Poor Danny Gilbert.

He just lost control and boom, broken glass everywhere. But the above picture isn’t from some busted window down at his local milk bar. It’s caused by a small piece of plastic which when flung at just the right velocity can cause some major damage.

Nintendo’s next-generation console, the Wii was launched two weeks ago in Australia featuring a brand new motion sensitive controller - a first for console gaming. Rather then pressing buttons to perform actions such as is the case with traditional games controllers, the Wii Remote requires user action to play. Want to hit that baseball? Pull the remote behind your head and swing in time to smack that ball into the rafters. But the product has caused a stir amongst users across the world due to problems with the remote being tossed and thrown across rooms, damaging electronic equipment, lighting fixtures and even fellow players.

“Devastated doesn’t do it justice,” says Wii enthusiast Danny Gilbert. Gilbert had been playing a enjoyable game of Wii Sports’ Ten Pin Bowling with a few friends. As only one remote was supplied with the console, the boys were taking turns in using the remote to play for their player. To save time, the wrist strap was not attached to the player’s hand. As a result, when Gilbert released to bowl his ball down the lane, he ended up clipping his brother’s leg, causing the remote to go flying at high speed right into their television.

This problem is not unique to Gilbert. Fellow players with similar tales of Wii woe have taken to Wii Have A Problem, a website listing the damage for casualties and interested onlookers alike with pictures and videos acting as battle scars. While many have suffered the same consequences by not using the wrist strap, others have claimed that the strap has broken in use causing lost grip and ultimately horrifying results to ranging from damaged home theatre equipment to broken windows. Given these recent developments, Nintendo have announced that they will be shipping out a new, thicker version of it’s wrist strap to players as required.

In a news update listed on the company’s American website, “Nintendo is offering to replace the original version of the wrist straps for the Wii Remote with a newer version.” However the company denied that this practice was a recall for the strap, claiming that there is no problem with the wrist strap “if it is used reasonably and instructions furnished by Nintendo in user manuals included with the game are followed.”

Surprisingly, many users suffering from remote damage have found their controllers still working despite being slammed into televisions and walls. One video shows a player throwing a remote straight into a wall, then picking it up quickly to continue his game. Photos show a spectator suffering a black eye due to standing too close to an overexcited player. Unfortunately for Nintendo this may only be the start of a long and winding road of problems with many consoles being given away as Christmas gifts to both the hardcore and casual gamer alike.

Gilbert will be taking some time off from playing his Wii, despite his friends finishing their game after the damage occurred. In the mean time, he will be doing some research into finding if his television is repairable. Nintendo has listed additional safety information on it’s website to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Despite the damage, Gilbert sees a slightly funny side to it, “and the best thing… i got a strike.”