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Nintendo Slapped With Wiimote Strap Lawsuit Once Again
GameCyteSean writes "GameCyte is reporting that a new class-action lawsuit has challenged Nintendo's Wiimote straps once more. Interestingly, the suit was filed by the same lawyer who led the original 2006 attempt, and now argues that Nintendo hid records of broken TVs from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. From the article: 'This doesn't seem like a spurious accusation, either. Attached to the court filing (PDF) as a matter of public record is the very evidence Nintendo allegedly tried to hide: actual, internal Nintendo documents (PDF) where customer service reps received complaints of cracked televisions and broken Wiimote straps — and the corresponding Monthly Reports that Nintendo was compelled to file with the CPSC as part of their agreement.'"
Seriously, if you break your TV with a remote, its your fault.
Frankly, I've dropped my Wii remote a total of once, maybe twice. And I mean I let go of it while standing idle. None of my family was confused about whether they should throw the remote, and the only ones I've had to deal with were my godchildren who liked to swing the remotes while idle, and not let go while playing.
I don't find the remotes particularly difficult to grasp, and while I have replacement straps, I still have the originals on the remotes. As much as I feel bad for anyone who accidentally threw a remote through a window, lamp, or TV, I just have difficulty believing that somehow Nintendo is to blame for this, or that they should be liable.
One of our friends brought her boyfriend over the other day.. he'd heard of the Wii but never played it, so we fired up WiiSports for him. While playing "Tennis" I watched in amusement as he hit his hand into the wall, then my coffee table, then he tripped over the recliner, then he nearly hit his girlfriend in the head. While playing "Bowling" he hit *himself* in the head with the remote. I *could* have told him that such large movements are unnecessary but that would have took away his fun, and I wouldn't be able to laugh at him beating himself up. Some people just have problems with the whole augmented-sense-of-self thing.
How we know is more important than what we know.
A lawsuit @ Nintendo because someone (or rather, plural someones) was (were) dumb enough to toss a remote hard enough to crack a television set!?...
Seriously.
WTF?
Now, if'n y'all don't mind, I have to go sue the folks who make Red Bull now, since their cans weren't shaped in a way to prevent me from dropping it on the table and accidentally soaking my laptop while absorbing the sheer chutzpah of the ambulance-chaser's commentary in the referenced article.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
The wii allows you to play golf without being hit by other player's balls.
The wii allows you to box with a friend without fracturing his head.
The wii allows you to play baseball without being hit by the bat.
Seriously, even sleeping on a mattress is dangerous. 40% of people die while sleeping. How many while playing the wii?
Companies get sued because customers misuse and abuse the product to the point of breaking their own things carelessly.
I wonder what would have happen if Edison were to invent the lightbulb today:
1) The Association of Candle Manufacturers(ACM) and Gas Lamps Association(GLA) would jointly conduct a sit-in strike in front of Edison's home and plants.
2) The ACM would sue Edison for producing a product that's capable of killing someone. The OSHA conducts a raid on Edison's plant, followed by an FCC investigation.
3) The GLA lobbies congress for relief. Congresscritters DeLay and Pelosi go on record stating that Edison's electric light will result in the loss of jobs for 37,300 people directly while affecting the lives of 1.3 Million employers indirectly.
4) Edison approaches SCOTUS for relief. SCOTUS grants Edison relief stating that Progress cannot be stopped.
5) Rep Vern Buchanan and Sen. Ted Stevens together sponsor a resolution calling for a $1.3 billion bailout of the Candle Makers of USA.
5(a) The GLA sues the US Govt for excluding them from the bailout.
5(b) Hillary Clinton includes GLA into the bailout with a silent slip-in into a spending bill.
6) The FCC commissioner rules that Electricity is dangerous to health and that electric lamps are prone to be broken. Forces Edison to include HUGE warnings on each packet.
7) Edison sets up DC stations and powers Congress and Senate with electric lamps to show the congress the progress that can be made. he claims it can be always "Day" for congress.
8) Congress critters not used to working long hours, silently include a bill that forces states to individually certify that 10,000 volts of DC will not kill a man for Edison's lamps to be sold. 43 states refuse. Alaska's Palin approves Edison's lamps and charges oil companies with paying for same. Orders are sealed.
9) The children of GLA makers hold a massive rally in Washington demanding schooling and lunch relief.
10) Bush calls upon Congress to pass a law that outlaws Electric lamps under intense pressure from lobbyists.
