Now here is a very interesting story from Japan published in the U.S.:
| The Dark Side of the PlayStation 3 Launch |
| from the nothing-nice-to-say dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday November 12, @00:24 (PlayStation (Games)|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/12/0338204 |
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An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku is running an article prompted by an
email from a foreign student in Japan. The reader unveils the sad reality
of the modern gaming industry. Japanese businessmen made ample use of
[0]homeless people and Chinese nationals to obtain PS3s for re-sale.
There was also a large amount of pushing and shoving, some fights, and
almost no police presence at the most crowded stores." From the article:
"Based on my observations of the first twenty PS3s sold at Bic Camera,
they were all purchased by Chinese nationals, none of whom bought any
software. After making their purchase, television crews asked for
interviews but all were declined. These temporary owners of PS3s would
then make their way down the street where their bosses waited. After
several minutes, a dozen PS3s were rounded up, as their Japanese business
manager paid out cash to those who waited in line for them. I witnessed a
homeless-looking Chinese man, in his sixties or seventies get paid 20,000
yen for his services and was then sent away." Update: 11/12 05:40 GMT by
[1]Z : You're right. Sony only shares a portion of the blame here.
Offsides on my part.

Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/11/12/0338204

Links:
0. http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/foreigners-and-fights-ps3-jpn-launchs-dark-side-214130.php
1. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/