Nintendo (NTDOY) hands out free rubber jackets for 'Wii-motes'

Nintendo Ltd. (OTC: NTDOY) continues to sell the hot Wii gaming console in record numbers, and those numbers will probably become higher this holiday shopping season as gift buyers opt for the $250 gaming system over $350 and $500 systems from the competition. The only bad thing about Nintendo's Wii is that the physical interactivity is causing some to throw those gaming controllers all over the place. Hey, Nintendo can't legislate intelligence from its customers, right?

To keep the clueless from throwing their "Wii-motes" all over the living room and through windows and television screens, Nintendo added locking hand straps early this year to all shipping gaming controllers so that they could be secured to player's wrists.

Well, that apparently did not go far enough (unbelievably), so the company is now offering free silicon rubber covers, or "jackets" for these Wiimotes. So, if that remote somehow flies out of your hand, at least it will hit the wall or television set with a simple, rubber thud instead of a loud, glass-breaking crash.

Up to four rubber controller jackets will be offered per Wii owner, although the jackets won't ship until mid-October. If you have a Wii and find that the controller flies out of your hand on occasion, you may want to head over to Nintendo's website and request your jackets. Until you receive them, use those wrist straps and be careful, will you?