Taiwan may be hosting one of the premier manufacturing companies behind the many parts of the Nintendo Wii, but lately it hasn't been given love by Nintendo itself. But by the second quarter of 2008, that will no longer be the case. Nintendo's subsidiary in Taiwan, Nintendo Phuten, has delegated distribution rights to two lucky companies: Hakuya and Weblink. More details at the full story.

The National Communications Commission (NCC) has denied that it ever said it would punish users of parallel import Wiis. The whole confusion started when commission spokesperson Howard Shyr stated that the government needed to check and certify products such as Wiis. This was to insure that the products do not interfere with any telecommunications system or pose health hazards. Certain media representatives misinterpreted this statement to mean that the NCC would penalize Wii users.

Obviously, this is not the case as Mr. Shyr responded to this issue by saying "Regulating consumers' use of the product and the importation of electronics equipment are two different things." He followed up on this by adding, "We have made it clear that we do not punish consumers. Should they have any doubts, they should check if there is any legal certification label attached to the products."

Despite the recent issue regarding the Nintendo Wii, Taiwan's sole distributor (Hakuyu Ltd.) still could not confirm when the long-awaited game console would hit local shelves. Wii gamers in Taiwan have turned online to import the consoles from various dealers. If it's any consolation to those in Asia waiting for a local release, the Wii has not been released anywhere in Asia except in Japan (which happened December 2006).

It seems that the Taiwan market will not be seeing any Wiis before the Chinese New Year, so retailers are now increasing their orders for Nintendo's DS Lite handheld system in order to take advantage of upcoming holiday shopping demand. This according to DigiTimes.

Hakuyu, Nintendo's Taiwan sales agent, said that it "expects retailers' orders for NDS Lite consoles to top NT$ 100 million (US$ 3 million) for January, as they stock the game consoles ahead of the long Chinese New Year holiday, which comes in February this year." The company will import 20,000-30,000 units of NDS Lite from Japan this month, but Hakuyu says that the number will still be unable to meet strong demand.

Despite this, some retailers and online stores have already been offering privately imported Wiis at the end of last year. Even with these products' marked-up prices, market observers say that they have already sold out.