11) Obama calls Bush a roadblock to progress and exhorts congress to reject such a law.
12) A GLA dealer in MN holds a BIG rally announcing providing free gas lamps for all who sign Edison is a public enemy.
13) Edison is sued in Alaska by 100 residents who claim that throwing the lamp on the floor caused them injuries. The case is taken up by FOX News and O'reilly states Edison is a pinhead.
14) Edison beats the lawsuit at tremendous cost.
15) AIG Refuses to extend insurance cover to Edison under pressure from congress.
16) Edison renounces US citizenship and migrates to China.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
No company should be held legally responsible for the commonsense of their customers. Nintendo really shouldn't have to tell their customers not to throw the _remote_ controller at the television. It's not like tennis players routinely go kill bystanders with their flying rackets.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
I see it too. Looks like a templating problem (it's where the article-posted times should be going).
Nintendo should make the wiimote's body out of cell foam (like the pool noodle toys) and recall all of the original wiimotes. It would probably be cheaper than all the lawsuits.
I've always loved reading through http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/ which is a collection of articles and photos of damage (personal or to TVs/Windows/tables/lights) while playing Wii.
You'd think. But then, it's morons like these folks that cause there to be stickers all over everyday objects telling us how and how not to use them.
I'm surprised we haven't seen any court cases by people who wiped their asses so hard the paper ripped and they got shit on their hands.
If we don't protect the freedom of speech how will we know who the assholes are?
I wonder if this scenario could have existed if Nintendo had decided not to include a strap on the remote in the first place.
Why the F is the parent modded "3, Insightful"? Congrats for identifying Yiddish, tho it's a shame your parent's had kids that lived. Hopefully nobody tries to put 6million of your relatives "in the gas chamber."
Seriously. Class action suites against ANY company (even microsoft) are horrible!! The person with the "broken tv set" ends up getting $0.02 while the lawyers end up making $2 million+. Attorneys end up looking for smoking guns to make quick bucks. One could argue that the attorneys are fighting for the rights of the people and helping to protect us from further harm. But if this was the honest truth then everyone who had a broken TV or files part of the lawsuit should get a new TV out of it instead of giving all the money to the attorneys and pennies to those who were wrongfully harmed.
As long as we're being ridiculous, maybe they should sue the TV manufacturers for making screens so fragile. They'll be forced to make LCD panels out of the same glass used in windshields.
Wii games seem to be played almost exclusively by little kids, old ladies, and drunk college guys who spent too much goddamn money on a giant ass fucking TV instead of paying student loans, and feel constantly entitled.
This is why WiiBeerPong (or whatever it's called now) was brilliant in its identification of a market niche.
You also don't need a lot of people to agree to fault Nintendo for a class action lawsuit. A lawyer just needs a couple of guys and the reasonable belief that he'll get paid, and he can stir up a lawsuit on behalf of everyone who broke something without their consent.
And then we can sue the makers of wall mounts that can't handle the weight. After that, builders.
I expect that the forthcoming discussion... will be far more meaningful than anything which might otherwise appear in this ill-placed and laughable YRO article.
All right, new /. rule: Whenever a story is sufficiently irrelevant, we pick a random historical event and discuss the hell out of it.
Everyone suing Nintendo should get one of these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdku9YhSCI
I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
I'm going to sue Rawlings for all those windows I broke.
My velcro shoes came undone and my safety helmet slid over my eyes and I had too much sugar that day and.... http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=mike+myers%2C+helmet%2C+SNL&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
Isn't the problem that these things slipped out of peoples' hands while they were using it as they were supposed to?
Maybe it's just because I finished up a torts class, but it's not a huge stretch of the imagination to anticipate wiimotes flying all over the place and breaking things.
And as stupid as tort law seems when someone say, throws a wiimote into a television screen and blames Nintendo, there's an easy precaution. Nintendo could have put some clear warnings along with the wiimotes, something like "be careful not to let these fly out of your hands and break the tv, window, mirrors, or your commemorative plate collection."
The two stupid assumptions cancel each other out in tort law. It's assumed that people pay attention to these ridiculously inclusive warnings, and it's assumed that a manufacturer is responsible when people slap themselves in the face with a product (if there weren't instructions not to.)
THAT is why you find things like labels on cans of peanuts that read: "warning: contains peanuts."
Nintendo is being sued because people are too stupid to hold on to a chunk of plastic? These people need to get a grip.
