Taoyuan Nights

The Nintendo Wii is finally about to reach Taiwan officially! (maybe)

I’m basing this on the reports at Digitimes and elsewhere, that read: “Nintendo’s Taiwanese distributor ‘Hakuyu’ has stated that the new Wii system will fail to make it to the market any time before the Chinese New Year in February.” I also interrogated the staff at a few branches of a major electrical store (3C), and they suggested they expect their stock of Wiis to arrive during the Chinese new year period.

So far, all that has been available here are Japanese or US import models - and getting your hands on one of these a month or two early has come at a pretty high price - anywhere from a 25 to 100% markup, depending on which model you want.

Despite the fact that the Wii is very thin on the ground, I’ve seen them hiding in a few small gaming shops, and a few weeks ago, I even saw people playing with a Wii on a huge projector screen, in a cordoned off area bang in the middle of the Taipei Main MRT station. When I’ve finished celebrating Chinese new year, I’ll dig out a picture.

Meanwhile, in Taoyuan, we have a ‘gaming school’ (and store) near the city centre. They have two Wiis set up outside with two controllers each, a giant flatscreen TV and the best Wii games available - Rayman: Raving Rabbids, and Wii Sports. You can find this store very near the middle of town, and it’s a great place to go if you want to get some hands-on experience playing on the Wii.

Starting at the train station, go forward over the first crossroads immediately outside the station, past “Idee”, and then turn right at the next crossroads (where there is an under-street pedestrian tunnel). Go straight up this street, passing “Nova”, and take a left at the next big crossroads. Walk ahead till you see the store on your left.

So, a total of 5 minute’s walk from the railway station will see you at the door of the store, opposite “Ali Baba’s Indian Restaurant”. Just remember: straight on, first right, first left, and it will be on your left hand side. The store’s name is: “Kukanemoto Game Classroom”, 03-331-0088, www.tastegood.com.tw.

The store also has imported Wii’s available for purchase: 10000TWD for the japanese import; 16000TWD for the US import. There will not be much room to negotiate since stocks of Wii’s are so thin on the ground just now. It’s 1700TWD for games; 1000-1700TWD for extra controllers, which I guess is reasonable compared with extras for the XBOX360 or PS3.

Alternatively, if you are prepared to wait a few more weeks, you may start to see Wii’s showing up in stores like 3C, priced around 8000TWD (according to the 3C staff members I spoke to…). But you may face a long and boring Chinese new year without one.

In the meantime, if you find yourself unable to Wii for a prolonged period, it may comfort you to know that simply walking around Taoyuan can make you feel like you’re in some kind of computer game. Take this street for example, near the police station and bus stop…

Giant pointy bits of metal, waiting to drop. It’s just like playing Tomb Raider.