Yes, you read that title right. Back when the Wii was in its prime, THQ sent arguably the biggest family in the world a 24K gold-plated Nintendo Wii as a marketing stunt to promote their new game ‘Big Family Games’. I like their style; pushing a new game in PAL regions by sending a Queenly gift to the ruler of England was a bold move, a move that sadly didn’t turn Elizabeth into a gamer.
The Golden Wii was sent to Buckingham Palace but never made it inside the gates, and subsequently became ‘lost’, which as we all know from witnessing gaming employees suddenly discovering ‘lost’ copies of ‘not for resale’ games in mint condition in their lofts is code for ‘taken in by a collector’.
The Golden Wii was then put up for sale for $3,000, and now, for the first time in history, it’s going to be available for the public to check out in person. Yes, just like the ‘One Ring’, the ‘One Wii To Rule Them All’ has been passed from owner to owner and has now taken up residence with the ultimate console database Consolevariations. It’s heading to Cologne for the world’s biggest Gaming festival, Gamescom 2024, this August.
As stated in the tweet above, this is the first time the console has appeared at any event, and since Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, this is now a slice of both THQ and Royal Family history that both gaming fans and fans of the English Monarchy will definitely want to see with their own eyes.
It’s a shame that this never ended up in Buckingham Palace; it would have been cool to see William and Harry playing with it, or perhaps Will and Kate playing Wii Sports with their children using it (he could have probably made a joke about it being ‘Will Sports’ or something else a future King might find funny). Still, the fact that a gold-plated Wii exists at all is very cool, and I bet a lot of Gamescom ticket holders will be excited to check it out.
If you don’t have your tickets for Gamescom yet, then you can still get them from the Gamescom website.
