Wii Have a problem!

[Race Car Driver]

http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/

:lol: Be carefull with your Wii!

[David Meek]

That's funny!

[jim777]

Yeah, that is just too much!!

[Chris D]

Can't access the website now, but I'll check back.

[slayer]

What was it?

[Azeke]

Just tried as well can't access the site.

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[Vinny]

It's many reports about people throwing their remote on the screen and cracked their TVs
It would not happen as long as you use it properly
I would say not the "wii's" problem but "we"

[slayer]

I was saying that to some buddies at work. Playing a baseball game and doing the throwing motion. It's natural to release your hand and I can see someone nailing the TV screen. It's not a surprise it's happening.

[Kevin P]

Where did they ever get the idea of a controller you whip like that, with a flimsy strap that breaks? Someone in design wasn't thinking about possible delicate items in the room, such as TVs, lamps, windows, people's heads...

I noticed all the busted TVs were either LCD direct view, or RPTVs. I bet a regular direct-view CRT could handle the impact without damage.

[KeithM]

Good thing I have a projector and anger management

[Chris D]

That's funny. (got the site to work) I guess the best thing to do is upgrade to front projection and a vinyl/cloth screen!

[peterS]

im gonna start sellin wii gaurds on ebay

[Nick M]

Yeah... kinda scary. Did you guys see the interview on that site with the guy waiting in line for the Wii? I haven't laughed that hard in a while... :rofl:

I may have to pick up a Wii later this year just to try it out. Maybe by then they will have kevlar wrist straps... :B

[chinets]

Bullet proof your T.V. screens and Kevlar everything up to the brim , if you use this gadget!! :T

Funny and dangerous :E They should hand cuff this thing to your wrist :rofl:

Berware of your kids, this could happen to you too! 8O

Cheers

[Chris D]

Really? You can throw your kids through the TV?

[chinets]

Chris,
Sometimes I wish I could!!
It's the hand held gadget that is a weapon of Mass destruction ,and the Kids are using this dangerous gadget to destroy our well spent T.V. screens, and all our valuable equipment!

Wii Me ?

Cheers

[Chris D]

Wii. (Oui?)

[SteveCallas]

This whole throwing the remote issue is mind boggling to me. Some people complain that the wrist strap isn't sturdy enough......why are they letting go of the remote in the first place? I wouldn't worry about the sturdiness of the wrist strap, I'd worry about my own self control and motor reflexes (in these cases, a lack thereof)

[Nick M]

Apparently it's a natural reaction for the hand to release it's grip when you are imitating pitching a baseball or loosing a bowling ball. Sort of an ingrained pattern.

[Race Car Driver]

I never threw the bat away to the pitcher when I played baseball for 7 years.
I always released the bat to the side of me towards the catcher

People just need to know how to hold on to things and not "swing for a home run" When you are playing a video game

[peterS]

looks like nintendo has a huge liability

[Race Car Driver]

How so? They didnt throw the remote

[wildfire99]

Looking at the relative sizes of the wrist strap and the nearly microscopic cord that actually secures to the controller, I don't think they engineered it enough. And if I think that, a jury will sure find Nintendo liable.

We haven't even seen a human injury yet... wait until some 1 year old gets brain damage from a flung controller... wheeeee!

(Or better yet, as some media outlets are starting to touch on... the first suits over repetitive stress injuries from overuse of the controller.)

Nintendo's tried to foist many failed controller concepts on us since the days of the NES. The fact that they now simply impose their almighty will on us by not even offering a standard controller does not cover up the fact that they are a day late and a dollar short... again.

Microsoft has to be grinning from ear to ear by now with the double-doozie of wii-tardedness (graphics, controller, expandability) and a PS3 that can't get out of the gate. I don't like MS at all, but I have to give kudos to the only company to at least make their products work.

[Race Car Driver]

The wii will win the console war

[Chris D]

Well, the Wii is designed as a completely different console than the PS3 or X360. It's going to have a niche for sure, but hard-core gamers and big A/V geeks like us aren't going to give up the other systems for a Wii. Maybe buy one in ADDITION to the other systems, for those that have big $$$$.

[Brandon B]

Well, the Wii puts profit in Nintendo's pocket with every sale. 360 and PS3 sure don't. not yet anyway.

So they have already won in that respect.

BB

[Chris D]

That's the truth, for sure.

[Race Car Driver]

It's been proven time and time again, the games make the system, (PS2, PS, N64, SNES, Game Boy, SNES) the system itself does not. (xbox, 3DO, saturn, genesis, sega, turbo grafix 16, etc etc)

[Chris D]

Hey, Christopher, if you know about what games are good, could you stop by my Playstation 3 thread in "Tower of Power"?

