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Nintendo taken to court over dodgy straps
Author: Ryan GarsidePublished: 20th December 2006
The Nintendo Wii has been a worldwide succeed despite the dangers involved when playing it.
That ploy, however, appears to be faltering, with Kotaku reporting that Green Welling LLP has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the owners of the Nintendo Wii. Taken from Kotaku:
Green Welling LLP filed a nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of the owners of the Nintendo Wii against Nintendo of America, Inc., in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The class action lawsuit arose as result of the defective nature of the Nintendo Wii. In particular, the Nintendo Wii game console includes a remote and a wrist strap for the remote. Owners of the Nintendo Wii reported that when they used the Nintendo remote and wrist strap, as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console, the wrist strap broke and caused the remote to leave the user's hand. Nintendo's failure to include a remote that is free from defects is in breach of Nintendo's own product warranty.
The class action lawsuit seeks to enjoin Nintendo from continuing its unfair or deceptive business practices as it relates to the Nintendo Wii.The lawsuit also seeks an injunction that requires Nintendo to correct the defect in the Wii remote and to provide a refund to the purchaser or to replace the defective Wii remote with a Wii remote that functions as it is warranted and intended.
My gut feeling is that Nintendo could be in a bit of trouble if the case goes to court, as there has been an overwhelming number of people (substitute for idiots) who have recorded themselves smashing up their houses, themselves and each other using the Wii. Expect an out of court settlement; a few lawyers who've probably never even held a Wii controller will get even richer and the rest of the gaming world will carry on as normal.
Should Nintendo be sued for its Wiimote? Let us know in the forums.
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Comments (53)Stats: 0.103 seconds
I hope someone sue's them for being idiots.
They didn't expect people to be so sweaty!
too many lawyers out there just trying to squeeze ppl for money. sad state of affairs.
also if your too thick to hold onto a remote perhaps you shouldnt be allowed to operate hand held equipment.
When will americans learn that suing everyone and everything who has happened to be in the line of fire won't make the problems disappear..
But hell it's the american dream, right? As the Dire Straits once pointed out nicely:
"Money for nothing and the chicks for free.." (Although this propably wasn't their real intent ;))
//ottzen
my example is with a box. if you sold a square box people would just carry it round in their hands like you do, if they dropped the box it'd be their fault and that'd be that..
now if you put a handle on the box it'd be easier to carry and everyone would be happy. however if the handle wore out or people just lost grip of it there would be a mass of people then complaining of shoddy workmanship and evil corparations. just like with nintendo.
so to sum up never ever bother helping people as they are just ungrateful *******s and will sue at the first oppurtunity. if you helped someone in a wheelchair up some stairs but sliped and dropped them you know you'd get sued just like that. ive gone off course a bit but greedy people piss me right off
To physically break that strap, while using the Wiimote in the "standard" way, doesn't seem possible to me, and it seems that most accidents occurred when the strap wasn't in use, and then to cover up, the strap is broken and blamed... It'll be interesting to see if they can get any witnesses to swear in court that the strap broke... Then again, it is America :D
Anyone who is stupid enough to forget to hold onto the remote when they are playing (i'm sure it makes pressing the buttons a lil more challanging) should just chalk off any damage caused by said loosed remote down to their own dense-ness and be extra carefull with their safety spoon at dinner time incase they accedentally poke their own eye out.
Rant over, find beer to calm down.
Jaz_knos
This story makes me depressed :(
Aggies
some people....
I'd be willing to bet this lawsuit gets thrown out. As mentioned, Nintendo has already issued free replacement straps for anyone who wants them.
Here's how Nintendo wins this one: Show that video of the guy serving in Wii Tennis and swinging the Wii-mote as hard as he possibly can and breaking the strap, sending the Wii-mote flying at the wall at 90mph. Then show a "how you're supposed to use it" video with a guy serving in Wii Tennis and doing a power serve by simply flicking his wrist. The judge will declare humanity doomed to stupidity and the case will be over.
1. make the strap removable.
2. embed a frag grenade in the wii controller.
3. attatch strap to pin of grenade.
4. the darwin effect.
5. no more law suits from anyone dropping their controller whilst using the strap.
this could also work for maunfacturers of camera's, mp3 players, even car key makers.
some people say i am ahead of my time, trouble is, i'm only 5 minutes ahead.
That said, the lawsuit is stupid. The replacement offer is the right thing for Nintendo to be doing.
saying its their fault for being so dumb isnt fair. you have a lot of non-traditional gamers playing these things that arent used to the technology. they dont know how it works, so they dont know that you dont need to swing so hard (or maybe dont care because theyre playing how its fun for them to play). secondly, the whole putting a handle on a box comparison lacks one big part. when there is a safty strap or a handle on something, you expect it to work. you put your trust into it. you dont assume its there for looks and keep being paranoid and ignore it and keep being safe the more difficult way. saying thats wrong is just as stupid as saying "well just because you put a lock on your front door is no reason for you to stop barricading it. the lock could fail, why put your trust into it? stupid"
peoples property has been damaged because nintendo sells a product with a safety measure, that only appears to be safe, in practice it fails. you wouldnt have a problem with sueing a car maker for making a car with a seatbelf that failed, would you?
i dont think suing is out of the question, nor do i think a complete recall is. this is a major problem, no matter if you think its silly because its a dumb mistake since you can keep calm while playing.
and, of course, just because you like nintendo because the wii is fun, is no reason to defend them
QFT!
