Wii Europe

[Lee-yoshi]

I hate Halo, and own a 360, i hate MGS & FF, and so a PS3 is pointless lol, but somehow all of Nintendo's franchises seem to rule, except maybe LoZ, i think that's now a bit over hyped - I might still get it, but probs the Gamecube version. In the end i guess ill still be pre-ordering Wii as soon as possible, but i won't at all be happy about the simple fact that we have to pay £40+ more than the Americans for a worser product! It's all to do with taxes? Tax my ass! Europe has always been ripped off, so why should Nintendo want to make a change eh? -_-

[Beat X500]

It can be argued on sales alone that X360 is a one game console-Halo 3, seeing as Halo 1+2 total sales outsold the remaining top twenty Xbox games. Who isnt waiting for Halo 3? Halo 3 will sell buckets of 360s.

I love Halo, but I didnt buy my 360 for one game. Im pretty sure the majority of the 360 community didnt either. There are tons of worthwhile games on the 360 that are exclusive, but to go into it would be off topic

I was really looking forward to a Wii though, but looking more into it, I just cant see myself using it to its full extent. There arent a whole lot of games I want to play, Virtual Console was the big selling point for me, but I might wait out on it and see whats released, say 6 months after launch until I make a decision.

[jarl]

As a UK resident, i was truly looking forward to the Wii. Sure, revolution was a better name, but apart from that i was perfectly happy with the Wii and it would have been on my christmas list- i figured that at the current exchange rate, the announced price of $250 in america, the wii would end up at about £130ish. How ignorant i was then, as it appears that the UK have once again got nailed on not only price, but also release date. Release date im used to, however, and it would be out before christmas, so i wasnt very worried. What i didn't forsee was that we would get charged £50 more than other countries when it was released. That would have been forgivable, if it wasn't for the fact that it was also revealed that Nintendo was making a profit on its consoles. I'm not an expert in this field, but i was under the impression that normally the console was sold at break even price, and the profit made on the games. however, it seems Nintendo have done what they do best- they went against the flow. Normally, this is a good thing, but this time i'm afraid you just lost a customer. Probably a lot more than me, in fact, who will just sit in front of their computers staring at the ridiculous price, too stunned to complain.



sent that to nintendo. awaiting reply.

[Hrith]

Wii will be region free, Nintendo themselves said so.
But game developpers are free to choose whether or not to make their games region free, that's the catch.

I say this is way to expensive, and forcing us to buy Wii Sports when no one gives a shit about that crappy game = fuck you, Nintendo.

[Starman]

I thought Wii sports comes free?

[jarl]

LOL! theres NEVER a free good. even if you pay nothing for it, there's still the cost of making it, that the manufacturers foot. in this case, nintendo will not be footing the manufacturing cost of wii sports (why would they?) which can be prooved by the fact they're making a profit.

anyway, the eagerly awaited reply:

Dear Customer, thank you for your e-mail.

I am sorry that you feel disappointed but Nintendo have no control over the amount of import duty that is imposed, the sales tax (VAT) that is imposed, the transport costs to get product here from Japan, the distribution costs to individual retailers or the amount of profit margin demanded by them. These have to be paid by someone and unfortunately it is the customer

Kind regards,

Your Nintendo Team

[Lee-yoshi]

An expected response jarl, i could have told you they'd say that! I even said that in my previous post in fact! lol It's just a shame that it doesn't make any sense and all it really means is that to Nintendo, Money & Profit > Customers Maybe there's a possibility of a price drop pre-launch alike the Nintendo Gamecube which dropped a fair percentage in price just days before getting released.

And Kefka, no you're right, the American & Japanese Wii's are region free, you are correct (According to Nintendo of America), but PAL/European & Australian (etc...) Wii's are region-locked, completely and utterly, which just makes this all the worser

I'm annoyed at myself for thinking i'm still gonna be getting one on release, even though i'm gonna be getting ripped off the second i walk in the store - They'll probabily charge me for handling fees and postage and packaging when i walk into the store and buy the console!

[jarl]

This reply worries me slightly- I assume that you factored in the cost of transport, profit margins, tax, etc. on the american launch. Why then do english people pay 40% MORE than the americans, when the americans are paying a mere 17 odd % more than the japans? Admittedly, when you look at the price of wii sports (about $40) then the price that the americans are paying is generous, and for the english it begins to make sense (heck, its only about $30 more than every other country). However, i expect that a large proportion of wii users would prefer to be able to choose the game they get with the console. Paying extra (especially about £30 extra) for a game the you will play rarely at best doesnt seem such a good deal, but if it was a game you would enjoy, i suspect that many people would find the price justified, as i'm sure people who adore wii sports and wait eagerly for theirs do. For the rest of us though, we find it offputting. At best.



The saga continues.

[Anti Hacker]

It's not often about pleasing people, it's more often about finding out how much a product is worth. If the seller knows they are slightly ripping people off, they won't mind as long as they still make the sales. Nintendo must be pretty confident right now, then...

[Hrith]

I heard the Wii would be region-free at the NoE conference, so I thought... *shrugs*