Posted on Fri, Dec. 15, 2006
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Nintendo recalls 3.2 million straps for Wii game
By Associated Press
TOKYO - Japanese gamemaker Nintendo today announced the recall of 3.2 million straps for its popular Wii computer game controllers.
In recent weeks, the Web has been full of reports of excited gamers losing their grip on the Wii's controller or smacking their arms into nearby objects.
After issuing a general ``calm down'' to its customers a week ago, Nintendo Co. responded by quietly beefing up the controller's fabric wrist strap, spokeswoman Beth Llewelyn said.
The recall was announced after Llewelyn made her comment.
The stories of damage and injury certainly haven't hurt sales. The market research company NPD Group estimates that U.S. consumers bought 476,000 Wiis in the two weeks following its Nov. 17 launch. That beat Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console, which sold just under 200,000 units in roughly the same period amid widespread shortages.
Some analysts, like P.J. McNealy at American Technology Research, say the Wii isn't exactly a direct competitor with the PS3 because Nintendo purposely avoided getting into a war over which system has the hottest graphics.
Instead, Nintendo has focused on capturing customers outside the traditional niche of quick-fingered young males by playing up the Wii's ability to get people swinging their wireless controllers like swords, baseballs or golf clubs.
That's why the missiles began flying. The Wii's popular sports games, included with the console, appear to be the main source of gamers losing their grip on the devices that look like TV remotes, Nintendo of America's Llewelyn said.
``It's kind of this novel way to play, and I think people are just figuring that out and may have gotten a little overexcited when they were playing,'' Llewelyn said.
That's what happened to Jessica Chobot, a writer at gaming Web site IGN.com, who sprained and cut a finger on her right hand while trying rally for a comeback victory in Wii baseball.
In the excitement of trying to put a little something extra on her fastball, Chobot said, she got a little too close to her thick wooden coffee table.
``You obviously don't need to go through all the motions, but I did because I was frustrated, and smashed my hand along with the Wii controller right into the table as hard as I possibly could,'' she said.
The impact sent a few Wii parts flying, but the remote lived up to Nintendo's reputation for durable hardware and quickly snapped back together.
``The controller still works, and that's the important thing,'' Chobot said, adding that her finger seems to mending well.
Llewelyn insists Nintendo has only verified a few scattered instances of Wii remotes flying because of faulty wrist straps.