I am left wondering if there would be any lawsuits if Nintendo had decided not to include the strap in the first place. Imagine a Wiimote with no strap and clear instructions that you not let go when making motions. If somebody tried to sue, Nintendo could say that the customer was duly warned and either a) let go or b) waved too forcefully.
Instead, they included a strap just in case and see where that has got them...
Elrond, Duke of URL
"This is the most fun I've had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"-Sam&Max
As a society, we should really applaud the Wii as being a device that is capable of distinguishing who the morons are and hopefully we can pass a law to outlaw the same said people to not breed ever. Seriously I dont care if you are twelve or 90, if you don't understand the fact that if you throw something it will break things, IMO you dont deserve to breed.
You would think a person would be almost be too embarrassed to sue over this.
Everyone suing Nintendo should get one of these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdku9YhSCI
Holy crap! Is that for true?!
If we don't protect the freedom of speech how will we know who the assholes are?
That's why it's a class action. Safety in numbers.
Is Ballmer one of the plaintiffs in the class action suit?
Hey, you all knew it was coming.
"I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
If I can't pull myself clear of the ground on the bracket - be it for lighting, TVs or aerials (I mount up some pretty big aerials), then it's not strong enough. I haven't come across a plasma TV that weighs more than 100kg yet, although I don't doubt they exist.
Yes, it was even in an issue of MaximumPC a while ago as well.
To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password!
I was talking in terms of the GP post that mentioned replacing the plastic in an LCD with wind-shield strength safety glass. That would have to have some weight. But yeah, the brackets are usually pretty tough.
Sure a bad strap is worse than no strap at all. It's not that the people are trying to throw it, they are using the strap to hold it in their hand, leaving their fingers free to move more quickly on the buttons. That's what the strap is for. They are using it as designed, then the strap breaks, and it has a consequence that should have been foreseen by Nintendo.
If somebody were selling deep-fry units, and included handles on the side, but the handles occasionally broke off if the unit were lifted while full of hot grease, that would be far worse than including no handles at all, right? Putting them there implies that they can reasonably be expected to work.
Finally, there is the question of hiding complaints from the court in the first suit. Even if the suit were completely stupid, you can't just hide evidence. They should have known that.
I can see a new opportunity for a new peripheral. The WiiScreen! You place this plexiglass screen in front of the TV and no more busted TVs! Seriously, the real issue here is Nintendo and game programmers designed the games to be played in a manner that has resulted in accidents. Toning down the amount of movement needed by a game would be a solution, another might be a more ergonomically designed controller or rubberized grip, or using a steel cable not nylon to secure the controller better. These few simple modifications would add only a small additional cost to the manufacturing process in my estimation. In fact as much as they charge for them, they wouldn't need to change the price given how much profit they make on them.
You do realize that you can ALREADY play pretty much any Wii game sitting down and just moving your wrist a little? How much more toned down do you want it?
It's usually just much more fun to play them in a more active manner...
That may be but in videos they show people getting very active to hype the product making users think they must do the same. Not everyone who plays Wii is going to be a conservative sit down player.
Trample on it.. http://hackaday.com/2008/12/09/swiitboard-high-impact-wii-balance-board/
Oblig Bash.org reference
How much these guys must suck at masturbation. Can't even hold a package.
I record my sleeptalking
I wonder if the problem would have been lessened by giving the Wiimote some texture, a properly curved gripping surface, or rubber sides. Real remote controls tend to get that kind of treatment, and we don't even whip those around in the air [often].
Straight, flat, smooth, glossy plastic is a pretty bad way of designing something that's meant to be moved around a lot. But, hey, it looks really cool in promo shots, and looking cool is half of what sells stuff.
A lawsuit against Nintendo for a broken TV? What is next? A lawsuit against football manufacturers for broken windows? When I was a kid, I learned that toys can be used to break stuff. It is a valuable lesson.
When I got my Wii early on, I ordered the new straps. They arrived, I dutifully installed them, and in the spirit of scientific inquiry, I set about trying to break the old strap.
You know what? Those things are tough. I tried a bunch of different ways to snap it and failed. (I did not resort to scissors.) Anyone who's breaking that accidentally is doing something very, very wrong.
When the padded sleeves were released I got two of those as well, dutifully put them on, and after about half an hour of gaming remembered that I was allergic to silicone. Sleeve is removed now. I wonder if I could sue Nintendo for it.
Breaking Into the Industry - A development log about starting a game studio.
