Nintendo Responds to Daily Mail Accusations About Wonky Wiis

Yet another amusingly wrong story relating to videogaming in today’s Daily Mail, carrying the rather alarmist headline, “Why fairy lights make the Wii wonky.”

If true, this news could well spoil thousands of Christmases across the land, as dad and kerr-azy (drunken) Uncle Keith lose control of the Wii Remote while enjoying a round of Wii Sports Golf, due to the monstrous eight-foot tree draped with fairy-lights in the corner of the lounge.

The Mail's story informs middle England that, “This year's must-have Christmas present, the Nin-tendo (sic) Wii has run into problems - with Christmas lights….Hundreds of gamers have already logged the problem on websites, claiming their Christmas trees have rendered their new GBP 180 machines useless.”

SPOnG has tested this theory using a variety of industrial strength torches, coloured gels and, yes, Xmas lights. In no way was "Young Mark's" playing of Marvel Ultimate Alliance negatively affected. So thankfully, you can still read his review at 3pm this afternoon…

Upon reading the story in the Mail (we have to read all the papers, by the way), SPOnG immediately contacted Nintendo’s UK PR Manager, Rob Saunders, who told us this, “Wii is not affected by light sources when playing under normal conditions. 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.”

Saunders added, “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. We would recommend that you consult your Wii operations manual for more information on how to best set up your Wii.”

So, there you have it. Watch out, as ever, for further misinformed Daily Mail stories relating to videogames to be debunked. It’s SPOnG’s duty and our mission to outline and correct theMail’s clear anti-videogame agenda whenever we can.