What is the world coming to!
The big question is, why did they let go of it in the first place?
M4RTIN has got it spot on - if they didn't include straps in the first place, there probably wouldn't be such an uproar.
The strap is obviously not designed to withstand that much force. It's like the lanyard that comes with the DS Lite - it's strong enough to take the weight of the machine (plus gravity) if you accidently drop it.
Is there anything in the Wii manual about the strap? I'm assuming it's similar to the DS one in that it'll stop the Wiimote from hitting the floor if you drop it, but it's not going to withstand anything more than that (and that's exactly what I'd expect the strap to do).
I still don't understand how the **** people let go the Wiimote?!
i myself do not own a Wii however my friends do and after playing on theirs and all the abuse i have seen this console take i am surprised that people would be breaking the straps at all. it doesn't take much force to use the controllers. they are actually very sensitive and even the small wrist flick will send most monkey balling fanboys flying off the track.
<rant>
we have all seen the videos of people innocently playing on their Wii then all of the sudden they take this massive Venus and/or Serena style swing sending their wiimote flying. WHAT DID THEY THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? :? was the wiimote supposed to have the tensile strength of steel braided cable? i have to conclude right here and now that in this world; there have been idiots before, are idiots around us now, and will still be idiots roaming this earth long after we are gone. the only difference we can make is to not give them the ability to inflict another headache on some company trying to make a buck. >:(
after all Nintendo did realize hey we could use some better straps and are offering them to customers FREE of charge. when did they do this you ask? BEFORE any class action lawsuits were filed because it was the right thing to do. sure they could have given us the middle finger and waited to do anything until after they lost a BS class action suit; but they didn't.
I'm not sorry for this rant. i have seen so many companies out there sued for frivolous things however i still cannot believe someone would file a case AFTER THE FIX IS OFFERED FREE TO THE PUBLIC!! i hope the case is thrown out.
it has been said by one of my favorite comedians before and i will reiterate his words here: "...you know me man i just hate stupid people. i think that they should have to wear signs that say I'm stupid...you know why there are warnings on products ladies and gentlemen its because of stupid people...that way if they are wearing the sign then you just wouldn't sell them the product..."
</rant>
i still cannot believe that someone is actually going to try and get some money out of this...i swear...
ignorance isn't an excuse for blaming nintendo. I can't believe you even made this point.. my mind boggles
You put your trust into something to work as its supposed to be used. Correct me if I'm wrong, but no where does nintendo say that swinging a wiimote as fast and hard as a major league pitcher is how its intended to be used... or that its supposed to be stepped on, barbequed, run over or eaten by chipmunks...
funny thing being that the vast silent majority of people that have intelligence and proper motor control haven't seen any such 'failure'
yea, personal responsibility?? pfff, that'll never catch on..
agreed
"I am a 33 year old middleschool dropout due to confusion over which end of the pencil to hold and basic motor skills. My mommy recently purchased the nintendo wii for me as I had finally mastered all of the concepts that came with my leapfrog learning tablet. Sometimes when I am waving my remote around helplessly I find it slipping out of my hand. Though this has nothing to do with my inability to grasp objects in my hand."
He also added at the end of the interview that he had trouble with wetting himself.
Honestly. I am sure everyone can recall that lady sueing mcdonalds because she spilt hot coffee in her lap. Though she did win, so who even knows.
Good one WR
Try reading the McDonalds case before you judge it. . .
The Wii strap is failing everywhere- the strap appears to be a "safety measure" but it sucks. What if a car company released a really weak seat-belt that failed in every single accident? Would there not be a problem if the car manufacturer said the seat belt was only good for accidents at speeds less than 10MPH?
The Wii strap is a excessively small piece of string that can not perform it's job. For that reason, I can see why people would sue Nintendo.
However, Nintendo does claim that product was being used in a un-approved way so I can see support for Nintendo. I look forward to seeing how the lawsuit goes.
And Saeqhwin, I hope you don't consider Boston Legal a legal education. . .
L J
http://www.nintendojo.com/fullfocus/view_item.php?1166055790
While it's not "Scientific" per se, I'd say that suspending 25 pounds of books and 100 fl oz of Mountain Fresh laundry detergent on a wiimote strap (Hung off a banana hook) and it NOT BREAKING is a pretty good indicator of how hefty that strap is.
And, in true Mythbusters style, when he then attempted to replicate the breaking of the strap... Well, I'll quote directly:
Now, just what were they doing with that remote/strap?
