As of Monday, any one of the 3.2 million worldwide Wii owners who have any problems or concerns about the integrity of their Wii Remote wrist straps can call their country’s Nintendo Customer Services (the number is in your manual) for a replacement strap. People living in the Americas/Canada can also do this online via an Official Replacement Request Form.
“Nintendo will offer customers to exchange the old straps, which have a 0.6 millimeter (0.024 inch) diameter, for a beefed up strap that has a diameter of 1 millimeter (0.04 inch),” company spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said. The worldwide offering of these new straps is expected to cost the company several million dollars.
This action was taken after some complaints from careless flailing-sweaty-hands people losing grip of their Wiimote. You won’t have to send in your old strap(s) by the way, so it’s more of a peace-offering than an exchange. Nice customer service.
Nintendo themselves explained the situation as: “This is not a product recall”, they stress. “The current wrist strap is fine – it has passed all safely standards and does the job. This is simply a precaution because we are aware of the concerns over their safety. All new Wii Remotes and Wii consoles will ship with the new, thicker wrist strap.”