Wii in Singapore

Many people had hoped that the drop in USD exchange would cause imports to be cheaper including Wii games. Sadly this isn't true for Wii games and the game console.

Wii was launched in April 2007 in Singapore. One had to pay S$649 (about USD424) to get the game console bundle which is bundle with 3 games (Wii Sports and 2 selected games which include not so popular games like Shrek 3, Spiderman 3). In July 2007, the price of the same bundle increase by S$10 to S$659. Customers usually pay another S$70 for an additional Wiimote and another S$40 for the Nunchuk. So the total bill worked out to be S$769.

For S$30 (USD21) more customers can get a state of the art real next gen console like PS3 80 Gb model (with a wireless six axis controller!!!). Customer does not need to buy any bundle games. They can use it to play the state of the art Blu-ray movies, DVD or music CD. It can even play DivX movies and MP3. Ps3 customer can also download demo games from Sony network for free!! (Update: Its no longer worthwhile to buy PS3 in Singapore. On 24 Apr 08, Sony raised the price of PS3 by USD 35. Now the price of PS3 is more expensive than that in the USA

Quality PS3 titles cost S$10 to S$15 more than quality Wii titles. But the extra price is worth it. PS3 customers are greeted with high definition graphics and solid online experience.

Lots of fantastic games are lined up for PS3: GTA4, MGS4, GT5, FF13, RE5, and maybe SF4.



Lots of fantastic games have been released on Ps3: COD4, Assassins Creed, DMC4
.

But where is the lineup for Wii games?

Some quality Wii games have been released in the past. Mostly from Nintendo. A Wii Bestseller GH3 is available on the PS3 and Xbox360, and they come with much more enjoyable online experience.

USD exchange rate has fallen by more than 13% over the past 12 months against S$. One would expect to see the price of Wii console bundle to fall corresponding to about S$570. However this did not happened. The price of the bundle is very resilient and refuses to budge.

The sole distributor of Wii games in Singapore is Maxsoft Pte Limited. There has been posting on various forums that it is more interested in protecting enforcing Nintendo corporate rights i.e. copyright laws. In the past it has taken swift action against sellers of a type of special catridge which allows Nintendo DS users to play downloaded games.

Sadly Nintendo customers in Singapore are neglected. Nevertheless Maxsoft does appears to be bother by it so long as they enjoy the increase in earnings brought about by the favourable exchange rates.

And to add insult to injury, the games here are much more expensive than in the USA.

Wii has much more inferior graphics and functionality than its next gen counterparts. It has been repeatedly slammed by game critics for its online capability and lack of a larger storage space. Does customers deserve to pay such high price for such a system? Its a matter of time before Xbox360 and PS3 comes up with their version of the innovative controls. And its a matter of time before more and more fantastic PS3 games are released onto the market.

When Canon sells its printer, they price it very cheaply. Sooner or later, customers have to buy ink catridges from them. On the other hand, after customers buy a Wii console, sooner or later they have to use it to play games. Because they can't use it as a DVD player to play DVD !!