Woman dies after Wii radio contest

[The Outsider]

I heard about this yesterday and saw another news item today. News article below...

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070118/...dio_death_dc_3

 

Radio contest death sparks sackings, probe

 

Wed Jan 17, 10:55 PM ET

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. police are investigating the death of a 28-year-old woman after she took part in a California radio station's contest in which competitors had to drink as much water as possible.

 

Jennifer Strange, a mother of three, died from suspected water intoxication after taking part in last Friday's competition, "Hold your wee for a Wii," in which about 20 people tried to out-drink each other without going to the toilet to win a Nintendo Wii game console.

 

"We have new information that has come to light from audio tapes of the show," said Sgt. Timothy Curran, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

 

"We have decided we will open a death investigation which will take weeks and on conclusion our findings will be forwarded to the local district attorney to decide whether to lay criminal charges."

 

Sacramento station KDND-FM fired 10 staff members, including several DJs, as recordings of the show were posted online featuring the DJs joking about people dying from water intoxication and teasing Strange about her enlarged stomach.

 

They discussed a case in Northern California two years ago in which a student died after drinking too much water during a fraternity stunt, while one listener called to warn that drinking too much water could be fatal.

 

Strange, who came second in the contest after drinking about seven quarts (6-1/2 liters) of water, told the morning radio show hosts that she was not feeling well. After the contest she called in sick at work and was found dead at her home about five hours later.

 

"My head hurts," she said to laughter during the show. "My stomach is like really, really full. It looks like I am pregnant again."

 

Water intoxication, also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning, is potentially fatal and can cause irregular heartbeat, fluid in the lungs and swelling of the brain.

 

The Sacramento county coroner has yet to rule on the cause of death but has it was "consistent" with water intoxication.

 

The winner of the contest, Lucy Davidson, said on CNN that she was very sick after the contest.

 

"I was barely able to make it home," she said.

 

"I was throwing up, I had to crawl on the floor... It took me a whole day (to recover)."

[Guest Emperor]

Ok hold your Wee for a Wii... I can see why they thought this was a great idea. It is sad someone died because of this and I had never really heard of water intoxication before.

 

Brining up the Wii, I am not excited about this system one bit. I think the numb chuck and infared playing system would frustrate me to no end. It is also the first of it's kind and is going to have flaws. Plus, other than Zelda, I see no game I want to play on the Wii.

 

Xbox 360 is still the best consule out there.

[the dude]

i've been trying to convince myself that it's justifiable to buy the system only to play zelda. haven't gotten there yet....

[The Outsider]

From what I've heard the Wii control system is very intuitive and not something that takes getting used to at all. The learning curve is very quick. It was designed to be something that non-gamers could easily pick up on so that Nintendo could attract a wider audience than the traditional young male gamer market.

 

For what it's worth, while Zelda is definitely the cream of the crop, the game that comes with it, Wii Sports, is also very highly ranked and addictive.

 

I'd suggest playing it in a store demo or better yet if anyone you know has one play theirs before making a judgement, cos' it's beginning to look like the Wii may very realistically take the market from Sony and Microsoft this time around. (In just two months the Wii has sold a third as many consoles as the 360 has in over a year, it is still sold out everywhere, and the PS3 is way behind in sales and has unbought units to be found on store shelves).