Wii blamed for ridiculous increase in British hospital visits

Nintendo's Wii has been maiming careless gamers since the day it was launched, but an inexplicable uptick in Britain has professionals scratching their heads. According to Dr. Dev Mukerjee of Broomfield Hospital: "There has been a 100 percent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis." Turns out, Wii-itis is their word for playing so much Wii that you injure yourself. Astonishingly, up to ten people per week are being "hospitalized with injuries caused by playing Nintendo Wii games," which has forced medical personnel to "issue warnings of the dangers associated with the video game system." Some of the most common injuries are Wii-knee (seriously) and tendon stretching / tearing, both of which could likely be avoided if gamers would bother to stretch before breaking a sweat. Sheesh -- what do folks even learn in Physical Education these days?

[mitchell_pgh @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:38AM]

Sounds like the Wii is the new "I fell down the stairs."

Abusive husbands and wives rejoice ;-)

[Kimleng @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:13PM]

Except stairs are never suffering a shortage and can be found in nearly every home.

[patriotsn1 @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:26PM]

lol! wtf is that?!?! Well if THAT is a roundabout then I retract my statement, because I have NEVER seen anything like that. Now combine that with the ease of using a sword with your right hand and we've got a new era of entertainment!

[Flashpoint @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:30PM]

Oh...the black eye?

My husband and I were playing Wii Sports and he "accidentaly" hit me

*sob*

[randy @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:29PM]

These people need to be put down.

[Ridgecity @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:26PM]

My wife beats me and she always tells my friends I fell down the stairs. Now she will start saying she beat me with the Wiimote, just to be trendy...

I hate her...

[happy_penguin @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:59PM]

"Pink eyyyyyyye... Pink eyyyyeeee!!!"

[skyblaze @ Dec 23rd 2008 6:33PM]

its not nintendo's fault they were using these:

http://www.shop4tech.com/photos/item-7115-1-500.jpg

[kingu @ Dec 25th 2008 7:37AM]

I blame Darwin.

[Speney G @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:39AM]

Or perhaps the Brits are just idiots. Silly Brits driving on the wrong side of the road. We had a revolution for a reason.

[Robotochan @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:43AM]

I say! When you enter our Kingdom you will be fined 20 shillings!

It's probably a Doctor just trying to be hip and happening with the young folks. 10 a week is hardly anything when you think of the number of Wiis in the country and overactive children.

[Moj @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:49AM]

Actually the 'keep left' rule has been around since the middle-ages, the left-hand side of the road would be the best position to use your sword (with your right-hand) to defend yourself should the occasion arise.

[patriotsn1 @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:54AM]

maybe, but with 90% of drivers being right handed you'd think it'd be easier to shift with that hand... and the lack of frequent sword use in the last few centuries...

[Steve @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:57AM]

are you seriously saying you find it hard to change gear with your left hand?

that would make sense seeing as american's also find roundabouts so hard they they just don't implement them.

[Moj @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:00PM]

@patriotsn1

Or maybe leave the less dexterous hand to perform the simple forward-backward movements of gearchanging, allowing the right hand to steer more accurately...

Anywho, it doesn't matter so long as the driver is closer to the centre of the road

[patriotsn1 @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:01PM]

Hey tough guy, maybe you should do some research before you open your mouth, we have "roundabouts" except we call them rotaries. I bet you're also one of those awesome people that goes around calling Americans arrogant when you yourself don't know what you're talking about.

[Steve @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:04PM]

thanks no need for names.

no fine correct me, i have no problem with that..

im actually one of those people who believe what i see on the simpsons :D

[patriotsn1 @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:09PM]

Ah, well then no explanation needed, I also learn much of my worldly knowledge from The Simpsons. (Toilets flush the opposite way in Australia) To your credit, I don't believe the rotary (roundabout) is implemented everywhere in the states. I'm from New England and I know they are pretty prominent here. (Then again, it is NEW England, so maybe a lot was borrowed from the original) Here's the rotary I use whenever I go to the airport.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=logan+airport&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.90509,79.101563&ie=UTF8&ll=42.421069,-71.003898&spn=0.002043,0.004828&t=h&z=18

[Bob P @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:12PM]

Didn't you hear, the politicians want to change that.

They're proposing moving the trucks over this year and the cars over next

[Steve @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:21PM]

its all about the magic roundabout(s) in swindon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/image_galleries/wiltshire_live_search_gallery.shtml?15

Its insane!!!

[joe23521 @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:33PM]

@Moj:
"Or maybe leave the less dexterous hand to perform the simple forward-backward movements... allowing the right hand to steer more accurately..."

You ARE talking about DRIVING, right?

[absinthe party @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:08PM]

Wait... so the general consensus here is that I should start carrying a sword in my car, or am I missing the point entirely?

[carpet @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:27PM]

Everyone used to drive/walk/ride on the left fore the afore mentioned sword fighting reason. It was only those who got conquered by Napolean and his French army that then got changed to the right.

