Subscribe for every post
Say hello on Twitter
Like us!
Watch our vids!
After the initial joyous statement from Nintendo USA that the Wii would be region free (up to publishers to choose region lockout), grumpy old Nintendo UK boss then says NON, it’s not region free :(
If that is the case, then maybe it’s time to consider importing?
BUYING A CONSOLE
Here’s a rundown of the console prices from various regions:
UK – £179.99 for the console etc PLUS game (Wii sports)
AUSTRALIA – $399.95 for same package as UK/USA
USA – $250.00 for console etc PLUS game (Wii sports again)
JAPAN – Y25,000 for console etc (no game)
Now for some currency conversions (I`ll round up to nearest £5 to be fair):
UK £179.99
AUS £165 – save £15, at least the same as postage from Oz so not too bad.
USA £135 – save £45, yikes thats a fair bit.
JAP £115 – save £65, Arrg thats not fair (even though you don’t get Wii sports).
BUYING GAMES
Hmmm, ok – next up lets look at game prices:
UK – £34 to £39
USA – $50 (1st party games)
JAP – Y4800 (1st party games)
And the conversions (rounding up to nearest pound):
UK £34 to £39
USA £27 – save at least £7, cheaper in USA once again
JAP £22 – save at least £12, soooper cheap!
So it looks like quite a saving could be made from importing, although I`d like to know more about how buying online games works (is it region locked or credit card based?) before trying it.
It’s a shame the UK seems to be getting overpriced once again, understandably there are shipping costs and VAT to consider, but if I remember correctly Nintendo did quite a decent job of Gamecube prices last time around – importing games tended to be more release date related than price (although maybe they reduced prices to combat FreeLoader users importing games?).
Hopefully more details on region-locking and so on will emerge over the next few weeks, to help potential importers make up their minds. I`d personally love the machine to be region free like a DS, so I could play my import Cube games on it.
Nice article! Way to go.
Remember, Japan and Australia are both PAL, but buying from Japan means dealing with all that… well… Japanese text and speech and stuff. Plus, now that I think about it, I’m not [i]entirely [/i]sure about that one…
But Australia is just like us Irish and British! As far as I know, buying DVDs there work perfectly here, so I assume the games are the same set up! Wee! Cheap games.
But honestly, even without importing, I am soooo getting a Wii!
Arg! Screwed up the italics in my last comment! Man, I am so bad at htlm stuff. I can only use the buttons to do it for me on my own blog. Heh.
Anyway, sorry ’bout that ugly looking [i]…[/i] in my last comment… which I just realised should be this? (Ok, I have no idea if that works until I press “Submit Comment”, so either you’re all seeing a successfully italicised “this”, or I’ve screwed up again!
yep Australia is indeed PAL like uk, Japan however is NTSC like the US (Japan and USA also 110 volts, whereas OZ is 240volts like UK – just th plug looks a bit different).
Yeah, the customs fees are the kicker. Seems like they’re getting more efficient these days as well – don’t know anyone who’s imported a gadget in the past 12 months and not been charged customs/import tariffs.
By then it’s practically same price as buying it over here :( At least if you buy here then faulty goods are easy to exchange.
you really need to import via a friend in another country – that way they can disguise stuff easily. That said I got my PSP from japan via ebay with no custom fee, just depends how its described i guess.
Could always plan a weekend break to New York or Tokyo I guess ;)
Yo, if you want to import, I could send you a Wii as a “gift”… But I really don’t want to stand in a queue at launch, so it’d have to be well after. Not keen on braving those Christmas crowds!
Thanks for the offer, Brin. I’m all right. I don’t even have a TV at the moment so a Wii wouldn’t be much good to me.
Oooooh – i may take you up on that offer :)