Smoking May Be Harmful to Your Wii

Nintendo cleans lenses damaged by cigarettes
By Ambreen Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2008 12:41 PM CDT
Smoking May Be Harmful to Your Wii
The much anticipated Super Smash Brothers Brawl game is so filled with data that it required a double-layer DVD, whose precise reading requirements exposed the Wii's sensitivity to smoke.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Here's another reason to stop smoking: It damages your Wii. Some cigarette-wielding users in Japan last month noticed that the much anticipated "Super Smash Brothers Brawl" wasn't working properly, prompting Nintendo to provide free shipping and cleanup of tar-covered disc readers, the Boston Herald reports. Nintendo says the issue affects a "very small percentage" of more than 20 million consoles worldwide.

The new game exposed the flaw because it comes on a double-layer DVD that requires a more accurate reading than smoke-laden lasers can apparently give. Tech and gaming websites were abuzz this week discussing the problem, which prompted the company to release a statement in which it warned gamers not to clean the consoles at home. (More Nintendo Wii stories.)

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