Wii Recall in the UK *Updated* Now with a class action lawsuit filed in the US

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

To be pedantic, yes! In breaking, the helmet absorbs the impact energy, protecting the head

Well, pedantically correct, but you expect it to do it's job as designed, rather than to fail to do so and transmit the breakage direct to your skull. I've done a ninja-edit to fix it for you pendants.

 

[superNoid]

Nintendo screwed up. <--- period

I laugh at those who try to find a defense for Nintendo. You don't design a system that is based around swinging your arms around then put a falty wrist strap on it.

Shame on Nintendo, atleast they're recalling them.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I laugh at those who try to find a defense for Nintendo. You don't design a system that is based around swinging your arms around then put a falty wrist strap on it.

I doubt they deliberately put a faulty wrist strap on. Chances are it's a defect, like Sony' exploding batteries. Again, humans aren't perfect, and the things they create aren't perfect. There's good chance some straps are weaker than others.

Shame on Nintendo, atleast they're recalling them.

They're not recalling them. They're offering an optional replacement.

 

[Pete]

Either we're seeing defectively weak or brittle straps, or superhumanly strong gamers. Obviously Nintendo needs bigger, stronger, faster QA testers.

 

[ninzel]

It just means there are bigger idiots than nintendo first thought there would be. What if people manage to break the new strap (wich im sure will happen), does nintendo need to suppy iron chains to the controller? and what if they manage to break those chains? is that nintendo's fault or is it just a couple of idiot that try to break it on purpose (and call it a accident afterwards)?

People who havent actually tried to break the strap themselves can talk all they want. It looks thin,but as soon as they actually put one in their own hands and try and break it for themselves, they won't get how bogus this whole thing is.

 

[ninzel]

Either we're seeing defectively weak or brittle straps, or superhumanly strong gamers. Obviously Nintendo needs bigger, stronger, faster QA testers.

I'm sure they tested the hell out of them, the straps are friggin strong. What they underestimated was the low class nature of some people.

 

[Pete]

Well, look, I can't figure out how string would snap under the force of a rogue Wiimote, either, considering how light it looks and how little slack is in the strap, but it's clearly happening to some people. It's hard to believe they can swing the controller hard enough to snap even that string, but I can buy some strings maybe being defective. I'd like to know how many ppl have signed on with the (frankly laughable) class action suit, considering there are only 31 examples at Wiihaveaproblem, and you have to think the vast majority of ppl buying a console aren't exactly Internet-challenged.

Once again, though, despite the thread title, this doesn't seem to be a recall, but an optional replacement. I don't think Nintendo is actively contacting owners to replace their straps, and I'm still surprised the strap can break under conceivable Wiimote, um, launch conditions. Interesting that they all seem to break slightly off-center, maybe where the strap is rubbing against itself.

As for letting go of the Wiimote, it doesn't seem entirely ridiculous. When you bowl or pitch, you release during the motion, unlike when you swing a bat or racket. I can buy someone unwittingly letting go. I just can't understand how you can bowl so violently to break even a tiny string.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

The problem I have with you is that you class anyone who has an accident with Wii as being an idiot

I dont mean to call them idiots, just their actions. Like if you poke yourself in the eye with a fork. Your a idiot for doing that but that doesnt mean your an idiot besides that.

The alternative is saying that nothing will ever go wrong, accidents will never happen, and if they do happen, screw the users, it's their own fault.

Ofcourse accidents will happen. But in this case I think nintendo did enough. The point is that you will always have people seeking just how far they can really go and accidents are bound to happen because those people are trying to push beyond what the product was designed for. I got my friends and family play with my wii (hehe) and non of them had any problems and they did about any type of move with it. I dont think you can call something a design error if only 50 people on a 1,5million userbase have any problems.

Why should the Wii be any different if it's also at fault? Why shouldn't Nintendo improve on what is obviously a flawed safety design?

Lol. Well you can make any design safety flawed if you try hard enough.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I dont mean to call them idiots, just their actions. Like if you poke yourself in the eye with a fork. Your a idiot for doing that but that doesnt mean your an idiot besides that.

But their actions appear to be playing the game as intended. The reports aren't of people attaching the Wii to a 20,000 RPM motor and then the strap breaking . It's people bowling a ball and serving in tennis, and the strap breaks. They're using the Wiimote as intended. If they are exceeding the safety margins for the strap, there's two solutions. One is say to the gamers 'don't get so involved in the game and don't be so enthusiastic with your movements' and the other is provide a stronger strap that'll withstand any force exerted on it when used as intended for playing games.

