No WiiConnect24 in the UK?

[Spigot]

Got this story from Club Skill (http://www.clubskill.com/Game_News/3892/WiiConnect_24_disconnected_for_the_UK%22) via Gamepolitics.com (http://gamepolitics.com/) .

A new Government rule may destroy the availability of WiiConnect 24, one of the Nintendo Wii's most touted new features, in the UK. The British Government is enforcing a new law which requires standby features of appliances to be slashed from product designs.

...

WiiConnect 24 takes advantage of a standby feature to allow the Wii system to be 'always-on'. Whilst it remains on, Nintendo and your friends may be able to send messages or 'phone' your system, visit and interact with your town in Animal Crossing, and send downloads to your system, amongst other features.

The new law means that Nintendo may have to rule out this feature for the UK...

This would really stink if it pans out like they say. Any of our UK members know more about this?

[LilEvilFish]

FUISDEUGFDSFJJIO EG0943205&$%)o;'/ BASTARDS

So voting for Conservatives next time round ¬_¬

ahem

Yes the law governing the "Standby" rule is true. They're basically saying that since we leave our TV's etc on standby (which I don't do, neither do most people I know) that if we took away that choice, we'd save enough energy in a year to cover our carbon emissions target. Or some bollocks like that.

[cp#]

Sucks for them I suppose. :D

[zokrath]

From what I have read, the law is intended to make it so that consumers do not simply use power-saving standby as a more convienient form of 'off', leaving electronics and ppliances in standby for days at a time. Devices that operate with an on-call methodology, such as communications equipment, should not be affected, as they must always be in a low-power standby mode, or they cannot recieve communications. Imagine if you had to activate your phone whenever you wanted to recieve calls, and if you did not use the phone for five minutes, it stopped recieving.

However, this may have an impact on future versions of the 360, and on the PS3, as both are power hungry devices, and the 360 has a standby mode that still draws a fair amount of power.

[Varsity]

People are lazy, and they need to be forced to do what's good for them. It's a fact of life.

[Skytram]

People are lazy, and they need to be forced to do what's good for them. It's a fact of life.

Hitler probably had the same idea when he formed the Nazi party.

[Akeldama]

I don't think this will really be relevent to consoles at all. It's more likley to affect TVs and music equipment.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I see this as a good thing. Anything to curb humanity's massive waste of energy.

[Savok]

I hate, hate, HATE socialists.

Great work, guess what? Companies will start to ignore your market now because it's too much of a pain in the ass to build custom shit for.

[Spigot]

While it makes sense for me with regards to some things like TV's and other major appliances, implementing it on a system that would draw down very little power in standby and that would possibly be in use during this time doesn't really make sense.

Of course, if they could apply it to cell phones that people refuse to turn off, that would be nice...

[zyzyx]

If the Wii is downloading something then it is not in standby mode. It's doing something. It's basically a law combatting TVs and stereos. They'll likely avoid the issue of computers all together.

I think it's a good thing. We waste vast amounts of electricity just so we don't have to stand up and turn out TVs on in the morning. Electricity isn't getting cheaper.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

Is this really a big problem? I never leave anything on when I'm not using it. (Minus computer during the day, I turn it off at night)

[Savok]

If the Wii is downloading something then it is not in standby mode. It's doing something.
That's an excellent point.

Still, governments need to fuck off and stop telling us how to run our lives. Like water in Australia, it's not my fault the state governments are too chicked shit to build new dams, sometimes I want to have a 10 minute shower. Which leads me to hot water, capping the temperature at a shitty 55 degrees or so. I want HOT water, not fucking tepid, if a 2 year old burns himself that's the parent's fault, not mine, I should not have to suffer for these assholes and their inability to parent. Best part, you need to use more hot water to get a reasonable temperature, it's self fucking defeating.

[Spigot]

That's an excellent point.

Still, governments need to fuck off and stop telling us how to run our lives. Like water in Australia, it's not my fault the state governments are too chicked shit to build new dams, sometimes I want to have a 10 minute shower. Which leads me to hot water, capping the temperature at a shitty 55 degrees or so. I want HOT water, not fucking tepid, if a 2 year old burns himself that's the parent's fault, not mine, I should not have to suffer for these assholes and their inability to parent. Best part, you need to use more hot water to get a reasonable temperature, it's self fucking defeating.
We have to limit the temperature of the hot water at work but that's a liability issue on behalf of work. At home, I should have the right to boil noodles in my bathtub if I so desire. I'd be an idiot for doing it, but let me decide if having my skin peel off in sheets due to being boiled like a lobster is something I want to do.

Granted, people are usually too stupid/lazy to adjust things like a water heater which leads the government to step in, decree a max temp and then enforce it. The only thing I leave on all the time is my PC, but that's mostly a holdover from my previous PC which would take a good 5 minutes to boot up. I'm slowly getting into the habit of turning this new baby off every so often instead of leaving it running 24/7.

