Kotaku
Eds note: Our man in Tokyo Jean Snow brings word of just how insane getting a DS Lite is
It's absolutely ridiculous to think that a person living in Japan still has to go through the following if he wants to get his hands on a stinkin' Nintendo DS lite — that's over 2 years after the initial DS launch, and close to a year for the DS lite — but this is what I had to go through today in order to score a Crystal White Nintendo DS lite (and let it be known that I have an original DS, which I got at launch).
My wife had heard that you needed to call the stores to find out if they were getting some stock, and then rush there to wait in line, and she'd also been told by some friends that Bic Camera got their shipments in on Friday (they also sometimes get some on Mondays and Wednesdays, but Friday are for the big orders). So she called this morning, and sure enough, they had gotten a shipment, but wouldn't reveal when they would go on sale, or where they would make people line up. The wife had gone through the same thing 2 weeks ago — when she scored a pink DS lite — so she told me to head there around noon, and to try and find out what would be happening.
I got there at 12, asked some staff behind the counter in the games section (insisting I had called, because they were just about to say that they didn't know anything before that — the filthy liars), and was told that I had to "hang out" for a while, as they didn't know when they were going to go on sale. Maybe 40 minutes later, two staff with bright green Bic vests ran out from behind the counter with signs that said that DS lites were about to go on sale, and then started forming a line along the staircases (the game section at the main Bic Camera store in Ikebukuro is on the 3rd floor). I was the fifth in line — some guys got there quicker than me — and a few minutes later they started handing out tickets for the color you wanted (I was the first to ask for a Crystal White). Then, 10 minutes later, they started guiding us to the sales counter, and... DS lite GET!
Comments
Jean Snow? Really? Explain.
Bit nuts that they have to do that still, but then again.. it's like looking for a needle in a haystack to find a DS here also. I got lucky a couple weeks ago and found one - a black one too, so I think the Nintendo gods smile upon me. Especially since I managed to find a Wii about a week later. Score.
There are none in my town and I'm in the states.
Nevermind, somehow missed the italic sentence.
But is this because of low stock shipments or awesomely strong sales?
That's just crazy! i feel kinda bad now. i own a white one, a black one, and the big blue one.
in may i plan on getting the pink one for my daughter. sorry Japan.
It's probably a combination of both.
The surpricing is that some people still think that the PSP is going to destroy the DS. Hey SONY where is your PSP line?, ohh you dont have one sorry :( , you only have stacked PSPs, LOL...
Wow really?
I can go to any game store in town a find 4 or 5 in each colour in EVERY store.
I live in New Zealand where the DS (and Nintendo) are not popular.
Awesomely strong sales... There totally out of stock most of the time here in Sweden to, I strongly believe that almost every person alive that likes games own one these days, where ever I turn my head I see someone sitting on a bench playing his DS. Nintendo sure know what they're doing these days!
They still sell out within 30 minutes of coming into the stores here in Michigan and Florida.
We'd be lining up over here in the states too if we had any idea when the stores would actually get some stock.
Yep, all the stores around here sell out of the DS as soon as it hits the shelf. The last time I saw them hanging around on a shelf was a couple months before x-mas. Since then, nothing, except one or 2 now and then.
I was looking for a DS a few weeks ago, and it's insaney hard to get one state side too. Now whenever I go into a Best Buy or Gamestop I check and see if they have any, and so far all I've seen is one scratched up, used Phat.
How many DS's have sold? 27 million worldwide?
Because the demand seems like it should be higher.
where ever I turn my head I see someone sitting on a bench playing his DS. Nintendo sure know what they're doing these days!
Man, I want to see this EVERYWHERE. I started to play my DS on campus in public, seeing if it helps other people to bring their DSes so we can just be one freakin' big gaming community.
Wait, now you guys have two in japan? im confused, please explain if ya don't mind
ya, i believe it. i'm in gamecrazy weekly and then walk over to circuit city. every time i'm in gc, there are never any ds's, lite and phat. the past three times i was in gc, at least one person has asked if they had any. over at cc, none as well. they ds library of games is extensive, and i'm having trouble keeping up with the releases, DKR is coming out soon, and i still havn't finished up hotel dusk. i really wish sony would follow suit with the psp. the don't have enough game genres. my psp is so jealous of my ds right now
It's closer to 40 million sold repeat sold not shipped worldwide.
Sony is slashing psp shipments while Nintendo keeps increasing the manufactoring of both DS units and games.
Heck Japan on a good week sells over a 100,000 DS lites and they are sold out within hours of arriving.
Same thing is now occuring in the states and Europe.
Congrasts. After 6 months I got lucky two weeks ago when I was walking by the Yurakucho Bic Camera. On a friday afternoon "behind" the store (not the station side) they had a line and 5 dedicated registers to sell the just-in DS shipment.
There were only 10 people in line, so I finally picked mine up.
A week previous in the Shinjuku Bic Camera on Saturday around noon there was a line with exactly 83 people in it for the DS lite.
I counted. 83. I was in the store for half an hour and a lot of people got DS, the line didn't get any shorter.
It's difficult to even buy DS related goods. In every store the DS game and accessory aisles are so full of people browsing you have to push and shove to get a look at a replacement stylus.
