Transformers report from Japan

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Hey yall, I have been tripping the light fantastic and `enjoying` the delights of the Japanese summer, so I thought I would give a little report on the state of Tf`s in Japan.

Well, to be honest, its a bit sad really. Even with the Revenge toys kicking around the place, they don`t have all that much space. Most Toys R us have a display at the front, but it is generally pretty small. I have been to a number of department stores and they don`t have any at all.

The latest figure that I have seen is the Blue Arcee bike and the green twin bros. Prices are pretty good. I managed to get me a choro q remote robot thingo for about 2000yen and the leadre Prime is a 5200 (about $60-65). Still its good to see some kids getting all excited at the Revenge toys that are on display. I tried to convince one kid to pester his folks for a leader Prime coz he so awesome, but was concerned about being arrested for talking to a child that wasn`t mine so I gave up..

Aside from that, its rather sad to see Encore`s littering the place. Saw some Omega Supreme`s and a bunch of Skywarps/Starsceams as well. The Henkei seem to have done fairly well though and not many of them left about the place.

I will take some piccies of displays and post them up later. I just found this close by Internet cafe and left all my stuff at home as I was just going for a walk.

Rather sadder howeve is the state of the PS3 over here, I thought it would have more games than what I have seen in Australia, but it has less, No TF, No wolverine, none that I really want to play... Rethinking how much I want one now....
Thats all to report for now

[Kyle]

You might want to hold off getting a PS3 and wait a little longer, because a "PS3 Slim" is definitely coming and I believe the production might have already started.

[liegeprime]

oooh cant wait for the piccies especially if you attend any of the summer Matsuris.... erm any sign of Myclone TF sets Tets?

[GoktimusPrime]

Guh, Japanese summer = HAWT and sticky. Still, Matsuris are awesome! I volunteered for one once.

[Fungal Infection]

Rather sadder howeve is the state of the PS3 over here, I thought it would have more games than what I have seen in Australia, but it has less, No TF, No wolverine, none that I really want to play... Rethinking how much I want one now....
Thats all to report for now

You have to take into account that the japanese game market is dominated by RPGs and japanese-studio produced games. Stuff like Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Resident Evil are the system sellers. The market for western games is very small in Japan. Plus, with the PS3 Online store, internet digital distribution is all the rage now in Japan, especially when you consider the number of exclusive titles they have compared to the US/Euro stores. If you check the japanese games charts, you'll find half of all the games you will never have heard of or cannot buying in a bricks and mortar store.

[kurdt_the_goat]

I can't speak for the uptake of digitally distributed games in japan, though i'd imagine you're correct fungal.

But i can say that japanese *specialist* retail shops have everything.... *everything*! Even the tiniest stores are packed to bursting point with the latest software and in some cases, several years past software. If you're going to find a random game, it's gonna be in Japan!

I think Tetsuwan is more referring to the general lack of games for PS3 - compared to PS2 and now Wii, which have/had the majority of the market. - They receive the vast amounts of Japanese centric titles that never see the light of day over here.