Pirates come up with their own Wiimote, nunchuk

by David Hinkle { Jun 9th 2008 at 1:15PM }

We all know how piracy is very bad for the gaming industry. But, this is a first for us. it seems those filthy pirates are not only counterfeiting discs, but also creating knock-off hardware, as evidenced by the fake Wiimote and nunchuk you see above. Thankfully, site YYJoy has done a lot of hard work to make sure you aren't one of the folks unlucky enough to buy one of these.

Not only do they compare the quality of construction between Nintendo's official first-party hardware, but they also do a thorough inspection of the packaging, providing us with tips on how to spot these knock-offs on the shelf.

[Thanks, Deevo!]

Source - Packaging and plastic comparison
Source - Pirated Wiimote internal guts

Tags: nunchuk, piracy, pirates, wiimote

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

nnahas @ Jun 9th 2008 1:35PM

uhh, who cares if it's "fake"? If it works I'll buy it.

Prof_Chaos @ Jun 9th 2008 1:49PM

They don't, that's the problem

Prof_Chaos @ Jun 9th 2008 1:55PM

at least, not for long

Magnus @ Jun 9th 2008 4:03PM

I'd really like a site in English or Spanish, I can't understand this...

Randy @ Jun 9th 2008 4:18PM

The linked article(s) needs a Translation... I can't read Chinese.

And before anyone chimes in; No, Google's translations don't always make sense.

Ivo Manca @ Jun 9th 2008 5:35PM

I don't understand the problem with a fake controller... It's not like the current gamecube controllers sold in the shops here (netherlands) are Nintendo branded, now are they?

If it's cheaper, why not buy it for the rare occassion friends are over?

Nebinator @ Jun 9th 2008 6:35PM

So... what is the problem? They're the same!

Chris @ Jun 9th 2008 10:40PM

Why are people not getting this? Even w/o being able to read Chinese, it's obvious the problem is they are passing them off as official Nintendo-made Wiimotes when they aren't- not only is the quality bad (as indicated, I'm assuming, from the hardware inspection) but Nintendo isn't getting paid.

Whether you care or not about these two things is up to you, but SOME (most) people do care about at least one of said reasons, so this website is pointing it out.

Dio @ Jun 10th 2008 5:17AM

Exactly. I wouldn't be happy if I bought this intending it to be official product.

EvilEmperor @ Jun 10th 2008 2:59AM

For the first Read link, it mentioned that the price of the pirated set is over 300RMB, which is not much cheaper than the real set (about 400RMB).

It says the most realistic part is the box, it is quite difficult to identify which one is real, especially when you don't have them together to compare. The trick is the picture on the back, the hand of the pirated one is yellowish, and the real one is reddish. Another different is the thickness of the barcode, but I suppose I won't be able to see that even it is right in front of me...

The pirated remote itself is completely a piece of crap: cheap plastic, "birthmarks" because of impurity, extremely hard to press buttons, non-centered buttons which leaves gaps, unsmooth mold (inside the - button), different jacket with no cover for the port, even worse molding in the battery compartment, sticker out of place...
The motor is even worse, it spins with "gee-gee" sound (it says) and it spins up down slowly (which makes the vibration feels out of place).
The infrared sensor has poor detection (the crosshair disappears when it points to the sides or even close (0.5M) to the screen)

The nunchuk is no better: the gap between it is big, the analog stick leaves gap when pushed to any side, the connector is hard to plug in and out.

They didn't say much about the motion sensor.

Last word, not worth it.