Remember a million years ago when Nintendo first introduced the "Revolution," later to be known as the Wii? It wasn't white, and it seemed multiple colors were a shoe-in for the shiny plastic console. Since then, Nintendo has sung a very white, supply-limited song with the Wii, and we're ready for some change. This is not that change. But at least Nintendo is acknowledging that, indeed, other colors do exist, and look just smashing when waved around in the air, in the form of fancy new pastel-colored Wiimote straps for Japan. They cost a few bucks each, or you can get the whole pack for $10. No word if they'll be heading Stateside.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

We've already seen the Wiimote straps survive one revision, but now it seems that the oft criticized bands that keep your Wiimote from delving into your television screen (or window) could be seeing yet another improvement. Judging by an image showcasing what appears to be a brand new Wiimote wrist strap, Nintendo has added locking clasps in order to keep the controller snug around your wrist. Currently, there's been no word on whether existing Wii owners will be receiving any free upgrades, but considering how few Wiinjury reports we've seen of late, hopefully this precaution is at least somewhat unwarranted.

P.S. -Any new Wii owners out there seeing this same surprise upon unboxing?

[Via Joystiq]

We shouldn't have to remind you just how hazardous free-hanging Wiimotes can be to the health and safety of those around you, but if you or your loved ones have suffered from an unfortunate Wiinjury, a solution has finally arrived. For those of you with the stronger, beefier Wiimote straps, keeping the controller gripped around your wrist can indeed become boring, which is where the Retractable Wii Sports Cuff enters to inject a bit of remote slinging excitement into the equation. The wrist-worn cuff allows your attached Wiimote to be flung "up to 13-inches," and it automatically brings it back to safety before (literally) getting too out of hand. The neoprene cuff looks to be a one size fits all edition, and while we've no idea if you can hack this bad boy to add a bit more length (you know, for real life Wii Rodeos), you can snap up the original right now for just $5.99.

[Via GearLog]

Looks like Nintendo got tired of slapping its own branding onto every one of the bazillions of beefed-up replacement straps it's been sending out to butter-fingered Wii owners the world over. Reports are coming in of some sort of ghettostrap, possibly built by a third party, being sent out instead of the fancy Nintendo version, leaving fanboys crestfallen at their newfound lack of total Wii branding. Not exactly the conspiracy of the century, but we want answers, and we want them now!

[Via Joystiq]

And not a minute too soon! After all that "excited" gameplay we've been doing over the holiday weekend, we were starting to think we might assassinate our damn HDTV with a tennis smash in Wii Sports. We ordered our straps on the 15th, the day the replacement program was announced -- meaning they came a good 6 days later than expected. Still, it was Christmas and all that, so we'll spot 'em. Check out the pics of the new thicker strap!

It didn't take too long for the first Wii-related injury to surface, and it was even shorter before Wiimotes folks starting breaking things with their wild flinging antics, but when your product spurns the creation of an entire website devoted to users getting banged up when misusing the controller, now that's an accomplishment. Of course, it's probably safe to assume that at least half these Wiinjuries are nothing more than backyard boo-boos that folks translated into Wiincidents to get their 15 minutes of fame, but regardless, when Nintendo sends out emails and offers beefier Wiimote straps to those having problems, at least some of this stuff has to be legitimate. First up is a high-heel-wearing dame who apparently dislocated her knee while going for the smash in Wii Tennis, but the remedy to this happening again should really be quite apparent. Next we've got a rowdy customer service guru who actually swung the Wii-bat so hard, it purportedly snapped something within his arm. Lastly, we've got a Agassi wannabe who didn't exactly pay attention to the overhead (glass) light fixture before serving an ace, and now he's reportedly got the bloodshed (and repair bills) to show for it. The moral of the story is that the Wiimote can be a potent weapon and injury liaison if not used properly, but hey, we can't deny the humor in folks taking themselves out when going FTW.

Read - Dislocated Knee, via Joystiq
Read - Broken Arm
Read - Sliced Hand
Read - More Examples of Wiimote carelessness

We snuck a peek awhile back and found that Target itself was only making $12.50 per Wii it sold, and we knew the big N wasn't taking any losses on console sales at launch (unlike Microsoft and Sony), but is it really making money hand over fist? Per a shakily constructed Japanese comparison, it seems that Nintendo's brainchild is only costing $158.30 to manufacture, before you consider the Wiimotes and whatnot (not to mention marketing and distribution costs) that end up being bundled with it, while the 20GB PlayStation 3 clocks in at a whopping $805.85 (saywha?). Interestingly, there's a less-than-understandable $195.99 figure that mentions a "wholesale price," which could be a more realistic figure of how much Nintendo is shelling out when taking external costs (like Reggie flying all over the world) into the equation. Regardless, one thing's for sure -- Nintendo stands to make a sweet profit from the sold-out status its console is in, while Sony continues to fall deeper into a hole they hope will be redeemed with game / accessory sales. Of course, your Wii could end up costing you quite a bit more, especially if you don't have that recently-recalled Wiimote strap looked at.

[Via Digg, thanks Mike]

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

We've been pretty lenient with Wiimote disaster pictures so far -- we're looking at you, Tyler -- since they're just so dang funny. But now Mr. Mmcheacher had to go and ruin it for everyone by faking a disaster of his own, and expecting people to fork over PayPal dollars to buy him a brand new laptop. Mmcheacher put up a cute little blog with that picture up above, along with a sad story of Wiimote strap-breaking woe, hoping to win some pity dollars with that "cracked LCD" of his, him being a student and all. Next, (for those potential pranksters out there taking notes), Mmcheacher tipped us about the blog, and had a friend tip us 16 minutes later, completing this marvelous deception. Unfortunately for him, that screensaver he's using has been around the internet a time or two, and he's not fooling anyone. Sorry to ruin the party, Mmcheacher -- if that's even your real name -- but perhaps you can try a little harder next time around?

UPDATE: Sorry to ruin the fun, but after this post went up, the aforementioned Mmcheacher (whose real name is Michael Parker McEachern, we've discovered) swapped his tale of woe for a NSFW page of hate, so we pulled the link. Now you'll just have to use your imagination. Or you can email him at mmceachern@gmail.com or michaelparker@gmail.com -- maybe he'll send you a screencap.

We've seen the violence, now behold the solution. We think. Friendly tipster Arthur S. bought a Wii on November 24th with a flimsy little Wiimote strap just like the rest of you fools, but when his mom, won over by the beauty of the tiny little Wii box, purchased her own on December 6th, Arthur was shocked to discover a new and improved string for connecting the strap to the Wiimote. She also purchased an additional controller, which had the flimsy, non Tyler-proof string. This would seem to imply that Nintendo is quietly improving the Wii straps as the consoles fly out of the factory, but since none of this is official, we only have blurry camphone pics (is there any other kind?) for proof of this change. Peep another after the break.

It might not be the prettiest thing ever to grace your svelte little Wiimote, but if you're the, um, rambunctious type, or have muscles the size a small house like our man Tyler, this little strap "hack" might be the only thing keeping your Wiimote from becoming a svelte projectile of destruction. The project is all pretty straight forward, using some supa-strong braided fishing line as a safety buffer in case your bowling game gets a little over zealous. But just in case you managed to sleep through all your knot tying merit badges in Boy Scouts, or have allowed the internets to reduce your brain to a pile of mush, and you need a fancy photo set to hold your hand through every little project, then you should find these detailed knot-tying instructions quite helpful.

[Via Digg]