Nintendo recalls Wii controller straps
Steve Safran December 15th, 2006
What’s the worst thing that can happen to a new toy at Christmas? How about a recall? Nintendo is recalling 3.2 million straps that hold the wireless Wii remote controllers to your wrist. Of course, Wii owners have been having the problem of the straps breaking and the controllers going flying - often breaking their TVs, windows or other objects in the room. The company is replacing the .6 millimeter-thick straps with ones that are 1 millimeter thick. (We suggest metal chains.) The Wii has outsold Playstation3 by more than a 2-1 margin, in part because of the PS3 shortage.
(Photo courtesy Flickr user thewind)
7 Comments Add your own
1. Alyssa | December 15th, 2006 at 8:27 am
It probably won’t be a Merry Xmas for the designer that gets fired over this mishap….
2. thedetroitchannel | December 15th, 2006 at 8:59 am
alyssa, recall what col. parker used to say to elvis… “it doesn’t matter if their talkin’ good or bad about ya’, son, so long as they keep talkin’ “.
this “recall” has been all over the local radio stations this morning, with one of the female dj’s lamenting “i wish i had this problem; that would mean we would have been able to actually find and buy one of these things!!!
3. Charles | December 15th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Wii is also outselling the PS3 because the Wii is “affordable”, contrasted to the PS3’s luxury price.
4. Steve | December 15th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Who beta-tested these controllers? “Polite” Japanese folks too timid to really give them a workout?
5. someone | December 16th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Steve,
Flickr is not a free stock site, nor does Flickr/Yahoo own the photographs posted - you really should credit the photog who took the image directly, especially since he didn’t put the image under a CC license.
There has been controversy over on Flickr for months about the media helping themselves to Flickr images without payment or even proper credit, and it has caused into many good photogs leaving flickr.
6. Steve Safran | December 16th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
That’s what I get for crediting Flickr in the first place.
OK. So noted and well-spotted. The picture I used was by “zarzoso.” And you’re right, there was no Creative Commons tag there. So I have taken it down. Even though LR is a decidedly not-profit business, we do like to lead by example.
I have replaced it with a picture by “thewind” under the CC 2.0 license.
Still, the other picture was better…
7. Michael Chastain | December 17th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
It’s not a recall. Nintendo has redesigned the strap, and it is honoring requests to replace the straps whether they’re broken or not. Nintendo is not, however, requiring or requesting that everybody replace their strap.
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