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=23502

[chinets]

Just bought the Wii for my 3 boys for Christmas!! WOW, very expensive! I told them they can only use it in their playroom and on their own T.V. set ,and if that T.V. set gets broken, well then they would have to pay for it themselves...Am I right???

I probably will be the one to break their T.V. set first!! Ha Ha Ha !!!!
Cheers!

[Lex]

Actually the "Wii" folks have already pretty well admitted they screwed up, I heard on the local news last night they've come out with a reinforced Wii strap that all new Wii's will come with. I was not clear from the news bulletin if current Wii owners have to buy the replacement. It's not a pure admission of guilt, as they probably don't want to set themselves up for a class action suite to replace all those broke LCD/plasma TVs! But just the fact they are coming out with this, other than saying that they are responsive to the customer, sort of says, yeah, we screwed up.

chinets, I thought the Wii was pretty inexpensive as far as consoles go, no? With X360 at 399 and up and PS3 at 499 and up. All the Wii's I saw were less than that I thought?

Peter, TV Guards. lol.

[Chris D]

Yes, that's true, Lex. The Wii is definitely the cost-effective one of the three systems, AND Nintendo makes a profit on them unlike the others! It may be more expensive where our friend chinets is.

If I were one of those that lost a TV due to a Wii remote, I might ask Nintendo to reimburse.

[SteveCallas]

This is like people wanting to sue McDonalds because fast food made them fat. There is no reason people should actually be letting go of the controller in the first place. If I go buy a ginsu knife and chop off my finger, can I sue the company because they didn't think of a way to prevent me from chopping off my finger? People need to accept responsibility for their own actions. If I chop off my finger, I'm the idiot - just like if you let go of your wii remote and crack your tv, you're the idiot. If there are any lawsuits against Nintendo, and Nintendo loses.....I'm starting my own country :x

[peterS]

would you feel the same way about a seatbelt that came unlatched in an accident

[SteveCallas]

would you feel the same way about a seatbelt that came unlatched in an accident

No. In a car accident, the driver or passenger isn't always the idiot, and in some accidents, nobody is. In addition, a seatbelt is made for the specific purpose of keeping people in their seat even in the case of extreme impacts. The wii wrist strap was just more of a conveniency thing, they didn't expect people to be so foolish as to swing their arms as hard as they possibly could and then let go of the remote.

You don't even have to swing the remote hard to do "fast" things in a game. In fact, you'll end up being slower that way based on how the accelerometer in the controller works. Take trying to serve fast enough that you get smoke trails behind the ball in Wii Tennis. When you get up to the 1800-2000 skill level, trying to manually swing your arm fast in a big motion is rarely going to work. The trick is to just flick your wrist quickly.

[wildfire99]

The Wii is definitely the cost-effective one of the three systems, AND Nintendo makes a profit on them unlike the others! It may be more expensive where our friend chinets is.

I don't think it matters one bit. Remember, the console guys are making money off every game sold, as much as $25! This is on top of hardware licensing fees as well, for everyone who makes peripherals, and of course up-front developer fees. So what if you lose $100 on your console? If the gamer buys three games and a couple controllers you're in the black.

Plus, I'm reading rumors (since nobody who can say will, so who really knows) that MS is now making $75 per XBox360. And we know MS' usual operating method is to simply starve out competitors, so even taking a small loss is still a win to them.

But I still am saddened to see the Wii essentially take itself out of the competition. Make no mistake -- I'll buy one eventually, as I did a Gamecube, just for Mario, Metroid, and Zelda. But I doubt Nintendo will make enough off the Wii to make it more than a niche business for any other major player in the market. Maybe that's good enough for them, who knows?

I was trying to figure it out really. I think because Nintendo spent so much of its early years trying to make products that, by their nature, required something new and innovative and different, that somehow that same mechanism for product development has carried over into the console world. Unfortunately, the nature of videogames makes them unique anyway, as they are all created by scratch and carry their own unique mechanisms and play mechanics. No additional "secret sauce" is needed, and in this case, I feel it gets in the way.

Wii do indeed have a problem, but the wrist-straps are the least of it. I've said it before, but I think we're seeing the very first inklings of a video game industry recession, after the demise of the PS3, the marginalizing of the Wii, and the attempted commoditization of games as the price for such goes up dramatically.

I remember hearing parents in toy stores speak about the old 16 bit consoles, being amazed that after your $250+ investment you still didn't even get a single game, and some of them simply shutting down to the idea of getting little Timmy a console at all after finding out that the little plastic 'tapes' were $50 a pop! Now it's a $600 investment with the tapes going for $60+ a pop. I thought things got cheaper as they got more mainstream?

