Day 3 of Den Den Town co-habiting

(tags telephone card, game, collectable, Yuiko Tokumi, Osaka, Nipponbashi)

I have already gone to Den Den Town three days in a row but so far nothing big has caught my eye or my wallet. I mean I'm lining my ducks in a row, because right now I'm just glancing at stuff and I'm waiting for the Yuiko Tokumi goods to come into view. Unfortunately I've only seen the new doujinshi (新刊) and none of the other desirables such as the 2008 calendar. Will I ever see it? I suppose I'm waiting for the otaku drops. Saturday only, 2x rate? ;-)

Ol' dependable K-books is reselling one of her new doujinshi for 2100 yen, while another shop called Vanilla is reselling the identical thing for 900. I also saw it at Books Lashinbang but I did not remember the price. It's not Bottle Fairy, and my resistance to buying doujinshi or even setting foot into no-resell doujin shops like Melon Books has been strong recently. I have to focus on going into resell shops, though, because I always do the same varied route of console games, telephone cards, Sofmap, no-resell doujin shop, resell shops. I have succumbed to visiting shops twice in one day. :-/

Also my alternate goal is to find a Xbox 360 joystick. I have not yet found (another) one for sale. The last time I saw one was a month back. Even the auctions online have dried up (for the Dead or Alive model). Why doesn't Hori make another run of these joysticks, plain ones even. I know they make regular controllers, but even if I buy it my thumb will still be at the same angle. I have to say, playing Shikigami no Shiro 2 at demo kiosk at A-Too recently feels totally natural with the Dreamcast regular controller. The Xbox 360 controller in comparison is alien.

For this "2008 A Happy New Year Di Gi Charat" Gamers retail telephone card, I tried visiting Gamers Sannomiya but they didn't offer it. The fukubukuro offers at 3000 yen (available) and 5000 yen (sold out) had another exclusive telephone card of Dijiko but I passed. I also tried to visit Gamers Osaka but I forgot that it is closed today, despite checking the schedule. Note to self: It's closed tomorrow too. It's in a "remote" area so instead of backtracking to Umeda I followed the Midosuji subway line on foot to the next station, Yodobashi, because Den Den Town is another 3 stops south. I passed the U.S. Consulate and I got some winter sun, yeah. I finally picked it up at Gamers Otaroad.

(I have also revived my purple Game Boy Micro for FFTA. I forgot where the USB charging cable went. Sofmap doesn't sell any Game Boy Micro charge cables no more, so I gotta stock up.)

So far this week I have only gotten that Pikachu 50 pose sticker seal sheet and that Gamers telephone card. Total "New Years otaku" costs are, to date, 2000 yen. Transportation has been around 1000 yen per day though. I'm going to have to buy another 3000 yen Lagare card for the travelling.

Other things of interest that I rated a "want" but not "need":

• Lumines for PSP with original cover, used at 6800 yen. It probably is the downgrade-capable version. But it's gone now as of today. I haven't played Lumines before but the demo is just an XBLA away.

• A K-books exclusive micro fiber towel with illustration by Noboru Kannatsuki. But it's not related to red-headed Corti so I will pass.
• Street Fighter III 3rd Strike premium box for the PS2 going for 1_2000 yen. I don't grok Parrying and I don't really need a big box or a jigsaw puzzle!
• Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku for PSP premium set (8900 to 12800 to 17000 yen, with or without figure) and the various telephone cards. I can wait.
• Kodomo no Jikan telephone card (Animate point exchange 2007-12) with daishi going for 4000 yen. I really shouldn't be getting into this "skeleton" anymore.
• Final Fantasy XII International Job System for the PS2 going for 2800 yen used and new. But I'm playing FFTA right now.
• Manabi Straight visual booklet for 1500 yen. I'll get it eventually.
• Contra 4 for the DS, US version at 5000 yen. I can wait till 2008-03 for the JP release.
• Various Gamers or Broccoli or Di Gi Charat telephone cards at around 800 to 1500 yen each at some resell shops. I'll probably pick some up when the wallet is loose.
• Shikigami no Shiro 3 Appreciate DVD (replay video). Have you checked Youtube?
• (I didn't see this at Den Den Town but its on-topic) Border Down for Dreamcast resell (thanks Insert Credit) and soundtrack. Come on, I haven't played Border Down in 3 years! Why do I need another copy? Oh wait, it's already pre-order'd out. :-]

Maybe if I spent less time trying to find something to buy I wouldn't have to say "No" all the time.

And yes, I'm going again tomorrow. :-) :-/ :-(

Venturing out of my cave: "Game Show in Osaka Nipponbashi by Joshin"

(tags game, hardware, auction, Nipponbashi, Osaka, convention)

Ever since I bought a Xbox 360, started my expenses budget, and got into Rubik's Cube, I've been avoiding Osaka Nipponbashi "Den Den Town". But for some reason I am bored so I decided to at least head out in that direction. There are many things to check for:

• Dead or Alive 4 limited edition package Xbox 360 game (~3500 yen used) ::1
• Dead or Alive 4 arcade joystick by Hori (~10000 yen used!) ::1
• Ichigo Mashimaro stick poster from Dengeki 15th anniversary convention (Yahoo Auction) ::2
• Barasui cover Comic Dengeki Gakuen from Dengeki 15th anniversary convention (Yahoo Auction) ::2

::1:: check at Sofmap, A-Too shop, Big Tiger, Super Potato
::2:: check at K-Books and Mandarake

Yesterday I tried to check out the Xbox 360's joystick options. You know, the regular controller has a horrid D pad and Ikaruga (斑鳩) is coming out this month. I might as well learn how to play with a joystick. I want to get the Dead or Alive arcade stick but the Yahoo Auctions always end up greater than 1_0000 yen. This is for a "low-quality" Hori Stick! At Sofmap Kobe, the Virtual Fighter 5 Live Arena arcade stick for Xbox 360 is either all sold out (on the first day?!) or all pre-ordered (I saw all the boxes behind the register) so I couldn't get one. That's when I decided to visit Osaka.

And though I did check out that Arkanoid DS game in the shop I decided that I know what it feels like to wait for a ball and control it indirectly, remembering the first time I played Arkanoid on my Apple IIgs so long ago, so I passed on it. That Space Invaders game for the DS is on my watch list, though.

And I was reminded that Shikigami No Shiro Episode -3 (式神の城III) was coming out for the Xbox 360. It's also coming out for the Wii, huh. There's no information on if its useable with a stick or not. Still I don't know why I want to get this game because I won't play it to get my full money's worth and I haven't finished playing the second game in the series.

But on the same page, there was an announcement for the "Game Show in Osaka Nipponbashi by Joshin" (ゲームショー2007 in大阪日本橋 by Joshin 公式ホームページ) happening right now. Now I must go to Osaka. I can try out the game, I suppose, but I don't expect my opinion to change. There's plenty of new games too: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS), Patapon (PSP), as per the usual Final Fantasy stuff. Takahashi Meijin will be there for a talk show and game event. But oh no, there are game "companions" and I don't expect to actually get inside becuase they are holding it inside two Japanese-sized stores. I'll probably be waiting on the staircase for hours. :-/

Get ready now! >:-o

Da zo!: Nagi from Hayate no Gotoku DVD promotional banner in Nipponbashi

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Nipponbashi)

Senakablog reported the Hayate no Gotoku (ハヤテのごとく) promotional banners in the Nipponbashi. Supposedly there are about a 130 of them. While it wasn't one of my objectives going there, I took a bunch of pictures for myself. These promotional banners are called nobori (のぼり) in Japanese.

Nagi is totally cute, da zo!