From Japan
DQ reader Michael lives in Japan (Hokkaido), and answer to an e-mail I asked him about what's happening with the PS3 and Wii in Japan. His response was lengthy, but I'm posting it largely unedited because it's an interesting look at what's going on in Japan.I haven't paid that much attention to what's going on the rest of Japan- don't watch much TV (Crazy stuff!); but I have talked to various people about the PS3 before it debuted. Pretty much everyone's opinion about it was that it was too much money. And no one that I'd mentioned it to seemed to even know that it was coming out. Since I don't watch TV, I don't know if they're saturating the airwaves w/ advertising or not. Definitely haven't seen any billboards or bus advertising, etc.
Even going to the video rental place, I had no idea that they even had a PS3 for people to play. There were no huge banners or anything announcing the mighty PS3. It was just off to the side near the magazines. I happened to walk by as a guy was playing it and thought, "Oh! So that's the PS3!" There's a lot of space given to PS3 titles, but as you know, there are no titles, so it's a lot of empty, wasted space. I'm sure the video store manager is happy about that. There happened to be a box with a used PS3 price sitting there, so I inquired about it and that's how I came to be a PS3 owner.
On the other hand, when you walk into this store, the first thing you see on the left is Nintendo's display. Perhaps pre-launch there was a similar setup for Sony, but I don't remember having seen anything of the like. There's a little TV with examples of games being shown. There's a small display of games- not many, but more than Sony could muster. There are a couple big posters above and one of my friends remarked, "That's a lot of girls!" I didn't think much of it, but in hindsight, it looks like Nintendo's marketing to a different group- the gamers just aren't in their sights. One poster is of 3 girls being happy- young teens. Other poster is of 4 possibly mid-late teens, 2 gals, 2 guys. Girls are basically front and center- two guys are in the back to the L and R. Of the preview videos being shown, it's a family that's playing and Mom and Grandpa (or Super Grandpa from one little blurb I read) are the ones being amazed by the Wii. Think Nintendo might've done their homework. Sony? Hard to say.
I had to go to a sister outlet to this video store to pick up Resistance: Fall of Man. Absolutely nothing there for either the Wii or PS3. PS3 was in the rental section (where I saw another machine for sale- almost picked it up). I saw no displays touting either one. And definitely no one around beating down others to pick up the used unit on display- I could probably walk in today and still grab it (but only because no one probably knows it's there). I spoke to one of the guys that I know that works there. He said that it'll all depend on the software that comes out. Until there are some solid games that people want to play, he didn't think it'd take off. Final Fantasy's the game he mentioned that'll get people to want to play. So maybe PS3'll take off a bit more here in Japan next year- guess we'll see.
Nearby was the XBox 360 area. I asked about that and he said there just wasn't any interest. I asked why and he said that it was because there just weren't any interesting games for it. He mentioned that the Nintendo DS was the same way when it came out- no interesting software, so they couldn't sell the machines. Some software came out that made you think (I believe one of them is an English practicing game) and since then, they haven't been able to keep them in stock, apparently. But 360-wise, it just doesn't look like it'll take. Granted, all of this is from a small town (40,000 people) perspective. I can't give you much of a perspective from the big city POV.
The video stores are opening at 9am on Saturday in order to hand out little tickets to prospective Wii buyers. Then at 9:30, queuing will begin. I think the stores actually open at 10am or so usually, so they're going out of their way to keep the fuss to a minimum. I was at another sister store a few days ago in a larger city (1/2 million people maybe) and was told that there's no reservation system, but that they've got about 20 or so machines. Figure my small town will have less than that, but with 2 of the stores in town, I wonder if there's enough interest that they'll be sold out. I have to work on Saturday- don't know if it's worth taking the day off in order to try to snag one. Not being a console gamer, I'd probably try to sell it; however, there's enough buzz about it that I'd like to try it out. I'm scared that I might actually like it ;)
So far, the PS3 is only cool, but that's it. There's nothing about it that makes me want to keep it other than it being a cheap Blu-ray player.
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