Yet, the launch price here is 269.99, which works out at $350.

Better still, in the UK, for a Wii + 1 game, it's going to cost £219.99, or over $400

Oh dear.

US$270 is pretty damn close to US$250.

I just hate the international markup. It's AU$400 here; which is slightly more than the exchange rate. We managed to get the DS for a decent price, so I don't know why they marked up the Wii. Games are ultra expensive too; AU$100 each :(

Cheap games and consoles are a mighty fine benefit to living in the US of A.

You have to remember, the price of the console is not measured by dollars all across the world, but by the average earnings of people from that country. Pulling a decent sounding figure from the top of my head it seems fair to guess the average American earns $25,000 a year, maybe more, maybe less but I doubt significantly so. The average wage in the UK is around £22,000 iirc, so really, the pricing is not particularly unreasonable.

average US income is about 35,000$/year... but keep in mind that's not exactly an accurate picture because people ~20 years old aren't going to be making anywhere near that, normally. the average is bumped up by old farts makin' more.

I WOULD ONLY GET IT IF IT WAS 199.99

I just hate the international markup. It's AU$400 here; which is slightly more than the exchange rate. We managed to get the DS for a decent price, so I don't know why they marked up the Wii. Games are ultra expensive too; AU$100 each :(

I was talking with a few of the guys at my local Games Wizards; I've known a few of them for quite some time. They seem to think the Wii is priced a little higher in Oz for two reasons:

1 - The PS3 is delayed.
2 - Christmas is coming.

I happen to agree, but I still think its quite a reasonable price and Nintendo will get away with it, no problem. As far as video games are concerned I've gotten used to paying a hefty price tag for titles. All the popular new releases for PS2 are $100 as well.

I was talking with a few of the guys at my local Games Wizards; I've known a few of them for quite some time. They seem to think the Wii is priced a little higher in Oz for two reasons:

1 - The PS3 is delayed.
2 - Christmas is coming.

I happen to agree, but I still think its quite a reasonable price and Nintendo will get away with it, no problem. As far as video games are concerned I've gotten used to paying a hefty price tag for titles. All the popular new releases for PS2 are $100 as well.

What fucked up country do you live in that charges more than $50 for a new PS2 game?

What fucked up country do you live in that charges more than $50 for a new PS2 game?

The latest releases are popular... so lots of new releases for the PS2 are expensive in Australia. Most new releases float around the $70-75AUD mark (so say $60 US), while some can hit the shelves at "Platinum" pricing from the get go ($49.95AUD). But some of the big names get marked up to $99.95AUD. Not too long ago I spent that much on copies of Kingdom Hearts 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. That's just how it is...

The price difference is ridiculous when it comes to games. Play Asia sells the Australian version of Xbox 360 games when they're region free (as 'region-free' Asia) for $53-$65. These are games that cost $100-$110 in stores.

And like Mr. Bunniesworth says, our PlayStation games are still ridiculously expensive. I saw Dirge of Cerberus advertised on Play Asia for AU$30; and it's going to launch here next week for $100. I'm almost tempted to mod my PS2 to play import games (and Final Fantasy XII is a big part of that, too), but I don't really know how much longer my first-gen PS2 will survive.

The price difference is ridiculous when it comes to games. Play Asia sells the Australian version of Xbox 360 games when they're region free (as 'region-free' Asia) for $53-$65. These are games that cost $100-$110 in stores.

And like Mr. Bunniesworth says, our PlayStation games are still ridiculously expensive. I saw Dirge of Cerberus advertised on Play Asia for AU$30; and it's going to launch here next week for $100. I'm almost tempted to mod my PS2 to play import games (and Final Fantasy XII is a big part of that, too), but I don't really know how much longer my first-gen PS2 will survive.

Well I have always been a big advocator of supporting your local video game reseller. And I know those guys in some of those humble stores really don't make a hell of a lot of money off the sale of a new title; so I fork out the money quite happily to be honest.

Like I said, I've known the guys at what I like to call MY local Games Wizards for several years. So every once in a while they'll toss me a few games at cost-price or fetch me something from the back that isn't on the shelves for a few days, and its all good.

I always thought it was pretty ridiculous that I could import a new title for about $30 AUS less than it would cost me to buy it at EB Games or whatever and get it about 4-5 months before everyone else here (if at all). That mod chip payed for itself pretty quickly...

I always thought it was pretty ridiculous that I could import a new title for about $30 AUS less than it would cost me to buy it at EB Games or whatever and get it about 4-5 months before everyone else here (if at all). That mod chip payed for itself pretty quickly...

No doubt. I just can't bring myself to do it quite honestly. I'm a patient man, and thus far I've only ever had to wait for something that I really want game-wise, rather then miss out altogether. With a bit of a push I might go down that road if I eventually need to, but thus far, though its not ideal, I get by quite happily. Ah anyway, we're slowly drifting off-topic... yay for Wii :-).

Cheap games and consoles are a mighty fine benefit to living in the US of A.
And yet you're always telling ME to move down THERE?

When they were talking about the Wii being less than $250, they were talking about the most important gaming market to them, America. Not Europe or Australia

And yet you're always telling ME to move down THERE?

When they were talking about the Wii being less than $250, they were talking about the most important gaming market to them, America. Not Europe or Australia

You know what, that is very true... but in all honesty I think Australia is very much overlooked in this regard. Australia has a similar demography to the US in many regards, and I think the prevalence of video games here, and the taste in video games here are generally similar to the US (proportionally).

Lots of successful corporations (international and domestic) use Australia as a small testing ground when rolling out new products. That way, they can assess their strategy in an isolated sandbox, and ensure that any problems they encounter occur on a smaller and more manageable scale. Its definitely great practice and allows companies to iron out the kinks in their approach before launching into the US market.

If you ask me, companies like Nintendo should cash in on that a little more. Instead, what tends to happen is companies launch their new consoles in the US right off the bat, and the problems they end up facing over there carry over to us (and the other subsequent countries as well), putting everything on hiatus for everybody.

Granted. The US is a far more important market because there is so much more money to be made there. But Japan and Australia are very very close geographically and economically; why can't we share the same release date for things? At the very least it would give Japanese companies a little bit of time to see how a western market responds to their stuff.