This is the true face of the PlayStation 3 debut in Japan. Hardcore gamers are not here waiting in line overnight, buying a first-run PS3, and running home to play some good old next-gen gaming. Rather, opportunistic Japanese businessmen have the largest presence, hiring poor Chinese men and women to wait in line for a PS3, one which will later be sold on web auctions to wealthy gamers around the world for exorbitant amounts of money.
And I suspect Sony is behind this. The console is being sold at a price that would not allow Sony to have a profit, being so expensive to produce and bizarrely extravagant (check out the INSIDES of a PS3), that Sony has to come to other resources to recoup its investment, like charging fees for game usage, for the network, and royalties for the games. So, what I suspect Sony is doing is to create a paralel black market to get more money for a console that is, initially, expensive already. They've already closed down LEGITIMATE international import websites in Asia and South America so THEY can have this piece of the pie...
Also, do you remember how the prequel trilogies were released in fewer theaters than regular for a massive blockbuster just to generate lines? So there...
History repeats itself indeed...
