Which Wegion Wii?

[Nerdfury]

Hi, fellow gamers!

I made the mistake recently of getting myself a Wii from eBay. A deal that sounded too good to be true really was - the 'deal' was a Wii and 28 games for $640 AUD and what I wound up with was a Japanese region Wii and 28 pirated games - the Nintendo Japan decided not to include English as a language option and, well, I'm not a fan of such large-scale piracy.

So here's my question - I got my money back, and plan on getting a more legit Wii. I thought about just getting an Australian one, but should I get a UK or US one instead? As I understand Nintendo, this means that I will have to import games as US and UK Wiis will not play local (Australian) games (is this right?) but I can import games earlier and cheaper than to get 'em locally.

So, what it boils down to is this:

- Will a US or UK Wii play Australian games or vice-versa? Or if I get a US Wii will they all have to be US games?
- Will I have any issues with internet connections, downloading games from the store or firmware if I have a US Wii in Australia?
- Finally, what about power conversion? Will I need to? How do I? Do you just get a converter and plug adapter from your local electronics place?

Or should I just get a local one and wait fourteen years for each game to come out here?

Thanks in advance for your wisdom!

 

[Goofonian]

To answer the questions I know the answers to......

There isn't much point getting a wii from the UK. Aus and the UK are both pal regions so an aussie wii should be able to play any games you decide to import from europe. Aus tends to get releases around the same time as europe anyway you would end up paying more if you pay in pounds.

Whether to get a wii from the US is a much better question. Since the US dollar is so weak right now, it will be a heck of a lot cheaper both for the system and games, and the US gets pretty much all games much much earlier.
The downside is that the US runs on a different power grid, so as well as buying a US to AUS plug adaptor, you will also need to buy a 240V -> 115V transformer so you don't blow the thing up. This is not an entirely trivial expense, and it can be a hassle to have to lug an extra power brick around if you move your console with any regularity.
Also, you are quite correct in assuming that a wii from the US will not play local aussie games, so you will need to import everything. This isn't such a bad thing since play-asia and others are generally awesome. But it is worth considering.

As far as logging onto the nintendo network and system updates and what not, I have no idea. If someone could answer that with confidence then I think we will have covered all your questions.

Good luck with it!

 

[Nerdfury]

To answer the questions I know the answers to......

There isn't much point getting a wii from the UK. Aus and the UK are both pal regions so an aussie wii should be able to play any games you decide to import from europe. Aus tends to get releases around the same time as europe anyway you would end up paying more if you pay in pounds.

That basically decides that for me. No UK Wii, then!

Whether to get a wii from the US is a much better question. Since the US dollar is so weak right now, it will be a heck of a lot cheaper both for the system and games, and the US gets pretty much all games much much earlier.

That's what I thought! Excellent..

The downside is that the US runs on a different power grid, so as well as buying a US to AUS plug adaptor, you will also need to buy a 240V -> 115V transformer so you don't blow the thing up. This is not an entirely trivial expense, and it can be a hassle to have to lug an extra power brick around if you move your console with any regularity.

I don't transport my consoles anywhere, and if I did I wouldn't consider that too much effort. I note that you're a Melbournian - does Dick Smiths or Tandy stock these?

Also, you are quite correct in assuming that a wii from the US will not play local aussie games, so you will need to import everything. This isn't such a bad thing since play-asia and others are generally awesome. But it is worth considering.

Is that a hint of personal experience? Because if so, that would be awesome in confirming my theories. Play-Asia has a pretty decent supply of English US games as well as Asian ones, so I should be right. Right? Is there ANY downside to me buying a US Wii?

 

[x434343]

-looks-

For sale, rental, and use in USA, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America. Hmm. That's open to discussion.

 

[Goofonian]

I note that you're a Melbournian - does Dick Smiths or Tandy stock these?

yes, dick smith definitely does and I'd imagine tandy would too. You can spend between $40 and $250 on a transformer depending on how much power you need to run through it.
Fortunately the wii runs on about 20W, so you should be able to get away with a cheap 25W transformer.
Be careful not to plug anything else into it though. The xbox360 and PS3 run between 150-200W, so if you wanted to import one of those you'd need to get a 250W transformer which would cost you more like $150. Although those consoles are region free, so you could buy an aussie one and still import the games without a problem.

Is that a hint of personal experience? Because if so, that would be awesome in confirming my theories. Play-Asia has a pretty decent supply of English US games as well as Asian ones, so I should be right. Right? Is there ANY downside to me buying a US Wii?

Yeah I tend to buy games from play-asia instead of retailers for the reasons I explained above. The postage to melbourne is usually only a few bucks so the only downside is that you have to wait a couple days for your games to arrive.
That said, I don't import wii games. I bought my wii in aus cos I'm lazy so I usually just wait till the games are a couple months old and pick them up when they're on sale.