"or just dry off your hands every once in a while, tubby."

I still can't understand how people don't control themselves I haven't even come near to dropping the wiimote let alone breaking my TV or killing my cat/grandmother

by the time I purchase a wii, which I say next 6 months, they will have it i'm sure, if not, I will make my own strap...or go to the store and buy more straps...they sell straps like that for cameras.....but who wants a black strap that says canon on it, when you can have a cool strap that say wii. hmmm?

How can you 'fix' something that wasn't broken to begin with?

'Yes, I can't seem to drive down the street without running into light poles and mailboxes on the sidewalk. Please 'fix' this so i won't run into them anymore. Thank You.'

Hmm, maybe incorporating a treble hook into the wrist strap will work.

I can't stand how this is being played off as a "Nintendo problem". While I think it's great that they're making a product change to address the problem, the problem is that people are idiots with no sense of accountability for their own actions.

didn't you know? the more wild and powerful you swing the remote the better you will play.

I ordered a couple replacement straps from NoA's website and got the newer, thicker cords. Not sure it will solve the "problem" because in the case of my remote strap breakage, the weak point was inside the little plastic deal where the wide part that goes around your wrist attaches to the thinner cord that attaches to the remote.

There's no way even the old strap would have broken except the fat sweaty idiot playing it at the time wasn't able to hold onto the thing with his big sausage fingers. He basically spiked it into a hardwood floor, remote still works like new but it dented the floor.

Straps cost $1 each plus shipping so I ordered a couple extras, not surprisingly haven't had any further problems after forbidding the aforementioned idiot from playing.

Maybe now we can stop talking about how bad it sucks to launch your Wii and get back to talking about how bad the Wii launch sucks.

I concur with scrag, people are morons. The part in this story I really like is that Nintendo has addressed the issue quickly with no real fuss unlike Apple who denies denies denies till finally they will release a fix or patch but in a shady manner. Good job Nintendo.

Also I should add that I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this has become some big deal as part of a slander campaign by Sony.

Good stunt kite string from a hobby shop would probably work better than anything.

Okay here is why this is a problem and it's really quite simple.

Most times these straps arn't already attached to the devices they go to. It takes a level of precision that costs a lot on an assembly line for them to be pre-insalled. Because of this most manufacturors choose to let the consumer attach them on their own. One of the side-effects of this is the inevitable fact that there will be many consumers who will neglect to attach the straps for whatever reasons.

Here Nintendo did not leave the straps to be attached by the consumer. For whatever reason they felt it neccisary to ensure that all remotes came assembled with a strap and thus no REASONABLE excuse not to use it. Much of Nintendo's safety instruction hinges on always remebering to wear the strap.

All of the previous behavior indicates that the strap is a safety measure to prevent inevitable slips of the Wii remote control. It was bound to happen to all ages, but as Nintendo is extremely familiar with marketing to young children, it would be foolhardy to suggest that Nintendo was not familiar with the characteristics of children which would lend them to swinging harder than required and the poor judgment that would lead to not insuring proper grip. (Note I did NOT say swinging like a gorilla on PCP, that is not my argument.)

All in all this seems to be more than adequet evidence to show that Nintendo knew that slipping remotes were going to be a factor in the life of this console. Thus they included and pre-assumbled strap. Unfortunetly they seemed to not have done an adequet job of product testing to determine the strength required from the strap incase of slippage. I find it extremely doubtful that there was a conscious choice to go with a strap with a breaking point that would only protect from perfect usage. People are not perfect and because of which safety measures are included in products such as these.

As far as product liability concerns go, intended use of the product is not important, it is the foresability of (reasonable)use. I doubt anyone could make a solid argument for the proposition that it was not absolutly foreseable AND inevitable that reasonable people would exert more force into the use of the controller than necissary, especially when a title like Wii Sports is the bundle game.

There are definitely "gorillas on PCP" out there whom this argument will not apply, but those few people can't be assumed without evidence to be the only ones who are causing failures.

