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[ManaByte]

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4003&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=1

PS3 SHORTAGES

It is impossible to find the PlayStation 3 hardware on Amazon.co.jp. Three months ago, there was a placeholder page, complete with "customer reviews”. Now, that page is gone.

I take this to mean that Amazon.co.jp is wielding a little bit of social responsibility. If you've been reading your videogame news, you’ll know that Sony will only release 100,000 units of the hardware in Japan on launch day.

I went to Bic Camera in Shinjuku -- the largest Bic Camera super store in Japan -- two nights ago, to see if they were taking preorders. The man at the counter listened to me with his arms folded. He shook his head and apologized very politely, probably not for the first or last time.

I figured I would try a smaller store, so I went to the one in Ueno. The man there told me they wouldn't be receiving any units at all. "The only people buying a PlayStation 3 on launch day are going to be the super-devoted fans willing to line up outside a store all night. And if you're going to line up, it'll be either the big one in Shinjuku where they're having the launch event, or the huge one in Akihabara. That should account for a couple thousand systems right there."

The PlayStation 3 launch in Japan is going to be a damned massacre.

The Wii stuff is funny too:

Just this Tuesday night, Nintendo began advertising Wii on television. Less than eighteen hours had passed before I heard girls discussing it on a subway. "Nintendo has a new console coming out. I saw it on TV. A home console. Not a portable console.”

The commercial was really short. Just a white background and a picture of the remote control. And an announcer -- the same guy who did the 'Brain Training' commercials -- says 'This remote controller will change your life.'

In the meantime, Amazon.co.jp's "Wii" page is showing 102 customer "reviews". The opinion is essentially polarized between one star and five stars. The one-star reviews are rather humorous to read, containing such baffling comments as "How could Nintendo betray all the Gamecube fans?"and "How the heck are you supposed to play a complicated game like an RPG with a remote control?"

The five-star reviews, meanwhile, call the product "Purely Nintendo", "cute", and "friendly-looking."

The majority of these reviews surfaced in the last two days. It's impressive what a tiny television commercial can do. The general public is currently as up to speed with the Wii as us astute game-news aficionados were as of September 2005. I imagine in two weeks, they'll begin running commercials that feature software.

 

[kenta]

Before clicking that link I'm going to predict this is Tim Rogers

Edit: I win!

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

You know, this news post is by Tim Rogers, whose hyperbolic opinions have earned him the nickname "the ManaByte of Japan."

 

[ManaByte]

Before clicking that link I'm going to predict this is Tim Rogers

Edit: I win!

Thus the TIMMAH!

 

[kenta]

Thus the TIMMAH!

Oh I get it now. I recognized that quote from the retarded kid on South Park and thought you were saying the article is retarded.

I still win :)

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Before clicking that link I'm going to predict this is Tim Rogers

I totally played the same game!

 

[h_a_t]

"The only people buying a PlayStation 3 on launch day are going to be the super-devoted fans willing to line up outside a store all night. And if you're going to line up, it'll be either the big one in Shinjuku where they're having the launch event, or the huge one in Akihabara. That should account for a couple thousand systems right there."

All night.
:lol

Better make that a couple of days.


As I said in another thread, I would pay good money to watch a short documentary about the PS3 launch in Japan.

 

[Shawn]

Not surprising at all. It's pretty much gonna be a massacre here, too, in the US when it launches.

 

[Prince of Space]

That was almost as painful to read as his Nomura/KH2: Final Mix cluster****.

Who is this guy and why is he getting paid for this garbage?

 

[Jive Turkey]

You know, this news post is by Tim Rogers, whose hyperbolic opinions have earned him the nickname "the ManaByte of Japan."

:lol

"How the heck are you supposed to play a complicated game like an RPG with a remote control?"

Another reason I have gotten tired of RPGs...Their control schemes are just so damned complicated!

 

[Geek]

Haven't a couple people already posted on the internet that they've pre-ordered at GEO stores with no trouble and received info from store clerks that they're numbers 3 or 5 on the pre-order list?

 

[DECK'ARD]

I do like the Japanese teaser TV commercial though:

http://wii.com/jp/movies/wii-cm-what-is-this/

Can see what it's got people interested, and talking about it. I doubt they'll do anything this subtle in the US/EU though.

