The Great Hunt For Nintendo Wii

[TAWP]

Have asked around in several shops here in northern Bangkok and been quoted [or, the wife has, to avoid farang-price and BS] prices between 13K and 19K, but no shops seems to acctually have them.

I fear they all rely on side form of import-middle man from some of the other markets (Japan or US), since Thailand (or SEA at all) isn't mentioned by Nintendo in any release-statements, only US, Europe, AUS and Japan...

So...to cut it short: Any reliable shops have these small wonders in stock, to what price, and from what region?

Will try to travel down to the IT-market (Pantip) and hunt around, but with it's multitude of stores and floors it takers a full day and with a newborn I don't seem to get that much time off...

[hernik]

Have asked around in several shops here in northern Bangkok and been quoted [or, the wife has, to avoid farang-price and BS] prices between 13K and 19K, but no shops seems to acctually have them.

I fear they all rely on side form of import-middle man from some of the other markets (Japan or US), since Thailand (or SEA at all) isn't mentioned by Nintendo in any release-statements, only US, Europe, AUS and Japan...

So...to cut it short: Any reliable shops have these small wonders in stock, to what price, and from what region?

Will try to travel down to the IT-market (Pantip) and hunt around, but with it's multitude of stores and floors it takers a full day and with a newborn I don't seem to get that much time off...

Try MBK 6th floor, seems to be a couple of shops that deals in Wii (Japanese imports)

[lingyai]

I was quoted 12k when I was at gameshow 2007 this past weekend. The shop was located in MBK I can't remember the name though

My only problem with the Wii is that it is not really as cheap as it appears. Extra controler is 3k...but it doesn't stop there. There is also the dongle to buy....and also the old standard 6 button controller to buy if you want to play many older games...and of course you need 2 of each.

A Wii is about the same price as an Xbox 360 when it is all said and done.

[phazey]

and of course, you can't get GoW on a Wii

[solo siam]

Games are region locked, US Wiis are selling for 50%+ more than Japanese ones.

[davejones76]

Games are region locked, US Wiis are selling for 50%+ more than Japanese ones.

Yeah I saw em at MBK 6th floor too. 15k for Jap ones and 30k (!!!) for US.

BUT

My mate said his sister bought one the other week for 99 pounds in Sheffield, UK!!! You could think about doing that and getting it fed exed over...

[TAWP]

The problem is...twofolded:

- What are the most common regions of the games sold here? Thought about getting one from .eu - but the obious lack of any games here for that region...

- I presume the Japanese games are non-translated?

[Kenn]

Does anybody know where I could get myself a Wii points card? They dont seem to have them in the shops around here, I need one for my American system (to download Mario Kart of course).

Play-Asia.com does not have them so I tried to order with VIDEOGAMESPLUS.CA since they would email the code, however they just cancelled the order as they do not ship to Thailand (dudes it's just an email).

Thanks for any suggestions.

PS: You cannot but them through the Wii shop channel either as they do not accept credit cards with a billing address in Thailand.

[bkk_mike]

I doubt very much that a Wii was bought for £99 in Sheffield, unless it fell off the back of a lorry. The retail price is £179.99 in the UK, and they're still very hard to come by... - just look at http://www.wiigamereviews.co.uk/wii_stock.aspx - everywhere's sold out.

If you don't want to pay over the odds in Thailand, I think you need to wait until they're generally available easily in other countries, then you'll find the prices in MBK drop to being a lot closer to the regular ïnternational price (i.e. the Japanese or US price with a small adjustment to cover for the fact they've had to replace the 100v/110v power supply with a 230v one).

At the moment though, the price is very much "what they can get away with", just like it is if you look at amazon.co.uk (amazon has no stock, but the marketplace shows several shops selling for quite a bit above retail).

Personally I got one in the UK (lucked out - ordered it online from a site that had availability for a whole 9 minutes), but I have no issues with picking up games as I go back and forth a lot for work, and could get it delivered to an address in the UK, and still have UK credit cards to order Wii points with (although there's only 2 N64 games available for download so far).