November 29th, 2006

Went to see the [Borat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat) movie on the weekend. Politically incorrect, offensive, degrading, racist and possibly morally wrong… it had it all, yet I found myself really enjoying it (Does that say something about my character? ).

Anyway, I guess it wasn’t the actual content that i found the most entertaining. I mean, sure most of the scenes are funny but I found it far more interesting to watch [Sacha Baron Cohen](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0056187/) play the role of Borat, especially in the interview scenarios he does.

I am not sure if the interviews in the movie are ‘real’ or staged, but you get the impression that they are real and the people totally believe that Borat is a real person. This could all be great acting on the behalf of the people involved, but it just felt more than a totally made up (and acted out) movie.

His response to questions, the questions he asks, the mannerism’s he shows, the way he acts around people. I find it all really interesting that someone could invent and play a character that well.

So yeah, Borat was a funny and interesting movie for me. I’m curious whether the DVD release will include scenes not shown in the movie, as there were quite a few scenes i watched on [google video](http://video.google.com/) and [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/) that were not in the actual movie.

With the Australian [Wii](http://wii.nintendo.com/) release imminent, I’ve been scouting around for info on it at local stores. I was almost certain that the local [Harvey Norman](http://www.harveynorman.com.au/) would have some kind of information. I was also curious to browse their [DS](http://www.nintendo.com/systemsds) range. Anyway, i get there and find nothing relating to Nintendo at all. Not a single thing.

I stood around for a while, incorrectly assuming one of the retail monkeys that work there would come and ask me if I needed help. As usual I had to chase one of them around and initiate contact.

So, I ask this guy if they have and DS games or will be selling the Wii when it is released. He gave me a glazed over look then replied with

“No, we do not stock or sell any Nintendo products anymore”

To which i replied

“Why?”

He then replies with

“Nintendo were just too difficult to work with”

Knowing nothing about it, but also knowing that most things that come out of Harvey Norman salesperson mouths are possibly fiction, I thanked him and left.

This morning I’m reading the games section of the [Whirlpool Forums](http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/) and came across a thread titled “Harvey Norman – Anti Nintendo???” which contained some interesting comments and links. After reading the comments and following the links, [this](http://www.vooks.net/modules.php?module=article&id=11149) link (from June, 2006) provides a good summary. In short, it seems Harvey Norman are the ones that are difficult to deal with and Nintendo decided not to accept Harvey Norman’s terms.

So it seems Harvey Norman will not be stocking Nintendo products now or in the near future. After the US release of the Wii was so successful I bet they will be kicking themselves when the Wii is released here in Australia and they are seeing none of the sales.

Good work Harvey Norman.