Let the fleecing begin!
When I was talking with Miyoko about the PS3 yesterday, I mentioned one shop in Akiba (whose name I’ve never known – I just recognize it by their “DVD • ゲーム†sign) that always snags a few of whatever system is new (and in serious demand) from other shops, then resells them with vastly inflated prices.
Why would they treat the PS3 any differently?
That is just insane.
Their price for the 60GB model is more than my frickin’ rent! I don’t know if they’ll sell any at this price, or if it’s just some sort of attention getting/traffic building move. A gamer would have be phenomenally desperate to drop that kind of money.
Hell, even the systems on Yahoo Auctions aren’t going for that much.
Go ahead, take a peek for yourself. I’ve been periodically reloading that page since yesterday afternoon, and the winning bids seem to be hovering around Â¥100,000. Not a great deal, but certainly better than Â¥144,900.
There have been a few crazy bids (I saw one system where the bidding was over 1 billion – yes with a “b” – yen), but I’m chalking those up to jokes and people sabotaging others’ auctions.
It’s only launch day +1 right now, so there’s no word of when any more – or how many more – systems will be on the market. I suspect things will go like the DS Lite, where new units hit every Saturday. (I’m not basing that on any info, mind you – just tossing my guess out there.) I doubt we’ll see lines of 2,000+ people again, but then again…
This is Japan we’re talking about here.