PopSci disassembles their Wii! (then bricks it…)

PopSci gets its very own Wii. PopSci runs around the room screaming “Wiiiiiiiiii!” like the N64 kid. PopSci plays with its Wii. PopSci decides it’s time to show off the Wii’s inside (like, you know, other people showing off the PS3’s guts), and proceeds to disassemble the little white box.

Cover your eyes and ears, kids, if you fear what happens next. PopSci bricks their Wii in the process.

But the Wii proved to be one tough nut to crack. Due to Nintendo’s special proprietary screws, we had to resort to brute force. And in the process of doing so, our precious white beacon of joy was rendered unplayable, forever.

The show must go on, of course, and the photos splayed out before you today are those of PopSci meticulously examining the bits and pieces of a once-functioning Wii. Now we don’t know what PopSci did that bricked the widdle white Wii, whether it was the shock of prying the case open, exposing the parts inside, or something else entirely.

We also don’t know if there is a way to make the Wii playable again, like parts replacement, or connecting a wire or two – and it’s not like Nintendo’s warranty covers intentional disembowelment of the Wii.

Or if it was simply because, as a handful of comments to the PopSci article point out, those guys really don’t know how to use a screwdriver. And they call themselves “PopSci” (this isn’t our sarcasm talking – it’s theirs. The commenters, we mean). Well, if PopSci can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again, time for them to get back in line.

More pictures of the damage PopSci has done at the full article. Now you know why repairs are best left to the professionals.

PopSci gets its very own Wii. PopSci runs around the room screaming “Wiiiiiiiiii!” like the N64 kid. PopSci plays with its Wii. PopSci decides it’s time to show off the Wii’s inside (like, you know, other people showing off the PS3’s guts), and proceeds to disassemble the little white box.

Cover your eyes and ears, kids, if you fear what happens next. PopSci bricks their Wii in the process.

But the Wii proved to be one tough nut to crack. Due to Nintendo’s special proprietary screws, we had to resort to brute force. And in the process of doing so, our precious white beacon of joy was rendered unplayable, forever.

The show must go on, of course, and the photos splayed out before you today are those of PopSci meticulously examining the bits and pieces of a once-functioning Wii. Now we don’t know what PopSci did that bricked the widdle white Wii, whether it was the shock of prying the case open, exposing the parts inside, or something else entirely.

We also don’t know if there is a way to make the Wii playable again, like parts replacement, or connecting a wire or two – and it’s not like Nintendo’s warranty covers intentional disembowelment of the Wii.

Or if it was simply because, as a handful of comments to the PopSci article point out, those guys really don’t know how to use a screwdriver. And they call themselves “PopSci” (this isn’t our sarcasm talking – it’s theirs. The commenters, we mean). Well, if PopSci can’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again, time for them to get back in line.