Nintendo Wii: A Lesson in Delayed Gratification
I consider myself fairly content. All of my basic needs are met, and there are very few things that I really want. I am a recovering techno-gadget guy who around the turn of the century enjoyed acquiring the latest toys such as a Walkabout pager, a Palm Pilot, and a laptop computer for home and travel use. The only one I even remotely used was the laptop, but even it eventually wound up on an eBay auction to pay for a couple semesters worth of textbooks.
Guitar Hero III and Wii Sports Finally Convinced Me
I remember when the Nintendo Wii first came out. It was billed as an interactive game complete with flying remotes and Wii Nunchucks, I’m still not sure what those are for. At the time I was happy with my plain old XBox game system and exactly one game, NCAA Football 2007. Besides, with a full time job, a part time job, and two kids I found little time to play much of anything. And so the Xbox sits, collecting dust and becoming more and more obsolete each day.
Image credit: clipeuh94
As the Wii grew in popularity so did those who said it could be the next “family entertainment” device. Yeah right, I thought. They will never get kids and parents (and even grandparents) all playing the same machine. I was wrong. Today the Nintendo Wii is the center-piece of many family’s in-home entertainment. I have heard friends mention participating in Wii family bowling tournaments, burning calories punching some air with Wii boxing gloves and now you can even pluck away at a guitar playing Guitar Hero III. Nintendo Wii’s latest product offering is Wii Fit, which features a balance board and several body measuring metrics used to track your weight, BMI, etc. Playing Wii Fit games burns calories and helps to lower those statistics. Does this thing wash our cars, too?
Paralysis by Analysis
Over the next several months I read product reviews, customer ratings and played demo models of the Wii in Sam’s Club a few times (OK, more than a few times). After resisting the marketing hype for months I must now confess I am generally smitten with the Nintendo Wii, and I think our kids would have a great time with it. Perhaps we could even work it into our frugal family fun nights. A reader told me her family has Wii game nights instead of going out for food and movies and her family’s entertainment budget has dropped significantly. After all, it only takes a few visits to restaurants and movie theaters to pay for a Wii.
So Why Wait?
Worldwide shortage of Nintendo Wii units notwithstanding, I just don’t believe in rushing out and buying anything on first impulse. My grandfather has always given the advice to walk away from stores, car lots, etc. and sleep on it. Trent advocates a ten-second rule. Well, I’ve been sleeping on it for several months now.
I don’t think that’s what he meant! However, I do believe it is important to delay major purchases like a game console because it takes some discipline to save up and pay cash. We decided to open a subaccount at ING Direct labeled “Nintendo Wii” and automatically transfer $20 a paycheck, plus any extra money we scrape up, until we have enough to purchase the Wii and Guitar Hero III game. Based on current prices that means we’ll need to save around $300. At that rate it will take four or five months to be in position to buy the Wii, but that is fine with us because during that time Nintendo will probably solve some of their supply issues, and when demand slows down a bit, or when Sony or Microsoft put out a new product, Wii prices will be reduced. Sometimes it pays to move slow.
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Ahhhh, we went through the exact same thing FD! Welcome to the dark side! We ended up buying Guitar Hero III too, and since then the only game I’ve bought besides Mario Galaxy is Madden 08, which I haven’t played a lot yet.
M and I love playing GH3 together, and I can’t think of any other game where that would happen.
We also want a Wii. I’m thinking that we’ll get it as one big family Christmas gift this year. That gives us time to save, and if we do the big family Christmas gift, that reduces toy gift clutter.
(The grandparents will supply plenty of toy clutter.)
I have one and I love it, I think you won’t be disappointed.
I love the idea of using this approach (thinking about it for at least a month or two, forcing yourself to save for it versus charge it) before making major purchases. There have been so many times I’ve rushed out and bought (ahem *charged*) something on a whim only to regret it later…
We got our Wii a month after launch and we’ve been loving it since day 1. I recently completed Super Mario Galaxy and now we’re waiting for our reserved Wii Fit to arrive.
We bought the Wii before our baby arrived, back when we were still flush with money. I would probably still buy it today if I hadn’t already and now I would be forced to use your savings method. I’ve been doing that with saving up for a new bike and I’ll be buying one very soon.
We would have never bought one if we had not scored such a great deal through Craigslist. It has been great for our family and I am sure by the time you guys have gotten your money saved that the kinks will be ironed out and who knows? Maybe the prices will have dropped and people will be on to the next thing. Then you can score one for even cheaper!
I won an Xbox 360 at my company Christmas party and played it incessantly for the first month. Now I hardly play at all.
If you think GHIII is awesome, you should play Rock Band. I don’t know if I’ve ever had more fun in my life…well, maybe. It’ll be my next big purchase, for sure.
BTW - thanks for commenting at A Good Husband. I’m also glad to find you, and I’ve added you to my RSS.
I’m thinking about getting one for the big family Christmas present. The problem is that we have a tiny TV. I just don’t want the Wii to make me have to buy a new TV!
You have impeccable timing. Super Smash Bros came out last month and Mario Kart is going to be out in a few days! I don’t play single player video games anymore, so these two social games are the only ones I play with my wife and son.
@Ron: I know many people who have bought bigger televisions to support their new game systems. Don’t fall into that trap!
@cory: Thanks for stopping by - sounds like you are a big Rock Band fan. Is that the one where you can play a variety of instruments? I would do much better with a drum than a guitar!
@Amy: Good call on Craigslist. I looked at our local listings this morning and found one for ~$200 - does that seem to be the norm for a used system?
@Caveman: I like the idea of saving up for things, small or large. The majority of our credit card debt was racked up on small purchases (< $100) because I thought, “I’m not creating a savings plan for that - I’ll just charge it and pay it off.” Famous last words!