Opinion: Nintendo Wii’s excitement problem

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A Colorado woman has taken it upon herself to save televisions –- and other personal property –- from the destructive power of a video game system: the Nintendo Wii.

The popular game console has not only flown off the shelves since its 2006 release, its controllers have apparently flown into televisions, walls and more.

Molly Elvig, of Littleton, Colo., filed a class-action lawsuit in federal district court this month against Nintendo of America alleging troubles with the controller’s wrist straps. The 0.6-millimeter straps were too thin and ineffective, the suit claims. Wii’s manufacturer also ignored complaints about the strap and failed to fully report them to federal safety regulators, according to the filing.

Elvig’s 11-year old son was playing with the Wii in December 2006 when the strap snapped and the controller flew into the family’s 52-inch flat screen TV and broke it, the filing said.

The Wii has been wildly successful, and its lively approach to game play has ushered in a new wave of interactivity. The console allows gamers to move a controller to mimic real-life motions. For example, a boxing game has players flicking the controller as if they were throwing real punches.

Despite Nintendo’s efforts to change the strap, the complaint says, the company has received at least 500 reports of broken straps and property damage (and at least two strap-related lawsuits). The overwhelming victim: shattered flat screen TVs. The poor things!

By attempting to hide the strap failures, Elvig contends in the complaint, Nintendo enabled minors -- “a large number of Wii gamers” -- to use a console that would result in “serious property damage.” And by ‘serious property damage,’ we’re not talking about the kind caused by reckless use of crayons. It’s more akin to wanton tossing of baseballs in the living room.

Nintendo has acknowledged possible problems with its Wii straps in 2006 and offered free replacements. The numbers of broken wrist straps were “a very, very small percentage,” Nintendo said two years ago. Since then, the company has changed the straps a second time. And now it includes a silicone sleeve with the controller to help improve the grip.

According to Nintendo, the original problem was “very exuberant’ game play. ‘People are really getting into the game and letting go of the controller,’ spokeswoman Beth Llewelyn told Times in 2006.

Would parents be equally justified in blaming yo-yo strings that snapped and sent hard plastic spheres hurtling into Tiffany lamps? How about baseball bats flying errantly out of hitters’ hands because the manufacturer’s grip tape wasn’t strong? Where does the blame end?

Sure, there is a history of defective toys, but Nintendo isn’t accused of using lead paint in its toys like Elmo and Dora the Explorer dolls were last summer. This isn’t last year’s recall of 7.3 million Polly Pocket play sets that contained small magnets that could cause internal damage if swallowed by children. If Wii gamers are using excessive force to play, the blame is on them. Or on their sweaty hands that couldn’t hold on to the controller, which appears to be the case.

Wii’s don’t kill TVs, people do. Children in particular.

AP photo