AP Wire | 11/10/2006 | Sony’s PlayStation 3 debuts in Japan — I’m always amused by the rush of things as if people cannot wait.
TOKYO – Sony’s PlayStation 3 made its highly anticipated debut to long lines in Japan on Saturday, marking the first launch of what’s expected to quickly become a global sellout.
Throngs of people lined up for several hours around Bic Camera, an electronics retailer in downtown Tokyo, to get their hands on one of the video game consoles. It sold out even before the store opened at 7 a.m., and would-be buyers were turned away from the store.
Plagued with production problems, Sony Corp. has managed to ready only 100,000 PlayStation 3 machines in time for its debut in Japan. When it goes on sale in the United States on Nov. 17, some 400,000 PS3 consoles will be available there. The sales date has been pushed back in Europe until March.
“Standing in line today is the only way to make sure I got one,” said Takayuki Sato, 30, among the buyers who queued up at Bic Camera, snaking around the building in a complete circle.
The enthusiasm was so great, clerks with megaphones asked the crowd to stop pushing, warning that all sales would end if there were any injuries.
Why bother -get a Wii or 360 and pick up a PS3 in 2 or 3 years time for 1/4 the price.
Seriously… nothing looks like a killer game on the PS3 so far. Which is bad considering the price.
Plus it looks like they don’t care about Europe, they’ll never capture the market there with that delay. Over a year since the 360 and not that much better looking (seriously.. it’s not)?
Poor…
Standard logic does not work with the Japanese, JimJammer.
It makes me laugh when I read how the media is surprised that there is sooo much demand for PS3s when there are about only 4 or 5 per store.
Yep, wait 6 months to a year and then pick one up. The games should be catching up with the hardware by then. Either way, expect all the machines in the U.S. to be gone in minutes, usually to the friends of store employees.
I can’t wait to see what the high bids will be like on eBay for these things.
3. Standard logic does not work…
Agreed.
These are the same people who have had a year to buy an Xbox360 – and didn’t…
Or did… but want a PS3 as well. Now! 🙂
1 Why bother -get a Wii or 360 and pick up a PS3 in 2 or 3 years time for 1/4 the price.
Why buy any of them now? Wait 2 or 3 years, and buy all three when they are 1/4 the price… 😉
This might be the begining of a real rift between Japanese and Western gaming. I really can’t see the PS3 being that succesful in the US but, I am sure it will dominate Japan.
I guess the US doesn’t share the gaming desires of Japan, pedophile school girl rape simulators and boring RPGs.
I was at BIC Camera today in Tachikawa(west tokyo) and the line was around the building, it was cold and raining and still they waited. From what I saw they were finished selling their lot about 5 minutes after the doors opened.
I’ll stick to my etch a sketch,
Cheers
#7 Andrew,
Better to have tentacle sex games and skinny boys wielding huge swords than wasting time and money on THE SAME FOOTBALL GAME, THE SAME CAR RACING GAME AND A GAZILLION FPS GAMES WHICH ARE ALWAYS THE SAME THING.
Seriously, I feel like the only person in the world who finds the Medal of Honor games boring, I hate to see a bomb fall from the sky and instead of human pieces flying the goddam soldiers just faint.
#7 – You hit the nail on the head.
The X factor here is the Wii. Will the ‘fun’ aspect of the Wii be enough to overrule the lack of HD in Japan?
Personally, I see Asians as the biggest homers in technology. The 360, while not perfect, is a better purchase today than the PS3… yet that’s not where there market is going over there.
I just checked eBay. Currently, winning bids appear to be in the $1600 to $1700 range. Some guys are asking $2500! Amazing!
/agree w/ #1
But, if enough people buy the ps3, with luck, it’ll kill sony (since they ARE selling it for less than it takes to produce it)
I saw ps3’s go for over 3k on ebay and here in my city there were people actually fighting over them. All in all people are going a bit too nuts over the ps3 but I have mine so I am happy (-;