Nintendo to investigate Wii wrist strap issue

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said the company will launch an investigation following reports of accidents involving the Wii remote controller.

Some consumers have claimed that when playing games, the wrist strap which is supplied with the controller works loose - and that as a result, the controller can slip out of the hand and cause damage.

But according to Iwata, this does not mean there is a fault with the design, simply that Nintendo needs to make sure gamers understand how to use the controller safely.

"We are investigating. Some people are getting a lot more excited than we'd expected," he told the Foreign Correspondents Club.

"We need to better communicate to people how to deal with Wii as a new form of entertainment."

Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto added, "We are encouraging people to understand that you really don't have to be so excited, but rather you need to understand the control and then you're going to be the best player.

"We are looking into the situation to see if there are additional methods to encourage people to kind of calm down so they would never throw away the controller itself."

Last week, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime also conceded that some users are experiencing problems with the Wii remote, telling MTV, "You have to properly attach the strap. Some people arenât quite doing it the right way, which can lead to the Wii remote potentially flying off... So wipe off your hands, use the Wii properly, and donât throw the remote."