DailyTech - Nintendo Recalls 3.2M Wii Wrist Straps, 200,000 DS and DS Lite Power Adapters

Submit News

Gadgets Nintendo Recalls 3.2M Wii Wrist Straps, 200,000 DS and DS Lite Power Adapters
Brandon Hill (Blog) - December 15, 2006 7:50 AM

77 comment(s) - last by VooDooAddict.. on Dec 18 at 12:11 PM

Old vs New

All Wii Remotes are recalled

Nintendo today announced that the company will replace some 3.2 million Wii Remote wrist straps after receiving numerous reports of the straps breaking sending the controller flying. Nintendo will allow customers to exchange their failure-prone wrist straps with a new beefier strap that is about double the thickness of the original.

There have been numerous reports of straps breaking sending remotes through TVs, windows and other expensive items. Nintendo responded to the Wii Remote madness by issuing a response in writing concerning the proper use of the remote. A few days later, Nintendo began making revisions to the Wii Remote in the form of a beefier wrist strap.

The new wrist strap is already included with the latest machines shipped, but Nintendo estimates that it may have to replace up to 3.2 million wrist straps, costing the company several million dollars. The old straps, which were found to be especially prone to breaking, had a 0.6 millimeter string diameter, while the new replacement strap features a diameter of 1 millimeter.

"People tended to get a bit excited, especially while playing Wii sports, and in some cases the control would come loose from their hands," company spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said. "The new strap will be almost twice as thick."

Nintendo has setup an online replacement form for Wii customers so that they can get replacements for their Wii Remote straps. Shipments will begin on December 21 and it will take 5 to 9 days to receive replacements.

The company also announced today that it is recalling 200,000 AC adapters for the DS and DS Lite in the Japanese market.

Comments

Threshold

Username
Password
remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

RE: Good

By lemonadesoda on 12/17/2006 5:22:49 AM , Rating: 2

The original Wii cable is strong enough for MOST people... in fact for MOST gamers.

But the Wii has introduced many NEW people (especially girls and grandmothers) to console gaming. And it just so happens they don't have as much practice with hand coordination of remotes.

But ALSO the Wii remote is very likely, without the strap even being broken, to become an "anger projectile" to infantile (men?) who out of frustration throw the thing around... McEnroe tennis racket style.

I think the .6mm is 99.9% actually be strong enough. Nylon cord is very strong. But the .1mm makes sure there is NO possibility of damage being caused by failure... but by user error (anger management).

Parent

RE: Good

By Nil Einne on 12/18/2006 2:55:06 AM , Rating: 2

Er I could be wrong but I highly doubt the problem is related to girls and grandmothers who lack hand coordination with remotes. Hope people don't find this sexiest but I highly doubt these people are likely to be swinging the Wii remote with the force necessary for it to slide out of their sweaty palms and break the strap... No, I'm actually pretty sure the problem is in fact with some 'gamers' as you call them, who get too excited. Yes, I'm sure there are some who actually purposely throw the thing, but I suspect they're they minority.

BTW, your figures seem a bit screwed. .6mm is longer then .1mm. Perhaps the new cord is 1mm. I don't know...

Parent

"So, I think the same thing of the music industry. They can't say that they're losing money, you know what I'm saying. They just probably don't have the same surplus that they had." -- Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA