Hello all!

I'm looking to buy a Nintendo Wii (and a Wii Fit + balance board) but I am a bit upset at the lack of multilanguage consoles being offered.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I am under the impression that you can only buy consoles in German/French version here in Switzerland.

Ricardo'dot'ch and Amazon'dot'de don't bring me any joy or help as well since they all sell German/French versions.

That means I'd be stuck with eBay'dot'co'dot'uk (or dot com) to find this? Has anybody got any idea if they are native multilanguage and you can change that at a later stage? I wouldn't mind buying a German console if I can change the language to English...

Mind you, I WANT to integrate, but it's easier if I get to understand the menus without a dictionary on the other hand and once my German skills are over the A1 level!

All input is welcome!

hi, not sure about the main console, as i bought ours the UK, but as for Wii Fit, my boyfriend bought this in Switzerland and it works fine in English. Also, we have bought most games out here, and nearly all have an option for English - the only downside is the actual instructions booklet will be in a different language.

We got one from Hawk Electronics in Zug a couple of weeks ago. Yes some of the configuration settings when you set up the box switch back to German/French or Italian, but the game menus and games (Wii Fit and Mario Kart) have an English option. At CHF 399 inkl Wii Fit and Yoga mat they were the cheapest.

I didn't need to read any instruction booklet to set it up either.

Hi,

we bought a wii console and wii fit here in Switzerland (City disc in Jelmoli). In my experience, it's not the console (this we set to English easily enough) but the games you need to look out for.

A lot of the games (e.g. Wii sports that comes with the console, and Wii fit) have a little (circular? can't quite remember) symbol with representations of different flags on the back of the box and the number 5, showing that it is multilingual (i.e. 5 languages).

Other games don't have this and are not multi-lingual, and after confirming by asking in the shops here, and having failed to find English versions, we have ordered games online from the UK via Amazon / Play / etc..

So in a nutshell, we check on the back of the game boxes for the language.

Maybe the language versions of the consoles you are seeing are bundled with additional games for which the languages are fixed?

hope this helps.

I'm pretty sure my Wii has an option to select the interface language.

As someone else already posted, the real problem is the language of the games - normally it's multi-language but you've got to check.

I bought a Wii only last night. Also, I bought Wii Fit, with balance board. So exactly the same setup as you are considering.

I got them at digitec, here in Zurich, and I can assure you that a fully English interface is possible.

In addition, digitec is cheaper than some other stockists (369 for the Wii; 125 for the Fit) and they will deliver free of charge within Switzerland.

I agree with the posters above.

We bought our Wii box and Wii fit board in Spain (Carrefour) and also have some games bought here. We play them all in English without doing anything other than selecting English as the default language when turning the thing on the first time.

Good luck bargain hunting for one - and be thankful you are not looking in the UK where I hear they are all sold out again

Mines the so called French version, but I run everything in English so no problem there. I think it's more the contents of the box that is language specific and not the machine itself.

I do find though that when buying games here all the manuals that come with them are in local language. So it takes a bit of translation alternatively you can look them up in English on google.

On World of Games all the items have little flags indicating the language available.
I've bought from wog.ch before and can highly recommend their fast service (and, no, I'm not affiliated - just a satisfied customer)

Thank you to everyone so far... I really appreciate everybody's input, as I am kinda new to the console trend. Just so you know, my last console was an Atari 2600... times go by indeed!

It's a big relief knowing that apart from every store saying their version is German/French, the console actually also supports English.

Big thumbs up, I'm now a happy bunny

You should have a modchip fitted (www.wiikey.com) which will allow you play "backups" of original games ...

Works fine for me - I can play any game from any region without problems...

If you act quickly (by Monday next) Migros Electronics is selling the Wii (with sports), along with 2 extra games (Boom Blox & Game party) for CHF 333.

Stuart is there anywhere in Suisse will do this ? I am a bit reluctant to send it off and am out of hte UK now obviuosly. Would like to get it chipped.

Also have you seen the HomeBrew Channel ? set it up on ours. very nice, especially the way they get in - using buffer overflow in the Zelda game.

mike

I would love to get a wii.. though would prefer a modified one.. anyone have one up for sale? =)

PS: Sorry for hijacking the thread

djlarazza, visit toppreise dot ch and in the wii section - hardware you will find few companies selling on line the modified ones, I quickly checked the prices and they start at CHF 600 including shipping. I personally think is quite expensive, considering I bought my (modified) in Spain for less than CHF500, but at least is an option within switzerland. Mine works well with games for the US as well as European (PAL) ones and I have the wasabi chip installed. No idea if it works with so called "backups" but I guess it does.

Thanks for the great advice!!! Will check it out! I would rather buy from someone here though.. Have had bad experiences with online purchases from webbies =(

Went down to migros e, no more for sale at 333.... =(

Try Hawk electronics. You collect with cash. CHF 515 with Wii Fit mat & game and Wii sports game. Yoga mat included as well.

Hi Mike - I actually had my chip fitted at one of the "official" resellers of the wiikey - i'll look it up and post the name later -very reliable guys...

Hi,
is wii fit anygood or is it a quimik???
jules