Gamers gone wild: Wii goes flying

December 16th, 2006, 16:31 Posted By: wraggster

via cnn

Jaana Baker is no klutz -- note her second-degree black belt in tae kwon do. She's also an avid video gamer who puts out a Web-based comic called "Level 99" in her spare time.

So how did Baker end up launching the controller of her new Nintendo Wii (pronounced "we") right into her 37-inch TV? Like some other owners of the new game console and its motion-sensitive wireless remote, Baker took the freedom to move a little too literally.

A particularly spirited round of Wii bowling caused her to lose her bearings before unleashing what she had hoped would be a perfect strike.

"It was like a loud crack," she said, recalling the moment the "Wiimote" glanced off her coffee table, snapped its wrist strap and hurtled into her flat-screen TV. "It was kind of surreal, actually. I thought I was dreaming at first."

It appears that Baker is not alone. 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 general "calm down" to its customers a week ago, Nintendo Co. has responded by quietly beefing up the controller's fabric wrist strap, spokeswoman Beth Llewelyn said. (Full story)

And while most executives would cringe if their flagship product suddenly became associated with shattered electronics and the occasional flesh wound, some observers say the lighthearted buzz could deliver a perfect shot of viral marketing.

"What it says is, this thing is so fun that people get carried away," said Adrian Ho of the advertising agency Fallon Worldwide. "A progressive brand manager would look at that and say, 'You know what? Actually, that's pretty good.' "

Wii sales lead competitors
The offbeat stories certainly don't seem to have hurt sales. The market research company NPD Group estimates that U.S. consumers bought 476,000 Wiis in the two weeks following its November 17 launch. That beat Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console, which sold just under 200,000 units in roughly the same period amid widespread shortages.

Some analysts, like P.J. McNealy at American Technology Research, say the Wii isn't exactly a direct competitor with the PS3 because Nintendo purposely avoided getting into a war over which system has the hottest graphics.

Instead, Nintendo has focused on capturing customers outside the traditional niche of quick-fingered young males by playing up the Wii's ability to get people swinging their wireless controllers like swords, baseball bats or golf clubs.

That's why the missiles began flying. The Wii's popular sports games, included with the console, appear to be the main instigator of lost grips on the devices that look like TV remotes, Nintendo of America's Llewelyn said.

"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.

Takes a flaying, keeps on playing
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 to 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 be mending well.

Llewelyn said 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."

There are 0 comments - Join In and Discuss Here