Wal-Mart's Terrible Nintendo Wii Knock-Offs 490
MaryAlan writes "Wal-Mart is now selling an electronic LCD game in the kid's section that resembles a Wiimote so closely that even Wal-Mart employees can't tell them apart in a picture. But the games — made by ToyQuest out of L.A. — are complete and utter crap, to the point of being unplayable. Their only redeeming feature is that they look like the Nintendo Wii, which means Wal-Mart is relying on brand confusion to sell any of these things to unsuspecting customers. There is a gallery of photos online, so you can take a look at side-by-side pictures with a true Wiimote, down to the fake speaker on the front. "
Obvious (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Obvious (Score:4, Interesting)
P.S. I actually know the person who sold just a console box on ebay for retail price of a new unit cuz the bidder didn't read carefully.
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Obvious (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Obvious (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Obvious (Score:4, Interesting)
Quality does not happen by accident. It must be designed, and it must be balanced with materials, time, and other costs. One thing american manufacturers did in the late 60's and 70's to really fuck themselves was not pay to design quality. The anti-intellectualism, that the egg heads had nothing to contribute, lead to some very bad choices. Sure, part of this was unions trying to keep thier members employed, but that is what they do, just like management tries to hire workers at the lowest rate, even if that means the worker cannot feed their family. That is the way it goes. But one can hardly blame the worker that is told to build a 15 mpg car with a year warrenty instead of a 25 mpg car with a 3 year warranty. That is clearly a management decision. It reminds me of my management time. It was often best when I could delivery not what internal or external customer thought they wanted, but what they actually needed.
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Informative)
I hope you get to +5 for that comment, because you're right on the mark. The reason why there's no huge incentive for Japanese workers to unionize is because the work culture is much different over there. I'm not saying it's necessarily better in every way, but there are reasons why U.S. workers had to unionize when they did. Working conditions were simply intolerable to the point of being inhuman, a situation they haven't had to deal with over there, thanks to a different culture and different regulations on what corporations can and can't do.
In our relentless strive for economic freedom, we've given corporations way too much power, power that corporations don't have in other countries such as Japan. As a result, we've had to, over time, develop organizations to protect ourselves from that which we have created. :-(
It's ironic that so many countries have learned lessons from us so well, lessons that we ourselves still haven't picked up on. While they're learning from our mistakes, we just keep right on making them.
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
What people forget about is that training, lack of company pride and absenteeism are very much a cost of doing business. Shafting an employee by paying minimum wage and no benefits at all, isn't something that is forgotten. Employers that do that kind of thing, especially if they employ people for long terms, can pretty much count on the employees not caring about doing a good job and not being particularly interested in showing up.
By contrast companies that take better care of their employees frequently have reduced turn over and increased productivity which can in many cases more than compensate for a higher rate of pay.
In Walmart's case, the suits that run it are just cheap bastards with little interest in sound business principles. And yes, I do know what I'm saying on this. Walmart's profits were always based upon being able to undercut the competition through and economy of scale, with that disappearing and the rivals largely caught up the regressive employment policies are going to put them in a world of hurt. Not to even mention the municipalities that want to stop subsidizing their benefits or the fact that they are selling products that are less and less difficult to find at affordable prices elsewhere.
As a result of the generally bad attitude that the execs have towards their employees, the employee cost per square foot of retail space is much higher than it is for costco.
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Interesting)
Walmart average wage is $9.68/hr. Costco's average is $16.
Walmart: only 38% of nonsupervisory staff has health care. Walmart dumps its employee health care on the state health care system.
Costco: 85% of employee's are covered. Costco offers part-time employees partial coverage. There is even a test program to offer a health care plan to self employed customers.
On a per store basis Costco does double that of Walmart
"Wal-Mart operates 5,332 stores with annual sales of $288 billion, or $54 million per store. Costco has 452 stores with annual sales of $48 billion, or $106 million per store."
Costco's turnover is about 1/3 of Walmarts.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005107_6620.htm [businessweek.com]
The Costco Mission Statement
1)Obey the law.
2)Take care of our members.
3)Take care of our employees.
4)Respect our vendors.
5)Reward our shareholders.
Walmart does not even have a official mission statement
(disclaimer: I work for Costco)
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
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Obey the law? It's a sad commentary on corporate culture that that should have to be specified in a mission statement.
I'd say it's a sad commentary on the state of the law and its enforcement when a company can make a point by making a point of obeying the law...