[Heretic Machine]

I have made about five replies to this post, and have yet to post one of them. I'm just going to make this simple: This world is mismanaged.

[Plays4Pants]

Hitler probably had the same idea when he formed the Nazi party.

You can also say hitler had to be FORCED to step down.

[Savok]

We have to limit the temperature of the hot water at work but that's a liability issue on behalf of work. At home, I should have the right to boil noodles in my bathtub if I so desire. I'd be an idiot for doing it, but let me decide if having my skin peel off in sheets due to being boiled like a lobster is something I want to do.

Granted, people are usually too stupid/lazy to adjust things like a water heater which leads the government to step in, decree a max temp and then enforce it. The only thing I leave on all the time is my PC, but that's mostly a holdover from my previous PC which would take a good 5 minutes to boot up. I'm slowly getting into the habit of turning this new baby off every so often instead of leaving it running 24/7.
Hell yes, let me cook in my bathtub. Another great water moment, we have forced recycling here (there's a god damn camera in the truck and they fine you if you don't) and we're supposed to throughly wash everything before we put it in the recycling bin.

[Zacharai]

I backtracked the source of these articles to the Energy Review, which came out on July 11th, 2006 (a week ago). The one, and only, relevant quote from the 218 pages of the Review:

"Aiming to limit stand-by power consumption, which in 2004 used 8% of all residential electricity and is a rising trend, is also a priority for the Market Transformation Programme. We will continue to press at international level for full implementation of the International Energy Agenty's 1 Watt initiative to reduce stand-by power consumption."

This reminded me very much of work I did in late 2001 regarding the Kyoto protocol, so I went to crawl through the 1-watt initiative (proposed originally in 1998). Here's the relevant section of that text:

"There is no consensus on the range of appliances covered or even how to measure appliances to determine if they comply with the 1-watt target. As people begin to understand the technical dimensions of the problem, the 1-watt plan has evolved into more of a symbolic goal rather than a rigid target."

Essentially, it is a plan and a framework for a detailed specification (the Energy Star program in the US was based in part on this document), but doesn't narrow anything down itself. In all the articles I reviewed, most of them mention 'a new law' that will prevent new products from having standby features. However, there is no new law. None. Unless I'm missing something, every bit of speculation in these reports comes from this segment of a Times Online article:

"Lighting, set-top boxes, televisions, chargers, fridges, freezers, washing machines and computers were highlighted as wasteful products that must be redesigned to save power."
...
"Businesses will have to phase out or reduce drastically the energy used by computers, printers and photocopiers left on standby."

And that comes directly from the first thing I quoted. I could be mistaken, but it appears that we have a line of reporters misrepresenting the source and extending it so that it appears WiiConnect24 is threatened, but it isn't. Even the Times Online article is wrong, businesses will not HAVE to do anything, at least not yet.

Why can't journalists accurately represent the source material in articles they publish?

[jacktion]

Ok stop the fearmongering. If the Wii is always on then it is not in standby. Case closed. I don't think the british government is going to take away your Wii. Please. You sound like those gun nuts in America, "The King of England is going to come into your house and tell you what to do if you don't have a gun!!" This is really crazy talk.

[Zacharai]

For those that can't be bothered to read the detail in my last post, the article is wrong. There is no new law. Unless I am missing something, there is nothing other than a suggestion that the UK should do things to limit standby power to meet a vague objective written eight years ago.

[Savok]

This reminded me very much of work I did in late 2001 regarding the Kyoto protocol
If that means what my sleep deprived brain thinks it means, we have the money shot.

[Savok]

"The King of England is going to come into your house and tell you what to do if you don't have a gun!!" This is really crazy talk.
Queen, right now :p

[Kyle Jones]

I hate, hate, HATE socialists.

Great work, guess what? Companies will start to ignore your market now because it's too much of a pain in the ass to build custom shit for.

Live in the US or Canada? Guess what buddy, your part socialist. Get over it!

I think it's brilliant that a government is taking an action to help reduce electical waste. Sure, it may not be a pressing issue of waste, but it's still nice to see them noticing.

[Savok]

I'm Australian, the state governments here are all socialist, and that's why there's no water, no power, no transport and no clue.

EDIT: Also no health care and no police force. Roads are questionable at times as well.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Hell yes, let me cook in my bathtub. Another great water moment, we have forced recycling here (there's a god damn camera in the truck and they fine you if you don't) and we're supposed to throughly wash everything before we put it in the recycling bin.



What's wrong with forced recycling? I wish there was more of that in the US. People are fucking wasteful. Our throw away culture is having a negative effect on ourselves and the environment we live in. I hate that the environment has become a political argument/tool.

[Savok]

It's governments running our lives is what it is. "It's for your own good" is bullshit, they just like playing power games, always have. Provide incentive, guilt, whatever, I want a choice god dammit.