If I were Nintendo, I would settle and offer helmets, elbow pads and bibs to anyone who was part of the suit.
This is not the funny you're looking for.
...However, if they really have hidden evidence from the court, as they are accused of, then they should be punished for that.
Man, I can't wait for that testimonial...
"Your Honor, we do apologize, as we did try to hide evidence. We assumed the Wii was so easy to use, anyone could do it. Apparently, we we're wrong. Here is a list of those far too stupid to hold onto a plastic gaming device. Here is an example of the new version of the Wiimote. As you can see, it has the distinct shape of a beer bottle, which our research has shown..."
The people with the "broken tv set" shouldn't end up with $.02 they should get a helmet, elbow pads and a bib. Maybe some adult diapers too.
This is not the funny you're looking for.
The McDonald's lawsuit - as the a Geek tells the story - has all the elements of an urban legend. "Don't bother me with the facts, son. I'm on a roll here." You sell coffee in a cheap foam take-out cup at a temperature that can put someone in the hospital for weeks or months if it spills. There had been incidents before and you know the danger. That is why McD's lost the case.
I have two words to sum this case up - frivolous lawsuit.
I don't think I have heard of something so ridiculous to sue about.
People when you use the Wii you have to keep a hold of the remote/controller.
How hard is this to grasp? (sorry about the pun).
America has gone from rewarding the innovative and industrious to rewarding idiots. I suppose I should wait till the verdict...
The point of class actions is to tell companies to stop doing something harmful to the public in the only language they know how: money.
some messages brought to companies through lawsuits:
"don't sell cars that explode at the slightest touch" .. and many, many more.
"don't dump toxic waste on, near, or into waterways servicing residential land"
"make your QA better on safety equipment"
"don't put cameras in bathrooms"
"don't help the government spy on us without a warrant"
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
You're ignoring the circumstances of the situation. What's next, if you kill yourself in a car accident, it's your fault? Even if the seatbelt broke because it couldn't take the force of a crash? And it would have saved your life if it was engineered properly?
the facts, but just toss them aside...... etc
first thing its a game!!!
the strap is there for convenience its not a safety device. Its designed so you can dangle it on your wrist.
your previous examples are about life or death and in those situations yes I wouldn't expect them to fail.
I've had a Wii since the release date. My whole family has been playing Wii games since then and have NEVER hurled the WiiMote. I think the only way someone could accidentlly hurl the WiiMote is if substantial quantities of alcohol were involved.
[Insert pithy quote here]
Seems if anything at least Nintendo is going to get burned here:
Despite actual knowledge of hundreds of incidents involving broken televisions over time and subsequent to December 27, 2006, Defendant failed to report the existence of even a single "Incident" to the CPSC in its Monthly Reports to the CPSC. Defendant systematically and intentionally was untruthful in its representations to the CPSC, see Exhibit 8 attached hereto.
Chicken fried butter sticks? Do
If the strap had not been included then none of these lawsuits would even have a case, because the honous would be solely on *the player* to not be a moron and release the remote while playing the game. Because Nintendo provided the strap, they therefore imply that it is fit for it's purpose (to keep the remote from flying), and open themselves to lawsuits on failures.
They never should have included he straps. I hate the damn things anyway I removed them all almost right after I got the console.
So does this mean I can now sue all those irresponsible baseball manufacturers since their balls apparently malfunctioned and went through windows?
When will people start to take responsibility for their own actions?
God forgive me, I thought it said Wiimote strapon. Right there I was almost convinced to buy a Wii.
Life needs more saving throws.
No it wouldn't because we're not dumb enough to let go of the remote.
Hopefully nobody tries to put 6million of your relatives "in the gas chamber."
Hell, I've got karma to burn, NEWSFLASH millions of non jews also died in the gas chambers(Poles, Slavs, Gypsies, German communists, anybody the nazis didn't like).
I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
Please don't generalize, eh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy
Warning on my extension ladder with 'Non-Slip Feet'.
WARNING: Do not stand ladder in cow manure"
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
I'm surprised we haven't seen any court cases by people who wiped their asses so hard the paper ripped and they got shit on their hands.
Why didn't I think of this before? My smelly hands will have vengeance!
Problem exists between Wiimote and TV.
It's the person's fault.
A week after I got my Wii in 2006 I was playing red steel and performed a sword maneuver that includes raising both wiimotes and slashes downward. On the upswing the cord flipped behind my head and caused the cord to become taught, pulling the nunchuk out of my hand. The continued downward motion pulled the cord across the back of my neck and launching the nunchuk at my face. The impact was so hard that I had impacted cuts on the side of my nose and on my cheek.
