Tear

Sturm Truppen

I wouldn't recommend connecting the strap to the nunchuk through that little hook part, because putting it in and taking it out of that poorly designed clasp involves nicking or pulling the twine strap which could weaken it as well.

Just things to think about! This has to be my longest Kotaku post in 3 years.

PetiePal

The strap consists of 3 parts, the fabric-y strap part, and the thin twine-like part that you loop through itself to attach it to the controller, and the plastic bezel used to tighten the fabric loop. The twine material is the same exact thing I'm staring at right now, attached to my USB flash drive. It's not incredibly strong.

Now it looks like the issue isn't the strap being too weak. Proof? Every video we've seen involving Wiimotes flying out, have been of ridiculously exaggerated movements. There is no need for that much force. It comes down to simple wear and tear...if you use something the way it was intended it should last a considerable amount of time. If you ABuse something, ie using it in the manner it was not intended for, you will shorten its lifespan. We see this is the case with the Wiimote.

I think we can all agree that the remote is not meant to be used like you were Kournikova on meth. The manual for system, games, and on-line support all state gentle force should be usd. I'm sure Nintendo thought of the dangers of flying controllers breaking the speed of idiocy to pummel into things. How does this relate to the strap and its tensile strength?

When used properly, the strap does it's job. If you fasten that little sliding bezel it gives the strap more "grounding," (been a long time since i thought physics-wise, so if someone can explain this better and understands what I'm getting at go for it) and a larger tension area to distribute energy when it changes from potential to kinetic. Simply put, most of the force is exerted throughout the ENTIRE strap not just the little connector When worn properly. When it's not fastened properly you're basically treating the Wiimote like a bullwhip, a sharp acceleration following by an abrupt stop. All that force is exerted onto the little strap!

The safety strap was designed for 2 purposes, as I see it. You might just drop the controller in which case the strap works flawlessly. It's got nowhere to go but hang from your wrist! The other method is sweaty hands or losing grip of it during play. At this point the strap will save it....for a time. It's not meant to take the repeated beating its getting.

Granted if you're playing with the force Nintendo recommends, you won't send any Wiimote into a tv, window, PDA, wall or laptop. However if you play like a majority of these "get into it" players, and you repeatedly exert force onto that little strap, it's simple physics it won't last that long.

I don't really think this is Nintendo's fault, and it's isolated cases. If thousands of people were losing electronics due to this strap breaking it might be a larger scale proble, but this is just a small small percentage like the 360 system fails. If you're really worried about your strap breaking, either tone it down Wizard, reinforce your strap with something stronger, or replace it completely. After a quick Google search or two I've found a few straps that look more than capable of never breaking.

whew.../end argumentative essay

PetiePal

That said, I've never lost my Wiimote, even with the Niagara dripping from my hand. I DID put my hand up into my fan, but it was more a sting than anything. If people are so worried, replace it with something tough...why not a rubber cellphone strap, or strong cord? Anything it better than the little strip attaching the strap to the Wiimote.

PetiePal

Also, none of you have considered that even though the strap breaks, it still absorbs some of the force. I'm sure some of those TVs and LCDs with cracks in the glass would have holes through the screen without ANY strap. Straps will always break, Nintendo just considered what was a reasonable amount of force for it to take before the strap breaks.

I personally want to see a comparison of cell phone straps and how much abuse those take before they break... or even camera straps. I'm pretty sure the remote straps are just as tough as most of that size of strap out there.

vinnchan

JDavis

hegemonyhog

Knukleur

def PD

If you drive a car into your living room and/or entertainment system, was it the car's fault? Could you sue the manufacturer? "This here steering wheel is defective!"

The strap on the Wiimote is the same as the strap on your DS/DS Lite, optional. If you really need to use it, maybe you should get a helmet with a chin-strap to go along with it.

Asaurus

Sockatume

Dree

CALL MYTHBUSTERS!!!

I only see bad things in the future if retards...excuse me, Wiitards, continue to throw wiimotes. Just a matter of time until one of these brain trusts lets go of it and crowns a living person. Then they try to sue Ninty.

I say Ninty starts making super strong metal casings that go around your hands and controller to keep it in place. Or start making elastic or rubber straps so when you let go of it, the son of a bitch snaps back and cracks the moron in the forehead.

RagingTowers

A Wii is a games console. It's a complicated piece of electronics. Guess what happens when you're violent to it? That's right, things fucking break. If people are choosing to be complete fucking retards in the way they handle their console, that is their fault, NOT NINTENDO'S. The wrist strap is not there so you can swing the thing around like a mad ape. I've seen videos of wrist straps breaking, and the people in them have ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE.

As for those talking about kids being in danger, hey, if you teach your kid to act like a flailing idiot and throw shit around, maybe you have a problem (and then again, kids are always injuring themselves a tad and breaking stuff, so it's not like Nintendo making a reinforced iron wrist strap is going to ever prevent that).

I hope this whole "fad" going about the wrist strap quiets down, because otherwise I would seriously start to wonder what kind of pre-pubescent fucks keep bitching at a company due to their own stupidity.

Kosh

As for you Brian, sorry to hear you almost lost it because of the kids. Maybe you could show them the safety precautions :D

Major_Stitch

Rikka

Demaar

That's pretty easy to follow.

Gospel X

Oh, that is priceless.

"Nintendo has warnings in the manual, and in-game reminding people to wear the strap. If someone swings the Wiimote hard enough to break the strap, they are swinging it far too hard."

Yeah, but they have the warnings in there because they know that if they don't, the instant that someone does it (and you know someone will do it sooner or later), they get sued. That's why push-mower manuals will tell you not to pick it up and use it as a hedge-trimmer, and one chainsaw manual reportedly tells you not to rub it in your crotch. Never would have guessed that last one in a million years, but there you go. As a college friend of mine loved to say, consider how stupid the average person is. Now realize that fully half of the world is even more stupid than that. Scary thought, huh?

