KEY POINTS:
Few games consoles have been more sought after than Nintendo's Wii, which sold more than 300,000 units across Europe last weekend alone, forcing parents to turn to eBay in desperation.
But there was a warning yesterday for those inclined to unwrap one of the machines near the Christmas
tree: switch off the fairy lights before using it, or you might find it behaving very strangely.
The hazards of operating a Wii when the fairy lights are on were revealed by bloggers, who were puzzled by its odd performance near the tree.
Writing on one users' blog, an owner of a Wii, which has wowed console enthusiasts with its innovative interface, said: "The last couple of days my Wii has been acting weird in not picking up the Wiimote (the console's controller) on the side of the Christmas tree and I could never figure out what was wrong. Well tonight, I turned off the Christmas tree and it fixed my problem."
Nintendo investigated and discovered the gamers had a point.
"In exceptional conditions where the Wii sensor bar is sat near a direct light source there may be some minor interference - this does not mean that there is any fault with your Wii," Nintendo said in a statement yesterday.
"For the best performance of your Wii, avoid bright light sources behind or near the TV, shining towards the Wii remote or reflecting off the TV screen."
Bemused Wii fans, whose machine allows them to control their on-screen actions by waving a remote control in the air rather than using a traditional joystick, are becoming accustomed to unexpected health warnings.
Yesterday's announcement comes days after Wii offered to replace millions of wrist straps for the video game controllers, after dozens of gamers complained of so-called "wiinjuries" caused by losing their grip on the controllers for the new console.
Relishing the chance to join in games simply by imitating the action of a tennis racket, sword or golf club, owners have lost control of heir gizmos, leading to bruised heads and black eyes, not to mention the odd damaged TV set.
"I decided to play the game for bowling," one battered and bruised gamer, Nicole, wrote on Wiihaveaproblem.com.
"I guess I swung really hard to knock down the pins and all of a sudden I realised my head hurt... Instead of it flying wildly into the air, it stopped and swung back around and hit me in the head."
In response, Nintendo offered top take back any of the 0.2m wrist straps in circulation and replace them with something more durable.
It said the fault lay with players failing to follow on-screen guidance to securely strap the device on to their wrists.
But yesterday it was revealed that the company is facing a lawsuit over the alleged "defective nature" of the straps, filed in the US.
Law firm Green Welling LLP, which is bringing the class action, said: "Nintendo's failure to include a remote that is free from defects is in breach of Nintendo's own product warranty."
These problems are not halting the unstoppable rise of Wii, which, contrary to many expectations is outperforming the long-awaited Play Station 3 worldwide.
Rumours were rife yesterday that Wii games based on two Disney titles - "Meet the Robinsons" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" - are under development.
So will the bright light glitches be at an end when the Christmas lights comes down? Yes, says Nintendo, which states that direct lights could only cause interference in "exceptional conditions" and that the console is not affected by lights under normal conditions.
- INDEPENDENT