Re:Obvious (Score:4, Insightful)
A living wage you stupid arrogant fuck. The fact that you and I were privileged with a higher education, or the fact that we were born smarter doesn't mean that the mere peasants should all live in poverty.
I have a good job programming computers. That doesn't mean I have any place disrespecting someone else's work. If there is a job that needs to get done, someone deserves to be paid a living wage to do it. If a company cant afford to pay a living wage to do it, it shouldn't get done. Belonging to a society which marginalizes and preys upon it's uneducated and stupid, is disgraceful. And that is exactly what you are doing with "what do you expect to be paid for {insert job here}".
I expect someone to be paid a living wage. A wage that will let them:
1. Pay for housing
2. Buy food
3. Get healthcare
4. Get heat
5. Support a child
6. Have enough time to spend with that child
$20k/year doesn't even buy rent and health insurance. For one person. Let alone someone trying to support a family.
Anyone who treats other people, who talks about other people who are doing useful work, that is necessary, like they are somehow not worthy of those simple things is either not thinking about what they are saying, or to me, mostly a vile person.
I expect a living wage. So should you. Shame on you or anyone modding you up with your hateful rhetoric.
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I disagree. I think you are confusing entitlements and rights. Rights are things other people can't stop you from doing. Entitlements are things other people give you. I'm all for everyone enjoying strong rights, like freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom to organise, etc... I'm against entitlements except for medical care and education. If you think anyone who works deserves more then you are free to give YOUR money to anyone you think needs help.
If you are stacking boxes you deserve a low
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From a strict Capitalist perspective, whether or not you purchase from a union shop should not matter at all. If it's a good value -- acceptable ratio of quality to price -- then get it. If not, don't. Unions do not add extraordinary cost to any industry where they cannot justify the increased pay by increased quality. All it takes is one alternative and the downward spiral begins, forcing the union-shop to either raise quality fu
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1. If the vouchers can be used at religious schools, that obviously raises First Amendment issues.
2. Taking money out of the public school system makes the public schools worse for everyone who chooses to stay in them (or can't afford to switch, or can't get accepted by a private school - see below).
3. The vouchers aren't guaranteed to cover tuition at any private school, which means they may end up as little more than
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Unionized suppliers are more expensive because the union ensures that the company is treating them fairly (and safely when the OSHA inspector isn't around).
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
If buying from a union shop was a guarantee that you weren't supporting illegal labor, I'd be a lot more inclined to buy union. But it isn't, and in fact quite a few of the unions are involved in legalization schemes because they think all the illegal workers will increase their political clout, if they can get them unionized.
In effect, the union organizations are selling out their rank-and-file (who are the ones who really get hit by the wage depression as a result of all the illegal workers) in order to bring in lots of new members and make themselves more powerful. I've seen this to most obvious effect in the unions that have gotten involved in the service industries, but it's pretty widespread if you look for it. Very few of the unions seemed to be putting up much of a fight when push came to shove earlier this year on the immigration issue.
At least the corporations generally are upfront about screwing you; the union leaders seem to enjoy pretending that they're on the side of legitimate workers while doing the same thing.
10 to 15$ for it (Score:2)
I would hope that any parent thinking of buying this wou
The magic of "Something like it." (Score:5, Insightful)
No. It isn't. That doesn't really enter the equasion.
unethical (Score:5, Informative)
I think this is a highly unethical business practice which must be stopped. It is somewhat akin to companies in China producing brand-name knock-offs that so closely resemble the original product that they can only be described as counterfeit.
The best thing to do is to take a few minutes of your time and send a short, concise, and polite letter to:
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Attn: Customer Service
702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716
Believe me, they will notice your letter and do something about it.
Re:unethical (Score:4, Funny)
It's obvious they took design cues from it, but I don't see what people are complaining about.
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The whole thing looks like it is meant to be somewhat confusing. I don't think that it looks quite like the wiimote, but it does look like a generic wiimote might. And trust me, from what I read, a generic wiimote would be far more u
So what!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So what!? (Score:4, Insightful)
The stupid will have to return this or lose money so they will suffer for their stupidity. Good.
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There is certainly predatory behavior in consumerland which needs to be stopped. This ain't it.
In my view, if they made it look *exactly* like a wiimote and named it the "xii" or the "nii", then I would say, yeah, we need to do something about that. But as it stands? Let the buyer beware.
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Every other mnemonic will eventually fail you.
Of course, if you're able to distinguish the shape of the pupils, you're too close for it to matter anyway
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Re:So what!? (Score:5, Funny)
If it looks like a snake, get the fuck away.
