Nintendo Wii Games - same everywhere?

November 4, 2007 8:31 AM

Nintendo Wii game filter. A friend from England is staying with us in Virginia for a few days and wants to buy a Wii to take back with him

The simple question is, are all games for the these systems the same world-wide? Will a game purchased in the UK work on a unit from the States? Any why is there such a shortage of these units when places like Best Buy have stacks and stacks of PS3's and X-Box 360's?? It's not as if the Wii is new or it's the week before Christmas, so why the apparent shortage? Is it just something done by the manufacturers to drive up demand (again)?

posted by 543DoublePlay to sports, hobbies, & recreation (15 comments total)

The Wii is region locked. The main regions are Europe, North American and Japan. If you friend brings a NA Wii back with him, he will have to import all of his games.

The only way around this currently is a mod chip, but I don't know enough about those to comment.


There's never really been a reliable supply of Wii's in a lot of parts of NA, it appears they are still selling quite quickly. The 360 is also selling well in NA but the ps3's sales are not doing so hot.
posted by utsutsu at 8:36 AM on November 4, 2007

No, unlike nintendo's handheld consoles (DS, GBA) the wii IS region locked

the release dates in europe are disappointing, but there is not a lot anyone can do except petition nintendo to speed it up

the wii has been in constant demand, and has never been incredibly easy to find. PS3's aren't being bought as much as sony hoped, and the 360 has been out long enough that production is under control.
posted by Iananan at 8:36 AM on November 4, 2007

he will have to import all of his games.

Which might be cheaper than buying them in the UK.
posted by smackfu at 8:54 AM on November 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

another upside to importing from the US, he'll get games well before they're released in europe.
posted by Oktober at 9:18 AM on November 4, 2007

He'll also need a TV that supports NTSC signals. I'm told that that's pretty easy to come by if the TV is less than ten years old, but that's worth bearing in mind.

Also worth bearing in mind is that he'll be hard-pressed to find a Wii that isn't purchased secondhand from a scalper.
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:26 AM on November 4, 2007

The "apparent shortage" is simply that it's selling extremely well. The oversupply of the competitors is because they aren't.

It's because the majority of console customers are like you are, and want the Wii instead of the XBOX-360 or PS-3.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:28 AM on November 4, 2007

Seconding the NTSC thing. The UK uses PAL TV, and a USAian Wii is going to be NTSC only.

Plus, I know that PAL TVs plugged into American electricity have a slight flicker because of framerate vs. voltage frequency (50 fps vs. 60 Hz). I would imagine that NTSC in the UK suffers the same problem, in reverse.

Generally, I wouldn't recommend what he's trying.
posted by MythMaker at 9:30 AM on November 4, 2007

Last I heard the Wii was outselling both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 by far, so the problem isn't artificially low supply but just a lot of demand. I think the Xbox may have recently overtaken it again with the release of Halo 3, but it also had a year head start on the Wii.
posted by chundo at 9:54 AM on November 4, 2007

I'd also recommend against taking a NA Wii home to Europe, but there is one advantage to doing so. North American Wiis are keyed to the North American version of the Virtual Console, meaning that your friend would be able to get most VC releases early (that is, most VC games are released in NA before Europe). He may need a North American-based credit card to buy Wii points though (not sure about that).

Also note that new versions of Wii firmware disable Wiis that use mod chips, turning those $250 boxes of fun into big white doorstops.

I'd actually recommend your friend pick up a DS or GBA if he wants to bring home some games not out in Europe. I understand that there are still some GBA and DS games that have been out in NA for quite a while but still aren't available in Europe, and Nintendo's handheld games are not region locked.
posted by Servo5678 at 9:06 AM on November 4, 2007

Wiis are not directly available from amazon.co.uk and the cheapest non-amazon seller offers it for 289.99 GBP there , but you can get a Wii from amazon.de in Germany for 248.89 Euros (roughly 177 GBP).

So why doesn't your friend get somebody to translate for him (or her) and order it in Germany?

Paying by credit card is not a problem and shipping inside the EU doesn't incur any tariffs. Just because the UK is not inside the Euro zone doesn't mean that one can't buy on the continent.

Your friend will get the same European Wii Sports bundle as in the UK. It is available for immediate shipping and they do ship to the UK.

The language can be changed to English. The video standard is PAL. It has the 230V standard power supply and a two prong plug that fits in many European sockets, but converters can be bought in any store that caters to travelers. (I would just snip of the plug and screw on a UK one form the DIY store.)

Or your friend can get it from the French (amazon.fr) amazon website if a translator is available more easily. Or find a different supplier in another EU country if your friend knows any of the languages. But finding a German should by easy near any tourist attraction whatsoever.

I would even hazard that ordering something from amazon.co.uk and amazon.de in parallel should yield useful results since the layout looks to be identical.
posted by mmkhd at 9:25 AM on November 4, 2007

Overclockers have them for £270. (only £90 over the RRP lol), if he wants one he should order quick - prices are rising fast - I got mine a week ago for £223
posted by missmagenta at 10:33 AM on November 4, 2007

I live in Paris and I've been using a U.S. Wii since the beginning. The price of video games in the EU is outright extortion, and with the weak dollar it's worth the trouble of getting games imported. A few things to keep in mind:

1. You'll need to get a 220-110V stepdown converter. The Wii runs on very low power so a small inline one will do.

2. If you have a friend in the U.S. have all your games shipped there. Then have him/her remove them from the packaging and ship them to you in CD sleeves in a padded envelope (be sure to mark the customs form as a "gift" worth less than $35 in value. You forfeit insurance on shipping, but that's the risk you take. Personally I've never had a problem. With all this it's still WAY cheaper than buying in Europe, especially if you buy a few games at a time.

3. PAL games will absolutely not work on an NTSC Wii. I use my Wii on a projector, but I don't think the TV matters much nowadays, especially if you are using RGB output to an LCD screen.
posted by DefendBrooklyn at 2:34 PM on November 4, 2007

I know plenty about chipped Wiis.

And yes, he can buy a North American Wii and play both PAL (Europe) region games and US region games, along with the third region, JAP (Asia), if the system is chipped.

I recommend WiiKey.

If you're looking for a full service solution, or some kind of help, email me.
posted by SlyBevel at 5:32 PM on November 4, 2007

Re: DefendBrooklyn above: PAL games will absolutely not work on an NTSC Wii.

I play PAL games on my US Wii all the time. Works fine. But again, that requires chipping.
posted by SlyBevel at 5:34 PM on November 4, 2007

People are still looking for Wii's? Blimey. I might just sell my barely-used one...
posted by electriccynic at 1:39 AM on November 5, 2007