Phil was back in the city this weekend and I had business to be done in the city myself so I arranged to hang around while he bought himself a Wii.

After over a year it boggles my mind that this console is still in such short supply. On the one hand, raising murmur and demand by scarcity is a good way to put the word out. But on the other hand, selling a console makes you more money than not selling one. What's the deal? Aren't the shareholders irked by this?

Phil had a specific set of games he wanted with his Wii. Namely, Wii Sports (which comes free with every Wii anyway) and Mario & Sonic Olympics and nothing else. Trouble was, all the bundles we could locate were Wii Plus Two Games or more. And the Two Games you got to choose from were not games Phil wanted. Sonic and some Magic Rings garbage? If it's not what you want, why buy it? £230, okay, but £200 with one game would be preferred.

A plan was hatched. We stopped in at GameStation and asked what they'd give him for a trade-in, new and unused. Answer? £25. Phil could get the £230 bundle, trade in the second game and get what he wanted for £205 net. Decent.

We went back to Zavvi, which is the preposterously stupid name (and font and colour scheme) by which Virgin Megastores now seems to be going. I think it's supposed to be a pun on "savvy". £230 for Wii plus Olympics plus... we looked over the rack, essentially debating which game we wanted to give to GameStation as a gift... Fine, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. (What the hell? Has it now been a full fifteen years since the last good Sonic the Hedgehog game or am I insane?)

The cash was forked over and we traipsed back up the hill to GameStation and plonked Sonic Riders down.

"Ten quid."

"Huh, what?"

It's the same guy who quoted us £25. He's probably got a pretty good idea of what Phil is attempting to achieve by his (perfectly legal) little scheme. He is offering us ten quid for this brand new game (price new: £40). He spouts off some garbage about how the shops has to resell the game as used even if it is brand new and unopened, and trade-in prices vary by how much stock they already have and how hard the game is to get hold of new. We come back with "yes, fine, but was the price you quoted, or was it not, a lie?"

Ten quid.

What's happened here is that the guy has lied to us. Phil asked him how much a game would be to trade in and he said, quote, "most of these in here are about £25". What he did not do is present us with a list of trade-in prices - in fact, GameStation has no such thing on display. All evidence suggests GameStation employees are in fact free to make up a trade-in price off the top of their heads. He did not, did not give us the name of any game which he might pay £25 for; this game possibly does not even exist. What he did was quote us the absolute maximum that he might be willing to pay, and perhaps added a little bit on as well, solely for the purpose of screwing us over. Petty malice.

Phil and I left the shop pretty livid and threw out a few possible Plans B. Eventually we headed to Game where Phil was offered either a £16 cash trade-in or £25 towards more products. Phil put the £25 towards a second Wii Remote and left with more or less a fair amount of money (£230) spent on a fair amount of stuff (Wii plus extra Remote plus game).

I can't do much about this. I could complain to them, I guess, but instead I will do the immature, ineffectual thing and go public on my little-read blog saying screw you, GameStation and personally stop going to the store in the future. That's about all I care to do.

On a related topic, I have decided myself that I shall not be purchasing a Wii. Your starting kit is relatively low in cost and, I have to be honest, as we were setting the thing up for the first time once we got it back to Phil's, I conceded that it is a sexy piece of hardware. But an extra Wii Remote is thirty quid. Another nunchuk is another twenty. Fifty quid per person for multiplayer? Fine, fine: I don't play much multiplayer these days. I prefer the solo gaming experience. What is there along these lines? Basically jack. Super Mario Galaxy is supposed to be good but I have never personally appreciated the youthful charm or enjoyment of the Mario franchise. Is there anything else? Anything which is genuinely, unmissably, worth-£200 killer?

I bought Metroid Prime 2 cheaply, second-hand, for the GameCube. Because I am a sane person. I have that, Half-Life 2: Episodes One and Two (I bought the Orange Box - I finished Portal in the first day - there is nothing I can say about that beautiful, beautiful game which has not already been said, and better), and Deus Ex: Invisible War all waiting for me to crack open. Who needs another generation?