Ofcourse accidents will happen. But in this case I think nintendo did enough. The point is that you will always have people seeking just how far they can really go and accidents are bound to happen because those people are trying to push beyond what the product was designed for.

Yep, it's true you get people pushing things beyond limits, and because people can profit from suing companies, seeking blame has become fahionable. However, in these cases what are people doing wrong? How are they bowling too hard, or playing tennis too hard, especially when Nintendo have no details on how hard they are supposed to swing their arm? And how could you even measure how hard to swing your arm? Imagine a football that you can't kick above a certain force without it exploding. That'd be no good for intended purposes. You can't say to people caught up in the excitement of a football match 'don't kick the ball too hard, and you have no way of measuring how hard anyway.' In those cases with physical activity, the apparatus is designed to survive beyond the limits of human activity. If the most a person can kick a ball is 300 Newtons, make the ball able to survive 400 N and you know it'll survive all use. If the Wiimote can be determined to experience at most 300 N of centrifugal force, provide a strap that can withstand 400 N, rather than one that can only withstand 250 N. This is common practice in designing products. The physical limits are set way beyond what's likely to play it safe.

I got my friends and family play with my wii (hehe) and non of them had any problems and they did about any type of move with it. I dont think you can call something a design error if only 50 people on a 1,5million userbase have any problems.

Again, it's not a design error. The design is right. It a faulty safety measure that's the problem, which is likely, IMO, a manufacturing fault with the straps. 50 in 1.5 million is certainly in the realm of freak and unforseen faults with the straps. That might be a fault rate in all straps, those on cameras and other portables for example, but because they're not being swung around, no-one notices. If the strap is a rare faulty one, and the Wiimote is used as intended, and the strap breaks and crashes a TV, I would say Nintendo are accountable, though not in the way that people expect buckets of compensation! And all Nintendo need do to prevent similar accidents in future is put in a thicker strap. And if it's rare faulty straps that are the issue, users at home saying they can't break their straps isn't going to be reliable proof of robustness. If the failure rate is 1:10000, you'd have to test 10000+ straps to find one that does break. That's too much for an individual, but with 10,000 users all testing their straps in playing Wii, any failure rate would be found.

 

[Rainbow Man]

The problem I have with you is that you class anyone who has an accident with Wii as being an idiot

Nobody is an idiot for having an accident with a wiimote. Accidents happen.

One is only an idiot if they blame anyone else but themselves for having that accident. Tihs souns like a bad anecdote but I actually tipped over a full cup of tea into my keyboard once by spinning around in my chair too fast. The keyboard was ruined of course. Nobody else to blame buy myself, not the maker of th4e chair for spinning too easily, the tea for being wet, or the keyboard for not being waterproof.

If you fling an object into something or someone else then it's your fault. same as if you cross the middle line of the road with your car and crash head-on into an oncoming vehicle. End of story.

Whether you think a strap is needed or not, Nintendo decided one was needed. Nintendo felt a security strap was necessary for the people they expect to use their console. The issue here isn't whether one is needed or not. The issue is whether the one Nintendo provide is up to the job.

Just because nintendo sends along a strap with the mote doesn't mean they assume full, total and complete resposnibility for every action the users od said strap may put it through. If you break something YOU broke it. Don't go crying to nintendo over it..


Peace.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If you fling an object into something or someone else then it's your fault. same as if you cross the middle line of the road with your car and crash head-on into an oncoming vehicle.

Crossing into another car is your fault for not looking where your going. Flinging the Wiimote is what you're supposed to do with it though! If a company sells a product you're supposed to throw around, and advertises it as something to throw around, and you throw it around...and a part of the product breaks and the result is damage, how is that not the company's fault?

There seem to be a lot of arguments about responsibility that refer to people misusing products. You seem to forget the accidents here are from using the product as designed and advertised and intended. If you spill coffee on your keyboard and ruin it, that's your fault. If you type on the keyboard and get an electric shock, because you pressed the G key 3% harder than usual and the keyboard is so designed that above a certain pressure, you get an electric shock, that's the keyboard manufacturer's fault.

Just because nintendo sends along a strap with the mote doesn't mean they assume full, total and complete resposnibility for every action the users od said strap may put it through. If you break something YOU broke it. Don't go crying to nintendo over it..