 

[Balzac]

That was almost as painful to read as his Nomura/KH2: Final Mix cluster****.

Who is this guy and why is he getting paid for this garbage?

Because he's got personality and next-gen online is a joke in terms of professionalism. Supposedly, Mr.Rogers has sony sponsoring his visa in exchange for some occasional freelance work. Yet his editor won't even put up a disclaimer that said weekly column might not be coming from an entirely objective source.

Its also real cute how he pulled that Wii commerical quote entirely out of his ass just to sensationalize.

 

[dark10x]

Its also real cute how he pulled that Wii commerical quote entirely out of his ass just to sensationalize.

I noticed that too. Unless he's talking about a DIFFERENT commercial (and I don't believe there is another one yet), that quote was straight BS.

 

[dyls]

"How the heck are you supposed to play a complicated game like an RPG with a remote control

analogue stick/dpad - check
'A' button - check

I think that pretty much covers it.

 

[Stinkles]

Because he's got personality and next-gen online is a joke in terms of professionalism. Supposedly, Mr.Rogers has sony sponsoring his visa in exchange for some occasional freelance work. Yet his editor won't even put up a disclaimer that said weekly column might not be coming from an entirely objective source.

Its also real cute how he pulled that Wii commerical quote entirely out of his ass just to sensationalize.

What's wrong with Next-Gen? I'm seriously asking. I read it the other day and the "MS is doomed" story followed (literally) by a story saying how awesome the PS3 launch was going to be based on a photo of TGS kids watching an MGS vid, had me wondering. But I'd never noticed anything before.

 

[Error]

RPG controls complicated?

*scratches head*

you mainly use two buttons X=accept O=cancel

 

[Pellham]

You know, this news post is by Tim Rogers, whose hyperbolic opinions have earned him the nickname "the ManaByte of Japan."

:lol

 

[fabprems]

I do like the Japanese teaser TV commercial though:

http://wii.com/jp/movies/wii-cm-what-is-this/

Can see what it's got people interested, and talking about it. I doubt they'll do anything this subtle in the US/EU though.

I bet the little animation in the beginning of the tv commercial is the animation we will see when we boot the console.

 

[cicero]

"dreaming in an empty room" (a defense of Metal Gear Solid 2) - 07222002 - NEVER FORGET
http://www.insertcredit.com/features/dreaming2/

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

"So I was in Japan and I went a Japanese place and I talked to a Japanese person IN JAPANESE and if you don't believe I can speak Japanese here in Japan, here's a direct translation of several of the very ordinary and bland things they said originally in Japanese. Also, I saw real schoolgirls."

 

[AniHawk]

I look forward to pictures and video and documentaries of the PS3 launch.

 

[Tieno]

 

[DCharlie]

You know, this news post is by Tim Rogers, whose hyperbolic opinions have earned him the nickname "the ManaByte of Japan."

oh come on, i know we aren't big fans but that is so harsh

Spoiler

on ManaByte

 

[Bebpo]

You know, this news post is by Tim Rogers, whose hyperbolic opinions have earned him the nickname "the ManaByte of Japan."

Shit, I just spit my apple cider out.

 

[DCharlie]

Supposedly, Mr.Rogers has sony sponsoring his visa

you can't get a visa from a part time job i believe. Although he did manage to get that plush new appartment off the part time job (which Ken Kutaragi personally helped him find) , so i'm guessing they must be paying him a lot (over $100,000 a year i believe was the claim) and possibly breaking the law? (both Sony and Tim - depending on which story ends up being true)

Also, not to cast any doubt , but his almost 3 monthly trips to Korea and back would renew his visa just fine. But that's harsh, It's not like he's going there every 3 mon.... oh wait! he is ! Just a coincidence i'm sure.

 

[Moor-Angol]

When preorders start in Bic Camera or Yodobashi ?


i mean for Wii, not PS3

 

[BobTheFork]

I HAD planned up to 30 hourse of camping for a ps3, which was insane enough. I went to Bestbuy today and apparently people are already asking when they can line up. Seems they expect people to be outside on TUESDAY NIGHT that 60 hours!!! its going to be a masacre right here at homw. Thank god I spent 4 hours camping for a ps3 preorder, no thank you bestbuy