RSS Feeds
Nintendo Responds to Multiple Gamer Complaints on Game Controller Safety
Wii's thin, unstable wrist straps replaced by thicker, sturdier versions
Dean Takahashi, Contributing Editor -- Design News, February 4, 2007
Nintendo swiftly decided to replace for free the straps on its Wii game controllers. The company faced an ongoing public relations problem as more and more gamers posted embarrassing videos and pictures about how the Wii straps broke, causing them to fling the controllers into their TVs or at other family members.
The Wii has a built-in motion sensor so it encourages a new kind of game play, where the player can swing at objects on the screen to simulate a tennis match and so on. But players could hit each other or, as they discovered with the flimsy attachment to the wrist strap, the strap sometimes didn't hold when a player lost his or her grip. In the postings on sites such as www.wiihaveaproblem.com, opinions were mixed as to who was at fault. In the age of YouTube, which let the world know about the exploding Dell laptop in short order, it doesn't take long for word to spread. Sony let the controversy brew for months as it allowed its laptop customers to decide whether they wanted to recall laptops with the defective batteries. But in a statement, Nintendo said it was replacing the 0.6 mm straps with a thicker, 1 mm strap to uphold its reputation for quality. The announcement came just days after Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said the company was investigating the problem with the straps.
The accidents were sometimes funny and caught considerable media attention.
But for Nintendo, it was a serious matter and prompted at least one class-action lawsuit. The company said on December 15 that “some consumers get more excited playing Wii Sports than we could have imagined.”
That was a mere four weeks after the launch of the Wii, and much shorter than the 10 months it took before Microsoft decided to replace for free any non-working Xbox 360 consoles it sold in 2005. Then, after more bad publicity dogged Microsoft during the crucial holiday selling season, Microsoft finally said after more than a year of complaints it would extend the warranty for the Xbox 360 from three months to a full year, allowing anyone with a defective console to have it replaced, free of charge.
Nintendo puts warning notices in all of its games about how to properly play with the Wii and to make sure the strap is in place. The company is supplying sturdier straps with about twice the thickness to anyone who requests a replacement at its website at www.nintendo.com. But the company says it has not yet reimbursed anyone who has launched a controller into a $2,000 TV. P.J. McNealy, an analyst at American Technology Research, says the Wii strap problem is overblown and it will not interrupt Nintendo's ability to supply consoles to the market.
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 The wrist straps on Nintendo's Wii controllers were the subject of controversy after complaints flooded the company, saying the straps broke easily and were not safe. |
|
|
||
Sponsored Content
Technology Marketplace
