Europe gets screwed over again

In the world of the entertainment business, Europe is the poor cousin of the US and East Asia. TVs are much more advanced and cheaper elsewhere. Earlier this month, Sony effectively gave Europe a kick in the teeth by delaying the new Playstation until March 2007 after promising a worldwide launch in November. Despite the population of the EU being greater than that of the US and Japan put together (462m vs 300m + 128m) - and that's without non EU countries - our traditions of different taxes and even more annoyingly, different languages, ensures we get the thin end of the wedge everytime.
Today it was Nintendo's turn to bend us over. The new Wii console's launch has been anonunced around the world over the last few days. On Tuesday, it was launched in Japan with a price of ¥25000 (£113). Yesterday, it was America's turn - $250 (£132) but this included the Wii sports game that the Japanese wouldn't get. Today it was Nintendo of Europe's turn. Most people were confident we'd see a price between £130 and £150. Unfortunately, Nintendo decided to go with €250 (£168) and £180 for the UK Now firstly, why is our version so much more expensive than the US - it's £35 more for the same package! Secondly, Why do we Brits have the privalage of paying £12 more than the Irish, French and other European countries? For the last year, Nintendo have been trumpeting the fact that the Wii was going to be the machine that got "non-gamers" into gaming; a machine that anyone, young or old, could pick up and play with straight away. The unique controller was at the heart of this as was the fact that it wasn't as powerful as the new Microsoft and Sony machines, therefore it could be a lot cheaper. Now we have got to the point where it's only £20 cheaper than the xBox360 and once you've factored in another Wiimote (£40) - after all, this is supposed to be enjoyed by the whole family - there's very little to choose between the costs. Nintendo dropped the price of the Gamecube just before it's UK launch, but a repeat of that will be seen as Nintendo admitting they got it wrong.

After Nintendo's arrogance over it's #1 position in the 90s it's now only #3. Sony's supply problems gave them a big chance to gain ground , but it seems (especially in Europe) they've missed something of an open goal. Personally i intend to stick to my guns on this one and import a machine the the US - after our success with importing our DS Lites from Australia (which would have been an easy import from Japan if it hadn't been for stock shortages) it seems like the only way to go as even if it get's hit by customs it'd still be £20 cheaper than our native model. And available 3 weeks earlier.