It would appear that the Wii has two very good uses. You can play great games and totally immerse yourself in the action, but also clear your house of unwanted breakable items if placed in the vicinity of the game player.
The cause of all this mayhem seems to revolve around the rather loose fitting strap supplied by Nintendo, which does not appear to be up to the task of stopping the remote flying off your wrist and heading for the nearest breakable object during game play, or if you are extremely unlucky, straight into your television screen. Nintendo has recognized the problem and are delivering stronger wrist straps to outlets where people can exchange their old ones for the much stronger and safer version.
However, even with the new strap people will do the silliest things and forget themselves in the heat of the moment.
It seems the majority of problems are related to sports games. Imagine getting caught up in a really intense game of bowling. You need a strike to beat your opponent and you lunge forward with the remote giving it all you got. Unfortunately, the controller has other ideas and the strap snaps and off hurtles the controller straight into your new high definition TV. Very sad.
There are of course some counter-measures that can be applied. The launch of controller sleeves to aid with the grip would seem to be a step in the right direction. However, a sweaty sleeve is also a loose one, and after an intense bout of bowling the sleeve could easily fly off and head for all that fine china in your mothers’ best cabinet.
Baseball is also proving itself to be a very dangerous sport to play in the house as well. Imagine going for that home run, swinging the controller as hard as you can, foolishly carrying this out on a freshly polished wooden floor, the momentum spinning the player round like a mini tornado and twisting your ankle in the process. That's just the batting, imagine the damage that can be carried out by the pitcher. Wild pitches have sent controllers heading for the nearest window, TV, lamp and practically any breakable glass object the Wii remote can home in on.
But by far the most damage is caused by tennis. People just seem to forget how tall they are in their own living rooms. Many a ceiling fan, chandelier and light fixture has fallen foul of the over-zealous serve in tennis. Even worse, some players have completely forgotten there surroundings and smacked friends a family members right on the face during backswings and smashes. Not pretty, and not the best way to make friends.
There's no doubt that the Wii is tremendous fun, and leads to intense game play on many occasions. It's new style of play has caught the imagination of the world leading to every single Wii made available for retail purchase over the holiday period being sold. Careful use of the Wii controller is a must if you are to avoid accidents and events like the one above from happening in your own home.
