We're in Sofmap. That guy in the red Hiroshima Carp hat and those two women are watching a clip for THE IDOLM@STER. That guy with the brown shoulder bag is watching a Gundam Musou clip. The child wearing an acorn hat is my son. Not sure what he's doing.

Today is robot game in Japan! Both Super Robot Taisen W for the DS and Gundam Musou for the PS3 went on sale. This evening, I swung through Den-Den Town to see how the new Gundam was fairing. First stop, the big Gundam store Osaka's Gundam by Joshin, which specializes in all things, well, Gundam.

A nebbish clerk in a pink shirt tells me that sales haven't been spectacular. He's only rung up two copies of Gundam Musou all day. Then again, he says, sales are never spectacular. "There's loads of actual game shops around here," he explains. "So if people are going to buy games, they probably won't come here." But for those in the market for a Gundam apron, this is where they come. Yet, there are sold out PSP Gundam games.

I head over to Sofmap, then. It is impossible to see how the game is selling. The clip's stopping customers dead in their tracks and people are buying the game. But is it a system seller? The sign out front says the DS Lite is sold out, the Wii is sold out and the PS3 is in stock.

Doubling back and hitting a Family Mart for a can of corn soup, we hit a-Too. Another nebbish clerk, this one slightly heavier and more nebbish, tells me that he's rung up ten copies of Gundam Musou.

"Is that good?"
"For a first day? Yes."

Clerks seem eager to talk to people with children. More willing to tell things like how many copies they've sold and whatnot. I should bring my son everywhere. He's screaming at me to take a pic of some display.

Big Tiger. Just as we enter, we pass a guy who looks to be in his late teens. He's carrying a large yellow bag. I ask him what's in the bag just as he passes us in the aisle.

"It's a PS3."
Oh yeah? 20GB or 60GB?
He tells me 60GB.
"Why'd you buy it?"
Like he needs a reason. I rephrase: "What game did you buy?"
"Gundam Musou."
"Did you buy it to play it?"
Uh-huh.

He and his friend push ahead and out the store and down the street. We follow, and I snap a single picture of them as they cross traffic, the yellow bag reflecting a blurry headlight beam. Brian Ashcraft

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