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Red touches yellow: you're okay fellow;
Red touches black: you're dead, Jack.
This version is just as memorable as what you quoted, and it makes exactly as much sense (but will get you killed). In fact, it almost makes more since, since those type of mnemonics often have the extremely bad outcome as the second line, not the first. A mnemonic where the order is pretty arbitrary is a terrible mnemonic. You have to invest just as much effort to remember which version is correct as
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are you stupid?
is it really so hard to imagine a parent wanting to buy extra controllers for a Wii, seeing this, and being misled?
the design of this thing is closer to an actual Wii remote than, say, a 3rd party Gamecube controller to a Nintendo Gamecube controller.
the fake speaker on the front is also pretty good reason alone to suspect the product aims to mislead.
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And yeah, this is a dinky toy that is meant to knock off a great toy. Kinda sad, but the market will correct. IN fact, it has. For many people, walmart ain't worth the trouble of sandals melting my feet off or lead filled vampire teeth toys. Sure, walmart is doing fine, but only for those who really don't care about reliability. If you don't give a crap about reliability, walmart presen
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Re:unethical (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it also unethical to sell squirt guns on the basis that they are (or were, anyways) designed to look like guns, except instead of using gun powder to propel bullets, they shoot water? If you look at the box before you buy something, you can save yourself some embarrassment when you have to return it later.
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It's the use of someone else's brand identity that I think is unethical. I would consider the general WiiMote design to be part of the Wii brand identity.
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Not so sure about that - I've seen plenty of squirt guns that have a passing resemblance to the real thing. I do know that my little spring operated pellet gun - which looks rather like a generic 9 mm semi auto pistol - has an orange ring around the muzzle to tip police off to it's benign nature.
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Remember the movie where the star was going to hold up a bank with a squirt gun that was in his pocket, he was nervous and pulled the trigger so when the lady behind the bank counter saw his wet pants she called him a "disgusting man"?
Re:unethical (Score:5, Interesting)
As usual, you can skirt the line. You can argue about whether it claims to be a Wii, exactly what the box says, exactly what it claims to be, etc. Nevertheless, I'd say the intent here is pretty clearly to pick up sales through deception, with varying degrees of plausible deniability. That they try to stay on the legal side of the line doesn't make it automatically ethical.
They don't give me enough data to come to a conclusion. But it's certainly enough to be suggestive."Guns" are not a protectable item. A closer analogy here, despite my hatred of using analogies in online debates, are the numerous "generic controllers" that you can buy that contain games in them, but are not unauthorized representations of any particular controller. Only a squirt gun that looked like a specific, trademarked gun would be comparable, and yes indeed, the law will require you to get permission. You can't make a model car that looks exactly like a real car without permission, which is why the Grand Theft Auto world is populated by knockoffs. You can't make a model Enterprise without permission from Paramount, but you can make any generic space ship you want. As is invariably the case with analogies used in debates, the difference between the analogy and the real-world situation render your analogy irrelevant.
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Hopefully, they wiill notice your letter.
Re:unethical (Score:5, Informative)
1) This "story" is really OLD. It did the rounds on the Internet MONTHS ago.
2) As stupid as I'm sure a lot of walmart employees are, I have a hard time thinking even many of them would be able to confuse these two items.
3)
a. Either zonk has trouble telling the two apart and thinks this is legitimate "news."
-or-
b. zonk believes that it has already been posted on
Re:unethical (Score:5, Funny)
3)
a. Either zonk has trouble telling the two apart and thinks this is legitimate "news."
-or-
b. zonk believes that it has already been posted on
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Finish your capitalism, young man--every last bite. There are starving entrepreneurs in China...
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If the design is sufficiently similar to the Nintendo Wii as to confuse consumers, Nintendo can sue for infringement on its trade dress [wikipedia.org]. Trade dress is similar to trademark, but instead of the words of a brand name or slogan it refers to the non-functional characteristics of a product. In other words, existing law should take care of this problem.
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Re:unethical (Score:5, Insightful)
They don't look at all alike. (Score:2)
If someone is going to buy this while looking for a wii, they deserve what they get.
Personally, I think they just wanted to make it look like a wii because they thought "the wii is popular and maybe if we look like a wii we'll look popular too". Not "wow, if we make something that looks like a wii maybe we'll sell some by mistake".
Though I'm sure they consider th
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Caveat Emptor - even for people who buy at Wal-mart.
