A friend came to me in a panic. His family has just decided they wanted a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. He said, “I know that you are The Shopping Nazi. I need you to find the best price and deal for the Nintendo Wii.”

I told him that I would, but I would use any results from my recon as a post on The Shopping Nazi blog. He agreed and I went to work.

My first stop was the Nintendo website. It was there I learned the basic unit retails for $199.99. The Wii can be used as a portal to viewing content from the internet. I was impressed with all the family friendly games that is offered for the Wii.

Then I went to the local Hastings store. The salesperson was very friendly. He told me about what came with the basic console for $199.99. Hastings offered special discounts on other Wii games and accessories with the purchase of the console.

The salesperson offer little or no pressure to buy, just good friendly information. He did day that say after discounts I could get an extra controller and game for about $250. Scanning over the discount coupons, makes me wonder if his math was a little off, by $50.

I liked what Wal Mart online offered. There offered several special bundles with extra remotes and games. The one I thought was especially good for my friend was $280. It was titled Fun Family. It comes with two games, and one extra controller. This would be over $300 at Hastings.

Best Buy had it own unique set of special bundles. All of them were around $300. I did not see the Fun Family bundle, like as was what at Wal Mart.

While I was in front of my computer, I thought I would check out Amazon.com. Amazon did not have any special discounts. In fact it looked like they were promoting the PS3 more. Which they were selling for $350.

Then we went to Best Buy. I was impressed when we walked down the isle toward their game section. There was a big center display for the Wiis. They were offering two different starter bundles.

Wal Mart, on the other hand, had just two end of the isle displays. One was demo of the console with two controller. The other was consoles along with a couple of controllers and the Super Mario game pak.

Later that day, a friend of a friend heard I was looking for a Wii. She called me a offer me a year old console, 4 controller, Wii Fit, and 5 games for $350. The retail value of everything was around $500 at today’s prices.

After a little questioning, I found out the family who currently own it has four boys. My first thought, that this set has seen some pretty rough use. Considering their’s did not come with any warranty, I figured it would a risky deal, I was afraid that some major parts would not be fully functional, or the game disk would be scratched.

Bottom-line: Best Buy with the Wii Savings Bundle is the best deal. It is a great starter kit for the family. Yes, it only comes with Wii Sport Pak.

Extra games, and accessories are little high priced at Best Buy. We found the steering wheel controller $5 cheaper at Wal Mart. Games on the whole were $5 to $10 less at Hastings. I do recommend renting games from Gamefly.com and trying them before buying.

Tags: Amazon.com, Best Buy, Christmas, Nintendo Wii, Shopping, Wal Mart, Xmas