THQ ships gold-plated Wii to Queen of England

by Jason Dobson on May 21st 2009 8:30AM

Buckingham Palace will be getting a special delivery today as THQ plans to deliver a golden Wii earmarked for the Queen.

The pack will also include a copy of the newly released BIG Family Games, as Philip, Charles and the rest of the royal gang compete for the living room crown. The publisher hopes the PR stunt will amuse Queen Elizabeth, though we hope the 83-year old monarch doesn't throw her arm out swinging the console's presumably heavier gold-plated remote.

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Tags: big-family-games, gold, Nintendo, party-games, queen-elizabeth, thq, uk, Wii

Reader Comments (66)

now collecting dust on a more valuable surface!

-1

That's like giving a dust collector to a dust collector.

Stuff using a heavier remote for a game that would probably require more than the usual wrist movements.

Even just the small wrist movements needed for most gains would give people carpel tunnel or something quick.

Gold *plated*. Not *solid* gold. Big difference.

If it's thin enough, you can even eat gold leaf. And some rich people do just for the hell of it.

Gold is one of the lightest/more managedable elements on earth.

Does it include a golden HDD?

It's been so long for her I'm not sure she'd know what to do with a Wiimote....

....zing.

*smashes symbols*

www.instantrimshot.com

fail URL

Well, she *is* in their target demographic...

I doubt it's heavier, they probably just used the gold plastic left over from when they made the golden Zelda cartridges. I miss those...

i still have mibem a golden OOT cart too :D

There's no such thing as the "Queen of England". Such a position does not exist. The person you are referring to is the Queen of the United Kingdom.

She ain't my queen...

signed, a Scotsman.

Wow. I just learned something. On joystiq. :-o

She ain't anybody's Queen. Hail King Mike the First.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/aussie-mike-the-true-king-of-england/2005/09/10/1125772732666.html

Yes, I've heard. Kills men by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he'd consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.

I *am* William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men... and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?

Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!

Scottish patriotism = Retardation of an American Redneck

Seriously guys stop with the "I'm scottish and i hate the UK rabble rabble rabble"

Signed a True Scotsman who harbors no racist prejudice against another nation (bar the french :P).

I was pointing out her correct title. I'm not going to reveal which of the 4 UK nations I am from but I do believe it is annoying when people refer to our country simply as "England" or "Britain" because it shows ignorance.

How does Britain show ignorance?

I once heard an American complaining why the USA isn't called Great America on XBL. "We are much greater than the British..." was the quote I think...

@ Alex

As an American, that's embarrassing.

@ Rocketboy
You scots sure are a contentious group.

@ DBuckEye

You just made an enemy for life!
;)

No, it's not that I hate England, or the UK. I just hate the do-nothing while living of the teat of the land Royalty.

Get a job you bums.

Hey, if the Scots and Welsh can but aside their sheep and their differences, we could team up and take back our glory!

NOT EVEN GOD CAN SAVE YOU NOW

I thought THQ wasn't doing so well financially...How can they afford to just give away a gold-plated Wii?

They had some money left over in the marketing budget.

Apparently.....

I will definately volunteer to be THQ's marketing guinea pig of they're going to be handing out gold-plated anythings.

Say what negative comments you will about the Wii, I want that gold system. I like the looks of it! :)

Nah. Looks too cheap, tacky and chavvy.

What's with companies giving expensive gifts to people who can easily afford them themselves? That's like the Oscars or the Grammys giving celebrities gift-bags with thousands of dollars worth of swag inside. I wouldn't mind a gold-plated Wii, THQ? Or better yet, why not give the money for this special Nintendo Wii to your developers.

We could take cues from the prez. and give them an NTSC dvd box set.

I'd rather have on of thoes then an iPod loaded with pictures and videos of things I just did.

Gold plating can be rather cheap depending on how thick a layer of gold is used.....but THQ spent at LEAST a few Grand on it.....wasted money indeed

Total waste of time. Her Majesty prefers shooters and wrestling games and Mario Kart. She takes no prisoners, either.

You mean this one?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_No_Prisoners_(video_game)

I think the wii would cost as much to make as the PS3 / 360 if you add the gold plating cost to the $30 it takes to put together a 2002-era processor, laughable graphics card and a hard-drive less machine. N must be kicking themselves, if they had decent specs on the wii, they would have been even more dominant than the PS1 / PS2 were

Annnnnd by checking out sales figures for the Wii compared to 360/PS3 you can say that Nintendo is not dominant how...?

This will backfire. Forcing the Queen to endure THQ's Wii shovelware is tantamount to treason. They're going to get sent to the Tower.

I'm not sure what is more tacky, sending the Queen a such gold plated Wii, or sending the Queen such a horrible game.
At least they can scrape the gold off and get a decent game with the proceeds, Mario Galaxy or something.

Can you image the story if they included wii fit? On one hand you are giving her one of the most popular "games" for the system. On the other hand, you are calling the Queen a fatty.

They have a bit less than 50% of the market, mainly because anyone who wants to play say RE5, CoD or GTA4 has to buy the other consoles. The PS2 had about 65-70% of the market (100mn PS2 till 2006, 24m XBOX, 21m Gamecube, 10m Dreamcast). If the wii could get some of the AAA multiplats, they would certainly be close to or higher than PS2 market shares

"They have a bit less than 50% of the market,"

Which means its one other competitor has just over 50%? Oh, wait, it has TWO competitors so "a bit less than 50% of the market" is a huge accomplishment, putting them in the lead and making the Wii the dominant console this generation?

And learn to reply.

Dominance is a relative term - 50% share in a 3-console market is not dominance. The PS2 had 70%, in a market that had 4 consoles to begin with, and every gamer had one - thats dominance. Even today, if you exclude casual gamers, most gamers either dont have a wii or its a second or third console. And its not just about market share - the PS1 and PS2 both had massive games such as MGS, FF and GTA that were exclusive to it, the wii has zero AAA third party exclusives. Again, market share-wise, its the strongest console - but its no PS2, which was a phenomenon in terms of sales and games lineup (though my least favourite console from the last gen)

"50% share in a 3-console market is not dominance."

Yes it is.

But yeah, feel free to keep talking out of your ass and trying to twist reality until it's the way you want it to be.

It's also worth considering that the 360 had a 12 month / 10 million console headstart. That means that 50m out of the last 90m consoles sold (56%) have been Wiis. Mine is gathering as much dust as the next person's, but it's pretty damn impressive however you want to look at it - especially considering the performance of the GameCube.

I'm just hoping she doesn't pop a wiimote into her plasma....

It's good to be the Queen!

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THQ ships gold-plated Wii to Queen of England

Reader Comments (66)

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