"How many DS's have sold? 27 million worldwide?"
35.24 million last time I checked.
Japan seems kind of crazy in that their top 10 games selling list seems to permanently be filled with like 8 or 9 DSy brain training or cooking simulation or puppy simulation or whatever type games, and maybe one game in the top ten list will be a traditional rpg or action game for a ps2 or whatever.
Has it gotten to the point in Japan where the vast majority of games are played by the middle aged and little girls and not geeky teenage boys?
'cause that would blow my mind if it was the case
I'm just adding that where I live (Rochester, NY), it is extremely hard to find one. I'm going to Britain on vacation in a couple months and wanted to buy my girlfriend one for the myriad journeys so she'd stop stealing mine, and I am having a heckuva time.
After visiting the stores I thought that maybe I'd have better luck online, but that's not the case at all.
What's stopping Nintendo from making more of these things?
are ds sales ever going to slow down!?
What's stopping them is the time it takes to set up the factories.
That takes time.
Your best would be to hit one of the store tracking services. Do a websearch for a free one. There are several that will tell you when a DS lite or wii is in stock. Call the store though.
Same situation outside Boston area. All the stores are sold out constantly. DS Lites get stocked every couple weeks and immediately disappear. I guess this is a good thing for Nintendo, but I have to wonder if they'd be making more sales if the units were always on the shelf? I'd love to know some facts as to the appearance of a shortage here in the U.S.
I haven't seen a DS here in Sacramento for several months, probably about a month after pink and black were released.
absolutely none here in hawaii.
i have my navy blue lite from launch :)
I noticed the same thing here in the UK (Liverpool to be exact). After looking in every game store only HMV had some pink DS's in stock. Everywhere else was sold out.
I saw some pink DSlites at my Wal-mart yesterday. Never see any of the white though.
None here in Las Vegas.
I 've seen a pink one a few times in the last few weeks, but black and white, forget it. Their nowhere to be seen in Northeast PA.
Screw bringing your DS's to campus, I brought the Wii to my classes one day. Reminded me of that "Wii would like to play" commercial. Had almost everyone enjoying the hell out of wii sports.
For some reason, we had 2 controllers. Considering I just randomly decided to bring my console, it was weird that another guy in my class decided to bring his wiimote.
But it was all for the best. Projector golf is awesome.
Interesting. I got my ice blue one two days ago.
But I'd ordered it online. (In the states, ordered an import)
I could export my DS Lite to Japan and make ONE HUND... ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
during my trip to Japan last year (nov-dec) I saw first hand the number of ds sales and items that go along with it. I also gaijin smashed my way into quite a few stores in Akiba and was able to buy quite a few good games for my little American ds.
I first imported a Black Japanese DS, and when the lite came out stateside, I grabbed one of the first shipment ones from work, never regretted my purchase.
Took me a week and a half to find one in the states and that was only a few weeks ago. Even then the only one I found was pink. It's nuts how hard it is to find one of these things.
YCS
I'm outside of Philly. A few weeks ago my wife asked what cool electronics would be good employee give-aways (morale boosters). I suggested Dunkin Donut giftcards, postable DVD players, iPod Shuffles, and Nintendo DSs with the BrainAge game.
The give-away even is next Wednesday and she dragged me out shopping at Best Buy this afternoon for all the loot. Well, there were no DS's in stock. Turns out they're holding back their DS stock because of an ad this Sunday. And so is Circuit City. She's kinda screwed.
I take it the Japanese dont know much about a concept we have embraced here in the United States, online shopping.
2 quip
Give a PSP as the booby prize.
Um, if anyone makes it down to Ardmore Oklahoma there are 9 lite's in stock at our local Walmart as we speak...well as of my lunch break. After reading this article I went and checked. Could be because we aren't a "huge" town.
I love my Navi-Blue DS.. Had my DS Lite way before most people in the US thanks to the late Lin-sang.
Well I live in Bradford and honestly theres always Ds in stock but thats probably because its Sony fanboy central down here anyway the Wii has been sold out since launch so I guess the tide is changing. I play my Ds alot in public and its funny coz some people start walking behind me constantly and give tips when i keep dying in yoshis islnd.
I work at a Canadian best buy and we can't keep the things in. Nintendo will send 20-40 at a time, and they are gone within the day. Keep in mind that this is the smallest best buy in the city.
Jean Snow's a good buddy of ours. He helped out big time with covering TGS last year and the Wii launch.
The DS may be on track for the title of best console ever, and it still has some more killer aps up it's sleeve waiting to be unveiled in the faces of
Pokemon D&P (once that hits NA sales are gonna surpass the 45 million mark)
Final Fantasy XII: Reverent Wings
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (this is gonna be a real console seller)
SWATdoctor: Don't forget DQIX. I've heard there are a few fans of the franchise in Japan.
I friggin love my lite. Anyone got any tips for starting out in homebrew? Got My M3 Simply. Just dont really know where to start. xx
You know, I remember seeing only a small amount of them at Target the other day. I didn't think it they were that popular still. Wow.
When I was over in NJ just before Christmas I had no difficulty getting hold of one. I am from the UK, so thought I'd get it over there as it's a lot more expensive here.
When did the big shortage arrive?
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