Is there a Wii home repair game?

[apsham]

http://videogames.yahoo.com/ongoingfeature...4785&page=0

Picture this. You're lining up the perfect shot in Wii Bowling, remote in hand. You set up the shot, swing the remote with all the strength you can muster, and... follow through a little more than you intended.

Somehow the remote leaves your sweaty-palmed grip and bang, smash, there goes your TV, window, photo of your granny, anything that happens to be in the path of the newly liberated remote.

Hold on, though. If you're wearing the (supplied) wrist strap, no harm done, right? So you'd think. As you can see, some Wii owners are finding the strap decidedly lacking. (Check out nascent site wiihaveaproblem.com for more strap malfunctions.) The problem isn't with the amply broad strap itself, but the considerably narrower section that connects the strap with the remote, which is prone to fray in some circumstances. The result is smashed remotes, smashed televisions, smashed windows, and unhappy (or, at least, somewhat red-faced) customers.

Teething hardware troubles are hardly new to the world of console launches, especially in the last year or so. The Xbox 360's original overheating issues are well documented, with the first production run of consoles suffering what is generally regarded to be an unusually high failure rate. We're even hearing the start of mutterings about overheating issues with some brand new PS3s. But it's probably the first time a console's design has lead --albeit indirectly -- to quite such a catalogue of destruction. To its credit, Nintendo appears to be happy to replace the wrist strap in some circumstances, but if there really is an underlying design weakness, then it needs to be addressed before an unfortunate (or worse, sue-happy) bystander gets beaned by a stray remote.

Sure, it's easy to laugh at the misfortune of these hapless Wii'ers, especially if you're still combing stores for miles around looking for yours. One broken strap could be regarded as misfortune, but as the volume of fractured straps grows, it starts to look more like carelessness -- or, at least, evidence of a lack of real-world testing.

In the meantime, wise Wii owners will want to consider hunting round the house for something a little stronger -- or waiting for one of the more opportunistic peripheral manufacturers to cash in on the opportunity to flog reinforced replacements at an inflated price. That's business.

[King Ellis]

The interesting thing is someone already made a Wii Glove accescory meant to give you more grip on the Wiimote. So they must have some pretty good turnaround if they made it in response to all the accidents.

[Vilge Duin]

Maybe people shouldn't hold onto it so flimsily. If you wind up throwing it, it's your own fault quite frankly.

[apsham]

That is the lamest possible response. I doubt all these people were just limply hanging onto the controller, and chucking it at the television. What do you work for Nintendo?

[-A-]

Maybe people shouldn't hold onto it so flimsily. If you wind up throwing it, it's your own fault quite frankly.

[The Kraig]

I think it's great entertainment for me: http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Are there games that don't require you to flail your arms around like an epileptic monkey?

[Guest Kou]

Are there games that don't require you to flail your arms around like an epileptic monkey?

[TheEndAll]

I have one and it's really not that hard to hang on too. If you feel your hand getting really sweaty, pause the game and wipe your hand off. Oh and don't let go of the thing. Good God, it's not that hard.

[zero]

That is the lamest possible response. I doubt all these people were just limply hanging onto the controller, and chucking it at the television. What do you work for Nintendo?

It's not like it's hardware problems, it's user error. I don't think the Wiimote is made out of industrial non-stick teflon. This is like trying to sue the makers of Golden Tee because you hit the track ball too hard. I'm sure Nintendo has warnings on the product, they shouldn't have to do anything except replace a broken strap.

[oldskool]

Dude, that's like saying the car manufacturer should only have to replace the seat belt strap if it breaks and you just happen to fly out of your seat and plow through the windshield.

[apsham]

That is the lamest possible response. I doubt all these people were just limply hanging onto the controller, and chucking it at the television. What do you work for Nintendo?

It's not like it's hardware problems, it's user error. I don't think the Wiimote is made out of industrial non-stick teflon. This is like trying to sue the makers of Golden Tee because you hit the track ball too hard. I'm sure Nintendo has warnings on the product, they shouldn't have to do anything except replace a broken strap.

If it breaking for a large number of people though, Nintendo should be making, I dunno... a stronger strap that doesn't break? I mean, seriously how long has the Wii been out? A week and some at the most? And the straps are already breaking?

[zero]

Dude, that's like saying the car manufacturer should only have to replace the seat belt strap if it breaks and you just happen to fly out of your seat and plow through the windshield.

