Weekend of gaming events: I am not a (hardware) release date spender.

(tags PlayStation 3, Wii, convention)

I pretty much forgot that tomorrow is the Playstation 3 launch day for Japan. I only just remembered a few days ago. Today, the Weekly Famitsu had many pages devoted to FAQ-level info, and it's my first time to learn of the features. Also when I was going home I saw some 15 people lined up at Seiden/Tsutaya in Kobe at around 8pm, all guys. The store was done. I kept trying to reassure myself that it would be a waste of my time to try to buy it now (there's no games for me, I don't have a HD-TV, Sony hardware has problems first iteration), but a part of me knows that if I had the time, I would jump to be first in line.

The only memory I have of the PlayStation 2 launch in Japan (back in 2000) is the following: I got up at 4 am to trek to some no-name mom and pop store in the middle of Sannomiya Kobe but there were already 100 people there, huddled in the dark. I think I got a PlayStation 2 four months after that, a 10000 series. I also remember a recent retrospect picture in Famitsu of the launch day in Akihabara with a flood of people in front of a not-yet open denki-ya almost at the point of rioting.

So that means I'll get a PlayStation 3 late 2007. So much for thinking I'm "cutting edge".

If we had the blog phenomenon back in 2000, it would be like this: Kotaku's man in Japan is covering Osaka's Yodobashi Camera. I keep telling myself that I should be reading this stuff in Japanese but I am teh lazy.

I've already said this two times before but yeah. Tomorrow is Nintendo World 2006 in Osaka, and it's a no-brainer for me to pick the experience I want: a Wii demo unit I can actually play instead of pre-rendered PlayStation 3 movie demos. The Famitsu mag again helps me here with lots of previews so I won't be lost tomorrow. I just gotta avoid the Zelda: Twilight Princess lines and I'll be set. That reminds me I still haven't played the Zelda for the Gamecube yet. Perhaps I'll get a Wii late 2007, as well?