source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/12/25/for-the-chinese-wiis-are-plentiful-this-season/

BEIJING — China might lack safe water and air, but it does have something the United States lacks: Nintendo Wiis. In fact, CNET recently chronicled a reporter’s failed quest to find the infamous Wii just before the holidays. But in Beijing, finding a Wii isn’t difficult. Shortly before Christmas, I strolled through a random section of Beijing and curiously walked into a video-game shop. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Wii selling for about $300 USD. When I asked the clerk how often the Wii is in stock, he said almost every day — although he only carries one Wii at a time. The console sells well, he added, although not as well as the Xbox 360. To make sure this wasn’t a fluke, I walked into another store just a few doors down. Sure enough, the Wii was being sold there as well. Now, I guess the Wiis at both stores could have been fake (after all, it’s China), but I like to think I have a keen eye for spotting the real thing. You can be the judge by scrutinizing the photo above. The clerk even offered to demo the Wii for me inside the store. When I asked if I could play American games on a Chinese-branded system, he said this particular Wii already had been hacked to play games from every region. Wait, region-free? Right out of the (apparently opened) box? Wow. Considering that the majority of China’s citizens care more about feeding their families than their Wii Sports scores, I’m not surprised that Wiis are easy to find in Beijing. But that doesn’t mean China has completely escaped the cold, harsh reality of western commercialism — including the United States’ obsession for the Wii. To illustrate, everyday since I’ve arrived, I’ve seen more Christmas displays in Beijing than I’ve ever seen in New York City — and Christmas isn’t even an official holiday in China.

So many directions for this thread... What do you make of China having widespread available Wiis? Are these "fake" Wiis, or is this just a fake article, or is it true and the Chinese have been buying the "surplus" Wiis from somewhere and hacking them? If Nintendo hasn't launched in China yet, what will happen when they do if these other Wiis have been available for so long and obviously aren't flying off the shelves as fast? Are they just waiting for the chinese version?

its not officially launched there, so its not possible

well wii's are too expensive for the poor chinese people?

Neos said: its not officially launched there, so its not possible

They are obviously hacked and imported Wiis, so it is possible.  (Or ripoffs of the original)

Yeah, it's not launched in China. $300 is a lot of money for a system, of course noone is going to pay more than retail price. I'd imagine the official version will be considerably cheaper by the time it's launched.

kirby007 said: well wii's are too expensive for the poor chinese people?

 1200000000 may be more poor than the average Western citizen, but that still leaves 100 million people with more money to spend on videogames than I do. Generally Chinese people - even the poor - have very much money - in PPP - saved up, but they are not used to spend it all like "we" are.

If they only have 1 wii in stock at a time, can they really be said to be "plentiful"?

Incidentally, according to the IMF (2006), China is ranked 86th out of 179 in PPP per capita. That's 1 place below Algeria.
It's gonna be a long time before China becomes a significant market for videogames, even with a population that is so large.

Played_Out said: If they only have 1 wii in stock at a time, can they really be said to be "plentiful"? Incidentally, according to the IMF (2006), China is ranked 86th out of 179 in PPP per capita. That's 1 place below Algeria. It's gonna be a long time before China becomes a significant market for videogames, even with a population that is so large.

 I dont agree with you. It still has around the population base of Japan with enough purchasing power to be potential video game consumers. When they do an official launch they can easily adjust the prices to a level where many of the "Middle Wongs" can afford it. Since it is produced over there they wont have any problems with the logistics.  

the same thing is true in the Philippines. Every electronic shop has a Wii available. It's imported (likely from japan) and hacked, and it's usually priced high enough that no one local would possibly be able to buy one. It's basically just to attract attention.

I'd bet dollars to donuts that they're just hacked Japanese Wiis.

Their were reports that people were buying wii's from Japan in the summer. Back when you could find them in japan they probably just shipped their surplus over to be modded and sold.