Wii Mishaps Lead to Busted TVs, Injuries

Alex Pantos tries her hand at boxing on the Nintendo Wii gaming system at a media event in Toronto, in this Nov. 14, 2006, file photo. In recent weeks, the Web has been alight with reports of excited gamers losing their grip on the Wii's controller or smacking their arms into nearby objects. After issuing a warning to its customers in December, Nintendo Co. has responded by quietly beefing up the controller's fabric wrist strap, spokeswoman Beth Llewelyn said. (AP Photo/CP, Aaron Harris) (Aaron Harris - AP)

"It's kind of this novel way to play, and I think people are just figuring that out and may have gotten a little overexcited when they were playing," Llewelyn said.

That's what happened to Jessica Chobot, a writer at gaming Web site IGN.com, who sprained and cut a finger on her right hand while trying rally for a comeback victory in Wii baseball.

In the excitement of trying to put a little something extra on her fastball, Chobot said, she got a little too close to her thick wooden coffee table.

"You obviously don't need to go through all the motions, but I did because I was frustrated, and smashed my hand along with the Wii controller right into the table as hard as I possibly could," she said.

The impact sent a few Wii parts flying, but the remote lived up to Nintendo's reputation for durable hardware and quickly snapped back together.

"The controller still works, and that's the important thing," Chobot said, adding that her finger seems to mending well.

Llewelyn insists Nintendo has only verified a few scattered instances of Wii remotes flying because of faulty wrist straps.

"Because of the nature of the Internet, of course, it gets magnified so one or two occurrences becomes 2,200 experiences," said Billy Pidgeon, an analyst at IDC.

But the company might take heart that gamers seem to be blaming each others' klutziness more than they're criticizing Nintendo's design.

"On one hand, obviously we love that people are talking about our system. But we prefer when it's talking about the great game play experience," Llewelyn said. "Fortunately, I think that's what everybody is really talking about."

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On the Net:

Nintendo: http://www.nintendo.com

Baker's blog: http://www.level99comic.com/index.php?itemid266

Chobot's blog: http://blogs.ign.com/Jess-IGN/2006/12/11/39855/

Wii Have a Problem: http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com

Wii Damage: http://www.wiidamage.com