Nintendo looking into Wii strap problem

We would like to suggest that Nintendo has already done a bit more than "look into" the Wii strap situation (thanks, Go Nintendo and Todd, for the better pic), but instead has already hazard a fix for the weakling bit of string. All the same, Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto came out of the woodwork the other day to poke fun at these exuberant gamers, and to promise investigation of the issue. Iwata spun it all as a positive thing: "Of course before the launch of the Wii hardware Nintendo had a number of tests on the durability of everything, including the strap, but our understanding right now is that even beyond our expectations people are becoming more and more excited playing with the Wii." In comparison, Shiggy was a bit more down to earth: "We are encouraging people to understand that you really don't have to be so excited, but rather you need to understand the control and then you're going to be the best player. We are looking into the situation to see if there are additional methods to encourage people to kind of calm down so they would never throw away the controller itself." Nintendo also is offering a no-slip glove to help out, and of course that advisory email, but we're pretty well convinced by now that with that many of these things out there, somebody, somewhere is going to be stupid or clumsy enough to hurt themselves, others or the furniture.

Read - Iwata and Miyamoto tell gamers to calm down
Read - Wiimote replacement strap looks beefy

[Alric Lopez @ Dec 8th 2006 10:46AM]

My 7 year old son managed to break the strap and send the Wiimote flying out, projectile-like. Fortunately nothing broke. What I found works nicely are rubberized covers that improves grip even with sweaty palms. Target sells a nice set of three and as a plus one cover is green with the triforce emblem..:)

[klaymen @ Dec 8th 2006 11:14AM]

i saw a video of someone holding the wiimote by the back beneath the buttons. it seems like this may be part of the problem....why would you hold the controller like that?

[Arash @ Dec 8th 2006 11:23AM]

If you order "additional" straps from the Nintendo store online, you will receive these new beefed up straps. They go for about 1$ plus shipping.

I ordered a few so that when the straps do get old or fray I can replace them without wait.

[Mark @ Dec 8th 2006 11:27AM]

I picked up three remotes and they still have the old strap. I might pick up the stronger ones for when company comes over.

[Heyzeus @ Dec 8th 2006 11:29AM]

Remember NES Controller Syndrome (NESCS)?

When they first played Super Mario Bros. on the NES and would make Mario jump, they would literally move their controller in a rainbow fashion.

People just weren't used to this controller revolution as they'd been accustomed to the Atari joystick all that time.

Fast-forward 20 years later and we have the same problem, just with newer technology by Nintendo.

[therpham @ Dec 8th 2006 11:30AM]

I posted in a comment on the previous report on this saying I got the old-style strap on 6 December, but I was wrong. I have the new, beefy one. The weird thing, however, is the guy in front of me in line got the old-style one. I went and compared straps with him and mine is quite visibly thicker.

So yeah, I can confirm that these are out there, and probably a week from now all the old ones will be phased out.

[ScrewM$ @ Dec 8th 2006 11:42AM]

They forgot to test with Excited People? How can you forget Excited People? I think you can see a class action lawsuit coming with DAEPAA, Discrimination Against Excited People of America Association, leading the suit.

[nbirman @ Dec 8th 2006 12:23PM]

I still find it odd that people are flailing around so much while playing the Wii that they break the strap.
Do the games really require people to fling their arms around at such a speed that the Wiimote becomes a dangerous projectile?

[MacBookOwner @ Dec 8th 2006 1:07PM]

Old strap, new strap..I don't care. Where the hell can I buy extra controllers? I can understand the console being sold out, but Nintendo can't ship enough controllers either?

[Guse @ Dec 8th 2006 1:11PM]

These people are idiots

[Shadow @ Dec 9th 2006 1:46AM]

THANK YOU! Why is this a big deal. If you an idiot enough to treat your brand new system like that you might as well break your tv. Heck in no time at all people are going to want Nintendo to put a buzzer on the system to keep them from running into the tv or stepping on the system. When did people get so stupid?

[Dan L @ Dec 8th 2006 1:17PM]

nbirman, short answer: yes.

