Nintendo to replace 3.2M Wii straps

"It helps to spread Nintendo's message on the unique interface of the Wii," Pidgeon said. "As long as it doesn't land you in the emergency room."

In any case, the strap problems probably won't affect demand for the Wii. "At the launch of a console, it basically has to be fatal to hurt sales," Pidgeon said.

The market research company NPD Group estimated that U.S. consumers bought 476,000 Wiis in the two weeks following its Nov. 17 launch. That beat Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console, which sold just under 200,000 units amid widespread shortages.

Nintendo has delivered more machines so far to consumers than Sony has, partly because of Sony's production problems.

Nintendo has shipped about 400,000 Wii machines in Japan and more than 600,000 in North America. Sony readied just 100,000 PS3 machines for the Japanese launch and 400,000 consoles for its U.S. debut.

Sony has promised 2 million PS3s worldwide by year's end, while Nintendo is targeting 4 million Wii units in the same period.

Selling machines in high volumes is crucial in the gaming business because hot-selling formats attract software companies to make more games, which in turn boost console sales.

Separately Friday, Nintendo also said it would replace 200,000 AC adapters for its DS and DS Lite consoles in Japan. Nintendo said the move would not affect adapters overseas, and officials expected only a small impact on earnings.

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