This has been discussed in other threads but probably deserves it's own thread.

The Wii Fit Balance Boards included can only utilize one Wii Balance Board at a time. You cannot use two at the same time.

Unless there is a change, there will be no dual gaming on upcoming games that utilize the balance board.

I am only posting this in case someone was thinking of buying two for that purpose in the near future.

At this point, all I know is that the balance board ALWAYS uses Wii Remote #4. It also allows you to synch I believe up to 10 boards to the same Wii but it will only allow you to use the board as #4 so that means no dual gaming on two wii boards.

I am hoping Wii comes out with a fix for this. It is a huge oversite that also will cost Nintendo a lot of cash if good games come out for the balance board.

If a firmware fix came out, you could use two wii balance boards and two wiimotes since the Wii Support 4 total remotes with the balance boards each couning as one.

Dean

wow, they better fix it..

That's odd. . .

How is that a flaw? A flaw is a defect. Seems like it works exactly as they intended it to.

Even Webster defines a feature that mars the pefection of something. The only using one Wii Board at a time is a flaw. it is a good perihperal which in the end might lack greatness because of an enginner oversite.

Dean

Wow Nintendo, Duel playing is the future...


What happened?

This is very informative, because I was going to buy 2 wii boards.

Odd.

It could be related to the fact that you can only use one balance board simaltaneously with the wii that they only sell it bundles with Wii Fit.

Dean

You are still missing the point though. Webster defines a "feature" that mars the perfection of something.

First, Nintendo intentionally did this and this wasn't something that was overlooked. And you and only you are stating that otherwise it would be a "perfect" object. That is up for debate. So it's not a flaw.

You made me laugh hard when you think this was an engineer oversite. Get with it man. You think after months, if not years of design, testing and development that they would overlook this? This is intentional, like it or not.

Just because Wii Fit doesnt use more than one board, doesnt mean other games wont.

Not true I'm afraid Fellieto - the wii board uses the "Controller 4" spot, and seen as how you can't have two sharing the same connection it won't work - it even mentions in the manual for the wii board that you can only use one at once on a wii.

Unless they can correct this via a firmware update on the Wii - assuming they even want to, seen as how it's sold by the shed-load already - you're stuck with 1 board per wii. And if the limitation is due to something on the board, then you're stuck full stop.

Pretty much we're stuck with it like it is.

Take your fanboy off for a minute. This certainly is a huge issue and boneheaded.

Why would Nintendo not allow the balance board to only use port 3 and 4 instead of hardcoding it to part 4? Maybe they only cared about selling Wii Fit and nothing else.

If this was not a oversite then it makes Nintendo look like idiots. Why would you not make it where the Wii Can operate with two balance boards in order to allow more software to be writtten for it and to create more income since people who wanted to play competitive (or cooperative) games on the balance board can only use 1 thus their is no reason to purchase a 2nd Balance Board per Wii?

I suspect this issue will be much bigger when there are some games that come out that would have been great had it allowed two players at the same time. Even Wii Ski is fun with 2 people but only allows one player if the balance board is in use.

I like the balance board and I think it is a great peripheral but it is almost unforgivable for them to overlook such an obvious shortcoming.

Dean

Maybe it is hardware related... as in not enough processing power to utilize 2 boards and the physics calculations they demand. Sure it sounds odd, but there has to be some reason for only allowing 1 board at a time. As previously stated, there is a very slim chance that this was an oversight... these are the people responsible for dual powerpad games back in the day, I'm sure something significant has stopped them from allowing it.

I have worked for some very large companies and I am amazed by the oversites companies have made in products.

My favorite was a $1000 + digital camera that Nikon produced. It was a great picture but the flash was too bright. If you used the built in flash at all, you could not make out the picture because of the glare from the flash.

Nikon did have a QA team go over this but were told to ignore the flash issue as it would be too exepnsive to change production.

I am not saying for sure it was an oversight but it certainly could have been.

I dont think it is a limiation in the hardware from the info being sent from the four sensors. Lets keep in mind while the Wii is not a PS3 in raw processing power, it still does millions of instructions per minute. You would have a hard time convincing me that it has trouble sending 4 sensor readings to the Wii when it handles the Wiimote and Nunchuck controls without any major issues. The balance board is not as complicated as the Wiimote and nunchuck.

Nintendo may have been so hot for the idea of Wii fit that they didn't give it much consideration for the multiple balance board games. Maybe it was suggested but killed by someone higher up the food chain. If it would have slowed development down by a couple of weeks, this could cost Nintendo millions of dollars.

The question that needs to be answered: Is it possible to fix the balance board with a firmware update?

Dean

all you had to do was read the instructions. it always said only 1 can be used

Yes but I think it is possible that someone goes into the store and buys two thinking it would be fun for both their kids to play at the same time without ever reading the book.

Oh I agree, however, the board is probably more complicated seeming as it has no velocity to really work with, requiring more calculations rather than figure gathering. That is beside the point though, I also wonder and hope when/if they will allow dual, or even quad support!

My worst fear is in a year they release Balance Board 2 which supports quad support but you have to buy the new boards.