Or – How I spent my Saturday night.
In case yesterday’s post was too cryptic (or full of too many yucky mental images
^.^), here’s what it was about.
Today (12 December 04) was the launch day in Japan for Sony’s Playstation Portable, a.k.a. PSP. Yes, I know I just bought a DS two weeks ago, and I hadn’t been too keen on the PSP – until I got to play one in a store.
It’s nice. It’s got the best screen on any handheld game system I’ve ever seen. Hell, it may have a better screen than my TV. It’s a lot smaller than I’d expected. The pics from E3 this year made it look freakin’ huge. But it’s not. It’s a great size, and it’s practically all screen. I had the money, and I wanted
one.
Actually, I wanted five.I’ve been watching people auction off their pre-orders on Ebay for a couple weeks, so I knew there was profit to be made in this little beauty. I figured if I could get five of them, I could sell four for twice their Japanese price and net about a thousand dollars. The launch was on a Sunday, and I didn’t have any other plans, so why not try and grab as many as I could? I had the time and the cash, so I went for it. This tale could probably go in the Gratuitous Geekery section, but camping out overnight for game systems is such a Japanese thing that I felt it should go here. What follows is a timeline of my Saturday night and Sunday morning, from when I first got to Ikebukuro until I got my last system. I always keep a pad and a pencil in my backpack, and it came in very handy for logging all the night’s happenings.
Saturday, 11 December
2100 – I arrive in Ikebukuro and head to the big Bic Camera store near the North Exit of the station. There are about 20 people in line, but I kind of expected that. This is “the” Bic store in Ikebukuro. I decide to check out the one by the West Exit and see what the scene is like there.
2104 – Ah! Much better! Only 3 people in line here, hanging out along the edge of the street in front of the store. I take up my place as #4.
2127 – Store employees are getting things ready for tomorrow’s opening (0655).
If you sell it, they will come!
2129 – Person #5 shows up – and it’s a chick. How cool is that?!?
2136 – The gate closes and we move from the edge of the sidewalk to lean up against the gate.
2208 – Seven people now. Hey, wait a sec! Who’s that schmuck hanging out with #1? He’d better not be getting cuts. Yeah, that’d only make me #5 – and I’m sure they’ve got more than five systems on hand – but it’s the principle of the thing.
2220 – Bic Dude (All store employees will be referred to as “Bic Dude,” so don’t think there’s just one guy doing everything I attribute to that name.) comes out and sets the line up the way he wants it. Against the gate was okay, but we were starting at the wrong end of it. We’re up to 10 people in line. A couple (guy/girl) has joined our ranks.
2236 – #6 (previously #5) is my new best friend. She loaned me one of her blankets.
Interlude #1 – It would seem I’m not really prepared for this. Oh, I checked the weather and all that, so I dressed for the temperature – just not the time I was going to be out in it. #6, on the other hand, it totally squared away – blankets, hat scarf, cardboard to insulate the ground she’s sitting on… What did I bring? Two books, two coffees, two bottles of orange juice, a hot dog wrap….oh, and about $1,400 in cash. Also, I wore short socks, so her loaned blanket is keeping my ankles nice and cozy. My best call was the flannel boxers. At least I got that one right. The dude next to me (#3) only has two Gundam models, so I guess I don’t have it all that bad.
2245 – The floodlights from the store are turned off. No biggie though, there are plenty of streetlights and other buildings around to provide ample light for reading and whatnot.
2313 – The floodlights come back one and some dude is setting up traffic cones in the road. I doubt the cones are PSP-related.
2333 – Regulate!! Bic Dudes come out (Are they gonna be here all night?) and kick the line jumpers to the back. It seems they’d made notes of who was lining up before they even had us in the “official” lining up place. I’m #4 again. W00t!
Sunday, 12 December
0000 – Line check. My store (Bic West) – 18 people. Bic North – 133. O.o Do people just not realize this store is here or something?
The state of my line at midnight.
That’s #5 all bundled up and stretched out. I get the feeling she’s done this before.
0015 – On the way back from checking the lines I swing into McDonald’s and get a bag of (6) cheeseburgers. I offer one to the Bic Dude at the front of the line and he gratefully accepts. Bic Dude at the end passes. #3 seems like a decent enough sort of guy, so I offer him one. He thanks me and offers to pay for it, but I decline. It’s all about building goodwill. We’ve got nearly seven hours to go here, so I figure it’s best to be on good terms with the folks you may ask to watch your stuff. #5 wakes up about 10 minutes later. I offer her a burger and she happily accepts. I eat the remaining three.
0157 – Just under five hours to go. I’m tired, but can’t sleep. Cold concrete does not make for a comfy ass.
0215 – Ahhhh! There is something to this whole “cardboard cushion” stuff. I’d gotten up to stretch my legs and found a decent box. My ass isn’t exactly comfy, but at least it’s no longer cold.
