BKK2 on 05 March 2009
Here's a bit of what the articles say.
The first one, taken from the Shinjuku Yodobashi Camera where I got my Yakuza 3 copy signed, says that there wasn't anything to report as late as 9:30, or about 30 minutes prior to opening time. However, by 9:15, 40 people had gathered -- although not actually in a line. Things continued to pick up, making the store begin sales 10 minutes in advance.
One person at the head of the group said that his RE5 bundle of choice had been sold out online, and he wanted to make sure that he got a system, which is why he arrived early. The PS3 and Xbox 360 bundles were selling well, the site reports, with the PS3 version managing to sell out in about 20 minutes.
For the new PSP colors, all three colors were selling with good balance, according to the site. Here's what's interesting -- most of the buyer were girls!
The game floor manager for Yodobashi told the site "In terms of the pickup at the fiscal year end buying season, this is the peak." RE5's release follows big debuts for Star Ocean 4 and Yakuza 3, but won't be followed as originally planned by Dragon Quest IX, which is now due for July release.
The second report is from the large Bic Camera in dirty, dirty Ikebukuro. There were 9 people in line about an hour prior to launch, but this increased to about 25 just before the 10:00 opening time. The person at the front told Famitsu that he'd arrived just before 9:00 and was hoping to obtain the PS3 Biohazard 5 Premium Limited Box.
It appears that most people were there for RE5 hardware bundles, as the shop had those waiting for either the PSP colors or the RE5 game make use of a special register in the front of the shop and sent those hoping for the hardware bundle up to the 4th floor, and nearly everyone ended up going up. The PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware bundles were selling equally the site reports.
The third report is from the absolutely massive Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara (definitely my favorite electronics shop in Tokyo). The site actually refers to this as the "video game mecca."
Here, there were 8 people in line by 8:30, an hour before opening time, and all were waiting to purchase the PS3 Resident Evil 5 bundle. Ten minutes into sales, and the shop had sold a total of 30 hardware bundles, at a ratio of 3 to 1 in favor of the PS3. Looking at just software, the PS3 version was also selling better.
The Famitsu report said that it was expecting to see foreigners waiting to make the purchase owing to the fact that the game does not see international release until March 13. This apparently didn't happen... which means if I'd gotten up in time, I would've probably ended up in Famitsu as the person above the "Even foreign customers lined up for [insert name of game]" caption.
The first one, taken from the Shinjuku Yodobashi Camera where I got my Yakuza 3 copy signed, says that there wasn't anything to report as late as 9:30, or about 30 minutes prior to opening time. However, by 9:15, 40 people had gathered -- although not actually in a line. Things continued to pick up, making the store begin sales 10 minutes in advance.
One person at the head of the group said that his RE5 bundle of choice had been sold out online, and he wanted to make sure that he got a system, which is why he arrived early. The PS3 and Xbox 360 bundles were selling well, the site reports, with the PS3 version managing to sell out in about 20 minutes.
For the new PSP colors, all three colors were selling with good balance, according to the site. Here's what's interesting -- most of the buyer were girls!
The game floor manager for Yodobashi told the site "In terms of the pickup at the fiscal year end buying season, this is the peak." RE5's release follows big debuts for Star Ocean 4 and Yakuza 3, but won't be followed as originally planned by Dragon Quest IX, which is now due for July release.
The second report is from the large Bic Camera in dirty, dirty Ikebukuro. There were 9 people in line about an hour prior to launch, but this increased to about 25 just before the 10:00 opening time. The person at the front told Famitsu that he'd arrived just before 9:00 and was hoping to obtain the PS3 Biohazard 5 Premium Limited Box.
It appears that most people were there for RE5 hardware bundles, as the shop had those waiting for either the PSP colors or the RE5 game make use of a special register in the front of the shop and sent those hoping for the hardware bundle up to the 4th floor, and nearly everyone ended up going up. The PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware bundles were selling equally the site reports.
The third report is from the absolutely massive Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara (definitely my favorite electronics shop in Tokyo). The site actually refers to this as the "video game mecca."
Here, there were 8 people in line by 8:30, an hour before opening time, and all were waiting to purchase the PS3 Resident Evil 5 bundle. Ten minutes into sales, and the shop had sold a total of 30 hardware bundles, at a ratio of 3 to 1 in favor of the PS3. Looking at just software, the PS3 version was also selling better.
The Famitsu report said that it was expecting to see foreigners waiting to make the purchase owing to the fact that the game does not see international release until March 13. This apparently didn't happen... which means if I'd gotten up in time, I would've probably ended up in Famitsu as the person above the "Even foreign customers lined up for [insert name of game]" caption.
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