Nintendo Wii Fanboy

The end of every year is fraught with polls and recaps, but this one easily caught our eye for a variety of reasons. The death of 28-year-old Jennifer Strange after a radio station's "Hold your Wee for a Wii" contest was voted the most shocking tech story of the year by readers at geeksugar. Would you agree? The story faced some fierce competition, particularly when considering that one of the other contenders was the story of a Nevada couple too wrapped up in their games to care for their young children. To us, the latter is certainly more horrific, but that wasn't the question.

Water intoxication is not exactly a commonly known cause of death; it's one of those rarities that's always guaranteed to raise an eyebrow. But with the extreme demand for the Wii since its very release, it's hard to say we're surprised at the lengths people will go to get one. For once, however, we can easily say we'd rather see people paying scalpers on eBay than putting themselves at risk.

Remember the 'Hold your Wee for a Wii' contest that ended with one young mother tragically dead? The Sacramento radio station has been cleared of any possible criminal charges in the case. District Attorney Jan Scully indicated that the late Mrs. Strange, 28, participated voluntarily, knew what she was getting into, and showed no signs of serious medical problems before she left.

The radio station fired ten people in the aftermath of the highly publicized death, and the family's wrongful death suit, filed in January against parent company Entercom, is still pending. Their attorney, Roger Dryer, stated that he was unsurprised to see no criminal charges. "We do not believe the conduct of the individuals rose to criminal intent. It is consistent with our viewpoint from the beginning that the decision maker responsible was the management of Entercom."

"Maybe we should have researched this."

Get used to hearing that line, because it's probably going to be one of the most-quoted statements from the radio contest in Sacramento that seems to have resulted in the death of at least one woman. Footage from the show has turned up on YouTube and seems noteworthy as this story develops further. It is, however, striking in that it is likely to be the center of a lot of arguments regarding who here, if anyone, is at fault.

[Via Digg]

One of our readers called it in our comments on the original story: ten people have been fired from Sacramento's KDND 107.9, including several on-air personalities. The names of all ten have not been released, but it seems the parent company, Entercom/Sacremento, is working quickly to handle any issues of liability.

Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of rumors surrounding the water-drinking contest that resulted in the death of Jennifer Strange, including one that a nurse called into the show to inform the disc jockeys and contestants that what they were doing was dangerous. All we can say is that we hope this is resolved quickly and, for the sake of the family, disappears into the void of old news stories.

A California woman's death is being linked to her participation in a radio contest, the grand prize for which was a Nintendo Wii. Preliminary autopsy results indicate that 28 year old Jennifer Strange died of water intoxication. The contest? "Hold your Wee for a Wii." Contestants were given water at regular intervals in a no-pee-allowed endurance contest, and all to get their hands on a hard-to-find console.

It seems fairly obvious what happened -- though we're not sticking out any pointy fingers of blame -- and the preliminary autopsy report is consistent with what seems as clear as the proverbial bell. Ms. Strange drank too much water too quickly, and she died. Not from "holding it," either. Water poisoning is a very real thing. Ingesting too much water can cause an imbalance in the body's electrolytes; in fact, this is one of the motivating factors behind the existence of the sports drink market.

The death of Ms. Strange is horribly tragic, and it's unfortunate that she will be linked with the Wii by doomsayers to whom no topic is sacred. But there is a real question regarding what measures the radio station took in this case to prevent any problems, and it's been reported that Jennifer Strange spoke of not feeling well before leaving the contest. We have yet to see any comment from Sacremento's KDND 107.9 on the matter.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]