Nintendo DS Cracked... Literally

Despite the fact that, for the most part, Nintendo wares are designed with children in mind, Nintendo is today admitting that many of its new DS Lite handhelds are susceptible to cracking.

That's right, the company that has produced consoles -- like the N64 and SNES -- that appear able to withstand a living room atomic bomb is telling consumers that its newest product is, well, fragile.

The problem lies with some faulty cases, leading Nintendo to assure its DS Lite purchasers that the problem is simply cosmetic, and will not directly affect its gaming performance.

Furthermore, according to the Japanese company's own statements, just 0.02% of shipped units are potential crackers. (Source: reghardware.co.uk)

However, in considering Nintendo's more upbeat attitude towards the announcement of its 20 millionth DS shipment, the math leaves at least 400,000 owners with units more brittle than Ally McBeal. (Source: arstechnica.com)

And lawyers might just become involved, too.

When tech insiders at the UK site Reg Hardware found their very own locally split DS, Nintendo's British customer services division flatly denied any proposal for a fix, free of charge. (Source: reghardware.co.uk) Personally, this reminds me of my own run-in with the original Microsoft Xbox. When my unit failed to play any games and reported the sensational "disc drive error" title, I contacted 1-800-4MY-XBOX and was politely asked to send my system to (somewhat) nearby Toronto. Besides shipping -- which I had to pay -- Microsoft wanted to charge me $150 for the repair. Thank God for a kind manager at the local Zellers where the Xbox was purchased, otherwise this writer might have actually got some exercise that summer.

So, if Sony is looking for an angle to help its troubled Playstation 3 console, perhaps the best hype might not be found in advertising at all.

Just some decent customer service.