Have you ever felt you needed gaming appliances with a little more finesse? If you're already spending so much time on the machine, shouldn't it reflect your personal style? Well, your bougie gamer aspirations just became very possible – if you have $300,000 to drop on a 24K gold Nintendo Wii owned by Her Majesty the Queen, that is.
No, this is not a joke. The aforementioned game console just went up for sale on eBay and it's got a fittingly bizarre back story.
In 2009, publisher THQ commissioned the creation of a golden Nintendo Wii and had it delivered to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, as part of a marketing stunt meant to promote its latest title BIG Family Games. You'd assume the Queen never touched the console but – as outlined in this hilarious episode of People Make Games – Her Majesty reportedly has an affinity for Wii bowling, so we can't entirely rule out the possibility of her taking her 24K golden console for a spin.
We're not really sure what the method behind the madness was. This seems like a very expensive publicity stunt for a game. Why gift the monarch a golden Wii? Is it a patriotic token of appreciation? Is it a symbol of her wealth? Or perhaps it's a commentary on how the English monarchy looted and plundered Africa of all its gold?
Nevertheless, the golden console eventually found its way into the hands of collector Donny Fillerup. He's now putting parts of his collection up for sale, and the headline item is unsurprisingly this notorious, 24 karat gold-plated Wii, which he has listed on eBay for $300,000 – although, you'll need to pay for shipping. Despite being much more valuable than a normal Wii, there are no performance differences with the gold version and it comes with a complimentary copy of BIG Family Games. Well worth the price (and shipping costs), don't you think?
