The Connors children were thrilled with their new Nintendo game, until little Jacob got whacked between the eyes.

The family from Hilton Head, South Carolina, were among the first to get their hands on Nintendo’s revolutionary Wii console.

The Wii, a low-cost rival to Sony’s Playstation3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, has caused a sensation by allowing notoriously sedentary gamers to stand up and move around as they interact with the video-game by waving the remote control like a magic wand.

But Jacob, aged 8, wandered into the line of fire just as his cousin Abby was swinging the remote as if it were a baseball bat. According to a picture posted on Wiidamage.com, he was left with an ugly red bruise between the eyes.

Across America and around the world, videogamers who grew up with their noses pressed against their computer screen are reporting a range of self-inflicted injuries as they get to their feet to play the Wii.

Some over-enthusiastic gamers have hurled their remote control through the TV screen in excitement and caused black eyes, cut fingers and bruised heads. One video posted on YouTube features a player showing his “Wii-scars” after being cut by shards of a glass lightshade smashed by a wayward Wii remote.

Damage to household items ranges from broken windows to smashed laptop computers and broken ceiling fans.

The over-exertion caused by playing video tennis, in which gamers swing the remote like a tennis racket, prompted the Wall Street Journal to dub the new ailment “Wii elbow”.“It’s getting a lot of people excited,” said Jim Walsh, an IT specialist who has set up a website called WiiHaveAProblem.com where hapless gamers can share their accidents. “People are getting carried away and forget what they are doing.”

The American Chiropractic Association has taken the unusual step of offering advice to Wii users, recommending that they warm up by stretching and take frequent breaks.

Mr Walsh, 27, set up his Website shortly after Nintendo launched the Wii last month. He said that most players blamed themselves for the accidents. “Most people are kind of embarrassed but they take it in good stride and get right back to playing it.”

On it, a man who gives his name only as Jim posted a photograph of his girlfriend, Liz, with a bulging black eye after he hit her in the face with the Wii remote control while battling a monster in Zelda.

The remote control comes with a wrist-strap to stop it flying, but some players report that the strap has snapped. Fans say that Nintendo has started shipping remotes with stronger straps. Nintendo has sent e-mail reminders to Wii players to hold on tight to the control and warning them against extreme movement. “Hold the remote securely and avoid excessive motion during game play. If your hands become moist, stop and dry your hands,” the company said.

Reggie Fils-Aime, head of Nintendo America, said that many gamers were using big, sweeping movements when smaller ones would do. “We literally have consumers letting go of the remote like you do a bowling ball. You can’t do that!”

Hold on tight

‘[My girlfriend Liz] approached me whilst I was performing a slashing movement. I hit her with full force in her eye. I thought I’d blinded her’ Jim

‘I decided to play the mini-game for bowling. I swung really hard to knock down the 50+ pins and all of the sudden I realised my head hurt. . . the tether had hit me’ Nicole

‘Words cannot describe how stupendously retarded I feel. It involves a broken Wiimote strap, a broken tv, and a broken heart’ Race

‘I got a little too much into WiiSports Bowling. One wiimote plus a set of butter-fingers plus a weak strap equals one busted stereo display’ Anonymous

‘I was playing Wii baseball with a friend. I was losing badly. With all my might I slammed my hand [and Wii controller] into my oak coffee table. The Wii broke apart, cutting my finger’ Jessica

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