Source http://www.andriasang.com/e/blogs/anoop/2008/08/30/searching_for_xbox360/
Searching for Xbox 360
Is the Xbox 360 really sold out in Japan? Really? Really really?Posted Aug 30, 2008 at 21:23Last week, Microsoft made everyone shut their windows for fear of pigs getting in following a posting at the Xbox 360 official site apologizing for a shortage of Xbox 360 hardware.
While we're used to Nintendo apologizing for hardware shortages, this is the Xbox 360, successor to the system whose limited edition launch units were readily available four years after launch. Did Tales of Vesperia really cause such a surge in demand that retail channels ran dry?
To determine if Microsoft Japan is filled with lying liars, I've decided to rely on that pillar of message board truth: anecdotal evidence. I took my sneak cam to three Tokyo hotspots to see just how sold out the Xbox 360 really is.
Stop one, Shibuya:
Tokyo's most famous intersection.
This section of Tokyo has three particularly notable game shops: the giant Tsutaya outlet that you see in the above pic (it's the building with the Starbucks in front), and two Bic Cameras. Take a look at the supply carnage I saw at these shops:
The main Bic shop in the first shot was out of Arcade, Elite and standard units (for overseas readers, standard units in Japan include the 20 gigabyte hard disc). The Elite was available at Tsutaya, as shown in the second shot. Across the street from Tsutaya, the smaller Bic shop had only Arcade units.
I give Shibuya a 78% sellout rate. Don't ask me how I arrived at that figure, because I really don't know.
Next, I headed up to Shinjuku, a few minutes by subway up from Shibuya.
A random corner in Shinjuku.
Yodobashi Camera still has a giant Blue Dragon billboard above its game shop.
The supply carnage was even more brutal here.
Both the giant Yodobashi Camera and the giant Bic Camera were sold out of all variations of 360 hardware. I thus give Shinjuku a 100% sellout rate.
Next, it was on to Yurakucho.
The giant Bic Camera in Yurakucho.
Located in the heart of Tokyo's business district, Yurakucho is home to a Bic Camera outlet (pictured above) that hosts many major launch events (you'll also remember this as the location where things got really, really ugly during the PlayStation 3 launch). There's also a smaller Bic a two minute walk away. Checking both, I saw this:
That's a complete sellout at the main Bic and a sellout of the standard models at the smaller Bic. I thus give Yurakucho a 67% sellout rate.
Akihabara is just a few minutes subway ride to the north of Yurakucho. I could've gone there, but that would've meant... well, going to Akihabara. Surely you can see my dilemma.
With these visits to three of Tokyo's major shopping hubs, I was convinced that the 360 really is tough to come by, at least for those who want the 20 gigabyte model system.
Microsoft is promising more standard models in early September. A good thing, because Microsoft has started setting up promotional materials like this at major retailers:
Square Enix features prominently in Microsoft's new promotional campaign.
The real question, of course, is how in the world could Xbox 360 stock be depleted when that major Vesperia-related hardware surge amounted to just 25,000 units sold in one week (that's half what the DS does in a slow week).
My wild theory is that this is a forced shortage. Microsoft is trying to clear channels of current models in anticipation of a new model to coincide with Infinite Undiscovery's September 11 release.
It just so happens that Microsoft is holding its annual Media Briefing event on Monday. The event, which lasts for a full one hour and thirty minutes, is strangely timed this year, as past Briefing events have come on the eve of the Tokyo Game Show. I'm expecting a major hardware announcement at the event
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What does mean.....?
This means that this shortage was force. First point, with the price cut of the counsel in japanhttp://kotaku.com/5043988/microsoft-japan-slashing-360-prices-by-up-to-30
and second with the New 60 GB XBOX360 now available in the U.S. coming to japan. This was poor of Microsoft not considering the the high demand for Tales of VISPERIA.
Edit: I did not research this . This from a blog linked at the top of this TC.
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