Driving on the left is a sign of miltary strength and general lack of hippies.

[Laura @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:23PM]

patriotsn1: Toilets don't flush the opposite way in the southern hemisphere, nor do sinks drain the opposite way. It's a common misconception.

See www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html

[NG @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:26PM]

Maybe you should try to learn how to drive properly you idiot, left or right is the same.

[Ryan @ Dec 23rd 2008 2:11PM]

Having driving in Ireland for a few years, where they also drive on the left, (and learning to drive in Canada, on the right) I found it pretty easy to get used to shifting with the left hand. A few days of accidentally shifting from 1st->4th, and 3rd->2nd (instead of 4th), and then I was all good.

What I cannot get used to, however, is that horrifying Wii-knee. WTF, Nintendo??

[Kat @ Dec 23rd 2008 2:15PM]

Re: swords.
History seems to suggest that the practice of keeping left has more to do with using the right hand to whip animals pulling carts than impromptu swashbuckling.

Re: roundabouts
These are fairly common in any densely-inhabited part of the US, we just call them "traffic circles" -- the main reason for their exclusion here is more consistent use of right-angle intersections. Some cities look like cartesian graph paper, and have addresses to match:

Re: left-handedness
Close. The figure is more like 93% right-handed.

Trivia:
The largest left-hand-drive nation in the world by territory size is Australia. The largest by population is India.
LHD-RHD nation borders often involve little more than a sign instructing you to switch over to the other side of the road, but sometimes elaborate side-switching bridges are used.
Turning right on a red light in a LHD country is a good way to get your ass killed.

[LukeCarroll @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:11PM]

I'm from near swindon, and regularly drive on the magic roundabout, it's not that bad if you know what you're doing (5 mini roundabouts around a central island, not a central roundabout. The confusion comes in that you can effectively go around the central island the "wrong way" if you think of it as another roundabout).

Navigating it at rush hour with lots of others who don't understand how it works can be an issue however....

[David @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:59PM]

@Moj

I actually can't drive well with my right hand. I also can't ride a bike one handed with my right. So if I lived in a country with RHD I'd be pretty out of luck.

[Wwhat @ Dec 23rd 2008 6:35PM]

If you are travelling the most likely attack is from the bushes/wood on the side of the road (and other horseman that are attacking you won't abide by any law on which side they ride to attack you), so to drive left to have your sword handy is stupid, and since people are in general thinking up stupid things for many ages it must be true.

[Justin @ Dec 25th 2008 11:52PM]

@Kat

But isn't turning left in a RHD country just the same?

Also, traffic circles aren't the same as roundabouts.

[eggothewaffle @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:39AM]

Woah, woah, Engadget...Mind moving the picture to behind the page jump?

Think of the children!!!

[Jonathan Keim @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:35PM]

I'm sure most children have seen much worse in advetisements/movies

[Windhawk @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:54PM]

Agreed. Not what I want to see over breakfast.

[BigD145 @ Dec 23rd 2008 2:18PM]

What? All I see are lots of happy people.

[fudd @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:43PM]

http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm

blah blah blah

man, you pom's and americans know how to whinge dont you :P

anyone would think America was colonised by the British at some point!

[Mo @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:40AM]

I would like to know their IQ level please...

[broli @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:41AM]

50 points above yours but still a 2 digit number

[slamEVIL @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:01PM]

da da dum

[dale1v @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:09PM]

erm, owned.

[Oli D @ Dec 23rd 2008 2:21PM]

Thats what a nerd says when calling a sex line

[kal326 @ Dec 23rd 2008 2:35PM]

@Oli D
No, I think if a nerd was calling a sex line they would be asking what they have to roll on a D20 to remove their bra.

[chemisus @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:14PM]

@kal326

a 21 most likely, many nerds would never be able to take it off.

[Jon @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:43AM]

Actually there's a reason the Brits drive on the left side of the road Speney, but I imagine you're too xenophobic to know what that reason is.

I would imagine Americans are getting just as many Wii related injuries per capita.

[eggothewaffle @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:43AM]

Silly Brits not picking up on obvious sarcasm (no matter how stupid the joke may be). We had a revolution for a reason.

[mitchell_pgh @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:53AM]

I'm sorry to burst your bubble Jon, but we have this place in our country called "the south" and I know for a fact that the Wii related fatalities are 70x higher in this region. The primary cause of said fatalities is specifically linked to intoxicated drivers slipping into a subconscious state where they believe they are playing Ford Racing: Off Road while operating their vehicle.

[Jon @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:23PM]

Haha Mitchell, that was great.

[Oli D @ Dec 23rd 2008 2:26PM]

@ Eggo, We invented sarcasm thank you very much.

And you had your revolution over some tea taxes, naturally provoking a war when a load of tea was dumped into the sea in protest.

If there's one thing that gets brits riled up, its the abuse of tea.

[Johann1356 @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:44AM]

This is why we are not bringing the Wii to the Christmas party.

[Anthony @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:40PM]

This is why we are..