The new class-action lawsuit filed by Colorado resident Molly Elvig claims that both the initial, thicker replacement strap and the third version with the plastic clasp still fail to secure the Wii remote to the user during strenuous use. Furthermore, the suit alleges that Nintendo has failed to report a single remote strap issue to the Consumer Product Safety Commission in their monthly reports, despite Nintendo support documents that prove the existence of said issues.

GameCyte has the court filing available in PDF format, along with a rather large batch of the presented evidence, ranging from the original Wii Sports instruction manual recommending the forceful use of the controller to Nintendo customer service documents detailing wriststrap issues that occurred, along with the corresponding reports to the CPSC claiming that no new incidents have arisen.

The case is being argued by Elvig’s attorney, Robert Kleinman, the same attorney from the original suit, who told GameCyte that “the pleadings speak for themselves.”

Elvig and her attorneys are seeking damages, corrective action to fix the Wii remote strap issues once and for all, and that a claims process be put in place to compensate people who have incurred damage due to the issue.

A Nintendo representative could not comment on the issue, claiming the company was aware of the suit but has yet to be served.

Nintendo Slapped With Strap Lawsuit Once Again [GameCyte]

Looks like Nintendo, while a bit slow to react, is taking the classy way out of their flimsy Wii strap fiasco.

After staying mum on the issue since launch, the publisher finally admitted they had an issue to the Associated Press and then announced that they are replacing Wii straps for those who would like the peace of mind of knowing that when they play Wii Sports they won't be caving in the front of their $3,000 plasma screen.

The AP reports that the company announced today that they are "recalling" 3.2 million straps for the Wii.

According to the Nintendo site, if you have an original version of the strap you need to complete a form. Once the replacement strap has shipped you will receive an email from the company. They say on the site they expect to start shipping the straps by Dec. 21 and it will take five to nine days for delivery.

I'd love to take credit for this, but since the announcement came about an hour after my call for free replacements, I suspect it was already in the works.

Once more major kudos to Nintendo for handling this properly. I think everyone could learn from how they deal with hardware issues. Brian Crecente

Strap Replacement Form

Wii Remote Wrist Strap Replacement Request Form

Nintendo is offering to replace the original version of the wrist straps for the Wii Remote with a newer version. Because Wii consoles shipped starting in early December already utilized the newer version of the strap, you will need to determine which version of the strap you have before ordering a replacement. To view the difference between the original and the new version of the strap, please click here.

If you have an original version of the strap, please complete the form below to get a replacement (also, to ensure you continue to have a fun & safe experience, please read our Safety Information for Playing Wii by clicking here).

Once your replacement wrist strap has shipped, you will receive a confirmation email from Nintendo. We expect to begin shipping replacement straps around December 21st. It will take 5 to 9 days for delivery depending on your location. Please do not contact Nintendo regarding your replacement wrist strap until after that time period has passed.

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your interest in our products.

Our polls are so far from scientific that when they finally conclude I hate to call the numbers they vomit up results. But I suppose that there could be a shred of information found in the faux statistics.

Our latest poll was launched at the request of a Kotaku reader who wanted to know just how many people have their Wii Remotes slip from their hands and how many of those slippages result in broken straps.

To try and pluck some sort of facts from my silly questions, I tallied up the total votes for just the first three questions and used those to get percentages.

As of this morning, about 76 percent of the Wii owners who answered our poll said they have never had their Wii Remote slip from their hand while playing a game. But of the 24 percent who have had their remote slip from their hand, a quarter of them, or 338, had the strap break.

To put it another way, about six percent of the 5,700 or so Wii gamers who answered our poll have had their strap break on them. Personally, I think the fact that the strap is breaking so often, when put to the accidental test, shows that Nintendo needs to redesign the things, that or a third-party should jump on this and come out with a quick, but sturdy fix. Brian Crecente