suns and moons. I looked at Africa, how the hell can it be sun in Johannesburg but moon in Cape Town, beyond me)
Dan @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:17PM
I think #17 is probably pretty accurate with his logic. That's why the Forecast Channel needs a refresh button... seems like a simple answer to me.
Skippy @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:23PM
I'm in Sacramento, CA and it's usually 10-12 hours behind for the current info.
Karsh @ Jan 4th 2007 12:31AM
Yeah, the Forecast channel doesn't function as it should, but I didn't necessarily by a Wii for a built-in weather station. I'm sure the time for pulling the forecast is a bit long considering there are probably hundreds of thousands of Wiis around the world getting that information at the same time. As far as I see it, a few hours off ain't that bad.
But I did notice that the weather icons for Tokyo aren't as detailed as the ones for other cities in the world. That's all.
Author X @ Jan 4th 2007 12:05AM
@21: Then why does is the default always "Current"?
thebigL @ Jan 4th 2007 12:06AM
I agree completly. I think the whole channel thing is a bunch of crap. Nintendo should keep the crappy online service they have now for the nonhardcores they are trying to attract. But they should also provide a monthly fee service as a second option for the hardcore gamers who want an online community. If nintendo was smart (and I believe they are) they would look at xbox live and improve on it in any way they can. Maybe a service that uses the Wii's browsing ability that can be viewed from both Wii's and PC's a sort of official hub for Wii gamers. It seems as though Nintendo is too caught up in keeping us from contacting each other that they don't realize that having a sort of Xbox live could provide with monetary gain as well as attracting other gamers for the online community.
thebigL @ Jan 4th 2007 12:13AM
the above post was a little off topic but the non working weather channel still shows that nintendo is trying to bombard us with useless junk when they could be working on more REVOLUTIONARY ideas.
AlphaCananogram @ Jan 4th 2007 12:51AM
I HATE IT WHEN IT SHOWS A SUN WHEN IT'S NIGHTTIME!!!
and
I HATE IT WHEN IT SHOWS A MOON WHEN IT'S DAYTIME!!!
,,,
I DON'T WANT 12 HOUR OLD WEATHER!!!
THEY BETTER FIX THIS SOON,,,
sorry for the caps,,,but,,,I AM ANGRY AT WEATHERNEWS (the forecast channel's source)!!!
i think that is who i should be angry at,,,right???
Brickman @ Jan 4th 2007 2:13AM
The Weather channel is pretty flawed in Sweden aswell.
1. Weather is sometimes up to over 18 hours delayed
(normal seems to be 10-12 hours delayed)
2.Some mayor cities isn't represented (but some smaller are)
Lets hope weathernews.com shape up and Nintedo patches the service to a somewhat better status. (I bet it works perfect in Japan)
Manfred Stienstra @ Jan 4th 2007 5:18AM
I think Nintendo is just trying to keep their servers sane. If 2 million Wii's update their weather 24 times every day, that's a lot of bandwidth and server load. A solution would be to let the Wii owner select two update times per day. Most people check the weather only once every day.
imokurok @ Jan 4th 2007 7:23AM
If nintendo was smart (and I believe they are) they would look at xbox live and improve on it in any way they can.
It seems as though Nintendo is too caught up in keeping us from contacting each other that they don't realize that having a sort of Xbox live could provide with monetary gain as well as attracting other gamers for the online community.
@thebigL: I think Nintendo did look at Xbox Live when it devised it's online strategy. What was it like 2 days between the release of the Vision camera and the first complaints that people were masturbating on in-game video? Nintendo is more interested in avoiding things like that than providing a community. Now, I'm not defending that decision because I agree it's a poor one, just wanted to point out that it's not stupidity it's different priorities. I think they're still reeling from those news stories that came out saying kids were in danger of being lured by predators through PictoChat even though that is completely impossible.
Jason Starnes @ Jan 4th 2007 11:13AM
Actually, the current temperature is wrong in some cities, right in others. I live in a suburb of Dallas (Plano) and never had the right temp, so I just changed my city to Dallas and now everything is fine.
thebigL @ Jan 4th 2007 5:09PM
Yeah i guess but even then they still used friend codes for Mario Kart. The kid image that Nintendo has is what I beleive was a small part of their downfall with the GameCube (obviously bad 3rd party support was the main) and if they are going to be overprotective of children they aren't going to lose that image. Of course i'm looking at this from a hardcore standpoint. Nintendo isn't trying to attract the hardcores as much. They're going after everyday people. I guess I just can't get over this.
David @ Jan 9th 2007 7:01AM
It doesn't work perfect in Japan either. It needs to be updated more often.
In America are there more cities? From Japan I don't get any cities in Arizona.
Joe Siegler @ Jan 6th 2007 8:30PM
I agree too. It's often 3-4 hours behind current. It should at a minimum be updated once an hour. This information is freely available to any number of free weather apps available on the Internet. Why is this one so out of date?
Matt @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:19AM
If it really is an issue of not wanting to bombard the servers and that's why it's updated so infrequently -- at LEAST have it update when you actually START the Forecast Channel. I don't need that thing updating every 15 minutes, and it seriously is pointless to do that, but at least let it be up-to-date when I click on it.