I don't want a wii - sounds too... physical. I'll stick with WoW where barely a twitch of my finger is all I need to send my foe to the graveyard.

Be a sheep you sneaky rogue - didn't think I saw you there do you?

HA! Human Perception, Yo!

Frost nova, ice bolt, blink, frost nova, ice bolt, fire blast, cone of cold, arcane explosion, arcane explosion, arcane explosion, arcane explosion, frost nova, wand, I win

now I'm tired.

i get frustrated by people who think only idiots would let the remote slip out of their hands. i, personally, don't get sweaty palms. but i know two people that do, and they have both let the controller slip out of their hands. one of those times the strap broke, and one time it didn't. this is not entirely user fault. nor is it entirely manufaturer fault. but i do prefer to place most of the blame on nintendo. there had to be quality tests that determined breaking points, and they most likely made a sacrifice in strength, for lower costs. kudos for correcting the problem quickly.

i get frustrated by people who think only idiots would let the remote slip out of their hands. i, personally, don't get sweaty palms. but i know two people that do, and they have both let the controller slip out of their hands. one of those times the strap broke, and one time it didn't. this is not entirely user fault. nor is it entirely manufaturer fault. but i do tend to place most of the blame on nintendo. there had to be quality tests that determined breaking points, and they most likely made a sacrifice in strength, for lower costs. but kudos for correcting the problem quickly.

They should just take a page out of the original xbox controller and make the Wiimote hernia inducingly large.

I just bought some straps fro nintendo with my component cables and I got the new ones. So if you really want them order the fro Nintendo they're only $1, plus shipping.

"Also I should add that I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this has become some big deal as part of a slander campaign by Sony."

Oh, shut up and play your V-Smile and leave the theorizing to the adults, would you?

I'm really confused. I'm not into game consoles at all and don't much care about the Wii or playstation or whatever. Still, I admit to being fascinated by what the hell this remote thing is and what you people are doing with it that requires a strap and that could cause playing video games to be any sort of "safety issue". WTF? I'm going to launch 2142 Battlfield on my PC now and I'm 100% confident no one will (really) get hurt.

Icky2000, it's a controller that senses how you move, rather than how you frob buttons on it. To play tennis (as many of the broken straps have been caused by), you swing it as if it was the handle of a tennis racket.

As to the people who say 'don't swing so hard', there doesn't to me look like all that much of a choice. If you want the same effect, you have to swing the same way. You can't slowly wave a tennis racket and get a fast serve, or slowly swing a golf club and get anything other than a Three Stooges moment as the ball falls gently off the tee.

That being said, why did they not put finger ridges or traction rubber or something on this when it was designed?

StarChase Tyger: Thanks, I get it now. I also just found a clip of some girl boxing with the thing on YouTube. Hilarious. Your comments about "don't swing so hard" seem reasonable too. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if a person is going to be wildly flailing their arms about whilst grasping an object, that object might just occasionally go bye bye. That doesn't mean I won't mock anyone who kills grandma with it, I'm just sayin'.

Heh. And no need to not mock them. I find it hysterical that people have broken TVs with it, myself...

Too all who say "You have to swing it hard": You don't. It's actually not about how fast you swing, in most cases. Most games care a lot more about your timing and accuracy - swinging harder won't get you a better shot.

I regularly swing the Wiimote in circles around my wrist by the wrist strap, and it hasn't broken. But then, I am in Australia and we do, apparently, have the new wrist straps. I'm not sure if that means wrist straps in the boxed Wii as well, or just on new Wiimotes - both seem equally strong - but the strap is certainly sturdy enough to take such punishment, in any case.

So, screw the wrist strap thing. I don't care. I have yet to drop or fling the Wiimote by accident and I'm pretty sure I won't. What I do care about is that I've had my Wii for just seven days and have already changed the batteries in both Wiimotes three times. *That* is a serious issue.

Your right bub!I'm gonna get one!

Your right dude!