Because there have been a number of complaints from users that the Wii strap cord breaks too easily, Nintendo have offered to replace them (3.2 million of them).

Shortly after the console went on sale in Canada a number of gamers began reporting cases that the wrist strap had snapped during game play.

Kris Abel CTV’s technology expert is reported as saying “A lot of people are saying that the strap has not been well made, and is actually snapping and people are throwing their controllers into their televisions and breaking their $3,000 plasmas”.

A spokesman for Nintendo has stated the offer being made was “not a recall” and the current wrist strap is perfectly safe and has passed all the required tests. They are, though, allowing people to return them in order to provide their users with peace of mind when using their Wii.

Nintendo have now already begun to ship new Wii remote control accessories that include the updated strap.

Nintendo was hoping to begin shipping replacement straps directly to their customers in December 2006, and those customers should allow between 5 to 9 days for delivery of theirs in the US and Canada.

What a player using the Nintendo Wii is meant to do is grip the Wii remote and have the wrist strap there as a secondary measure. But Nintendo have reported that “We have found that some consumers get more excited playing Wii Sports than we could have imagined. This has resulted in a very small number of the wrist straps breaking. We have replaced the broken wrist straps and continue to reinforce with consumers the safe and fun use of our products”.

Because of the problems relating to Nintendo Wii wrist strap they did not think this would adversely affect the sales of the product.

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Gaming on the Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii is the latest game console system and is the successor to the Game Cube.

This system is no larger than 3 DVD cases and integrates several innovative features which will provide you with a whole new gaming experience. Plus up to a maximum of 4 players can use Wii remotes during one game and according to independent testers this makes gaming much easier either for first timers or those more experienced gamers.

With the freedom of the wireless facility it allows players to become more involved and engaged in the action of the game that they are playing, while traditional “rumble” features and standard controls are also included with the remote. But there are the added benefits of new features as well.

You may if you wish purchase additional accessories such as the Nunchuk controller that comes with other control features. Plus the peripherals that come with the Game Cube are well matched for use with the Wii. In fact the Wii includes a Game Cube Memory Card slot, 4 ports for Game Cube controllers as well as a 512MB integrated memory.

The Wii allows for interactive play, so not only can multiple players use the wireless remotes, but you can also play against those around the world by communicating with them during networked play. This is because the Wii has Internet connectivity (even when the power is turned off). Also you have the added benefit that it connects wirelessly and can communicate with Nintendo DS systems.

A great advantage of the Wii is that it features new parental controls which means that once an age level has been set on the system games with ratings above that level, it can not be played without an override password being entered. Nintendo will be releasing games in North America that will use the ESRB rating system.

So whether you are a serious gamer or just a casual one, the games which you play are key to your experience. Many Wii users will have the option to choose from games that have been developed by Sega and EA Games. But the real innovation where the Wii is concerned is that you are able to download games. Wii users will have access to hundreds of downloadable games that were originally developed for other Nintendo systems such as the Nintendo 64 and the Super Nintendo.

Nintendo have also stated that the Wii will be backward compatible with most other peripherals as well as all Game Cube software. This compatibility is achieved through a set of ports on the top of the console (behind a panel).

Below are some of the games which are already available for the Nintendo Wii and do not forget that Nintendo Game Cube games are also playable on the Wii.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Call of Duty

Cars

GT Pro Series

Madden NFL 07

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Need for Speed: Carbon

Rayman Raving Rabbids

Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Wii Play

Wii Sports

As you can see, where the Wii is concerned, you are the one that controls what you play, and how you play it.

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Firstly let us have at look at the Nintendo Wii.

This is the most unusual of the three consoles that we are looking at. It comes with an IBM Broadway Processor and ATI Hollywood GPU. Although not as powerful as the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360 the Wii’s unique game play system and its remote controller make all the difference to playing games with this console.

The controller has the advantage of the player being able to use it as a sword, baseball bat, golf club and even a steering wheel which results in the games being more active and the player is getting some form of exercise to boot.

Another benefit of the Wii is that it has a great load of applications available for it such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Call of Duty, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Need for Speed: Carbon as well as Wii Play and Wii Sports. They will also being releasing in the future Super Smash Bros Brawl and Pokemon Battle Revolution.

Finally the Wii is backwards compatible with the Nintendo GameCube and can be connected via wireless link to the Nintendo DS or DS Lite, as well as people being able to download Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, NES, Sega Mega-Drive (Genesis) and Turbo Grafix 16 games for a small price that they can keep and play on this console.

Next we will look at the Xbox 360.

This comes with 3.2GHZ IBM Power PC tri-core processor as well as a 500MHZ GPU. This console is particularly attractive to gamers because of its powerful running speeds, the fast paced online action, and the mind blowing graphics.

Another point in the Xbox 360’s favor is its cost. A core system will set you back $299.99 while a premium system will cost you $399.99. This system has been priced between what you would pay for a PS3 (the most expensive) and the Nintendo Wii (the cheapest).

However a disadvantage of the Xbox360 is, because it does not have a processor in it from the original Xbox, you can not play original Xbox games on it without obtaining additional emulation software from the internet.

Finally let’s look at what the Playstation 3 has to offer.

This is the most expensive of these 3 consoles and it will not be available in Europe or Australia until March 2007. However the Playstation 3 does come with the following for the $499.99: you get 20gb while the $599.99 version has 60gb along with a new Sixaxis controller and Blu-Ray drive. It also has a Cell Broadband Engine (3.2GHZ), IBM Power Based CPU (which is almost equal to the Xbox360) and a 550MHZ RSX GPU. This hardware is perfect for those who like Racing and FPS games.

The PS3 is also compatible with the PSP (Playstation Portable) as well as being compatible with Playstation and Playstation 2 titles and future firmware updates will then make it even more compatible.

So you will have to decide what you want. Do you want the more expensive but powerful PS3 or the average priced yet powerful Xbox360? Or may be you lust after the cheap but unique and highly backward compatible Nintendo Wii? The decision is yours at the end of the day.

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