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What is happening with Nintendo of South Africa? Fact or fiction? You decide!Sunday 10 Dec 2006 Over the past few months there have been a couple of events which have brought the following question to the minds of South African gamers, ‘what is happening with Nintendo of South Africa?’ Fact or fiction? First and foremost is the fact that, despite their website claiming that the Wii console will be available shortly after the European launch on the 8th of December, South Africa is yet to receive any stock of the Wii. I am sure that everyone will recognise the fact that the Wii is a cash cow, just waiting to be ridden in to pasture. The Wii console is bound to sell well in South Africa, in fact it is bound to sell out. Now what could possibly stop Nintendo of South Africa from selling the Wii? One could argue that Nintendo of Europe have not allocated stock to sell in South Africa and this is the reason that we are not getting Wiis, because Nintendo of South Africa’s hands are tied and there is nothing that they can do to secure the console for us now. A lot of people believe this rumour. However, others are of the opinion that Nintendo of South Africa are not getting the Wii because they are losing their right to distribute Nintendo in South Africa, that or they have given the dealership rights up. Rumours are rife There are a couple of other things which seem to reinforce this rumour. But let’s start at the beginning. As most of you will be aware, Futronics (which is a division of Panasonic) are in charge of distributing Nintendo in South Africa. Last week Nintendo of South Africa sent an email to all of its subscribers advertising jawbreakingly good specials on its products. If you wanted to get your hands on a DS Lite you could do so for a mere R1000, which means they essentially dropped their price by R500. Some viewed this as crazy, others as cool, but to most people it was the confirmation they were seeking about Futronics either losing or giving up their Nintendo dealership here. The fact that only 40 DS Lites were available is not unimportant either, it means they effectively sold out of their DS Lite stock in a matter of hours. To me this came as no surprise because I had been seeing DS Lites in stock in Toys ‘R Us and Reggies, which was the first time these had been available in retail shops. I thought something was fishy with Nintendo supplying the shops that had, famously, previously not supported them. The fact that these shops also had stock of recent games, something which has never happened in the past, was also suspicious. So what are they up to then? The answer is simple, or so it seems. They are getting rid of their stock. For what reason? You decide. The forums have been rife with speculation about why Nintendo have not brought the Wii to South Africa. And these online specials have added fuel to the fires. Some claim that their Nintendo contacts have confirmed that Futronics will no longer distribute Nintendo in South Africa, but this remains to be confirmed. Rumours have been circulating that Mustek is set to take over the distribution rights. The weeks ahead are bound to be entertaining with so much buzzing going on. We can only wait, and continue posting on the forums! Stay tuned for more information.
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