Getting ready for Wii

This week, I got paid quite a bit more than I was expecting by a couple of my agencies, just two days before the release of the Nintendo Wii... a sign? Of course it is! I came to Japan to experience things like this, so why not :-P

Anyways. Started off pretty well, got to Yodobashi Akihabara at 7:30pm, and saw a sign that says that the queue starts at 8pm. There weren't too many people around, apart from some obligatory homeless dudes out to make a quick buck:



There didn't seem to be any of the madness and humming throngs that accompanied the PS3 launch, for various valid reasons (lower retail price, more units available). So, I went and, sniff, parted company with my little-used Gamecube, for a paltry 15 pounds... oh well... with Gamecube playback functionality built into the Wii, the console is pretty much obsolete, so I was happy to get anything for it.

So, I went for dinner with gaming friends Tim and Rudy, bog standard family-restaurant fare, in the ubiquitous restaurant 'Gusto', our typical haunt. The waiter was even more patronising than usual, repeating our order to us 3 times, and... get this... speaking to us in CASUAL Japanese! The horror! Damn his unorthodoxy!

We returned to the Yodobashi store at about 10:30 to get in line... but were greeted with silence, and this sign:


Egads! Why, cruel fate, must you cheat me of my most cherished Wii?
Instead of having people line up all night, they gave out tickets to those in line (much like the ones you get when you go to the deli counter in the supermarket), and told everyone to go home. Then you could just get some sleep and come back at 7am, no fuss, no pushing and screaming like at the PS3 launch.
Our grand plan for the day was to go to the Premiere of Casino Royale in the glorious Roppongi hills cinema, and then line up and get a Wii. Things were not quite going to plan.

Luckily, the story has a happy ending. AKihabara is just 15 minutes walk from Ueno, where there is also a Yodobashi store, albeit much smaller. So I got a ticket! Lucky! It actually worked out quite well - Ueno is closer to my home, and there were hundreds less people in line, meaning that we won't have to wait as long to get the goods come morning...
Happy days.


Well, needless to say, the rest of the day was pent in child-like glee. Nothing quite beats the ceremonial unwrapping of a new console (for the record, the Wii is immaculately parceled).