People just need to grow the hell up and get some common sense, it is only a little plastic remote with a small strap; it's not built for these massive pitches, etc...
And, in testing (As linked to above by myself), the Wii remote strap can take in excess of 25lbs. Considering the remote itself weighs just under 1lb, that makes a force of at least 25G - more than even the highest of high-G turns a fighter pilot has to endure (5-7G), and (according to NASA) enough to cause "Structural damage, especially to spine".
So, if people are throwing their Wii remotes at 25G (Or higher), how comes they don't also have broken hands/arms? And if it's enough force to break the strap, then surely it's also enough force (being applied by the strap) to break their wrist. In that case, which would you rather? Keep the remote and strap, and have a broken wrist, or have the strap break to ensure there's no real bodily harm?
This is fundamentally wrong. You cannot 'throw' something at 25G. If the strap breaks at 120N (force of gravity on 12kg), then the maximum force that the wiimote can exert on your hand/wrist is also 120N. That is about equivalent to hanging a 12kg weight on your wrist (NOT dropping it, just hanging it). Last time I checked, normal people don't break their wrists lifting 12kg/25lb objects.
The question I have is: how many people will intentionally have "accidents" just to attempt to cash in on this?
I want to say: only in the Litigious States of America where almost everything is "someone else's fault" :( - but humans are no different around the world - though cultures & thought patterns can be different :)
LOL!
Nintendo didn't mean to make it unsafe and are trying to stop it now, those sueing are just money hungry.
If you have fat sausage fingers don't try to play a Wii with loose grip!
I'm sorry, there's just no way you can say "I didn't know".
So I do not think the lawsuit should go ahead without a direct plaintiff.
Don't bring that or you'll get smacked down...McDonalds lost because the coffee was served at boiling point and they had already be warned by authorities that it wasn't acceptable. The woman spilled coffee on herself and got 3rd degree burns...she spent weeks at the hospital and had to get skin grafted into the burns...
I know the urban legend is funnier, but there was a lot of merit in that sue...
The woman was a 78 year old lady who, by some mistake spilled coffee on herself. Probably, in you world of Perfect Human Beings that deserves 3rd degree burns and 3 weeks in the hospital, but the majority of consumers worldwide don't expect a mere coffee to cause wounds equivalent to those of molten steel...
And McDonalds was found guilty because they had been warned before about this very same issue.
And btw...I don't see any merit in the Wii suit either. Stuff like that happens all the time with baseball bats, tennis rackets or soccer balls and nobody sues Adidas on a daily basis because of a broken window.
You take a sharp corner at an excessive speed and crash your car by skidding off the road. No one in their right mind would try and sue the car/tyre manufacturer for the car failing to grip because you weren't using your vehicle in an appropriate manor.
This is exactly the same situation with the wii-mote, people who have had problems will have been (and I've even read a few situations where people have admitted to) using it with excessive force.
I've have the remote come out of my hand twice on Wii Bowling from getting a little over excited, but neither time did it leave my hand with enough force to even strain the strap. Even without the strap, the remote would probably have only just reached the few meters across my living room to hit the T.V.
"OMG, the coffee is hot! They are serving hot coffee here! Who'd have ever thought coffee would be hot?!"
(Maybe they should put warning labels on elderly people "Person may shake uncontrollably - don't serve hazardous food or drinks!")
Some one said '"Americas biggest problem are its morons. Well, just remove the warning labels everywhere, and the problem will solve itself within a few years".
One side of the issue is that the strap apparently can break and the remote can fly around and break stuff. I have seen a case of a broken wide screen back projection TV glass. Personally I think the wrist strap is too weak. In such a case, Nintendo should probably pay for the repair.
The other side is that may ppl may approach Nintendo, claiming they damaged something when their Wii controller's wrist strap broke and the controller smashed into it, and it's a lie.
Hard to judge.
Well, "How do you call 10,000 lawyers on the bottom of the sea? - A good start." :P
A hot coffee would just scald you, not leave 3rd degree burns.
END OF COFFEE
/pedant
Without any intention of dragging this thing further, but in case anybody is interested in the subject:
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm
http://www.citizen.org/congress/civjus/tort/myths/articles.cfm?ID=785
Sorry to get anal with this issue, but people making fun of this case are just making fun of our rights as consumers and drinking the Big Corp Kool-Aid, however unknowingly.
Now, feel free to point the inadequacies of the USA Civil Courts system as much as you want, but at least, get the facts first and don't rely on urban legends...I may not agree with the Nintendo suit, but I'd love to be able to get a big corporation to court (with a chance to win, or at least get a settlement) so easilt as people can in USA. As much fun people make of those class action lawsuits, they are a huge weapon in the hands of consumers when their rights are being violated. If the suit is without merit, the courts will likely say so...so I'd rather wait before making too harsh a judgment and learning later that there is indeed merit in the suit and that Nintendo has to pay for all the broken equipment or something like that...
and if it fails i will reinforce my future wii straps with nylon or/and steel wire.