Game consoles often launch with “bugs”, little annoyances that didn’t come out in testing, in fact the Xbox probably introduced the concept of crashing to the world of consoles. But rarely did consoles do any real harm, the Wii on the other hand is actually turning into a real liability in some cases when players are losing their grip on the Wiimote and even worse the strap is giving up as well, turning it into a plasma killing missile. My question is how did this not come to light through actual user testing? I wonder if it was tested internally and therefor they didn’t experience the overzealous, adrenaline driven, competitive crazyness that can take people over. They probably knew that the Wiimote was sensitive enough not to need overdriven movements, but not the public. This is going to be an interesting PR challenge for them thats for sure, because while they waffle about “looking into it” consumer generated videos and pictures are popping up everywhere. There’s even a site dedicated to it called WiiHaveAProblem.com.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
“This is going to be an interesting PR challenge for them thats for sure, because while they waffle about “looking into it” consumer generated videos and pictures are popping up everywhere. There’s even a site dedicated to it called WiiHaveAProblem.com.”
This is how social-media changes the marketing world. In years past companies could see a problem like this and assume it was an ‘isolated incident’. Now it can be an ‘isolated incident’, and still have a community spring up around it.
The days of the ‘isolated incident’ are over.
I really have trouble understanding this one. The strap is rather strong. It’s also easily reinforced with something like fishing line.
if you’re going to be flailing about so violently that you may lose your grip… let alone with enough force to mar or break plastic or glass… well it just makes sense to do this.
Not that I can actually understand people being THAT violent with it in the first place. The strap isn’t even necessary for most people. Even really excited and into a game, with sweaty palms and all, the strap should really be more than enough.
This is really bad publicity, despite it not being in Nintendo’s realm of control or responsibility. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks a lot of this might be instigated…
Luckily it’s not stopped them from selling any.
Too true Mack, there is no more isolated incidents, it may be a very small percentage but they really have to address it.
Also thanks Alex for your first hand knowledge, i have not been lucky enough to try out a wii yet so all i have to go on is the consumer reports and obviously the noisiest ones are the ones with broken plasmas
It’s actually a huge problem when you look at in the context of nintendo’s positioning of the wii. We constantly see several friends together playing and you can assume one of them owns the tv their playing on. I might trust myself to hold onto the wiimote but what about my stupid friends
As a proud and zealous owner of a plasma there will be no friends over to play on my future wii until the wiimote is locked to their wrist with high tensile wire. Maybe a kryptonite lock or something.
I agree with what Alex said.
I’d be curious as to compare these incidents with the Wii and also see what other issues those users may have had with previous consoles. Did they often throw their PS2/Xbox/GameCube controller? Do they tend to get out of hand and slam their wired controllers into the ground?
I think it a bit silly to fault nintendo for designing something that lets people move more how they please. It’s no different than an agry sports fan throwing his remote into the a wall, tv, or the floor. You don’t see the owners of the remote getting heat for it. Certainly it’s a different design, but still.
A while back I wrote about Wii and was asked if I would buy it to which I replied:
“GREAT question. I want one. Problem is that I have a 5-year-old that I want to buy a system for as well and I’m afraid he would launch that thing out the window.”
I guess we have to fear for our fancy flat screens even more so than the window. I wonder if some of younger users will be launching this thing at high velocity by not fastening it correctly.
Gives the product name a whole new meaning…
Very funny David, the wiiiii-mote would be aptly named
My biggest problem with this story is the attitude that Nintendo have come out with is very much ‘it’s not us, it’s you’. Assuming that this isn’t a big anti-Wii conspiracy unto which many have already sacrificed their TV screens, then perhaps this attitude tells more about Nintendo’s attitude to users and user testing than is first apparent.
I wonder what kind of testing they did on this product. For it to be any use at all it would have to have been longitudinal contextual research. Testing this in a lab would be useless… users would be far too well behaved
All that aside… I’m still hoping Santa will rock up with one for me come Christmastime
“the wiiiii-mote would be aptly named”
Nice one Karl… You’ve got your next headline. Someone call Elmer Fudd.
I got a Wii , and i had not have any problem like this
i had drop it a few times lol ( cuz i didnt use the strap )
looking at all this pixs and videos , not to be on any side
but ppl really have to notice thier surrounding ..
and being stuck on the side on the TV ? must have been flying 60mph lol , u do not have to use force on the wii controller
Icall tell you without a doubt that you have got to be a bonafide RETARD to do that to your remote. First off Anyone who plays that hard is not understanding the motion sensors inside the remote. if you need to turn left in your car do you jam the wheel as hard as possible to the left or do you grab it and just yank as hard as you can. Duh! I’ve had a Wii since day one and maybe I’m just not a meat-head but there has never been any kind of impact into anything. Maybe I don’t flail my arms around like a retarded baboon having a seizure while i play or maybe, it’s just that it takes all kinds of people to make the world go ’round.
From what I understand there’s basically two ways Wiimote accidents happen.
One where the user didn’t even bother putting the wrist wrap on. That’s entirely the user’s fault.
And then there are the incidents where the wrist wrap was on, but it broke. This one has “sub-categories” (man, I’m so over-analyzing, but I can’t help it…). If the user leaves the strap loose, it’s not gonna work as intended. If the user leaves it too loose, it could even slip off the wrist entirely while playing, and any controller motion is going to exert much more stress to the strap than if the user strapped it as tight as possible.
In any case you’d have to be swinging that thing pretty damn hard for it to slip off your hand. Or have extremely slippery hands, which I could totally see happening. A Wii Sports Bowling session gets you sweating pretty quick…Wii Sports Boxing MUCH quicker.
Nintendo is addressing the wrist strap breaking problems though. The newer controllers are coming with a much thicker strap.
Oh, and there’s the third kind of Wiimote accident.
The fake kind. Like the one pictured in Karl’s post. There is NO way that is real.
Nice, thanks for pointing that out Tero, I swear I didn’t fake that one up
If I had a wiimote and a wii i’d be playing the hell out of it as opposed to faking accidents.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/15/nintendo-recalls-3-2-million-wii-straps/
Nintendo is recalling the straps and replacing them with stronger ones.
the wii is the worst thing i ever saw. i think they are going to lose more monye than gane because the law suits this guy r going to have. go to youtube.com and look onder wii got a prolem like there is one guy i saw on a video that can sue for 1-10 million because his hand was cut bad. i think if some is walking and a snap of a wii brakes and hits the person in tempole he would be dead … if it went fast
WII IS STUIP
Karl
Difficult this one. If the Wii really is as good as Nintendo make out, then people are going to get emotionally involved and perhaps even a wee bit carried away. I am sure Nintendo have recognised this in their development process.
Then they need to test the device over time in realistic situations to see how people really behave when playing. I am sure Nintendo did this to the best of their abilities with prototype controllers and prototype games.
Then they need to get the thing into production to meet strict manufacturing cost targets. That’s often where tough prototypes turn into not-so-tough real products.
The real problems looks like one of balancing the right to buy the Wii with the responsibility to use it, well, responsibly. And the US’ product safety laws which encourage frivolous lawsuits for over-zealous use.
Graham Hill
My son is 10, and our latest issue was when the wii controller strap broke and cracked the LCD screen on a $4000 TV. YES THE STRAP BROKE. He did not throw it, he was swinging it like a bat. And mind you, my son does not hit past 2nd base in the real word, so . . . .if you think the straps don’t break with little force . . . .FYI . . you are wrong.
Dude…You don’t have to swing it that hard…Just flick your wrist nerd