Playing bowling, and watching other people play bowling... you do swing the remote enough that if you were to let go you'd do some damage. The games don't require it per say, but it definitely happens. It's not just idiots or morons, it's just you getting into the game. Play boxing, and you'll be standing pretty quickly. It's just more fun that way.

But yeah, that's why we have the strap. and every time you launch a game, it warns you to put the thing on. Do i personally think the strap would break, if you let go of the remote....

...hard to say. first thing I did with my wiimote was yank on the strap a couple times, nothing tyler-esque, just putting a little force on it, and yeah, it broke. In the same spot every picture shows. So it could have been stronger, no doubt.

Clearly, the strap is breaking on people. That, or they weren't wearing it, and then they've all just been tugging on it afterwards and breaking it like I did. : P

[Coluch @ Dec 8th 2006 2:13PM]

If you were playing baseball and hit someone in the face with a line drive, would you blame the manufaturer of the ball?

If someone launched a baseball bat into your windshield because they couldn't hold onto it from swinging, would you blame the bat-maker?

So why then do people feel the need to blame Nintendo for overzealous gamers? I haven't even played the Wii myself, but from videos of controller use that I've seen, the Wiimote seems pretty sensitive to movement. It's pretty unlikely that using enough force to damage objects in the room is even remotely necessary (no pun intended).

Just like any other sport (real, virtual, or Wii), master the precision first, then work on power. I bet most people will find that more power makes little, or no difference.

[SOCOMRAIDER @ Dec 8th 2006 2:47PM]

It is very accurate. It also doesn't require the big swings that people are doing. All you really need is quick acceleration and a quick stop. You can do that in a short distance as compared to a huge bat like swing. It becomes really apparent when you are playing golf, as it is very hard to get accurate power in your club swings.

All that is really needed, is people need to realize how fast they are waving these things and apply the right amount of pressure.

Plus those people who get hurt. There are warnings before starting games to watch YOUR SURROUNDINGS. I guess people don't pay attention to the warnings before EVERY GAME.

[LJKelley @ Dec 8th 2006 3:09PM]

They a video about this on CNN.com. They had a chiropracter talk about not doing small movements just with your wrist (as its bad for your wrist) but to move your whole arm. And everyone at CNN agreed it was more fun standing up and actually moving a little.

That being said, nobody was spazzing but it was easy to see with the small string and maybe an over excited movement (like this bowl would win the game etc...) that you could easily cause damage to your surrondings.

Doing comparisons to baseball bats are wrong as they don't have a DEFECT (which is being fixed) that makes them fly out of your hands.

[Justin @ Dec 8th 2006 3:33PM]

Personnally I just ditched the strap for a chain thats holds up to 30 Tons!

[Julian Harrison @ Dec 8th 2006 9:42PM]

CooLanyard wrist strap hooks up directly and you would throw the guts out of the darn thing before the strap broke.
http://zr5.us/wii

[Ian @ Dec 8th 2006 11:11PM]

i just noticed something, the plastic parts above the string look like little wiis...

[cloud811 @ Dec 8th 2006 11:22PM]

The only way to fix the problem is at the source, the strap has nothing to do with how stupied people are. Kill the source, means no more poor broken electronics. Killing the source means those we are stupied enough to let go of there wii needs to jump off a cliff for the sake of the world.

[cjrenaud @ Dec 9th 2006 12:32AM]

Hi,

This is typical of ignorant tech companies. I'm going to be suing Red Octane for similar negligence.

When I set my Guitar Hero controller on fire during a Hendrix solo, then smashed the hell out of it during a Who song, I ended up shattering my cat's back and inhaled noxious fumes from the burning plastic and lighter fluid.

WHY don't they put warnings on these things??? Doesn't anyone test real-world usage scenarios? I figure if that bricked XBox guy can get $5M, I'm in for twice that, easy.

[Dennis @ Dec 9th 2006 5:34AM]

Umm I'm the one who took that picture

[Jason @ Dec 10th 2006 9:04AM]

Why can't Nintendo use the same material Apple uses on its new iPod earbuds (the non-slip stuff around the edges) instead of selling a glove? It can't be THAT much more.

