Game on: Sony’'s new PlayStation is snapped up by black marketeers as it finally hits streets in Japan @ TimesOnline

BY THE time his moment of joy arrives, Taiga Ishikawa will have been roughing it for 28 hours, but no one could be better equipped for a night on the streets of Tokyo.

He has his red cotton slippers and bamboo sleeping mat. He has 30 comic books to read and a supply of cold coffee and cold noodle sandwiches. Mr Ishikawa is a 20-year-old computer game otaku — a Japanese nerd — and in just a few hours his vigil will be rewarded with a jewel beyond price.

At 7am today, the shutters of Asobit City game shop in the Akihabara district of Tokyo will open, and Mr Ishikawa will be at the front of the queue to become one of the first people to own the Sony PlayStation 3. The PS3 is the newest games console in the world, and an immeasurable amount of money and credibility rests on its launch.

For Sony, this is an opportunity for success after a dismal spell. For gamers like Mr Ishikawa it is the most powerful games system in the world, quite apart from its capabilities as a storage system for photographs, music and a player of new-generation Blu-ray DVDs.

Even before it went on sale, a thriving black market had sprung up around the PlayStation 3, on the internet and on the streets of Akihabara. The console for which Mr Ishikawa will pay 59,980 yen (£267) was last night attracting bids of up to $1,800 (£940) on online auction sites.

In Akihabara a dozen homeless men queued incongruously in front of a game shop to buy the console. Each was being hired by a middleman to circumvent the shop’s “one customer, one PlayStation rule” to ensure the biggest number of consoles for immediate resale.

Seven British students from Bournemouth University, who had paid £700 each for a week-long stay in Japan, were debating whether to buy the PS3 and keep it for themselves, or sell it at a handsome profit. “I played a display model in a branch of Starbucks on the other side of Tokyo last night,” Christopher Poole, 19, a student of television production, said. “It’s true that they’ve only got the first generation of games at the moment, but it was a bit disappointing.”

Japan Queues Up for PS3 @ Future NetWork

On Friday at 8 p.m. in Tokyo, gamers were already lined up to buy the PS3, which wasn’t to go on sale until 7 a.m. the next morning. There were two distinct lines of people who intended to get their hands on a system: one in Ikebukuro in front of Bic Camera in the gadget district Akihabara made up of around 250 people, and one in front of Asobit City Games, consisting of less than 100. (See photo below from Tokyo.)

Japan is expected to get around 80,000 units total on day one, so quantities will be initially tight in Japan, as with the rest of the world. Most major retailers will have 100 to 150 PS3s to sell, while smaller stores will get a paltry two to five units.

Although there is certainly great anticipation for the system, there is a low-key air about the launch. It’s almost as if many Japanese consumers were dissuaded to line up because of the well-known shortages that are anticipated. Nevertheless, the system is likely to sell out in the first hour or so.

Amidst complaints from gamers, some stores in Akihabara have decided to sell the few PS3 through lottery drawings--if chosen by number, customers win the right to buy a console.

As for software, the latest polls from ITmedia indicate that 30 percent of the people who are going to buy a PS3 will go for Ridge Racer 7, 25 percent for Resistance: Fall of Man (a good figure for a country known for being relatively anti-FPS) and 24 percent for the new Gundam title. Genji: Days of the Blade recevied only 5 percent of peoples' attention bringing up the tail-end of the poll.

The PS3 is set to launch in North America with around 400,000 units on November 17.

Mad Catz Gears Gamers Up for War @ TeamxBox

San Diego, Calif. – November 09, 2006 - Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSE: MCZ), a leading third party video game accessory provider, announced that it has shipped its line of officially licensed merchandise for Epic Games’ highly anticipated Gears of War video game scheduled for release on November 7, 2006. Mad Catz recently entered into an exclusive 2-year licensing agreement with Gears of War creator, Epic Games, represented by CAA, to produce the new products.

“Epic Games has created one of the most-anticipated Xbox 360 games of the year and Gears of War wowed attendees at the industry’s E3 conference in May. The Gears of War license is an excellent addition to our portfolio of leading entertainment and sport licensed properties and demonstrates Mad Catz’ continued commitment to providing differentiated products by licensing cutting edge properties,” said Darren Richardson, President and CEO of Mad Catz.

“Mad Catz is a welcome licensed partner, enabling us to expand our unique Gears of War IP into the accessory market,” said Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic.

The Gears of War themed products available include faceplates for the Xbox 360 with an MSRP of $19.99; faceplate and Console Skinz™ combo pack including graphics to customize the sides of the console with an MSRP of $29.99; and a Console Crate™ hard case for transporting and storing the Xbox 360 console and accessories with an MSRP of $59.99. At launch, Mad Catz will provide exclusive Gears of War products to several major domestic retailers, with products available at major video game retailers throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. For more information visit www.madcatz.com.