Wii Zapper 'could lead to political backlash'

Wii News | Gun for all the family.

While many have scoffed at the Wii Zapper for being a useless plastic shell that adds no functionality to the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, there's little doubt there will be many sold this Christmas. Not only has the market shown useless peripherals can be sold to certain customers (like the plethora of Wii Sports inspired plastic 'extensions' littering store shelves), but the Zapper has the distinct advantage of being packed with the discount priced Zelda spin-off Link's Crossbow Training. But despite the knockout success of certain existing violence-fests already on the platform, some are wary of the Zapper's potention to hard the Wii's 'clean fun' image.

Washington Post writer Monica Hesse thinks there might be some problems with the Zapper, which she describes as 'the prettiest sub-machine gun ever sold'. Based on some negative reactions in an on-line survey, Hesse thinks the Wii may be getting some attention from the media this holidays, and with quotes like "I think it's going to make it feel like you're actually holding a gun in real life," from a kid planning on buying the peripheral, you can almost hear opportunistic US senators rubbing their hands in anticipation. Although Nintendo's George Harrison disagrees, stating the expected company line "We don't think it even really looks like a gun."

Hesse goes on to look at some of the history of toy guns, and how somehow even neon-coloured water pistols have managed to be targeted by politicians. Probably the best quote comes from former CEO of Hasbro Alan Hassenfeld, who brought the world the Super-soaker water gun: "I find it fascinating how we can legislate toy guns, but we can't legislate real guns."

The full article is worth a look, you can check it out here.

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12 Comments

Gamesta

4 years ago

Well no one complained about being able to physically act out hacking people up with a chainsaw in Scarface (which is to far even for me).

ugh the boot

4 years ago

Quote

"I find it fascinating how we can legislate toy guns, but we can't legislate real guns."

Hahah so true. Idiocracy anyone?

Infested Jibbs

4 years ago

They need to get it together.The wii zapper resembles a gun just like a banana resembles a gun.If anything they should be cracking down on stuff that looks like the real deal.What about those buck hunter games with a light gun rifle that looks dead on like the same hunting rifle most american sheds would have?It could be argued that this would indeed confuse some impressionables and give the idea that a hunting rifle is safe.Looks the same, same colour, same size, roughly the same weight, just one has electronic gizmo's in it the other has a bullet with lil billy's name on it.

Personally i see no issue with either, as again, it comes down to good parenting, and if you have a gun around the house(even if you don't), 5 mins out of your day to talk to billy about guns and gun safety:problem solved.

Maikii

4 years ago

I thought gun peripherals had to be a bright colour, (like orange in Time Crisis), so they couldn't be confused as the real thing?

Cerebral

4 years ago

Nintendo even went the extra mile by attempting to sidestep the whole 'firearm' issue by calling it something ridiculous like the Zapper.

borgster101

4 years ago

There are 3rd party cradles that look a lot more like real guns. But so what, we've had light gun accesories for consoles for ages!

ObsoletE

4 years ago

better get the NTRA (National Toy Rifle Association) on the case. next they'll be chopping off my thumb and fingers because i can manipulate them into a shape that vaguely represents the motion of the hammer of a single-action army revolver.

i'm typing this line with my nose in preparation for my fate.

you don't want to know what this line was typed with.

IISpacebreakII

4 years ago

I don't get it, what about Cap guns that actually make the banging noise?

And also, if I aimed that wii zapper at somebody, they'd die.

laughing >>

Spanca

4 years ago

ObsoletE wrote

you don't want to know what this line was typed with.

Given the size I think we can all guess.

Lord Haart

4 years ago

^Lol - harsh, but Obs had it coming.

TBH, I find it ridiculous that they worry about this so much when there are guns all over the place in the USA (Bowling for Columbine, anyone? As much as I hate Moore's style of journalism, he had a point).

It all comes down to the memetic (or cultural, if you will) effect this has on society - when there are plenty of arcades around the place with similar gizmos, it's clear that it's not changing much.

The only way this could realle be construed badly is if games like manhunt were on the Wii, ie situations where you are killing other humans (in non-war scenarios).

renegadesx

4 years ago

Next thing you know Wacko Jacko will be trying to confiscate from all homes, all lightguns since the NES Zapper.

I can see the headlines "Duck Hunt is a training simulator for mass murderers - Jack Thompson"

B3NBO

4 years ago

That is rediculous. The games are tame enough as it is and the only games its really good for is Metroid Prime and RE4, which are both M or MA, so responsible parents would not get them for their kids.

I remember as a kid i got a cap gun, it was made of metal and was a brown/black colour and it looked so real its not funny, it didn't even have a orange tip at the hole.

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