[Rifter]

I have to agree with Savok here, and completely disagree with MGnome. It is a noble goal to get people to recycle. Hell, spend a little taxpayer money on PSAs to promote it... to promote reduction of power consumption, but don't you DARE pass a law that FORCES me to recycle. Don't you DARE pass a law to prevent power consumption. I have a lot of electronic gadgets. I do find it annoying how they all trickle power. Have little lights on, to show that they have power or what not. Hell, I wish I could turn the clock OFF, on my VCR! I want all the lights out. But, I do realize I need SOMETHING on, so I can use my remote. I am paying for trash collection. I am paying for my power. I do not want anyone else to tell me how to live my life.

[Skytram]

What's wrong with forced recycling? I wish there was more of that in the US. People are fucking wasteful. Our throw away culture is having a negative effect on ourselves and the environment we live in. I hate that the environment has become a political argument/tool.

Given that I'm basing this off of an episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit -- apparently the only thing that is actually worth recycling is aluminum cans. Recycling anything else (including paper) actually uses more energy to get said waste into a usable state again than the energy that is wasted by throwing those materials out.

[01010]

This thread basically boils down to people complaining about losing a standby button. People that are not even in the UK no doubt.

I would say of all the shit this Labour government have pulled, this is the least of my worries.

To the guy that said he would vote Conservative. You honestly think there is a fucking difference? The illusion of choice in the political system here is just that, a fucking illusion.

[GunnyMo]

Let's just hope there is an option to turn the "always on" feature OFF. I'd hate to have to unplug the router cable every time I power down.

[Heretic Machine]

Given that I'm basing this off of an episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit -- apparently the only thing that is actually worth recycling is aluminum cans. Recycling anything else (including paper) actually uses more energy to get said waste into a usable state again than the energy that is wasted by throwing those materials out.

I was going to bring that up as well... Didn't want to get into the argument though.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

Contradictory information floating around here:

The British Government is enforcing a new law which requires standby features of appliances to be slashed from product designs. Some mentioned products by the Government include set-top boxes, chargers, televisions, lighting, freezers, fridges, washing machines, and computers. These must be created in a more energy-efficent manner, and standby features will no longer be tolerated.

And from the Times (http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,19509-2266159,00.html):

The Government is to outlaw standby switches on televisions and video and DVD players to cut the amount of electricity wasted in the home.

Refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers will have to become energy-efficient, and lightbulbs that burn too much energy will be phased out.

According to yesterday’s Energy Review, standby facilities use 8 per cent of all domestic electricity.

Lighting, set-top boxes, televisions, chargers, fridges, freezers, washing machines and computers were highlighted as wasteful products that must be redesigned to save power.

New homes, which are already four times more energy-efficient than the average household, are to face stringent regulations.

Businesses will have to phase out or reduce drastically the energy used by computers, printers and photocopiers left on standby.

Seems like only a very limited subset of devices (TVs and video playback devices) are actually affected by the no-standby rule and certain "wasteful" devices may have to be redesigned to comply with power consumption regulations (note that such regulations have existed all along, they're just being revised). I kinda doubt the Wii or any console will be affected by the latter change -- I would hope that consoles are engineered within an inch of their life to ensure the lowest power consumption possible, given that you're cramming a lot of fairly state-of-the-art hardware into a very very small box and you don't want a lot of wasted power that would just get converted to more heat.

[Zacharai]

Seems like only a very limited subset of devices (TVs and video playback devices) are actually affected by the no-standby rule and certain "wasteful" devices may have to be redesigned to comply with power consumption regulations (note that such regulations have existed all along, they're just being revised).

If you read my post (I believe it is on the second page), I did a little research into it. As far as I can tell, there is no rule, there is no law at this stage. There is a suggestion by the Energy Review to enact something at some point. While it's conceivable it could impact the Wii in the future, there's absolutely no indication that it will.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

Sorry, I didn't pay close enough attention. So where did the Times get the "no standby for TVs and video players" bit from? Standby mode isn't even mentioned in the Energy Review quote you provided, so either the Times has another source they couldn't be bothered to name or they're actually making it up out of whole cloth.

[Spigot]

Thanks for doing that digging, Zacharai.

Club Skill was definately postulating a worst case scenario. Given how restrictive some governments can be, you never know when the regulation you think is never going to affect you ends up having a rather profound effect on something you hold dear. Now, if this does end up happening and WiiConnect24 is essentially canned in the UK, don't say I didn't warn you!

Of course, that's assuming that giant meteor headed our way doesn't wipe humanity off the face of the Earth before the fall.

[SexualChoc]

Holy crap! This is all apart of new 'green' drive to cut carbon costs and crap like that. It means that all appliances will be off and on, no stand by. This is fucking stupid.