Afterthoughts on Making Wii Wii

Kirby, veteran (and cutest) fighter from Super Smash Brothers
photo c/o SSBB website

This post is more than a year late. With the Nintendo Wii becoming yesterday’s news, the iPhone is now the news breaker as the dawn of a new technology revolution has begun.

I’d like to dedicate this post to write a bit about my hands on experiences as a Nintendo Wii owner and using it in the Philippines, especially in terms of some epiphanies in the price myth:

By far, the Wii has become the more attractive choice for gamers mainly due to the price factor. The Playstation 3 is definitely overpriced and games are much harder to find and the XBO 360 has that bad habit of heating up and exploding in your face (we live in a tropical country).

EDIT: PRICE UPDATE:
The cheapest Wiimotes I have seen cost around P1,800.00 with the nunchucks at P950.00 at Celtex in Greenhills. A set will bring you back by around P3,000.00. You will probably want three extra Wiimotes for maximum enjoyment. You don’t really need four nunchucks.

However, contrary to the belief that the Wii costs P20,500.00 [English version] in your friendly neighborhood DataBlitz outlet (or about P14,500.00 [mostly Japanese versions] in a more shady and undisclosed flea market location), expect to shell out a lot more to maximize the Wii’s potential. You will have to shell out an additional P7,500.00 for three more controllers (average price I have seen for the Wii-Mote is P2,500.00 and P1,500 to P1,800.00 for the nunchuck). If you’re in a financial fix, it would be advisable to buy the controllers first and then the extra chucks later as most multiplayer party games like Mario Party 8 and Wario Ware Smooth Moves do not need a nunchuck to play.

Kirby kicks Wario in the nuts | sneak peek into Super Smash Brothers Brawl

You will have to shell out a little less than P1,000.00 for a dual volt 110 – 220 adapter as the Wii comes in a 110 volts. One plugging mistake will cause you to pee in your pants and say bye bye to your Wii (pun intended).

So as not to spend for extra batteries, Wii rechargeable batteries cost a little less than P500.00. A Wii / Gamecube controller costs a mere P450.00 if you are in the mood for games that do not require the motion sensor action such as the upcoming Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Assuming you buy your unit from DataBlitz and you actually want to complete the four Wii-Mote + nunchuck set, you will roughly spend the following:

P20,500.00 for Wii + one Wii-Mote and Nuchuck + Wii Sports
P10,500.00 for 3 extra sets of Wii-Motes + nunchucks (at P3,500 for the set, the cheapest I have seen)
P1,000.00 for the dual volt adapter

Wow, that’s P32,000.00. It’s actually more expensive than a Playstation 3 at P30,000.00 – also the cheapest I have seen. What does this information tell you?

It simply tells you that I’m such a geek. It simply tells you that … NO, I haven’t completed the four controllers – and I don’t have plans to do this anytime soon. I have … what people call, priorities. Haha! I’m stingy like that. Geek Chorus will be having Nintendo Wii Nights though so more info will be available on that soon.

Note that I have not factored in the Wiimote dock for the chargers, the rechargeable batteries, as well as other doohickeys such as protective casings, bag, USB fan, etc.

Rico of Fool45 playing bowling. I apologize for the small television.