Nintendo Wii Fanboy

See that look? Yeah, well jerk, that's the exact look Reggie Fils-Aime is giving you right now, should you happen to be one of those retailers forcing consumers to buy bloated Wii bundles.

Chatting to Reuters, Reggie stated that Nintendo was "not [a] big fan" of the practice, and pointed out that bundling the Wii in such a manner "masked" the price advantage enjoyed by the console over its rivals. Not that high prices seem to be putting many people off, but we certainly see his point.

Reggie also said that retailers had been informed of Nintendo's displeasure over the matter, before ominously adding "We don't have to remind retailers of the strength we have right now. We are simply making an observation and that reinforces our point quite nicely with retailers." You tell 'em, Reginald.

[Via Go Nintendo]

Over at the always entertaining UK: Resistance, resident jaded cynic Cmdr_Zorg has a few strong words to say about certain UK retailers, specifically those who refuse to play fair when it comes to the increasingly rare Wii.

The source of Zorg's chagrin? That said merchants are now using the insane popularity of the Wii and crippling shortages to flog desperate consumers bundles which are, to put it charitably, a load of old bumwash. Electronics chain Dixons is one of the culprits in this growing trend, with its cheapest Wii bundle clocking in at £350 ($725). All have sold out, presumably to people who would normally have lol'd heartily at the idea of buying Smarty Pants.

Admittedly, some of the bundles being offered by Dixons contain titles that every one of us should own, but that's not the point: let us make those decisions!

After a tour of the country last year, Indian President Abdul Kalam described the Philippines as a "smiling republic." Wherever he went, Kalam was met with smiling faces. Well, you'd be grinning too if you saw how cheap their games are. Thanks to the black market, popular Nintendo Wii titles are priced as low as $5 in some shops. Piracy has become so widespread in the Southeast Asian country, even Sony admits that most of its Playstation software sold in the Philippines are bootlegged copies.

Filipino site GameOPS found that many stores also offer modchip installations. For about $51, you can have your system hacked to play these counterfeit games at the local mall or market. Furthermore, some shops advertise console bundles, selling imported and modded US Wiis with five copied games of your choice for around $450. Similar deals for chipped Xbox 360 systems with 10 pirated titles are actually cheaper at $388.

With such a high level of piracy already in place, Nintendo will have a lot to work against when -- or if -- it decides to finally launch the Wii in the Philippines.

... and another Matthew Lesko picture to summarize our feelings. Tipster HexiJosh was spot on about the last TRU Wii hoard, so we have no reason to disbelieve him now when he tells us that Sunday, March 18 is the day to queue up. Still, we're marking this as a rumor just to be safe.

He says that Toys R Us stores are getting even larger shipments this time than last time-- his store is getting a minimum of 12 systems-- and that TRU is planning to sell them bundled with Sonic and the Secret Rings. We hope these bundles don't cost full price-- bundling is only fun when there's a discount involved, and even then it's kind of annoying.

But complaining about bundles misses the point, which is HEY THERE ARE PROBABLY GOING TO BE SOME WIIS FOR SALE. Plan your next weekend accordingly!

[Thanks, HexiJosh!]