Sony PSP Launched With Long Queues In Akihabara

Juergen writes "At 7 a.m. JST, the first shops in Tokyo's 'Electric City' Akihabara opened their doors and sold the brand-new Sony PSP to the long queues of gamers (Mirror) who had waited already for more than 24 hours in a chilly 5 degrees Celsius."

Comments

That line isn't as hardcore..

[Peter Cooper]

..as the insane line outside the new Apple Store in London when it opened a couple of weeks ago. People were out there in sub freezing temperatures, some for over 24 hours. I thought they were nuts, the lot of em, especially considering there was no new product on sale.

Re:That line isn't as hardcore..

[ISEENOEVIL]

Yes, the line outside the Regent Street opening was definitely quite insane, but fun. As first in line I had a wonderful time and would wait just as long if I had the chance again. The temperatures were just around freezing and there were times when it was hard to stick it out, however, there were plenty of things to do to keep warm. For all those waiting for the PSP launch I can imagine they had a good time and believe it or not 24 hours goes by fast...atleast for an Apple opening. Come to think of it, I don't remember standing in line 48 hours at all on one of the busiest streets in London. Crazy? Maybe. A good time? No doubt about it. Have a writeup of the being first in line at http://www.stormyshippy.com/

Don't know if PSP can catch up

[MunchMunch]

I admit, I didn't think the DS would do as well as it had, but Sony I can't really tell if Sony is going to be able to overtake the well-stocked and well-sought-after DS when they only launch with 200,000 systems and, as recently announced, can only deliver another 200,000 in the two weeks before christmas.

As a side note, I may not be as confident as Nintendo, but I certainly am a lot more interested in the DS than the PSP, despite the fact that the PSP technology is undoubtedly sexy and desirable.

Early reports are that the PSP has 5 hours of battery--and that's with a non-intensive (puzzle) game with no backlight or speaker or wireless connectivity-- and also slow loading times. 2-3 hours of battery life sounds more reasonable for the games everyone is interested in (3D heavy Ridge Racer, etc...), which is just not enough time. Couple this with launch titles that are almost totally sequels or so generic as to be indistinguishable from sequels, and even the still-somewhat-gimmicky DS just seems a lot more fun with a lot less headache.

Played it!

[hoser]

I work as an English teacher just over the border from Tokyo in Chiba. I'm about a 20 minute train ride from Akihabara. This morning one of our teachers walked in to the office carrying a PSP and Ridge Racer. Dunno what time he lined up, but he was at work at 11. I had a go at it and I gotta say -- those graphics are nice. The screen is bloody massive for a portable. It's got a nice shiny front and just looks good overall. The screen real estate alone is a big draw and some might say it's heavy, but I didn't really notice. I don't think weight will be a big problem.

Having said that, it's wee bit expensive for my taste (if you get the value pack with the memory card). The exposed screen seems risky and after a few of us got our hands on the thing it had quite a few smudgy fingerprints on it, ruining the shiny front. And I'm skeptical of the little joysticky button thingy in the corner(and why is there only one? Shouldn't there be two for FPS games?) Dunno about the batteries -- he had it pluged in and charging at work, so I sat by the outlet and played it -- though given the battery life estimates, I don't think I'd buy one.

I'm more of a Nintendo kinda guy, anyway, and though I haven't tried the DS yet I'm inclined to buy it instead, given the possibilities for FPS and RTS games with the touchscreen and despite the less impressive graphics. Still, I'll wait and see what games come out before I buy anything. (But with a 12 hour plane ride back to Canada for Christmas next week, it sure would be nice to have either the PSP or the DS).