PS3 Japan Launch: Foreigners and Fights

[IkemenTommy]

What a shame.. and there are douche bags out there who would pay premium money for it. This is like the total recall for when PSP and the XBox360 came out.

[Mulboyne]

Brad has an account of waiting outside Bic Camera in Yurakucho:

As we waited, we noticed how many Chinese people were waiting around us. In fact, it seemed like almost a majority of the people were Chinese. Ken, an Aussie whom we had met, spoke to one girl who confirmed that most of them were Chinese exchange students who were getting \10,000 each to stand in line and buy a machine. They were giving them to stores who would then resell them at a huge markup to gamers elsewhere in the world.

Aside from the Chinese exchange students, there were also a lot of homeless people who were getting paid by Japanese people to do the same thing. It sort of made me mad, that so many people were lining up who had no interest in a machine for any purpose other than to make money.

[Rasukaru]

I sometimes wonder why the company itself doesn't take more advantage of the supply and demand curve. Perhaps by holding some back for special "premium packages" to be sold with some commemorative junk. They know that supply will be behind demand for a while, so why not price gouge a little?

Me, I have an HDTV but I can wait for the day when I can just walk into a store and buy one without any hassle. I don't even have enough time to play as much Xbox 360 as I want to, thanks to kids and a full-time job.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Boohoo. So some fucking nerds have to wait a couple of weeks or maybe even -GASP- months before they can play with their wittle game.

[kamome]

Boohoo. So some fucking nerds have to wait a couple of weeks or maybe even -GASP- months before they can play with their wittle game.

My sentiments too. I don't have much sympathy for the type of person who is willing to pay thousands on a website for this thing.

[Tommybar]

Just anounced, PS3 does not play all the PS2 and Play Station games. Sony is posting a list of over 200 game titles that will not work with the new PS3. Problems are no sound, and graphics not showing properly on the screen.

[Socratesabroad]

I'd offer a brief aside on the article.

As most of you know, I'm quite familiar with a number of Chinese living/studying/working in Japan, which is the biggest reason why I'm here in China now.

Every single one of those acquaintances had a decent level of Japanese comprehension: one was a medical grad student at Todai, another an undergrad and grad at Hosei, and numerous others at smaller tech and vocational schools. While students, they all worked PT jobs in various capacities so they must have had some Japanese proficiency.

Point being, the Chinese in the article sound more like "language school students," i.e. the ones in language schools that mysteriously vanish from the classroom and wind up working, than actual foreign students. Given that Chinese are the largest group of foreigners attending J uni, that's something to keep in mind when you hear disparaging remarks about Chinese students.

[kurohinge1]

[Kuang_Grade]

This is standard operating procedure for US based fan-boys or just bored 12 year olds...In Aug, I saw over 75 PSP auctions that were purposely wrecked by brand new bidders who had zero feedback using buy it now bids, with one wreaking over 25 auctions in less than 36 hours (I know they were wrecked because the guy was unregistered within 2 days after the auctions)...I was looking because I was preparing to sell off my PSP and I avoided this problem by requiring immediate payment on the auction that only had a buy it now price.

I have no doubt that that US media will harp on "a PS3 sold on ebay for $10,500" without realizing that is likely wii or 360 fanboys or merely people outraged by the apparent profiteers causing the shortages (although Sony bears far more guilt for the shortages vs. Ebay profiteers) are wrecking auctions for sport and principle.

such as this $1,000,000 bid for a PS3 pre-order
http://cgi.ebay.com/Playstation-3-Premium-I-was-first-in-line-to-preorder_W0QQitemZ300037119547QQihZ

This guy may have gotten a $15,000 bill in auction fees from Ebay that he would then have to jump through hoops to get refunded.

[IkemenTommy]

This guy may have gotten a $15,000 bill in auction fees from Ebay that he would then have to jump through hoops to get refunded.

Serves him right.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Serves him right.

Yeah, nothing I hate more than capitalism. If anything otaku deserve to get fleeced if they're willing to wait in line over night or pay thousands of dollars on e-bay for a fucking toy.

[Kuang_Grade]

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=150059269467

The bid history of a $99 million auction for a PS3...it is currently 12 hours after the auction closed and most of the bidders have been booted off Ebay, even those with alright feedback levels.

[Charles]

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=150059269467

The bid history of a $99 million auction for a PS3...it is currently 12 hours after the auction closed and most of the bidders have been booted off Ebay, even those with alright feedback levels.

This isn't surprising. There was a public campaign to wreck PS3 auctions on Yahoo Japan, apparently people decided to do this on eBay too. Unfortunately YJ fixed the auctions almost instantly. It would have been hilarious if the PS3 greedheads got stuck with machines they couldn't sell.

[IkemenTommy]

This isn't surprising. There was a public campaign to wreck PS3 auctions on Yahoo Japan, apparently people decided to do this on eBay too. Unfortunately YJ fixed the auctions almost instantly. It would have been hilarious if the PS3 greedheads got stuck with machines they couldn't sell.

I mean think about it. Where is the originality in the concept of standing first in line to buy, then quickly selling them on ebay? It's no longer an innovation and thus a profitable business model when everyone is doing the same thing. If I wanted the PS3 so badly, then I would've waited in line instead of trying to buy it on ebay when you know the price of it would be so outrageous.

Again, serves them right.

[IkemenTommy]

Walmart promotion turns ugly.
Fuckin white trash anyway.

[Mulboyne]

AP: PlayStation 3 consoles stolen from Japanese warehouse

Thieves stole 180 Sony PlayStation 3 video game consoles from a warehouse in northern Japan on Tuesday following the sellout launch of the console last month, police said. Transport company Meitetsu Golden Air Cargo left a shipment of PS3 consoles stacked in front of a warehouse and had planned to ship them to a retailer. But a worker noticed about four hours later that 180 of the consoles were missing, according to a policeman who gave only his family name, Iwabuchi. Police were investigating the theft, he said.