0219 – Bic Dudes bring boxes out to all who may need them. Most everybody who doesn’t already have a box accepts. Some people make cushions, others set theirs up like windbreaks. They look like Dungeon Masters to me. I wonder if they’ll make their saving throws against numb bottoms…
0255 – Four hours to go. I tried to sleep, but couldn’t. It seems cardboard’s not that great a cushion after all.
This sign marks the end of the line.
0303 – The biggest group yet shows up – 10 people, four of them are hot chicks. What a country!
0327 – Oldest guy yet shows up. I’d say he’s gotta be over 40. He’s wearing a suit and I see he’s not wearing a wedding band. Is there a connection to being old, unmarried and lining up to buy games at this time of night?
My line at 0341.
0348 – Just over 3 hours to go. I’m having the first of my two coffees.
0450 – Bic Dude makes an announcement. At 0515 they’ll pass out tickets. I’m assuming they’ll be for choice of games and systems.
0500 – Bic Dude passes out flyers saying what’s available for the launch.
Interlude #2 – What really strikes me as odd about all this is how everybody else treats it as something normal. The collective headspace seems to be, “yes, a new system is coming out. If we want to get one, we must line up in the dark hours beforehand. It’s just what you do.” Not only do they treat it as normal, but they all look normal too. No pasty-faced, overweight social rejects here. Okay, some of them may be social rejects, but you wouldn’t guess it from looking at them. If this same thing happened in America, you could walk down the line and go “loser, loser, dork, virgin, dorky virgin, loser dork…” You get the idea. It’s not the same here.
I like it better here.
0513 – Non-line people are going to the station. It looks like mostly the all-nighter party crowd heading home.
0515 – Game ticket time! Bic Dude starts working his way down the line, asking everybody which game(s) they want and handing them the appropriate tickets. I just get Ridge Racers. #5 gets Mah-jong Fight Club.
0521 – Bic Dude tells everybody to hang around the store from now until opening time.
0535 – Bic Dude has a basket of somethings in little plastic bags. Some sort of freebie? I have no way of knowing as he’s passing them out from the back of the line forward. Bastich! >.<
0539 – Time for system tickets. Regular or Value Pack – what’s your poison? Of course, I go with the Value Pack.
My preciouses!
0555 – One hour to go. I’m tired and hungry. What time does that McDonald’s open?
Must. Have. Egg. Mc. Muffin.
0600 – Stretch my legs again and see just how long the line is.
OMGWTFBBQLINE?!?
(This is really part two of my store’s line. The guy in the front here is probably number 80 or 90 or something like that.)
0617 – The “pack up your stuff” announcement is made.
0622 – Time for coffee #2.
0630 – The line is shifted to the other side of the sidewalk so they can open the gate and get the front of the store set up.
0640 – Bic Point Card sign-up drive. Bastich doesn’t ask me if I want one. No biggie, I’ve already got one.
0644 – Gate goes up.
0652 – I realize I’ve been chatting with #5 off and on all night and don’t even know her name. I introduce myself and she does the same. We trade email addresses and chat a bit more about what games we like. I thank her again for loaning me her blanket and translating the Bic Dude announcements for me. She’s cool! ^.^
0656 – The PSP is mine!
0700 – McBreakfast! (Three Egg McMuffins.)
0718 – I wander to the other side of the station. Bic Dude at North Bic suggest going to Bic West (where I’ve just come from) if I want a PSP. I don’t tell him I already have one (they’ve got a “one per customer” policy on new systems when demand is really high) and instead head over to Bic East.
0722 – I’m in line at Bic East and have tickets for another Value Pack and another copy of Ridge Racers.
0800 – PSP #2 is mine!
0810 – I get in line at Toys ‘R’ Us. They don’t open until 10 and it seems like nobody thinks of them for launch day stuff. Probably for a good reason – TRU only has 25 PSPs. “World’s biggest toy store” my ass! But the line is short and I’m guaranteed a third system here, so I hang out, read and play a little DS.
0835 – I share a grin with two Japanese dudes with Bic bags. I earn cool points for having scored two PSPs already.
0955 – Tickets are passed out. I get – yup – a Value Pack and Ridge Racers.
1000 – Enter the store.
1003 – PSP #3 is mine!By this time pretty much every store is sold out of PSPs, so I decide not to bother trying to get any more. I can put two of the ones I got on Ebay and the profit should more than cover what I paid for my system. A long night’s “work,” but I’ll get free stuff out of it, so it’s all good.What did my haul look like at the end of all this?
Not bad at all:
The things right below the games are screen protectors (3) and demo discs (2). Below those are the Ridge Racers stickers I got from the Bic stores. The gloves came from TRU. The stickers and one of the Demo Discs are going with the auctions, and I’m keeping the gloves and the other DD. The gloves are just such a weird item that I can’t really let them go.Well, that’s what my night was like. It’s cool to have done it, but I’m glad it’s not something that “needs” to be done all that often. I’d prefer warmer weather though. Next time I’ll have one of those nice, folding camp chairs.
Next time?!?
Yup. Whenever Nintendo’s next console (the “Revolution”) comes out, I’m gonna be right back in line. And maybe for the PS3. And… ^.^