Brazilian Wii To Cost Over $1,100

According to a Brazilian gaming website, the Wii will be available from certain stores who are legally importing the product through "official Nintendo channels". The stores will be charging R$2,399 which translates to around $1,124 or £590! It seems the excessive import costs and other "marketing, warranty and support" costs are to blame for this incredibly inflated price point. The following has been loosely translated:

"The new console of the Nintendo will arrive at the Brazilian store for R$2.399, 00, and its arrival is promised for only one week after the launching of the device in the United States. The cost of the Wii for the store will be R$1.399, 00.

The difference of prices, however, will not be the profit of the store: this final price makes possible the store to facilitate venda to the consumer (making parcelamentos, for example), beyond involving incidental costs of importation, among others.

Although the high price, the consumers can feel insurances how much to the product quality: each Wii will have three months of guarantee and assistance official technique through Metropolitan importer. The product still will have manual of instructions in Portuguese."

One of our Brazilian readers, Marcos, stated "You don't know how I wished to be born in other country. A Wii game will cost R$300 (over US$100)." and it seems its not only Nintendo that's the problem, "here in Brazil, the XBox 360 cost R$1800 (US$840)."

It all sounds like a pretty sticky situation over there, so if we learn one thing from Marcos it that things could always be worse.