Because a video game controller and a car are completely the same thing. How could I ever make that mistake? Here let me get a step ladder so you can get those straws you were reaching for. A car's seat belt is designed to save your fucking life, I don't think the Wiimote is a lethal weapon, it's an incredibly light piece of plastic that you shouldn't be aiming at another person. If a strap breaks, yes that is Nintendo's fault and if you can prove that the strap breaking caused some kind of other damage, then they should have to do something for that as well. But you can't just go around giving everyone money when it can very easily be abused. I guess now Kodak is going to need to cut a huge check to someone because their camera strap "broke?"

Edited November 30, 2006 by Zero

[Guest StylesClash86]

I'm with Zero here. They should issue refunds to people who suffered damages from the strap breaking. But my question is how can this thing just fly out of your hand. I don't know about you guys, but when I game I hold on to the controller well enough so that I don't have this problem. Hell, sometimes in the heat of the moment I may move my 360 controller while aiming or something and it stays in my hand.

[zero]

I just know a bunch of people who constantly break their digital cameras by dropping them and then try to send them back to the company by saying the strap broke. All I'm saying is all these Wii horror stories may be caused by people who were just careless and now want Nintendo to fix their own mistake.

[apsham]

I'm with Zero here. They should issue refunds to people who suffered damages from the strap breaking. But my question is how can this thing just fly out of your hand. I don't know about you guys, but when I game I hold on to the controller well enough so that I don't have this problem. Hell, sometimes in the heat of the moment I may move my 360 controller while aiming or something and it stays in my hand.

Do you even have any idea of how the Wii remote works? And let me remind you and everyone else in this thread that just because you don't do something, doesn't mean a percentage of other people don't. The problem is with a faulty strap provided by Nintendo, so yes they should pay for damages incurred due to that. How would it work any other way? The system is easy to abuse? Well Nintendo should have something in place to deal with that, and I assume they do. It's called business. If people pay a price to buy something of yours, and the product causes damage to other things... well your company is responsible. I assume the strap was included so that things like this didn't happen, but the strap is apparently of low quality for at least some people... so Nintendo should compensate those people somehow and then make the straps stronger for future shippings.

All I'm saying is all these Wii horror stories may be caused by people who were just careless and now want Nintendo to fix their own mistake.

So what you know people like that? Why are you so invested in Nintendo's business anyways? Let them deal with that, because there's obviously people having their strap break.

Edited November 30, 2006 by ApSham

[Red Devil-Taker316]

I personally don't know what's so hard about keeping it in your hand. In fact, I played Wii last week, and I didn't even realize there was a strap, and I didn't see myself accidentally throwing the Wiimote. I mean I guess it can happen, but really, if people were just careful and such they shouldn't really have a problem at all.

The example given was WiI bowling, in all honesty, the Wiimote does not have to be moved with great force to play it. There's no reason it should be flying out of his hand and smashing stuff. Just be careful with the Wiimote, that's all.

[Guest StylesClash86]

Yes I do, my brother has one and I play it frequently. I've had no problems with the strap and never will, because I hold on to the nun-chucks much tighter than the average person I guess.

The system would be easy to abuse. What if someone had an older tv and thought they might get refunded by Nintendo somehow if they legit threw the controller at the TV instead of a strap breaking. That is what I meant by easy to abuse.

[oldskool]

Seatbelts save you from going flying around the car in the event of an accident.

The Wii-Strap is to save your Wiimote from going flying around the room in the event it slips out.

If *strap* breaks, then *manufacturer* is in deep shit and liable for any and all damages to the thing that went flying as well as any damage said airborne thing caused while flying about. Hell, if you strapped your Wii in with a seatbelt and it snapped, smashing the windshield, they'd have to replace the windshield too because their failed part led to damage to other parts that would not have been damaged had their part not failed in the first place.

[zero]

So what you know people like that? Why are you so invested in Nintendo's business anyways? Let them deal with that, because there's obviously people having their strap break.

Don't try to turn it around on me like I'm some Nintendo fanboy because I'm "invested in Nintendo's business."

I hate stupid people, I hate people that try to abuse the system, that's all. Like I said earlier, you can smack a Golden Tee trackball too hard and put your hand through the glass covering the screen. I guess Incredible Technologies should have to pay for your stitches because you had to get an extra five yards on your drive?

I've played the Boxing game quite a bit, palms got sweaty, I was throwing punches at the TV and never once did I think, "wow this thing could come flying out of my hand." I'm not saying it's impossible and all these stories are bullshit, but I certainly think you can attribute the majority of them to user error rather than faulty equipment.