[chinets]

For your Information: The cost here in the Middle East for the Wii is $666 for the console and all the gadgets that come in the box including the remote, stand and controllers and one game that came with the Nintendo Wii. 8O

[Brandon B]

Sony is allegedly losing about $200 per unit. So you'd have to make that much in profit back, not just revenue.

MS still has turned no profit whatsoever for the original XBox. And they are also losing money on the 360. It will be a while before either of these companies are in the black on these efforts. They are both in it for the "own the living room" factor at this point.

And I'd agree even the Wii is expensive. The cheap system is the PS2.

BB

[SteveCallas]

I don't think it matters one bit. Remember, the console guys are making money off every game sold, as much as $25! This is on top of hardware licensing fees as well, for everyone who makes peripherals, and of course up-front developer fees. So what if you lose $100 on your console? If the gamer buys three games and a couple controllers you're in the black.

Lol, but what if your console didn't launch with any must have games? If blue ray doesn't pick up next year, I think Sony is finished. They lost something like 98% profit this year. As they continue to sell PS3s into 2007 at a loss of $200 a piece without a killer app or an explosion of popularity in blue ray movies, the bleeding will just get worse and worse. I think we will see many of Sony's heavyweight movie studio backers slowly shift to HD DVD in 2007.

I've said it before, but I think we're seeing the very first inklings of a video game industry recession, after the demise of the PS3, the marginalizing of the Wii, and the attempted commoditization of games as the price for such goes up dramatically

Even though videogame related sales continue to increase year after year? I think once everything settles down, and Halo 3 comes out, the xbox 360 will cement it's place as the standard this generation for most gamers (resting on the shoulders of Live) with the wii being the side system.

[Lex]

Steve, 2 words. Backwards compatibility. With all those PSII and PSI games on people's shelves, that's one good reason to consider PS3 and to buy one. People see the software as the expensive portion of these systems, and people do not really like to throw stuff away. I sure hate it myself anyway. But we'll see. I think Sony is still the number 1 player in video games, and it will be a while before we know if they cement that position or slip to number 2. Just my non informed opinion.

Other than that, I think people been waiting on a new PS3 for a very long time. I always loved PS2, and I felt that system was tighter than I ever did Xbox 1, truly.

[birdman71]

Can I sue Wilson for repetitive stress from throwing a real football?

[SteveCallas]

Steve, 2 words. Backwards compatibility. With all those PSII and PSI games on people's shelves, that's one good reason to consider PS3 and to buy one

I haven't been following the PS3 super closely (my interest dropped off a bit), but aren't there some problems with the backwards compatability going on? I recall the xbox 360 having the exact same problem.

I always loved PS2, and I felt that system was tighter than I ever did Xbox 1, truly.

Oh I agree - take away Halo 1 & 2 and there aren't too many convincing reasons, in my opinion, to have gotten an xbox. PS2 had a really strong showing near the end wth MGS3, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, and RE4. Marvel vs Capcom 2 continues to be one of my favorites.

That said, with xbox live being as strong and organized as it already is, and with it almost becoming a mandatory addition to games nowadays, I think they have a very big advantage on their side. Online playing could have been handled a LOT worse - live is actually pretty well executed. Only time will tell though.

[Lex]

I'm not arguing the point, as I dont' have a Wii, didn't bust a TV. However, if you design a game that people are supposed to sling their arm like bowling, it is human nature to release the ball. The strap was manufactured, whether with intention of catching loose balls, I can't say, but it broke, and now Nintendo is reinforcing it. Manufacturers have a responsibility to make sure products work as intended. What you are talking about is a totally different thing Birdman. The fact is, if someone files a class action suite, and more than 1 person signs on, it won't matter if they were right or wrong, Nintendo is likely going to loose the case, as if it happens to many people, something must be wrong with the system, not the people-

[Lex]

Steve, that's probably very true about Live, I know it's been really popular and Sony may in fact not catch up. They are playing in the PC world now, ironically, Microsoft's ballgame. However, I heard the PS3 would run XP, and Xbox 360 won't, lol.

Me, when I play games, for the most part, I feel it's me against machine, but I'm old school, all you young guys set the stage with Live. I did play 1 live game before, PC based, combat, I loved the game, but I sucked at it and lockups were frustrating, as I Was horrible on keyboard. Maybe it would be great to do a live thing, but for me it's a time limitation too... We'll see.

[RobP]

Im going to make sure to duct tape the controller to the kids hands after seeing the damage they can do. 8O :lol: