• On TV.com: Why Is Everyone in TV High School SO OLD
November 25, 2006 2:10 PM PST

Wii Disaster Watch: The WSJ catches on to the trend

by Caroline McCarthy
  • Font size
  • Print
  • 2 comments

"All those flailing arms can sometimes inadvertently smack into lamps, furniture and even competing players. IGN.com, a popular site that reviews videogames, said one player testing the Wii lost her grip and sent the controller flying into a wall. Blaine Stuart of Rochester, N.Y., mistakenly whacked his fiancee, Shelly Haefele, while playing tennis and also accidentally hit his dog while bowling." -- Jamin Warren, The Wall Street Journal, 11/25/06

Remember that episode of "The Colbert Report"--okay, maybe you don't remember it, because not everyone is as active a member of the Colbert Nation as I am. Anyway, there was this "Colbert Report" episode that detailed the media aftermath of the incident in which Colbert convinced a congressman to declare that cocaine was "a fun thing to do" on-air. Showing clip after clip of network newscasters debating the potential dangers of politicians' appearances on his Comedy Central fake-pundit show, Colbert gleefully declared that it proved that "The Colbert Report" didn't just present the news, it was the news.

Anyway, you're probably wondering how this could possibly be related to Crave's official Wii Disaster Watch feature, so here we go. Last week, we posted the first installment of the Wii Disaster Watch, our tongues lodged so firmly in our cheeks that we couldn't speak intelligibly. The reader response was mixed, to put it lightly. (Hey guys: Sometimes blogs post about things that aren't necessarily newsworthy. Duh.) But here's the thing. Clearly, Cravers aren't the only ones with Wii flub-ups on the brain. The Wall Street Journal appears to be in agreement. And that makes this Crave blogger just as gleeful as Stephen Colbert's TV persona was when he proudly showed off mainstream news anchors' takes on Rep. Wexler's cocaine one-liner. Wii injuries are, as Crave predicted, quite likely going to be the next big thing. I'm still crossing my fingers for the first "America's Funniest Home Videos"-style Wii moments to show up on YouTube.

The bottom line: Yup, video games can hurt, and not just in the awkward emo way from back in third grade when you failed to beat King Bowser in Super Mario Bros. right in front of that girl/boy/etc. whom you were trying to impress. They can cause real live pain.

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
Recent posts from Crave
Killer deals on BlackBerry, Droid, and Palm Pixi
This week in Crave: The boxed-in edition
Ricky Gervais helps reveal pain of cell phone salesmen
Indecent Exposure 68: Inky extents
Apple fixes AirPort problems marring video playback on 27-inch iMacs
iPhone: The board gamer's paradise
Can erasing your iPhone's memory improve performance?
Top 5 best products of the fall
Add a Comment (Log in or register)
Well well well
by Karl Viklund November 25, 2006 7:22 PM PST
Hehe. I Guess it will take a while before people are used to the new way of playing :) But be sure to pick up a couple of extra controllers with your Wii ^^
Reply to this comment
Get out of the way!
by Gamegenius007 November 26, 2006 5:50 PM PST
Jesus people, when someone's swinging their arms, get outta the way!

See? Problem solved. ^_^
Reply to this comment

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

A CNET Conversation with Eric Schmidt

CNET's Tom Krazit and Molly Wood sit down with Google CEO Eric Schmidt to discuss the future of Android, the Chrome OS, the problem of real-time search indexing, and more.

Verizon tests sending RIAA copyright notices

The No. 2 phone company, known for its reluctance to intervene in antipiracy cases, strikes an agreement to forward copyright notices on behalf of the music industry.