The lovely Kim writes:

“Wii” do need your help! For the past 3 years, my husband and I have contemplated getting a Wii for our kids for Christmas. Each year, we talk ourselves out of it. Well, this year we have decided to go for it. With the economy in the tank, and my husband working reduced hours, we figured we would get the kids one gift they would absolutely love. We are obviously looking for the most bang for our buck. Outside of risking my life at the black Friday sales, where do you recommend we look for a system on sale or a decent bundle? I send along my pre-Christmas thank yous from my boys!

Before I get into Wii-specific stuff, let me remind Kim (and the rest of you) that you can take advantage of all kinds of Black Friday deals online, of course. I’ll be here all day on Black Friday, monitoring the deals and posting, so anyone who—like me—would rather stick a fork in their eyeball than step foot in a store on Black Friday can still reap the benefits.

Okay. That said, my Wii advice is going to be very, very boring. In the last few years, Wii consoles were in very short supply and there were no sales, no specials. Black Friday meant a slight reduction on just one or two units per store, and that was that. Nowadays, the price has come down, supply is meeting demand, and you’re more likely to find Black Friday deals on the games than on the consoles.

I checked some of the leaked Black Friday ads and mostly what I’m seeing are bundle deals—buy the console, get a game for free, etc. Amazon is running a bundle deal with the Wii Fit where you buy the console and the Fit and get a $50 game credit. If you want the Fit this is a pretty awesome deal, but if you don’t, this may not be the right deal for you. Keep in mind, though, that Amazon is probably going to remain the cheapest choice for anyone who lives in a state where buying via Amazon means no sales tax.

Right now the console itself is $200 at Amazon. I’ve seen it as low as $175 this season, and expect to see it around $180 for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Again, the current Amazon bundle deal is great; the standalone price is fine if you want the zero-hassle solution. You could maybe wait and get a better price next week, or even the week after, too. But in my opinion, the real deals are going to be found on game specials—again, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will have tons of those, plus the Amazon Toy Clearance that starts in December will likely turn up some gems—rather than on the console.

I hope that helps, Kim!