By Stevie Smith Jan 2, 2008, 12:56 GMT
Despite Nintendo making its dislike of Wii bundles more than clear to retailers as it strives to preserve the console’s ‘cheapest available’ label, not all major players are paying attention. Indeed, last week saw Costco roll out a fresh Wii bundle offer and this week retail giant Toys "R" Us has revealed a gargantuan bundle that certainly doesn’t fit Nintendo’s low-price ethos.
Toys "R" Us criticised for its $700 USD Wii bundle. Credit: Toys "R" Us.
The new bundle offer, which consists of the standard Wii and 10 third-party videogames, has seen the American toys and games specialist subjected to overt criticism, not by Nintendo, but by gaming Web site Ripten.
Slamming Toys "R" Us for rising "above and beyond the call of corporate greed," Ripten writer Chad Lakkis accuses the retailer of attempting to take advantage of the current sway of consumer interest generated by overwhelming seasonal demand for the Nintendo Wii.
"Toys "R" Us is not bundling, they are banking," exclaims Lakkis, "banking on the fact that consumers want the Wii console, and will be willing to buy all the crap sitting in their warehouse as well just to get it."
And, when inspecting the Wii bundle, its 10 games, and its monumental $700 USD price tag, perhaps Ripten and Lakkis have a valid point. Beyond the standard Wii hardware package, consumers willing to spend $700 USD will receive the following Wii titles: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe; Transformers: The Game; Bee Movie Game; Crash of the Titans; Dewey’s Adventure; Zac & Wiki: Quest for Barbaro’s Treasure; Raving Rabbids 2; Geometry Wars: Galaxies; Petz Dogz 2, and Soul Calibur Legends.
The opinion piece then goes on to outline that the cumulative price of the 10 pieces of software, when aligned with the Wii hardware itself, is exactly the price attached to the overall bundle – which shatters the usual penny-saving dynamic bundle offers present to those consumers not entirely sure they should commit to a sale.
The site also slaps Toys "R" Us for not offering more quality in its offered 10 games – which are not open to flexible selection – claiming that only one (Zack & Wiki) is worthy of inclusion based on generally poor review aggregation connected to the others.
As a way of reinforcing his damnation of Toys "R" Us, Lakkis then reveals various customer comments left on the retailer’s Web site, which he believes confirm that the apparently best-selling bundle is "nothing short of a ripoff." These comments see seemingly unimpressed consumers saying that the games included "are rather low quality," and that the bundle is "just a way to get rid of stuff that isn’t selling."
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