Milling around the Nintendo booth, there are two types of staff jackets: one is orange, and the other is maroon. The booth girls are decked out in orange, so by default, I need to flag down somebody in maroon.

"Is the DS still sold out in Japan?" I ask.
"Let me check," says a woman in maroon.

She disappears into a small room in the middle of the booth. Behind that door, the guy in the Mario costume probably gets dressed. Probably even plays the Revolution during his breaks.

"Yes, it's still sold out," says the woman after emerging.
"When will the handheld go on sale again?"
"Not until next month," the woman says. "I'm very sorry." She bows.
It's okay. I've already got one.

As I walk around the Osaka Dome, I start to notice that even when people are waiting in line to play DS games such as Mario Kart, they are playing their own DSes. And it's not just children. It's their parents too, who are waiting too and playing their DSes, their own DSes. Playing the DS while waiting to play the DS—it's like out of a Dali painting. Utterly surreal.

WHobby [Official Site]

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