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DSi LL Draws Early Morning Launch Day Lines

Shops set up storefront registers, clerks with blow horns, and comparison systems.

Posted Nov 21, 2009 at 22:23, By Anoop Gantayat

A Bic Camera clerk pushes DSi LL in Shibuya.

DSi LL launched today with the festivities one expects of a portable hardware launch from Nintendo nowadays: long lines, prominent placement in storefronts, and clerks on blow horns luring customers in for a purchase. Nintendo staged no official events for DSi LL, but the crowds did come out on a clear Saturday morning.

Based off a launch report at Famitsu.com, lines of between 50 and 60 formed at the large Yodobashi Camera Multimedia chain in Akihabara by 9:00 in the morning. The first person in line had arrived at 23:00 the night before. He was alone until the morning, when the second person arrived on the first train. The line continued to grow past opening and reached at least 100.

The site reported some anecdotal sales trends at this shop. Most buyers, at a rate of ten to one, appeared to be picking up the system on its own. Dark Brown appeared to be the most popular of the colors.

The large Bic Camera in Ikebukuro had about 20 people by 9:00, rising to 60 just ahead of the 10:00 opening. Here, the first person arrived at 6:00.

Famitsu quizzed some buyers at the Bic location. Nearly everyone was trading up from either an original DS or DS Lite. The biggest reason for buying the LL for most players was the big screen. One person decided on the spot to make a purchase after seeing just how big the screen actually is. Most also responded that they were planning on using the system in the home.

The Bic game floor manager shared some comments with the site. Here, Wine Red was the best selling color of the three. It was popular amongst buyers regardless of gender.

The shop manager also said that there was plenty of stock and no need to worry about sellouts.

Nintendo sent out sample DSi LL units to retailers a couple of days before launch.

The DSi LL's box is more than twice the size of the DSi's box.

In addition to the Famitsu.com story, Impress Watch sent out its reporters to cover the Akihabara launch. The site also posted a hardware impressions article containing comparison pics of the DSi and DSi LL.

DSi LL was given the storefront register treatment. This Shibuya Bic Camera outlet is also promoting Final Fantasy XIII.

I personally managed to look around Shibuya in the afternoon and saw the system getting the usual push retailers give to new game systems, with special storefront registers and clerks holding (and sometimes wearing) promotional signs while luring customers in through blow horns.

One common sales tactic, alluded to in the Famitsu.com report, was to place the DSi LL and the standard DSi on display next to one-another, allowing passersby to see the size difference.

New Super Mario Bros., up for comparison.

DSi LL was the second portable launch this month, following Sony's November 1 launch of PSP go. The Sony system failed to take off right out of the gate, selling less than the older PSP-3000 hardware in its first week, and recently dropping to DS Lite and Xbox 360 levels.

We'll get an indication of Nintendo's success with the DSi LL early next week when first sales reports come in. Based off a few comments shared with Mainichi.jp, retailers are expecting this to be another big holiday item from Nintendo.

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Reader Comments (showing 8 of 8)

  • I get the impression that unlike the Dragon Quest IX and Monster Hunter 3 launch day lines, the lines for the DSi LL are tame. I would like to hear first-day sales for the new DSi model and compare them with the PSP go.

  • Still love the guy cosplaying as the DS. ^^;

    Hey, Anoop? Are you going to be attending the SCE demo event on the 23rd? Just curious if you're going to cover it or not. (And if no response, that's fine as well...)

  • I'll definitely be there!

    Hopefully we'll get a new version of FFXIII. I want to run around Pulse!

  • If you play FFXIII I'll be waiting for a preview. It must nice! What other games are at this event! I would be interested in this Dsi LL. I wonder when it will hit the states.

  • @ anoop: Thank you! ^_^ (And if you can't... That's ok.)

    @ Eve: It's basically all these games.

    PS3
    　『ワールドサッカーウイニングイレブン2010』KONAMI - World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010
    　『ドラゴンボール レイジングブラスト』バンダイナムコゲームス - Dragon Ball Raging Blast
    　『ラチェット＆クランク FUTURE 2』SCE - Ratchet & Clank Future 2
    　『ファイナルファンタジーXIII』スクウェア・エニックス - Final Fantasy XIII

    PSP
    　『グランツーリスモ』SCE - Gran Turismo
    　『機動戦士ガンダム ガンダムVS.ガンダムNEXT PLUS』バンダイナムコゲームス - Mobile Suit Gundam Gundam vs. Gundam NEXT PLUS
    　『ファンタシースターポータブル2』セガ - Phantasy Star Portable 2
    　『NARUTO-ナルト- 疾風伝 ナルティメットアクセル3』バンダイナムコゲームス - Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Accel 3
    　『真・三國無双5 Empires』コーエー - Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires
    　『キングダム ハーツ バース バイ スリープ』スクウェア・エニックス - Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep --- The one I'm looking forward to, the most!! Woot!!

  • Cool Birth by Sleep... Thats another one I look forward too! I'll look out for your preview for that one too. I would love for SE to start releasing info for 3rd Party. Im still slightly disappointed its on psp instead of PS3.

  • Just got back from the demo event. The FFXIII demo was the same as TGS. The Birth by Sleep demo... I didn't play because the line was 2 hours long. I assume it was the same demo, though.

    I did get additional pics of the Lightning PS3, though, which I'll put up in a few hours.

  • Too bad about birth by sleep and xiii being the same tgs demo..

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