Wrong. In legal terms it's called 'fitness for purpose.' You can't sell a defective product, in that the product you sell has to be up the job it is to fulfill. Eg. If you make a drill bit that shatters with a small amount of force applied and that sends shrapnel into the air, it's your fault for creating a drill-bit not fit for purpose, rather than the users fault for applying more pressure than your drill-bit can cope with. Drill-bits have to withstand the forces of use. Likewise if you create a controller that's intended to be thrown around, it has to be able to be used that way safely. If it comes with a strap to prevent accidents, that strap has to be able to withstand the forces it'll be likely to experience.

This isn't about people misusing a product, like people microwaving cats. It's not about people accidently breaking their product by knocking it in some way it wasn't designed to take. It's about people using the product as advertised, and the product has a physical breakage resulting in damaged TVs and black eyes.

 

[ninzel]

I don' think people are idiots for having accidents with the Wiimote,but they are scumbag idiots for purposely breaking the strap to make it look like it was Nintendos fault after they fuck up. You can have an accident with anything ,does that mean everyone who makes anything that can slip from your hand is liable?BS. I guess all the baseball bat,tennis raquet,squash raquet etc.makers should be sued.Ya right give us a break. Why don't we just make everything in nerf from now on because some a-hole wants a new TV.

Edit: In fact it should be interesting to see if there is any precdents for people having flung their raquets while playng sports and succesfully suing and winning. And if you support that, I'm sorry but your a tool.

 

[iNoV]

Crossing into another car is your fault for not looking where your going. Flinging the Wiimote is what you're supposed to do with it though! If a company sells a product you're supposed to throw around, and advertises it as something to throw around, and you throw it around...and a part of the product breaks and the result is damage, how is that not the company's fault?

There seem to be a lot of arguments about responsibility that refer to people misusing products. You seem to forget the accidents here are from using the product as designed and advertised and intended. If you spill coffee on your keyboard and ruin it, that's your fault. If you type on the keyboard and get an electric shock, because you pressed the G key 3% harder than usual and the keyboard is so designed that above a certain pressure, you get an electric shock, that's the keyboard manufacturer's fault.

Wrong. In legal terms it's called 'fitness for purpose.' You can't sell a defective product, in that the product you sell has to be up the job it is to fulfill. Eg. If you make a drill bit that shatters with a small amount of force applied and that sends shrapnel into the air, it's your fault for creating a drill-bit not fit for purpose, rather than the users fault for applying more pressure than your drill-bit can cope with. Drill-bits have to withstand the forces of use. Likewise if you create a controller that's intended to be thrown around, it has to be able to be used that way safely. If it comes with a strap to prevent accidents, that strap has to be able to withstand the forces it'll be likely to experience.

This isn't about people misusing a product, like people microwaving cats. It's not about people accidently breaking their product by knocking it in some way it wasn't designed to take. It's about people using the product as advertised, and the product has a physical breakage resulting in damaged TVs and black eyes.

I dont get what your arguing, Its not designed to be flung, I mean assuming that the strap isnt compromised, but during play it has enough force to both snap the string, fly across the room AND damage property, can you really argue that the player was using it as designed?? For what it's worth those kinds of motions are way above the limit of what the games would detect anyway

 

[swaaye]

I think Nintendo overestimated the level of maturity and intelligence of some of its userbase. I can totally see kids (including college "adults") doing the stupid things you'll see in the various Wii damage vids out there. They shoulda built the Wiimotes like a Toughbook lol. Even then I bet there would be problems like this from all the moronic jackasses populating our world.

I have a hard time imagining the force I would need to exert to snap that strap. It's ridiculous. But, on the other hand, if you go out to a tennis or badminton court, you'll occasionally see people whipping the rackets at stupid speeds too.

With people: if it can happen, it will happen.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Flinging the Wiimote is what you're supposed to do with it though

Yes flinging it, not letting it loose.

 

[Rainbow Man]

Crossing into another car is your fault for not looking where your going. Flinging the Wiimote is what you're supposed to do with it though!

Where does it say in the manual you're supposed to fling it?

I quote from my manual: "Do not swing the remote more than neccessary."

If you fling the remote, and the wrist strap breaks and the thing still has force enough to fly 6-9 feet throgh the air and smash your front orojection TV, then I think you swung it more than neccessary. Stop trying to shivt the blame where it does not belong, people are responsible for their own actions.

If you honestly think that "I got excited playing their game and let go with my grip. They should pay for a new [item you broke yourself], your Honor" argument is a valid one to say to the judge in a lawsuit, well.. I don't know waht to say really. It boggles the mind. Are you fit to keep in furnished rooms or do you need handcuffs and a muzzle in the company of others? Just kidding, hehe.