"I'm confused... what's the point of the wrist strap if not to "save" dropped Wii remotes? Why bother with it in the first place?"

It's more in line with a personal safety harness than with a surfboard tether. In the former case, it's for protection in case something goes horribly wrong. In the latter case, it's because you know you're going to lose your surfboard without it. Fling that Wiimote hard enough and the only thing that'll keep it from showing you its Superman impression is if you duct-taped it to your hand. Actually, gloves with the pockets to hold the controllers doesn't sound like a half-bad idea, though they'd need to be something that's safe to wash, cause leather would develop some serious funk after a few weeks of 10-12 hour gaming sessions.

The point is, the straps probably shouldn't be breaking this easily, but on the flip side they shouldn't be seeing this level of testing so soon after launch. The wrist-strap is not intended to be used as a means of whipping that Wiimote through a faster arc than you can pull off with your hand alone. And yet I have little enough faith in humanity to believe that at least one person out there has already tried this on purpose.

Purple Dave

...and one idiotic friend.

blickblocks

JDavis

Pyrrhus

Anyway, do I need to call them, or is there a link?

leshrac55

UltraMagnus

My point exactly!

EnigmaNemesis

What bullshit? This is just as bullshit as Sony being guilty for people slapping each other while playing with an EyeToy game.
Or Konami being guilty for people stepping on other peoples feet when playing DDR.

I'd say, at most, this is Nintendo being ignorant of the...well...ignorance of its new target audience.

Of course, I don't understand the reasoning they have for releasing such a weak strap in the first place. They would save a lot of face if their replacements were stronger.

Tcata

RiceBandit

I swing the thing around plenty hard, especially when playing head-to-head with someone (I love how "into it" you can get with this thing). But not _once_ have I so much as thought 'woah, I'm glad that didn't slip'. There's just no sense of it threatening to move at all. And I certainly don't squeeze it to death.

As has been said many times now, if someone does something that makes the remote fly out of their hand, let alone break through a freaking safety strap? I really don't know what to say. Maybe "thank you gaming community for proving that we really do deserve/need those obnoxious, repetitive safety warnings Nintendo has to plaster on everything these days"? Please no one complain about those again if you can't even play a game without chucking something through your TV. Nintendo tries to treat their audience with some respect and give them a fun, active controller, and you people act like children unable to control your body functions.

[/rant]

swarmster

denki

umrain

P.S.
Crecente, ur dum.

Blank

umrain

1.) The string is extremely flimsy, breaking with little force applied.

2.) The string is sturdy, you just need to stop flailing your arms like a retard, and hold onto the Wiimote.

MagicMan

Aitrus233

EnigmaNemesis

Aitrus233

"Reckless abandon of game play has resulted in the wrist strap breaking and causing critical hit damage to your electronics. This unintentional Wii-mote Hadoken (Wiidoken) has already claimed the lives of several TVs."

And what good joke about flying Wiimotes would be good with out the obligatory animated image.

http://www.hotbutteredfunk.com/jgm/wiidoken.gif

8bit_palette

...what the christ? Since when is the amount of fun you're having directly proportionate to the amount of sweat you produce?

Babylonian

How low can Nintendo go? Pretty low it seems.

K-OSS

Dark-Pen

Please, please stop this retarded campaign against the wii-mote strap. It's stupid, and quite honestly I doubt most people believe that the straps are too weak.

I don't believe most of the reports, and even if true, it just shows users' stupidity.

Even if true (a HUGE if), why do you need to make so many topics on this? What number is this? 4? 8? 15?

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP IT. It only makes you and your kid look dumber for having the problem, and you seem like a petulent child for harping on it.

LedRush

K

KevinQ

Maxamegalon2000

Out of the 15-odd people that have played Wii @ my house, not a single one of them, the youngest being a 6 year old girl, have ever let the remote go. not once.

I personally don't get it...its like folks are throwing th thing our something...I dunno.

-K

MrKai

Though, I could see this being a problem with young children. But full grown men flinging it into a white board and acting amazed at how such a thing could happen... get real.

robo2112

To save $3000 plasma televisions and innocent bystandards in the way of 90mph Wii motes getting lodged in their skulls!

moclippa

.... lol... so true! Glad im over that crack!

moclippa

Sockatume

I can't believe they actually had to print that in the manual. It's almost as bad as having a loading screen that reminds MMO players that they still need to go work and feed their kids.

solidefy

haha, thats great.

Also, my mentioning of the free replacement strap was based on one guy getting his strap replaced, so don't hold me to that statement.

aden.exe

You don't have to kill the invisible ball. Just a light swipe of the wrist will send it flying. That and hold on to the fucking remote!!

Now, on Nintendo's part. Just make the little strap that holds to the controller a little thicker. Then the morons who are throwing controllers will have nothing to bitch about.

RagingTowers

Sinner Chrono

t0yrobo

moclippa

I personally bought a couple of controller gloves which will be handy to have around when friends come over. Because I trust me more those idiots...

THOUGH... I wouldn't recommend smoking a cigarette while using the controller... even when its not impossible and you can take puffs between swings (baseball) I ended up throwing my cigarette across the room twice... fancy they should start making cigs with Wii straps for Wiidiots like myself!

moclippa

iwanttobeasleep

"Place sensor bar directly above nearest Nintendo(tm) competitor's product. "

M4gast0n

I've heard people voice concern about buying a Wii because they think that they'll break something in their house. That is incredibly ridiculous.

Trueneutral

In 9 days I shall find out whether these problems are real or just people being morons.

aden.exe

aestheticity