Yeah, I know i'm overdue for an update about my life, my new apartment, how Elise is faring after coming to Japan, etc etc. However, I have something much more important to talk about at the moment...the launch of the Playstation 3 in Japan! Two of my friends from the dormitory decided to go camp out in order to score themselves a shiny new system, and I couldn't resist tagging along too. The PS3 is actually being released in Japan a week earlier then America, so I figured if I could buy one I could sell it immediately on Ebay and make a little bit of a profit.
One of my friends from my dorm, Stephen, (Canadian, but he's lived in England for the past couple years) saved up during the summer to buy a PS3, so he was absolutely determined to get one at launch. He managed to convince Tommy, a fellow UBC student, to get one too. Of course, those who know me won't be surprised that I was up for camping out all night for a gaming system ^_^. Elise, on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled about the idea and decided to give me moral support from the comfort of our cozy room. We had a couple of choices where to go try to camp out, but we decided on the biggest Bic Camera shop in Tokyo, at Yurakucho station (right before Tokyo station downtown). We got there about 7:30 PM and saw several people already there trying to line up, but apparently the security guards weren't so impressed with the hardcore gamers' attempts to line up 9 hours before the line officially opened. As a result, you could see pockets of people scattered throughout the square obviously hanging around waiting to get in line. Not feeling like standing around pointlessly, we headed off to find something to eat, and decided to simply stop at the Mcdonalds nearby since coupons had been handed out at the train station. I was hoping for some exotic asian Mcdonalds cuisine, but sadly it was standard Mcdonalds fare through and through (don't laugh! I've been to KFC a few times already and they have some awesome menu choices that will never see the light of day in the western world). Afterwards we stopped at a decent cafe for a coffee before heading back to Bic Camera. During our absence an amusing sign had been erected clearly stating that the line for the bus was NOT the PS3, and the security guards posted around the building discouraged any thougts of starting up our own line. As a result, we planned to head out to karaoke or something to kill some time. Before we left, however, I wandered up to another group of foreigners who were obviously waiting around for PS3 too and started up a conversation. Before long we decided to join forces in our quest and set up temporary camp across the street from the store. It was actually quite enjoyable talking with them (two of the guys were even Sony employees - one had designed the browser for the PS3 - and they STILL had to line up to get a system...-_-). I chatted with one guy from Hong Kong who had been living in Japan for 15 years or so and had some tips and encouraging words to say about finding work teaching English. What was really amusing, however, was what happened after we ran out of things to chat about.
Everyone decided that it was "game time", and promptly took out their Nintendo DS's for some 10-player multiplayer mario-kart action. Keep in mind that most of these people didn't know each other and were from different places all over the world, yet everyone had a gaming system along with mario kart (well, except for my friends, but even they had their PSPs to play -_-). I thought it was quite scary, personally. So there I was, the only one without a handheld system, instead forced to waste my time reading literature I had brought with me...psh. Furthermore, after all this had started, a reporter from Reuters came over to our group and tried to find someone for an interview. Of course, since everyone was involved in their head-to-head race, the poor reporter couldn't get a second glance from anyone. You could see the relief on his face when he finally spotted me across the sea of flashing screens with only a book, and he hurried over to ask me a few simple questions, to which I gave boringly simple answers so I could get back to my book. So imagine my surprise when I logged on to the Reuters website the next day and found they had quoted my lame answers specifically ^_^ (you can check out the link on the bottom of this post). A little while later, several people in our group including me were also interviewed on camera for a Japanese news show that aired the following Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't catch which news or what time, so I guess i'll never know how that turned out.Anyhoo, time flew by pretty fast until about 3 in the morning or so, but by then we were all starting to run out of energy. We sent runners to the closest 24hr konbini to grab some snacks and drinks to tide us over, but it was getting difficult to keep sleep at bay. It was in this dozey state at about 3:30 that I suddenly heard a loud bang from the direction of Bic Camera. I still don't know what the heck it was (employees were setting up for the morning's launch events, so they probably just dropped something), but whatever it was, it caused a few people to start running towards the store, which in turn started a massive stampede of people across the streets. My friends and I were totally shocked, a few ran out with the crowd but I just stood there stunned as the hordes of screaming people rushed and surrounded the building admist officials screaming into their megaphones to stop and that it was dangerous. Dangerous indeed...I'm really surprised that no one was seriously injured. I took a little video of the aftermath with my camera, but I was too slow on the uptake so I missed most of the action. Nonetheless, it did result in waking us all up, and we subsequently started a lengthy debate as to how they were going to open up the line at 5:00. They had strewn pylons throughout the area in very mysterious ways, leading us to believe that they would probably start one line on one side of the building and one on the other (either that or the line would be on the other side of the building where most of the security guards were, in which case we would be screwed). As the clock approached 5, the wolves surrounding the store were all standing and and steadily edging closer and closer across the street, to the distress of the poor people in charge that had to keep shouting for them to stay back. It was a strange experiance to say the least - I was beginning to think we were laying siege to a castle or something. I'll give people some credit - they did manage to hold back until about 4:55...when the tension finally snapped leading to a second rush into the middle. Amidst the hordes of people shouting and shoving our party got completely divided. I ended up on the far side of the building from where I had been waiting, and couldn't decide where to go next. I finally followed a couple of the ameircans around the side of the building, and was promptly shoved against the building by some store staff who sealed us in a line with a steel bar. So, it turns out that the entrance HAD been on the far side, and the staff wound the line around the entire building so that the big crowd that had rushed to the middle actually ended up being funneled into the very back of the line. Despite being among the first people the night before I ended up somewhere around the middle, but at least I managed to pick up the 60gb system after another 3 hour wait in line. There was also an opening event in the front of the store which included the head of Sony Japan and Sony Europe, but as I was stuck in the alleyway I wasn't able to see much of anything.
So was it worth it? For me it was...Japanese people apparently do this kind of thing all the time (lining up all night that is) whenever the latest system or even the latest popular game is released, so being the geek that I am I was more then happy to give it a try myself. I also got to meet a bunch of interesting fellow-geeks in the process. Add that to the fact that I bought the system for about $500 USD and sold it for $1350 USD on ebay, I'd say it went pretty well.
* note - as I type this, i've just realized that if I had waited a bit longer to sell the system, I could have sold it for almost $2000 USD online (that's the current selling price). Damn.
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