AfterTek

Nintendo Wii gamers are damaging televisions, windows, furniture and even each other, in addition to their on-screen foes. It was only released yesterday in Australia, December 2 in Japan and November 19 in the US, but numerous Wii owners have already reported issues with the thin wrist strap that is attached to the console’s remote control.

Apparently, the strap is prone to tearing without notice which, during frenetic gaming, can cause the control to fly out of the user’s hand. Similar issues have also occurred when the strap is placed too loosely around the wrist. The problem seems to stem from the way users interact with the Wii.

The motion-sensitive controller requires gamers to actively wave it around like a wand in order to control the action. For example, gamers can wave their hands to control on-screen swordfights, fishing, tennis, bowling and golf. Vispi Bhopti, of Nintendo Australia, said the problem was less to do with quality issues and more related to the way the console was being used.

“Nintendo has done various tests before we launched, but it turns out people are playing with a lot more gusto than we would’ve anticipated,” he said “At this point, I do want to clarify that Nintendo is introducing a brand new form of entertainment and a brand new form of interacting it’s not like conventional video games, and we need to let people be aware of how they should approach it. This will take a little time for some people.”

Bhopti added that over-the-top movements and letting go of the controller places unnecessary strain on the wrist strap, causing it to snap. “The things we recommend are [firstly] to make sure your wrist strap is on tight. We mention this even in the games, in the software before you start.

“We also recommend holding on to the remote and never letting go. There have been some reports internationally of people playing virtual bowling and letting go of the entire remote, as they would a normal bowling ball; there’s just nothing we can do about that.”

For those prone to sweaty palms, Bhopti recommends you “take a break” and “dry yourself off” periodically. He said there’s no point in swinging the controller with full strength, as the same results could be accomplished with far smaller movements. “You can throw a 150kmh fast ball in Wii Sports baseball without swinging your arm with full power,” he said.

Bhopti’s comments are similar to those made earlier to US media by Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, and one of its long-time producers, Shigeru Miyamoto. Ray Castillo, one of the victims of the broken strap issue, who posted photo evidence to his Flickr account, admits he was playing with excessive force at the time. “I would say that I was playing with excessive force when the Wii strap broke,” he said. “I got into the game, and was having a good time.”

Luckily, in Castillo’s case, no damage was done and he has now learned “not to get too crazy with the Wiimote”. But he remains concerned about others using his console. “I’m more worried about other people playing with my Wii. They might not know that the strap might break, and something else might happen. “Let’s just hope if [it] does break again that nothing bad happens or any one gets hurt.” A replacement policy for broken Wii remote straps is yet to be announced, but Nintendo said that it was “investigating” the issue.