Nintendo is taking a close look at the wrist strap on the controller for its Wii console after several reports on the Internet about straps breaking, causing the controller to fly out of the hands of users, its president said Thursday.Within days of the Wii going on sale in North America last month, tales of broken wrist straps began appearing online. Many were accompanied by photographs of damage caused by the flying controller, which in some cases included cracked television screens. Pictures have also begun appearing in Japan after the Wii launched there on Dec. 2. Wii Controller One of the selling points of the Wii is its motion-sensitive controller. Users can swing it like a club when playing a golf game, or jab it like a fist in a boxing game.“There have been reports, mainly on the Internet, about the strap breaking when you play the games very hard,” said Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president, at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on Thursday. Nintendo tested the durability of all the console’s parts, but “people are becoming excited … beyond our expectations” while playing the Wii, he said. The company is investigating the reports, he added.The Wii went on sale Thursday in Australia and will hit stores across Europe on Friday. Nintendo has sold more than a million of the consoles in the past month, and has managed to do what Japanese rival Sony Computer Entertainment failed to pull off: launch a new game console worldwide within a month. Iwata confirmed Nintendo’s plan to ship 4 million consoles by the end of the year and 6 million by the end of March 2007.-Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)Related Links: Experts: Nintendo Could Beat Sony in Console War Nintendo Sells Roughly 372K Wii Consoles in Japan Nintendo to Offer 62 Wii Games by Year EndCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Zero-trust: Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Your Print Environment By Canon Business Solutions Jun 07, 2023 5 mins Zero Trust news Salesforce CEO Benioff shakes up executive team with new hires Six months after the company lost its co-CEO and announced it was laying off 10% of its global workforce, Salesforce’s top team is undergoing a major personnel change. By Charlotte Trueman Jun 07, 2023 3 mins Technology Industry Enterprise Applications opinion Cisco debuts bold portfolio of network, security, and observability solutions and previews generative AI capabilities for Webex and Security Cloud Cisco’s innovative technologies help connect the dots of its network- and cloud-based ecosystem. By Pete Bartolik Jun 07, 2023 4 mins Cloud Security brandpost Help wanted: IT tools and talent for building a multicloud estate Like all trade workers, IT leaders need the right tools and skills to succeed in a multicloud world characterized by application and data sprawl. By Chad Dunn, Vice President, Product Management, Dell APEX Jun 07, 2023 6 mins Multi Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe