1) Do you know there are more PSP than DS owners in Singapore?

2) Do you know that Wii is the most expensive console in Singapore (and perhaps most Asia countries)?

3) I bet you know Nintendo has no local presence and no local releases in most Asia countries.

Base on the above 3 points I'd like to announce this big irony. (hopefully Nintendo do something)

Just a look on the subway(MRT) in my little country, you'll see PSP users far outstrip DS users. It could be because ladies are still not picking up gaming in my region. And guys here still prefer graphics over innovation gameplay, e.g. talking into the DS microphone.

In Singapore,

- Wii costs S$659

- PS3 costs S$559

- XBOX360 Arcade costs S$429 (Pro costs $620, Elite costs $799)

Can you believe this biggest irony? Because I can't. That's why I bought my Wii from the US.

The underlying reason: Nintendo is not here, it chose to release its console and games via 3rd party distributors. On the other hand, Sony and Microsoft has a very big presence in Singapore, and they released consoles cheaper than US here. Yesterday I was walking past this popular gaming shop Funzcentre and was puzzled why there were so many boxes there. It turned out that there are 100 new 40GB PS3 consoles inside, and the boss told me it's just 1/3 of his pre-orders. The price: S$559. My jaws dropped, PS3 is cheaper in Singapore than US, how can it be? And it comes in white!! And this is just from 1 shop! From this week onwards, Wii became officially the most expensive console in Singapore.

In fact, this was not the case when it was first released. XBOX360 costed more than S$600, while PS3 was released at S$799 and the Wii was only S$499. So it was originally the cheapest. But after some price cuts from MS and Sony, things became upsided down. When Wii came to Singapore early this year at S$499, it was already S$100+ more expensive than the US price. The local distributor, Maxsoft, is charging a premium to us. Then, after a while, perhaps realizing that their lousy Wii games are not selling, they forcefully bundled 2 games with the Wii at $647 and force it down to the retailers. Mind you the games are not Mario Party 8, Rayman, Metriod stuffs. They are Shrek 3, Spiderman 3, Sonic, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pokemon, games that nobody buys. The price S$659 came because Singapore raise the GST tax from 5% to 7% in July 1st. Another thing, their warranty for the DS and Wii is only 3 months. 3 months!!!

Thus many parallel importers are able to make big bucks in Singapore because of that stupid official price. They import US sets because Singapore has the same region code as US for Wii. That's the only good thing.

Just 2 weeks ago, one electronic store advertised that it will sell Wii at S$499, and all the 40 units got snapped within a few hours. Bottomline, if you want XBox460 or PS3 in Singapore, buy here. If you want Wii, get it from the US.

Maybe Sony owns a factory in Singapore thus they can reduce the price? Maybe because Nintendo's console is in serious shortage, they take advantage to make more money???

Anyways, in many European and other countries in the world, Sony is still first place.
A fine example, my own little PES08-brainwashed country.

The problem is simply supply... and Microsoft and Sony have the opposite problem, namely demand...

Back in October, Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, said that that as they have barely enough Wii's to meet existing demand, the Wii will be brought to China next year. He also said the company needs to work with Chinese game developers to create games suitable for the Chinese market.

Yeah, Nintendo's lack of a presence in Various Asian Countries really hinders it's ability to promote and sell it's consoles the same way it does elsewhere in the world. But that's changing now. It's opened in Korea, and I do believe the DS is doing quite well there right now.

I'm sure that over the next few years, you'll see Nintendo using it's giant wads of cash to mobilize in new regions. But until then... Yay imports!

40GB PS3 is $399 in US, so Singapore is not cheaper.

Somehow it does sound funny, that Wii tops 360 and PS3 with it's price.
I believe Wii isn't officially released by Nintendo in Singapore? Shitty price, and even shittier with bundles (although i don't think Sonic+Pokemon bundle is bad).
Btw. also in Finland Wii is more than 100$ more expensive than in the US, but i think we make more money than you in Singapore.

@ omgwtfbbq

Hey hey, US$399 is more expensive than S$559. The Singapore price includes tax, the US price doesn't. Alright, every prices in S'pore are GST included.

@ bdbdbd

Sonic + Pokemon are games nobody wants here. We already got shops selling them brand new at half the retail price yet the stupid distributor wants to bundle them in.

Wii is not officially launched in S'pore by Nintendo. But there is an official local version with the pack-in local 220V power and local warranty. The distributor Maxsoft is the sole distributor with Nintendo license in Singapore.

Well, I can accept the price S$499, but not the stupid S$659.

So, I am guessing Wii shall become the least owned system in S'pore. As I said, somehow my fellow countryman prefer graphics over innovation.

Similar situations in other Asia countries?? Outside Japan and Korea particularly.

clouette said: @ omgwtfbbq Hey hey, US$399 is more expensive than S$559. The Singapore price includes tax, the US price doesn't. Alright, every prices in S'pore are GST included. @ bdbdbd Sonic + Pokemon are games nobody wants here. We already got shops selling them brand new at half the retail price yet the stupid distributor wants to bundle them in. Wii is not officially launched in S'pore by Nintendo. But there is an official local version with the pack-in local 220V power and local warranty. The distributor Maxsoft is the sole distributor with Nintendo license in Singapore. Well, I can accept the price S$499, but not the stupid S$659. So, I am guessing Wii shall become the least owned system in S'pore. As I said, somehow my fellow countryman prefer graphics over innovation. Similar situations in other Asia countries?? Outside Japan and Korea particularly.

Well according to Google, $559 in singapore dollars = $385.41 in US dollars. Didn't know about the tax though. The gap is quite small, however.

 

@Clouette: I forgot that you didn't have an alternative to those bundles.
Well, that was just me, who was thinking Pokemon+Sonic being a good bundle.

It at least is offial distributor. I wonder what is thinking, propably would make better money overall, if bundles would be optional. I hope Wii Sports is included? If it's not illegal, maybe someone starts to import without official licence? Since it looks like someone could make good money with it with current prices.

The Wii is only in soft launch statue not offical launch yet due to the lack of supply causing the high price, i think. The wii also have other game randomly bundle. By the way it is sold out in the first few month due to high demand/ lack of stock.

And Psp is only selling so much because of its "high profile" ability to pay illegal download game as promoted by many shop will the "can play download game" label.

By the way i bought mine at S$499 from some shop that unbundle and sell.