Wii piracy in China is serious business
And we're not being sarcastic at all. Apparently, when the Wii was introduced into the market in Shanghai, it retailed for a price of 3,000 Yuan, which comes to about $388 USD (we could be wrong, apparently there are different types of Yuan over there). Shortly after that, the consoles started showing up with modchips built into them and Japanese consoles imported into the region dropped their price to 2,100 Yuan, which is about $271 USD. Even worse, pirated games could be found VERY cheap over there, only costing 10 Yuan, or little over $1 USD.
The price for a console over there has shot back up to 3,000 Yuan again, which is likely due to the demand for the system being skyrocketed by the cheap solutions the piracy scene offers over there. This, of course, will definitely attract Nintendo's attention, hopefully causing the company to take action. But really, what action can they take?
See also: Wii circuitry changed to thwart modchips?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
hvnlysoldr @ Apr 3rd 2007 2:20PM
High grade explosives. That'll show that gopher who's master of the golf course.
Andrew Hsieh @ Apr 4th 2007 12:36AM
It's not just that. The usual fake-Wii eBay auctions are even more prevalent over there than in the Western Hemisphere. It's really, really bad. :/
Mikkaworks.com @ Apr 4th 2007 2:11AM
I was in Shanghai 2 days ago, and the Wiis there were priced at 2500 Yuan with a wiikey modchip. So not as big a pricehike as the article would have you believe.
I was so close to buying one, but decided to wait for an american one. I found this page http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?mode=hybrid&t=67936 with translations of some of the menus though - so might take the plunge anyway. Figure don't really need the online stuff too much, and might be able to figure out how to use the japanese opera.