[Raza @ Dec 10th 2006 3:40PM]

So all those rumours for the abandoned boomerang controller of ps3 that it will fly off or throw it away n play like a boomerang etc are now being dealt by the owners of wii.Ha ha ha.Seems funny though how ppl started the rumours that ps3 controller will suck n wii remotes are so cool.but now its opposite.Makes me laugh.

[art @ Dec 10th 2006 8:02PM]

This problem comes under the heading of "forseeable abuse", i.e. getting excited. Many manufacturers, engineers and designers will ignore this by saying "we have a rule" or we will simply warn about getting over excited, or people simply need to understand about the strap. I would guess that during testing the same things happened but it was at such a time as to make it a bit difficult to fix, therefore we will ignore the problem and hope it doesn't become a big thing. Opps!

[Stephen D @ Dec 15th 2006 11:56AM]

I was playing Nintendo and the straps came undone when I was playing rather aggressively. The remote hit the telly next to the window then kind of bounced on the window sill and managed to roll (kind of a slow motion tip and roll) out the window. I live on the third floor of an apartment building above shops facing the street. It then fell on to the head of a passing Minister. I didn't know it at the time, of course, but I heard a yelp followed by a screech, a crashing sound that strangely kept going, then a string of curses. As I was running downstairs I heard this kind of chorus of voices - not the 'happy-holidays' kind of chorus mind you, but the disharmonious 'family-argument' type of chorus. There was cheering too. As I ran to the front door I could see the shadows and commotion of movement of what was clearly a large group of people gathered but doing something very actively, and all sorts of noise. Not just voices but shrieks and yells and deep gutteral growls. Even a baby crying, but with a little tone of earnest vengeance in its voice! My instant and disturbing impression was it seemed through the shadows of the clouded glass front doors like a group of villagers was attacking a beast with pitchforks, or something like that anyway. I paused for a moment but the disturbance had such a raw pull on my curiosity I overcame my fear and good sense, pushed open the front doors and was amazed at the sight (Site? It became a place of wonder in my mind thereafter) of such a horrendous mess. I stood there, I guess you could say mentally 'undone', for at least several minutes until the clatter and sharp edged sound of sirens shook me to alertness.
I stepped back inside, closed the entry door and prayed and wished and 'desperated' (it seems like a word to me having experienced it) that no one saw me. Still in shock I went back upstairs, furtively but not really since I didn't have even the bodily control to yield to my own instincts. It was that kind of feeling that overtakes all your senses, You know what I mean. Well it took a few days of saying nothing, being nobody, and passing by all the the talk (I didn't dare be seen to take an interest or ask questions) but I eventually pieced together what all had happened. Evidently the Minister was hit on the head by my remote! I guess I said that already yet it still seems very noteworthy given what happened. Yes there was a lot of cursing that followed (remember I heard that from upstairs) but it wasn't by him. He yelped and flinched, jumped actually off the pavement into the path of an approaching truck. A Beer and Spirits delivery truck! (God I wish it had been the Milk truck!) Well the driver tried to stop, braked and swerved into the path of a Bank truck coming the other direction,which knocked it over!
Everything went everywhere. In true holiday-shopping spirit I suppose everyone around immediately saw the best unadvertised sale of their lives and leapt into action. Broken glass was ignored in the heat of people jumping into the fray and nabbing and grabbing and snatching off the ground the truck and each other whatever they could get their hands on. (The Bank truck didn't spill anything but I remember two or three pullng on the back doors - must have been the driver of that truck who called the Police). Well the Minister was in the middle of it all, a trickle of blood on his forehead, shouting to everyone to stop, pulling on people, slipping, falling and frantically doing what he could - he was quite hysterical. When the police arrived everyone scattered of course leaving this madman covered in alcohol. What could they do. The Driver said he jumped in front of him with a mad look and his "hands outstretched to stop him". Poor guy was in jail for several days before they let him go. Every conversation I heard was tinged with a little guilty delight. Aye, I think they should fix those straps.