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by I need clarification 11/12/2006, 7:09pm PST |
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Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
This is the true face of the PlayStation 3 debut in Japan. Hardcore gamers are not here waiting in line overnight, buying a first-run PS3, and running home to play some good old next-gen gaming. Rather, opportunistic Japanese businessmen have the largest presence, hiring poor Chinese men and women to wait in line for a PS3, one which will later be sold on web auctions to wealthy gamers around the world for exorbitant amounts of money.
There are reports that some of these Japanese businessmen have even made a PROFIT. A profit measurable in the coagulating blood of every non-wealthy gamer, plus also exploited Chinese.
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
The levy broke soon afterwards, as a truck attempted to pass through the narrow street, forcing the organizers to push back to the line closer towards the wall. Or in other words, squeezing together a line of people already packed like sardines.
The pressure was too much as the line busted open and more pushing ensued (which broke out in front of the waiting truck), causing those waiting in back to push forward, inching themselves closer to the finish line with a prideful Kutaragi waiting.
In all my years of reporting, I've never witnessed anything like this. To see human beings, Chinese or not, squashed together like so many slaves in the hold of a cargo ship, rolling around in their own urine and vomit, while their Japanese overlords watch pridefully... it was easy to realize what we've gained as a gaming republic, we've more than lost as a human society.
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
The Tokyo police would eventually arrive just prior to 7 A.M. - fifty minutes after the pushing first took place.
Though it meant breaking every rule of journalism I'd ever seen on movies about journalists, I had to get involved. Despite tugging on the sleeves of no less than THREE Tokyo police officers, my pleas were ignored and the first pusher was allowed to walk away from the scene, unpunished. Here is an artist's rendition of the culprit:
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
But what took place at the cash registers moments later would put a big, fat exclamation point on what can only be described as a failure of a hardware launch.
"Thank you for your patience!," welcomed the cashier to the first PS3 buyers. "What game software would you like with your purchase?"
"Hai," the consumer nodded, not understanding the question.
Most cashiers soon figured out that the men and women standing in front of them didn't speak Japanese. Some would then repeat the same question in English, and would all get the say reply, "Only hardware."
What was Sony thinking? Surely all the Chinese in the line could have been rounded up somehow! What about checking identification cards or passports? Can anyone just walk into a store and buy something? It's astounding, and is a clear example of why Sony will soon explode and burn and then die.
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
The transactions continued, tired-looking Chinese carried away their newly purchased PS3s, and avoided eye contact with journalists asking for interviews. All but one young man - a Chinese exchange student studying in Japan. He was willing to go on camera and was excited to talk about his new purchase.
The television reporter started off with a few questions that the young man didn't understand, so she stuck to simple questions: "Why is PS3 good?"
"It's interesting," the young student said with a grin.
"What game will you play on your PS3?" she asked.
"The tennis game," he replied. Among the four software titles that launched with the PS3 in Japan, there was only one sports title - Sega's golf game. The student was perhaps referring to the recently released "Minna no Tennis" on PlayStation 2. Either way, it was obvious he was no gamer.
The young man would later head over to Yurakucho Station, where he added his purchased PS3 to a collection of consoles bought by his friends, which no doubt will be sold online in an auction later today.
I screamed for someone to shoot him, even if it was just in the leg, but no one did a thing! I yelled to Kutaragi, "WHAT HAVE YOU WROUGHT?!" and he ignored me, gleefully eye-ing the fistfuls of yen pouring into the Bic cash registers. I ran after the scoundrel student, but he made a threatening move toward me (no doubt taught to him by his Yakuza overlords), and I realized discretion was the better part of valor. My most humble apologies to the true non-wealthy gamer who will go without a PS3 this holiday season. I have failed you.
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
Today I witnessed the most disturbing side of the video game industry in my three decades of game fandom. It's not the Chinese that I'm upset about. Who can blame them? If you're poor and without a good job in Japan, 20,000 yen to wait in line isn't a bad deal. And for ambitious people like the Chinese students I encountered who scored five PS3s, this hardware launch could net them thousands of dollars in profit through online auditioning - that's more money for them to spend on tuition. These are the lucky Chinese kids in Japan, getting an education, and trying to get ahead in life. If these kids are good students, who's to say that they should be playing PS3 instead of using the console to afford more education?
My enlightened views of the poor people! Let me also tell you about Chinese prostitution, and why it is essential it be made legal.
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
But this story isn't about the hardships of Chinese in Japan. It's about how poorly run hardware launches are done in Japan and why they should change.
Sixty seconds before Kutaragi kicked off the launch, rain started to fall on hundreds of people in line, many without umbrellas. People were pushed and yelled at by out-of-control campers without the presence of a single police officer (even though a police box was located one block away), and hundreds more are still waiting outside as I write this, with the rain pouring down.
Though I was unable to get visual confirmation (my SONY-made phone camera "coincidentally" stopped working once it was soaked with rain), I am quite sure I saw some sort of experimental aircraft with the amost-familiar "Live in your world, PAY in ours" slogan on emblazoned on the side moving through the once-clear skies moments before the downpour started.
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
Meanwhile, true Japanese gamers are waiting. Based on the record-breaking attendence of this year's Tokyo Game Show, there are tens of thousands of Japanese interested in playing (not selling) PlayStation 3. They are waiting for their chance to play Ridge Racer 7 or Genji II (or maybe not), but still the interest is there. And should they line up again when the next shipments of PS3s come in? Hell no. As evidenced by the ongoing DS Lite storages in Japan, patient Chinese and their crooked Japanese bosses will be there too, waiting.
This is the true story of the PlayStation 3 debut in Japan. This is the kind of expose that Japanese media are prevented to run because of their nationalism and close ties with big business. While it's honorable to not smear their own countrymen (Sony) for their botched launch, the truth must be told.
Following the publishing of this article, I will be going into hiding. You may not know my face or even my real name, but know this: wherever true gamers are denied first-access to new hardware, wherever callous corporation support the subjugation of AN ENTIRE RACE to the mere whims of the powerful few, wherever megaphones are used to split ears, I will be there. I will be on the streets, in the stores, at the registers. I will be in the warehouses, in the online shopping carts, in the shipping companies. I will be on eBay, on the messageboards... I WILL BE THERE.
Hysterical game 'journalist' wrote:
As a fellow foreigner studying in Japan, I can tell you the hardships that many of us face everyday. The intent of this story is not to point fingers at hard-working Chinese nationals. Rather, I think this subject needs to be brought to light. This is the truth that no Japanese media wants to touch.
HARDSHIPS!! |
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