DigitalBattle.com

With Wiis flying off the shelves, some retailers have taken it upon themselves to  by only selling them in bundle packages. I myself purchased a Wii from an FYE store in New York City a few weeks ago only to be informed that I had to purchase either two games or an extra controller and a game in order to buy the console itself. Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, has spoken out against retailers taking this approach. Part of his statement is completely unsurprising. He states that this artificial inflation of the price of the console masks the price advantage Nintendo has over their competitors. He also said that the consumer should be able to decide what they want, which makes sense considering the Wii was designed to be much the same as some of the original Nintendo systems: playable right out of the box whether you buy more controllers and games or not. These retailers should also be warned that continued business tactics of these kinds will incur the wrath of Reggie, as he stated when questioned about possible action against these stores: “We don’t have to remind retailers of the strength we have right now. We are simply making an observation and that reinforces our point quite nicely with retailers.” Translated into plain English, that statement says: “Hey guys, as you know, the Wiis will sell out no matter what stores we send them to, so if you don’t play nice, you won’t be getting any more”.