Nintendo Responds to the Cry 'Wii Need Thicker Straps'

Well, well, well... I could see this coming. Wait for the bugs and their fixes to emerge I said pre-Wii and PS3 launches, a reproach that fell on deaf ears. And what do you know, I was RIGHT!

CBC reports that after multiple reports of broken glass, TV screens, and in one case a "fan apparently sprained and cut a finger on her right hand while trying to rally for a comeback victory in Wii baseball", Nintendo is offering a replacement of the previously flimsy 0.06 cm straps with sturdier o.04 cms versions.

The article goes on to declare Nintendo the (sort-of) current winner in the console wars despite "Wii controllers going ballistic".

Man those writers have got a sense of humor.

Duck!

Kotaku reports that an informal poll they ran returned the number 338. That rather large number represents those of about 5700 reporting Wii users that had their wii-mote strap break and therefore cause their controller to fly across the room. Considering that this gadget has been out less than a fortnight, that seems like one of those things I referred to when I recommended to all my geek friends to hold out a few months and wait for the bugs and flaws and faults to emerge before purchase. But I digress. Apparently the instruction manual states that players are required to wear the strap during play, and some conspiracy theorists I know claim that the wii-motes have sensors that report to Nintendo when you are not using them in the proscribed manner.

Anyway, see the breakage in action at YouTube. The moral of the story here of course is do not get excited and slippery when playing with your wii-mote.

PS- Clubbing seals is very bad and I am not in favor of it. Save the seals, OK?