Japanese Wii accesories turn up at Fry’s, reveal other colors
Sunday, June 17th, 2007 at 7:43pm by デール
Since I’ve been home from school, my Mother has given me the assignment to buy her a Wii, should I find one at a local store. While checking Fry’s for the elusive system I was confused when I saw two rows of both the classic controller, and the wiimote, each with different packaging. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the smaller boxed packages were Japanese imports, being sold for the same price as their US counterparts.
Why? Chances are when the Wii launched, the game-buyer for Fry’s knew that accessories would be hard to come by, and decided to order extras from Japan in order to pad the stores stock and prevent them from running out. In fact, when the PS2 was released there was a similar shortage of memory cards for the system, but you could still get Japanese ones at Fry’s for no extra cost.
In this case though, what’s important about the Japanese packaging is that written in roman character’s under accesory’s name is the word “shiro” or “white,” in Japanese. Thus this packaging is a pretty definite giveaway that other colors for wiimotes, and even classic controllers are on the way.
June 17th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
It was kind of assumed since E3 2005(? I forget the years) since they showed off the Nintendo Revolution in many different colors and the remotes as well.
June 17th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
ummm, or maybe they were just labeling white because, well, they’re white; it’s WAY too close to launch for them to even be close to releasing new colors, imo…sorry?
June 17th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
I really want a different colored classic controller!
June 17th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
I think this in no way implies that there are different colors. Looks like we’ll just have to wait til E3. I’m not buying another Wii just for the color anyway. If some other tasty features are unveiled for the new colors only, then I’ll have something to think about.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Yeah… I don’t think it’s really any more of a sign than already just assuming that there’ll be new colors anyway… I don’t exactly remember, but it seems like the Gamecube controllers came out in other colors fairly quickly after launch… but like I said, I don’t really remember.
I’m all for it, though. I already have three Wii-motes, so maybe I’ll hold off until more colors pop up to buy more accessories… but I’m definitely expecting to wait a LONG while.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Oh, and I’d also like to say I’m quite satisfied with white as it is… although a nice sleek black would be great for a Wii-mote.
June 17th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
White is neat, but, A black Wiimote and a black nunchuck with a black control stick would be cool
June 17th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
well if i remeber they had that Purple and clear controller since day one fore the cube. and that orange one right?
so that makes a purple or black cube on launch with four differnt colors for the controllers.
how long did it take for the silver one? like a year right?
I think (and this is only casue i want it to happen) that at E3 there will be new color Nunchuks and Classic controllers plus i guess Wiimotes but no new console
June 18th, 2007 at 1:15 am
The white label on the japenese box does not specifically imply other colors coming. In fact the case that Wii comes in to the stores have on there (White w/ Wii Sports) or something to that effect, and it has been like that since launch. So all Nintendo has done has pre-labeled the products for if/when more colors come out.
June 18th, 2007 at 9:25 am
The cardboard packaging on the Japanese accessories is the same as the packaging here in the UK, is the US packaging the plastic shrink wrapped stuff to the left of the picture?
June 18th, 2007 at 9:47 am
The fact that it says “white” means there’s an entry in the Nintendo database for “color” — meaning the possibility exists that Nintendo will make new colors someday. They’re definitely thinking about it, else they wouldn’t have wasted the column. Will it happen? Only if demand surpasses the cost of making a new SKU.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:57 am
If I remember correctly, the other colors for the GameCube’s controllers (other than purple and black) didn’t come out until about a year after the GC launch! Right??
June 18th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Pretty nice assignment… shop for a Wii all summer. Sounds fun! Happy hunting. I’ve heard Walmart shipments come in on Wednesday mornings, but I don’t know how frequently.