Re:They don't look at all alike. (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, they do. It's not just superficial... It's fairly obvious that the knock-off was intentionally designed to look like a Wii-mote.
You aren't the target here.
I used to work at Electronics Boutique over the holidays, and I can guarantee that there are plenty of parents out there who would purchase this thing without a moment's hesitation - believing the whole time that they were purchasing a Wii-mote, or even the entire Wii system.
Parents used to show up with the most vague descriptions of what their child wanted... Or pictures clipped from catalogs, sales fliers, and magazines... Folks wouldn't know whether they needed a game for the PS2, Xbox, Game Cube, or computer. All they knew is that their kid said this, or it looked like that, or it had some guy with wings in it.
We had plenty of returns after Christmas because of this confusion. Folks who bought the game for entirely the wrong system...or the wrong kind of memory card...or bought some part of the system instead of the whole thing... And that was all without overly deceiving advertising or product design like this thing.
Re:They don't look at all alike. (Score:5, Funny)
Mod Parent "+1 Intelligent" (and then ban him from SlashDot!!!) ;-)
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And those returns cost the retailer money--the product was taking up shelf space, the customer went through checkout, the store got charged the transaction fee if they used a credit card . . . and now it's being returned because it wasn't what the customer thought they were buying.
I think the real party at fault here is Wal-Mart. Sure someone made a crappy game device deliberately modeled after the Wiimote. Big deal. Wal-Mart decided to carry this piece of crap so it's taking up space on shelves, causi
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yep. I know someone who works there (she's a college student). They'll side with the customer IF the employee is at fault, make employees apologize even to the shittiest customers, and if a customer does something to an employee, they try and talk the employee out of doing anything. Case in point, a crazy woman randomly threw some meat at the person working in their deli, and Walmart talked the employee out of filing any
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I mean, come on man. The button placement, the fake speaker, the color and shape, etc. It's a motion control game thingy. Like I said, I can tell this isn't nintendo's wiimote, but it could easily be logitech's or madcatz's. No doubt at a
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I would think this was a wiimote if I saw it in a store without labelling. It's clearly supposed to look like a wiimote. I even bet that it IS a third party wiimote, just that the company couldn't get licensing or good tech or something, and retools to make this crap.
I mean, come on man. The button placement, the fake speaker, the color and shape, etc. It's a motion control game thingy. Like I said, I can tell this isn't nintendo's wiimote, but it could easily be logitech's or madcatz's. No doubt at all this is what even a nintendo employee would think at first glance.
Actually in this case Nintendo employees would not think that. But this is only because Nintendo has decided no make it very difficult for third parties to make replacement controllers, but encourages them to make controller accessories. This was a deliberate decision. If Nintendo's controller sales are not at risk, they feel better. The official policy seems to be that wii-mote plug-in add-ons are a bit more restricted but only to keep the number such accessories down to a manageable level. But they are
Shit, calm down (Score:5, Funny)
They make lighters that look like pistols and male masturbators that look like flashlights. If you dont want to be "taken", read the package first.
Slow news day? Is this the best you can do to muster nerd rage?
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As far as the design of the product, yes, it is definitely designed to look like one -- but I have to agree with the people above about packaging. Does it say "Wee mote" on it or something?
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Food is a clear exception, probably DVDs/CDs (never tried), but "crappy controller thing"? I imagine you can take it back.
Personally, if you're confused by this thing and you've actually ever even seen a Wiimote, I want you sterilized before you breed.
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You only have like 30 days for electronic stuff and some of it they won't refund if it's been opened, only replace with an identical item.
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Actually, I guess I was being a bit too nice to Wal-Mart in my post.
I had to return something to them tonight. I went to customer service, told them I needed to return the item, and handed them the receipt. The following conversation took place:
Girl: Did they not put a sticker on this at the door?
Me: No.
Girl: Well, you need to make sure they do that next time.
Me: No one told me that. And besides, when I came in there was no one at the door. It is not MY responsib
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Non Story (Score:2, Insightful)
Imitation (Score:2)
It looks like a great product... (Score:4, Funny)
And your point is....? (Score:2, Funny)
Non-sequitur headline (Score:2)
Wal-Mart is now selling an electronic LCD game in the kid's section that resembles a Wiimote so closely that even Wal-Mart employees can't tell them apart in a picture.
I also saw poorly made jeans at ShopKo, and one time I bought shampoo from Wegmans that smelled just like a famous name brand but wasn't. So what? It's not like either of those chains made those goods.