If a company sells a product you're supposed to throw around, and advertises it as something to throw around, and you throw it around...and a part of the product breaks and the result is damage, how is that not the company's fault?

It's not advertised as being thrown around. at least in every nintendo video I've ever seen people have actually been holding on to the motes unlike those who broke their windows or TVs etc.

User error is never covered by company responsibility, including subjecting the item for more force than it's designed for or not using it as instructed.

If you buy a mountainbike and you compete in a downhill race and the fork bends from hitting a rock and you go flying over the handlebar and knock out uyor front teeth, it's not the company's fault fro not making the fork strong enough even though it's a mountainbike and you see pics and maybe even videos of people racing downhill on the company website. It's your fault for being a dumbass who overestimated his own skill.

If you uy a skateboard and jump around with it until it snaps across the middle and you fall and crack your kneecap (something that WILL happen due to material fatigue), your first conclusion is sue the manufacturer because the board did not perform as advertised?

You seem to forget the accidents here are from using the product as designed and advertised and intended.

It's not using it as intended if you A, swing it with brutal force and B, not hold on to it while swinging.

Wrong. In legal terms it's called 'fitness for purpose.' You can't sell a defective product, in that the product you sell has to be up the job it is to fulfill. Eg. If you make a drill bit that shatters with a small amount of force applied and that sends shrapnel into the air

Perhaps. however this is a case of you drilling concrete with a wood bit and then blaming the manufacturer for the damn thing breaking.

Misuse is not the manufacturer's fault. I know it's all the en vougue thing in america to sue companies whose products aren't idiot proof but logically and morally it's still not their fault. This si still the old microwaving-the-cat situation.

just as a casual experiment I tested flinging my wiimote around a bit by letting go on purpose and even tugged fairly hard at the strap. No surprise here it didn't break. It's obviously not something that's going to happen just by itself first time the damn thing slips out of someone's grip.


Peace.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

By 'thrown around' and 'fling' I didn't mean deliberately let go. Of course the player is supposed to keep hold. But when they do inadvertantly release the Wiimote while using it as intended, it flies out at speed, wherein the provided wrist-strap is supposed to catch it without breaking.

For those that don't use the strap, or act in over the top fashion like spinning around, swinging their arm at top speed while only holding the strap, if it breaks it's their fault. In all these reports, there's a case-by-case need to determine how the Wiimote was being used - which isn't practical. For PR sakes Nintendo will obviously want to cover all the bases. It's unknown how many accidents are caused by straps breaking in normal use versus idiotic misuse. Offering a thicker strap elliminates the former, so any other reports we can put down to being morons.

For me, Nintendo have done everything right, assuming the strap is breaking by defects. They recognised the potential for accidents in general use, they provided a solution, and where the solution has been shown to not work ideally, they've offered a fix. All this fuss over it is silly IMO. It's not a killer death product. Neither are the people having accidents all morons smashing their TV and then shifting the blame to Nintendo. The human capacity for conspiracy stories never ceases to amaze me! This is just another of those launch stories, like dead pixels on DS and bubbles in PSP screens, that gets totally overblown.

 

[Teasy]

Yeah, 'cos no one ever loses grip on a racket or club. It's amazing sportsmen ever bother with those grips and wraps. Maybe they should put some grippy stuff on the controller instead of making in shiny, slick plastic, 'cos that's not going to make your hands sweaty or anything is it?

Ah right so if a person playing Tennis in real life accidentally lets go of the racket, which hits someone causing brain damage, they are then within there rights to sue the racket manufacturer?

2. You don't use clubs, rackets, etc indoors in front of your $2000+ flatscreen TV, so the consequences of losing your grip on a Wii controller can be significantly more expensive than losing your grip on a racket on a tennis or squash court.

Sorry but what sort of argument is that? A racket manufacturer isn't responsible for user error because there isn't much to damage on a Tennis court. But Nintendo are responsible for user error because you have the potential to damage a TV if you make a mistake and let go of it? Responsibility doesn't change depending on how likely it is that damage will be caused to an expensive item..

At the end of the day Nintendo are not responsible for people's mistakes, the fact that they included a strap at all to attempt to make the device idiot proof should be commended. It certainly does not make then responsible for every nutter who lets go of there controller while swinging it at 100mph

 

[Readykilowatt]

Accidents do happen. Knives are made for cutting, but if you accidentally cut yourself with one, you are responsible for your injury, not the manufacturer of the knife.