my dad got hooked on the wii when he was visiting me from china. he's back there and just recently bought a wii.
the wii is not officially released in china. before i make a comment on that, first on how much he paid for it. exchange rate is 7.72 yuan per $1.
Wii console, + wiimote, nunchuk, + wii sports (identical to US version): 2200 yuan --> $285.
wiimote+nunchuk set (don't know individual pricing): 600+ yuan --> $77.7+.
Sounds fair. No, the reason for the wii not being officially released in china:
for 300+ yuan (about $39), you can get your wii come with a preinstalled modchip. i'll let you in on the best part of our conversation:
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Me: Oh, so, you're paying the 300+ yuan so that you can play the pirated games.
Him: No, no, no. I'm paying the 300+ yuan so that I can play the games that other people copied on regular CD's. Those are for sale for only 10 yuan! ($1.3 US)
Me: ... Uh, I think you call those "pirated games".
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Piracy is so rampant in China people don't even know the meaning of a pirated game! Yep, Ninty won't be officially releasing consoles in China for a bit longer.
One more note: those Wii's are probably smuggled in. you go to a store, pay UP FRONT, and pick up the console a couple days later. they don't put them up on the shelf. actually, according to my dad, there's a factory that assembles Wii's nearby, so some Wii's might have leaked out also.
Since he bought the Wii and showed it off in front of relatives and friends, they have bought 7 Wii's. Well, at least Ninty makes a profit on each hardware distributed, smuggled in or not.
the Wii is an epidemic.