I'm not suing because I recognize I'm the stupid idiot that used the device wrong.
This is in the same vein as the people who are too stupid to hold onto the wii mote properly or were doing stupid things that caused their straps to fray and become stressed (I'm still using the original weaker straps and they're fine).
People need to take responsibility for their own stupidity.
But if tennis players did, then perhaps I might actually watch it.
No, the strap is needed.
The primary reasons my family bought a Wii is that Nintendo has the largest selection of games for kids under 13.
Since I have two young children. Their smaller hand, play focus, developing coordination all mean that controller will be leaving there hands involuntarily. It's just going to happen.
So yes, it DOES need a strap. Should I sue if the throw the thing at my TV? no, assuming there isn't a fault with the strap or controller. I have yet to see any issue with that, and I ahve seen by kids loose control of the remote. Since they had the strap on properly, there was no issue. except they got upset when it cost them the game.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If you are serving coffee that hot, you are a poor host.
You don't serve coffee at 198 degrees. That's not 'Hot' that's dangerously hot.
She did not get 'millions', she got an undisclosed amount under 500K. Probably well under 500K. She want to sue for hospital expenses. The Jury awarded 7 million, but like all lawsuits, it was appeal several times.
you think 180 degrees is drinkable immediatly? Either you haven't thought about this at all, or you have a callus for a tongue.
FYI You can ask for hotter coffee in most places.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Nintendo recognizes that some people can loose control of the controller
Nintendo designs a strap with a flaw in it.
They are aware of said flaw.
They choose to cover up the flaw
Flaw causes someone to break their TV.
Nintendo seem to be responsible for knowingly shjipping a defective device.
to people that say 'what kind of moron let's the controller slip from there hands', I congratulate you on your perfect 20 Dex.
I would like to remind you that young children with less then perfect Dex and limited life experience will loose control of the controller.
As will some people enjoying them selves at a part.
Yes, they should not have to tell people not to throw the remote.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Which is why I think no Attorney should get more the 15% or 1 share, whichever is less.
Pretty much fix things right there.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Americans are so sue happy. Is this only a problem in the US or is it also in Japan? Perhaps Nintendo will come out with an amazing VR game machine, but not sell it in the US for fear of being sued somehow. Makes me sick. So sick, that I blame U.S. Court system for allowing this sort of nonsense. Perhaps they need to be sued for my outrage that has lead to depression and makes it so I can't work for a living anymore. What's the deal with every gaming company being sued?!
I have a number of friends who are lawyers, and through them I have gained an appreciation for the law. Law suits are a tricky thing, who pre-judges the suit's validity or merit before it goes to court?
You can't have a lesser authority as gate keeper because that just creates an expensive layer of bureaucracy. It would only allow well funded people through the system while over burdening poorer people.
So, the only fair way to judge a suit on merit is in court, any other way is just makes the situation worse.
The system is not perfect, any system devised and operated by humans is imperfect. How do you fix it without harming the people the system is intended to protect?
Seriously, the United States is quickly becoming a nation where nobody is required to take responsibility for anything they do.
How can someone honestly say that it wasn't their fault they threw their controller and broke a T.V.?
Thank you for this piece of sanity.
Whenever this comes up, we have people who first say "Who doesn't know that coffee is hot and you should be careful with it?" and then say "But that's how hot coffee is supposed to be!" with links to Wikipedia or other sources indicating that coffee should indeed be brewed at temperatures similar to what McDonalds was serving their coffee at.
For the first, there's a big difference between "Everyone knows coffee is hot" and "Everyone knows acetylene torches are hot". I don't know anyone who treats coffee with a level of care proportional to the degree of injuries caused by this coffee. You wouldn't walk around your office casually holding a lit acetylene torch in one hand while you carry your laptop or shake hands with coworkers with the other, and you wouldn't expect that if you did accidentally spill your coffee on yourself that you'd be in the hospital for a week getting skin grafts. That's not in anyone's expectation. I don't think most people even associate 2nd degree burns with hot coffee, much less 3rd.
And for the second, as you stated, and is so obvious, there's a big difference between brewing and serving. You don't stick your mouth directly under the drip, because you know you'd get burned. Because it's too hot, indeed dangerous, to drink.
The enemies of Democracy are