AskDong

I own a Nintendo Wii. I got it a little over 8 months ago. While given the overall success that Wii has enjoyed, it’s not that much of surprise that many bloggers own the Wii. However, I’m still taken aback by the love the Wii has gotten. Some like JD at Get Rich Slowly even gave one away. While I’ve been aware of the Wii phenomenon, it truly struck me when I saw MoneyNing’s post on how his Wii was his best investment of the year.

Wii Owners/PFBloggers:

Clever Dude And you thought he was cheap.
Punny of Punny Money. Added via intelligence provided by Clever Dude
Trent at The SimpleDollar
Flexo at Consumerist Commentary
JD at Get Rich Slowly. JD is always a trend setter. I think he got the Wii right after it was released.
MoneyNing of MoneyNing
Grad Money Matter. I might be double counting since the Wii was courtesy of J.D’s Wii giveaway contest
Jim over Blueprint for Financial Prosperity got his fiancee a Wii. Though truth be told, Jim I believe is a XBox gamer.
Shadox at Money and Such
The Learning Curve. Apparently he likes to pair his Wii comments with attractive celebrities

While I don’t have any hard evidence that 2 out 3 PFbloggers prefer the Wii, it does make sense. The Wii Console is much cheaper than both the Playstation 3 ($499) and the XBox 360 ($349). In addition the Wii comes with Wii Sports which despite graphically looking like a proof of concept demo disc remains consistently a popular game amongst the Wii crowd. If we know anything, we know personal finance bloggers think with their wallets. Also I imagine that most personal finance bloggers are casual gamers rather than hard core gamers. We’re not blogging about games after all. As a result, I think most personal finance bloggers are not concerned about the latest graphics or coolest technology. We want a system that provides fun at a good price. As a bonus, the Wii as system lends itself to more interaction, and I’ve suggested in the past a good way to curb socializing costs is to suggest activities that are cheap. Playing video games at home with friends is cheap.

Full disclosure: I own shares of Nintendo, or the rather ADR version (NTDOY). ADRs are American Depository Receipts which are basically U.S. versions of foreign stocks. I can’t complain about Nintendo, the shares have doubled since I purchased them which was around the same time I was gifted my Wii. I only wish I brought more

Clever Dude Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 10:07 am

Actually, my wife insisted on the purchase for some reason.

Oh, and Nick from Punny Money (punny.org) also has a Wii. We played his nintendo first, which made us want one too.

Mrs. Micah Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 5:42 pm

Of all the video game systems, the Wii seems the most justifiable to me. I tried one for the first time this week and it was pretty cool. Not cool enough to buy one, but much cooler than trying to play other sets. Ok, maybe a PS2 and DDR pad.

Brip Blap Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 7:18 pm

Well, an interesting thing to me is that many of the bloggers who love their Wiis will be the first to say “cancel your cable!” or “Netflix is a waste!” or “Gadgets are a waste!” I’m not trying to pick, it’s just my impression. One particular “big” PF blogger is particularly judgmental about how terrible TV is but then talks about his Wii with glowing praise. I hardly see the difference.

All of them have their place, I suppose, for different people. To me a video game seems like a horrible waste of time and money, and not something I’d be proud of. But then again, I love my Netflix subscription, and many people would say I’m wasting my money and time on that, so everyone has their vices and no-one can judge. But they are vices - the money and time would be better spent at more social, personal interactions.

Money Blue Book Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 12:00 am

I prefer sticking with PC games..never got into the gaming consoles…I always thought consoles were for kids and that you were supposed to graduate into computer games…guess I was wrong
-R

dong Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 7:38 am

Clever Dude, I added Punny to list. Thanks for th tip.

Brip Blap, I think the nice thing about the Wii is that Wii Sports is nicely geared towards playing with a group of friends. In general I agree I would put socializing as a higher priority, and hate to think anyone avoids their friends to play video games.

Raymond, consoles these days are definitely not for kids. That said the Wii is my first game system since my Super Nintendo about 20 years ago.

Flexo Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

I actually bought the Wii for my girlfriend. I later picked up the Xbox 360 for myself.

Laura Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 4:54 pm

We’ve had the Wii for a bout a year and we love it. It’s great to invite friends over and play. They bring the food and we provide the games. Sweet!