With the Wii being harder to pick up than that scruffy stuffed rabbit in a crusty funfair grabbing machine, it’s no wonder unscrupulous retailers have decided to cash-in. Instead of offering the console on its own, a number of stores also require you to purchase one of their games bundles. The problem being that despite offering a (small) discount on the price of buying them individually, a lot of those games will be poorly-reviewed, average titles you wouldn’t normally give a second glance.

Now Nintendo are voicing their disapproval of this cheeky consumerist practice because the price of these bundles has the disadvantage of making the Wii sometimes look more expensive than the PS3. Nothing is more expensive than the PS3.

“Retailers have already been given feedback that we are not big fans of that. We think it masks some of the price advantage we have versus our competition and, frankly, the consumer should decide what they want,” Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime stated the other day. You heard him. Sort it out.

Looking at various big name websites gives us an example of just how the public gets shafted. Toys R Us’ cheapest Wii package is £250, forcing you to buy three distinctly average games: Ratatouille, Cars: Mater-National, and Carnival: Fun Fair Games. An extra tenner gets you a Sports Pack (pointless plastic peripherals to jam on your Wiimote) and the choice of three games that aren’t really much better (Santa’s really pooped in your stocking with titles like The Ant Bully, Surf’s Up, and Rampage: Total Destruction).

But if Santa deposited an unwelcome Christmas log with that last bundle, he’s been storing up the vindaloo laxatives for Gamestation’s bundle. Two of the absolute worst games to appear on the Wii - Ninjabread Man and Billy the Wizard (and Big Brain Academy, which is alright), three extra selected (i.e. rubbish) games, that useless Sports Pack, and a 1GB memory card (handy). The price? A stupid £350.

Game wisely keep it sensible. Their second cheapest bundle has the Wii Play and extra Wiimote for £218. Which is sensible since you’re most likely going to get a second controller anyway, until you realise it’s more expensive than buying Wii Play separately online. Standing above that, Game’s cheapest contains Sonic and the Secret Rings for £205. OK, but it’s no Mario Galaxy, is it?

HMV, Zavvi and Gameplay have stopped advertising altogether it seems. Amazon aren’t selling directly, but their Marketplace is full of greedy merchants selling the Wii at a ridiculous markup. A lot without bundles, sure, but it sort of defeats the point a little. A big hand, then to Play.com who sell the Wii completely naked for a good old £180. If there are more out there, remember: we don’t need or want Far Cry Vengeance with our new Wii.

Now whether those retailers have sold out or not, that’s a different story.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 2:29 am by James Lyon
Hardware, Merchandise, Misc news.