Toronto Gets Wii on Wheels
For those of you who haven't experienced the awesomeness that is the Nintendo Wii just yet, Nintendo recently announced a new advertising campaign that will bring their next-generation console to your driveway.
Teaming up with Smart Car, Nintendo will embed their Wii gaming console in a fleet of cars in Toronto (along with three other Canadian cities) in a cross-promotion for both the video game maker and the automobile company. Toronto residents who happen to be in the right parking lot at the right time will have the chance to get a feel of the Smart Car and also play games such as Secret Rings, Sonic, Tiger Woods PGA 07, Big Brain Academy, and the ever-popular Wii Sports.
The Wii-Smart Car fleet is part of an advertising campaign called Key to Summer Fun (the website isn't live yet, but should be launching by next week) which aims to "get Wii controllers into the hands of people who haven't yet tried their luck with the wildly popular Wii technology, while getting up close and personal with the minuscule Smart vehicles." The campaign also includes a contest where lucky Canadians can win Wii systems or a Smart Car in September.
There has been some discussion on the web (for an example, check out the comments at Kotaku) by Nintendo enthusiasts who are claiming it would be smarter for the company to ship more consoles to stores rather than trying to promote the product that is already flying off the shelves. The console manufacturer is still struggling to keep up with the demand for the Wii. Seeing as how the Wii is such a social gaming console and gets better when you're playing it with other people, I welcome Nintendo's efforts to get Torontonians together and play some Wii Sports in public, despite the lack of stock.
Nintendo USA still has no plans to put the Wii Smart Cars on the roads south of the border just yet, so die-hard Nintendo fanatics will have to visit friendly border cities like Toronto in order to see them in action.
While I am concerned that it may be a bit difficult to play the Wii on a sun-glare affected screen, this will be a great opportunity for anyone in the city that missed Rannie's Wii Tour earlier this year. And yes, I'm a bit of a Wii junkie, so I apologize now for any fanboy moments in this post: I've tried to control myself.
(Photos from Kotaku.)
Comments (10)
I lovez mah gamecube and my DS, but until the holy trinity os Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 come out, I can patiently wait. Manhunt 2 looks disturbingly hot as well, who knew motion controls could make a game even more violent.
I've been playing Mario Party 8 on the Wii quite a bit these days, and though it's no Smash Bros, its quite the fantastic game. You should definitely check it out!
I'd have to join the ranks of those who say it's completely stupid to run promotions for a console that you still can't buy on the average day more than half a year after it's release.
Yeah, I have to agree with Rick. I've done my best to be patient but, at some point, I will actually get to own one of these things for myself, right? Can't recall the last time a major manufacturer decided a half year of turning customers away empty-handed was a sound business plan...
But then, my Smart car was the eighth unit in the whole darn country. So I'll shut up now. :)
On a not-totally unrelated note, Smart Cars were *just* approved for sale in most parts of the US earlier this month, and the initial shipment is already pre-sold-out.
I guess those US customers didn't get a chance to check out the interior of those hunks of junk before pre-ordering them? Yech. It's a Mercedes-freakin'-Benz made car -- one would think they'd have the sense of mind not to leave exposed metal parts all over the interior and use the absolute cheapest plastic I've ever seen in my life.
Anyway, as for the Wii... Sameer's right, Mario Party's a blast on the Wii, as long as you've got four people and a reasonable amount of requisite intoxicating substances to go along for the ride.
I've actually never been in a SMART car, so I'm not sure what you mean about the cheap plastic and exposed metal, Adam, but you have to say using SMART is a genius move for Nintendo...
The Wii ads that have been getting a ton of airplay on television here in Canada feature two Japanese men driving a Wii SMART Car going to houses across North America and spreading some Wii love. This real-life campaign is a good mirror of what's on TV.
1) I walked into an EB games at Scarborough Town Centre a month ago, and they had a few Wii's in stock. So, you can get them guys, you just have to look.
2) Any of you other Wii people wanna swap Wii numbers, so we can play online when they start launching that?
I love the Wii. It was insanely difficult to get one though. They should really try and get more in stock.
I wonder if the cars come with two Japanese men saying "Wii would like to play?"
If they got the Japanese men driving the SMART cars, I will personally write a letter saying "thank you for being awesome" to Inventa (the company running the campaign) and buy a Wii (I just saw one in stock at the Best Buy near Sherway Gardens) in their honor. Also, because my brother wants one for his residence next year.
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