What did Wal-Mart have to do with the story other than carrying that product among tens of thousands of others? Would we be reading "Costco's Terrible Wii Knock-Offs" if the author had shopped somewhere else that day? There are lots of reasons [honeypot.net] why people don't like shopping at Wal-Mart [honeypot.net], but this is a p
no sympathy... it's wal-mart after all (Score:3, Insightful)
The point is, if you're going into wal-mart expecting to get high quality anything, you're either an optimist or a retard and deserve to get what you find there.
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walmart employees (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I have no problem telling them apart and I've only seen a Wii once for about 5 minutes...
Sure this is probably a violation of some intellectual property law or other... but aren't we always complaining about those laws and how stupid and unnecessarily restrictive they are? We defended Lindows and said "you'd have to be an idiot to confuse Lindows with Windows". Personally I'm from the camp of idiocy gets what it deserves. If you're too dumb or ignorant to tell these 2 devices apart, then you deserve to have your money taken. I know my 8 year old brother wouldn't be fooled by the knock off, so why should anyone? Or are we all willing to say that the average adult is dumber than an average 8 year old? And, if that is what we're saying HOW IS THAT OK OR ACCEPTABLE?!?
Foreign imports (Score:5, Insightful)
More Spin... (Score:5, Insightful)
So why is everybody posting how bad Walmart is for selling this.
ToyQuest out of L.A is the manufacture. So where is the venom for them? Is this a Walmart exclusive? Has anyone checked to see if Sears, Target or those stupid little carts in the middle of every mall is selling them?
I am not a huge Walmart fan but this is so slanted that it is just silly.
Sorry folks it looks sort of like a Wiimote and costs all of $10. I don't think this is anymore of a ripe off than the toy cellphones that look like a Razer.
Good grief.
From The Same People (Score:2)
http://groups.imeem.com/PhwrOdIK/video/q92O96zd/popstation_review/ [imeem.com]
Knock-offs? (Score:2)
Sounds like they really did do their homework.
"Nobody ever went broke... (Score:2)
Well, the first thing *I* noticed... (Score:2)
Chris Mattern
Re:What? (Score:4, Informative)
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PS.
If I showed a small photo of a toy cell-phone to a Wal-Mart employee, then the employee would likely direct me to the real cell-phone aisle; this isn't bad, it's just the employee using common sense to answer the questi
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That said, if you're a clueless soccer mom and a Wal-Mart employee comes up to you and says "we don't have the Wii in stock, but this is just like it", chances are you're gonna buy it cause you can't find an real Nintendo Wii before Christmas.
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Re:How can you confuse them? (Score:5, Insightful)
Far more likely than your utter slam of everyone else in the US (which tells us nothing more than that you think you're better than everyone else) is what the GP said - they're relying on brand confusion and poverty to sell something that looks like a Wii to people who can't afford the real thing and whose kids want a game system. Have you ever been that kid? Ever wondered why Christmas was a big deal in everyone else's house but not yours?
I have, and looking back with a kid of my own, I feel worse for my parents for picking up the knockoff than for myself for getting it. I can't imagine how they felt when they realized it wasn't worth fifty cents and broke the first time I used it. Blame Walmart for targeting desperate parents who want to do something really good for their kids but end up getting cheap crap instead of what they thought they were getting. We can't all be as wonderfully gifted as you, and an eighty hour workweek at a demanding physical job can wreak havoc on a mom who's out doing her last minute shopping.
Think of self-important, critical dickheads like you and realize that while your witty repartee might amuse you for a moment, it doesn't do a goddamn thing to help. Realize that if everyone you meet is "retarded," it may not be them. It may be you.
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I was that kid, too. (Lucky for my parents I loved books best, and at least library sales are more likely to provide something valuable than Wal-Mart crap aisles.)
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Re:How can you confuse them? (Score:5, Insightful)
What should annoy everyone is that valuable raw materials are being used to make this crap (often unusable) that shouldn't be made in the first place.
Simple example: I can buy a chinese dustpan on a stick and brush for $2.00. It can't be used though as the pan's edge has been warped during manufacture and it would be pointless trying to use it. There's about 10 of them, lined up, ready for sale.
In other words, some factory in China is pumping out this useless product, some importer/wholesaler is paying for the transport and a distributor sends them out and consumers are supposed to buy it (I don't think the store sold any).
That translates into throwing away oil.
What is needed in situations like this is some kind of authority with enough clout to stop or even prevent material wastage on products that just can't be used.
There should be a form of quality control in the design and manufacture that is definitely missing in certain parts of the world.