TECH NEWS – An infamous, one-of-a-kind, gold-plated Wii console intended for Queen Elizabeth II has been unearthed and is now up for online auction.

Remember the Wii, Nintendo’s fifth big home console? It came out in 2006 and sought to appeal to a broader demographic than ever before, with a greater emphasis on motion-controlled video games. The console’s impact was so clear that competitors Microsoft and Sony created their own peripherals, the Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move.

Nintendo’s console sold more than 101 million units, making it the seventh best-selling machine of all time.

During the Wii era, many developers created games for the console. Many of these games had to make use of the console’s motion controls in some way, which meant that some games lacked polish while others were considered genuinely terrible. So it’s no surprise that many awful games have come out for the Wii, and one of them is linked to a marketing gimmick story about a gold-plated console.

Back in 2009, THQ tried its own collection of mini-games called Big Family Games, which was seen as another of the company’s mediocre titles.

Famously, as a publicity stunt, THQ tried to send a gold-plated version of the Wii console, complete with controller, to Queen Elizabeth II.

Although the package made it to Buckingham Palace, it did not get through security and was returned to THQ. Since THQ went bankrupt in 2012, nothing was known about the console until 2017, when a collector found it. The machine was then sold to another collector, who put this legendary piece of gaming history up for online auction.

The advertisement for the gold hardware was posted on the auction site Goldin, and the description says that because the console was ordered for the Queen, the Wii and controller were also plated in 24-carat gold. In addition, it comes with a copy of Big Family Games, complete with case and disc, as well as the necessary cables and sensor track.

This is not the first time that this console has been put up for auction, as last year, the ‘Queen’s’ Wii was auctioned online for $300,000. However, it was removed from the online marketplace due to concerns about the seller. The new starting price for the gold-plated hardware is $2,000, and the auction closes on Saturday, 21 May, so there’s still plenty of time to place your bets…

Source: Eurogamer