We've already spotted
a couple of TVs get taken down by flying
Wiimotes due to either overzealous gameplay or a pretty weak-sauce wrist strap, although we're leaning toward the latter. Over the last few days we've seen household collateral damage due to the strap either breaking entirely or slipping off those wearers who haven't opted for some
special gloves. Our latest updates include two busted straps, one of which took out reader Rafael M.'s iPAQ hx4700 (pictured) that had sat docked adjacent to the TV, but is now obviously not more. The second strap, captured on video by residents of Cambrian House in Calgary (and now immortalized on YouTube, check it out on the next page), shows that beyond the woven exterior appears to be an easily-broken, tiny cable (similar to a fishing line) that connects to the Wiimote itself. Further, a third gamer, Elliot G., told us that his Wiimote came tearing off of his wrist while playing and took out a nearby beer glass (fortunately the can of Boddingtons appears to have been spared, as shown after the jump). So guys: until Nintendo gets this problem fixed, or you come up with a way to reinforce that strap, please make sure your gameplay area is clear of anything valuable and breakable, such as your television.
Read - Rafael Montano
posted November 24th 2006 8:22PM
Why would you let it go? I've been playing my Wii hardcore for the past week... I don't understand how anyone can blame Nintendo or the Wii strap, considering their dumb ass can't hold on to a wiimote.
wrap some teflon around the "knot" .. reduce friction, problem solved.
holy shit ... what a whack in that video .. you know ... my wiimotes dont have that fishing line .. its more like a rope ... WTF?
i just finished playing the wii at a friends house and i had no problem holding on to the controller as i played all the sports i think this dude probably should have wiped his sweaty hands first and also he shouldnt be swinging like andy roddick if he cant hold on to the racket
thats why they sell the wiimote and the nunchaku separately!
Its Japan trying to train us so we are perfect machines for its army....
I brought my remote to my brothers on Thankgiving so we could all play. My little brother by the end of the night swung hard enough during bowling that the cord broke and the remote flew up and hit the ceiling. now that remote does not work right it disconnects sometimes and turns off. I have not had any problem with the remote slipping my self I dont even use the strap sometimes. I think you just gotta keep a firm grip on it and you will be fine, plus you dont have to swing as hard as you can.
that guy should never try to play real tennis...
It's funny that blogs latched on to a thread posted on SomethingAwful.com about the nylon breaking and created a whole controversy when it clearly wasn't true. That's what you get when outsiders don't understand your actually just making fun of stuff all the time...
This particular breakage though is understandable if that end piece is just like fishing line. It is not a fault of the controller though because you weren't supposed to be swinging it that hard and letting go of it. I think Nintendo was looking at longevity and knew that if they used a stronger/coarse string of some kind, there would be increased friction and either wear away the plastic or wear away at the fiber of the string. Had to compromise somewhere. Of course they could've put bearings or something in there but then we'd be looking at price increases which nobody likes.
Just treat your electronic devices like electronics people. They are still relatively fragile compared to more simple devices from a decade ago and will be that way until everything is built into one self contained chip with no circuit boards.
hey, what do you know? another wiincident. maybe all wii players should super glue the wiimote. bonds instantly!