Nintendo exchanges Wii straps, recalls DS adapters

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co. Ltd. (7974.OS) said it would voluntarily exchange globally 3.2 million straps attached to the controllers of its Wii game console with stronger ones after some reports of broken straps.

Nintendo also said it would recall about 200,000 AC adapters for its hot-selling DS and DS Lite handheld game machines in Japan, because they may overheat and cause burns on rare occasions.

No injury is reported so far, the Kyoto-based game maker said on Friday.

The adapter recall is expected to cost between 100 million yen and 200 million yen ($848,600-$1.7 million), and it is yet to be decided how the cost will be divided between Nintendo and the supplier of the AC adapter, Nagano Japan Radio Co. Ltd. (6878.T).

The Wii, which competes with Sony Corp.'s (6758.T) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O) Xbox 360, features a motion-sensitive controller that allows players to control the game by swinging the device like a tennis racket or wielding it like a sword.

The exchange is expected to cost Nintendo several hundred million yen, the company said. Both the AC adapter recall and the strap exchange will probably have little effect on its earnings, the company added.

For the year to March 2007, Nintendo forecast operating profit of 145 billion yen on sales of 740 billion yen.

Prior to the announcement, shares in Nintendo closed up 3.6 percent at 29,420 yen, outperforming the Nikkei average (.N225), which gained 0.51 percent.

($1=117.84 Yen)