Buying a Wii

[Brad]

I bought one at launch but sold it abut a year later due to there being no proper games coming out. Since then a fair bit has emerged that I want (Metroid trilogy, Galaxy 2, Monster Hunter, NMH2, new Zelda on the way?).

Anyway, bit out of touch with all things Wii so a few questions:

1. Any point buying a US or JPN Wii?
2. Where's the best (cheapest) place to buy one (I don't want Wii fit or Sports resort etc.)?
3. Are any games you buy from the Nintendo store tied to me in some way or the console?

Cheers!

[egparadigm]

I personally think it's almost pointless importing a US machine. If you want to import US titles you can either use the softmod to play via Gecko OS or permanently mod it to the US firmware. If you're not bothered about region, the european versions almost always support progressive scan. The only other reason is the VC which can often be 50Hz only; I believe WiiWare is the same as NTSC. You can set the shop region independently of the firmware.

The downloads are tied to the machine.

Oh, and importing US games comes with a right sting thanks to the poor exchange rate.

[Brad]

Thanks Pat. Right, so, time to source a deal on a PAL Wii then. The black ones look nice but I have a white gamecube controller that'll match an original white model nicely.

So a Wii can be softmodded to play imports if necessary?

[egparadigm]

Yes – AnyRegion Changer for permanence (this can be used also to select shop region, I think) and Gecko OS on an ad hoc basis.

[sj33]

^Just to add, there's an application called StartPatch (v4.2.6), which works on Firmware 4.2 and allows region free Wii and GC games as well as channels. I have GeckoOS installed too, but I've not needed to use it at all since using StartPatch.

[Brad]

Thanks chaps. Looks like it's pretty easy to brick the Wii though so I'll probably stay well clear and keep it legit.

[JP]

If you do end up getting a Wii in the next few weeks let me know and we can exchange console codes to get 500 Wii Points free. Unless of course you know somebody else with a Wii who signed in online for the first time in less than 30 days before you did.

It's only 500 points but hey, it means you get an N64 game for half price.

[Brad]

Wii got!
The black one was too tempting. Grabbed Monster Hunter + Classic Pro with it.

John, you're on.

What has surprised me is that since I got rid of My Wii a couple of years ago I expected the Virtual Console to have way more titles than it has. It *seems* to not have expanded at all! Must be my mind playing tricks I know.

[JP]

I probably made it sound like you can only do that with one person but you can of course do it with anybody as long as it's within 30 days of them first taking it online.

I've found a few new games to buy on there but you seem to be right about it being fairly quiet on there. The WiiWare stuff seems to have expanded quite a bit though.

I've got my eyes on Musha on the VC as I've never played it and it comes highly recommended by pretty much everybody.