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U.S. Safety Commision 'Keeping an Eye' on the Wii

Posted by Zonk on from the watching-the-flying-wiimote dept.

In the wake of this past week's offer from Nintendo to replace our Wiimote straps, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says they'll be keeping an eye on the situation in the future. For the time being they are satisfied with Nintendo's handling of the problem. Just the same, Kotaku reports that the organization wants to make sure there aren't a lot of subsequent 'flying Wiimote' incidents. From the article: "Because Nintendo self-reported the issue, the commission will not do its own investigation unless new issues crop up with the new strap. 'If the problem continues with the new strap that's where we might step in," she said. "We also would have to decide if it's a safety issue.' Vallese added that that means that if remotes were, for instance, smashing into a television hard enough to cause the tube to explode or somehow stop working in a dangerous way, it could also be deemed a safety issue."

3 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Overboard by ejdmoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nintendo should never have put straps on in the first place. They should have just told people to not let go.

    On another note, Gizmodo has a bit on how strong the strap is...pretty strong if you ask me.

  2. Make GLOV ES and Ankle straps by AWhistler · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nintendo needs to rethink the Wiimote. While I think that it's just stupid for people to not use the straps (you wouldn't be able to throw the wiimote if you strapped it down), it seems that people are truly becoming immersed in the games, even the ones with inferior graphics, so much so that they start treating their moves like the real thing.

    I see a solution is to create Wiimote gloves to keep the controller on the body. And another idea is to create Wiimote ankle controllers. This way games can be created that monitor feet movement (dance, dance revolution kinda thing). Then a new genre can start using game consoles...exercise videos! Imagine it...Jane Fonda's workout video game that could monitor your movements, tell you what you're doing right and wrong, monitor your heart rate (sensor in the glove), estimate calorie burning, save the game and keep a history, and draw charts of the history.

    There are issues with the glove (how to remap all the buttons and the trigger), and it may take away from the tactile feel of holding something in your hand, but the safety issue would be solved. Well, except for people smashing into furniture.

  3. Re:Uh... what? by RyoShin · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Good point. The synopsis makes it sound like the Safety Council will be following the Wiimote strap very closely, as if it's some big concern. This quote, though, still make me wonder:

    Vallese added that that means that if remotes were, for instance, smashing into a television hard enough to cause the tube to explode or somehow stop working in a dangerous way, it could also be deemed a safety issue.
    Going back to my OP, how is that any different than someone throwing a TV remote at the screen in frusturation? That's probably not any more uncommon than these incidents with the Wiimote. The tube explosion is unintended in either case, though the reasons for throwing the device are quite different. I don't see the Safety Council leaning on remote manufacturers about this.