Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker - Kotaku Comments

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

essko — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:17:13 MDT

wow, did all 12 xbox owners get 10,000 copies a peice?

essko

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Witzbold — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:16:37 MDT

@Lethal_Dosage: Thats the chinese genius. Not the Japanese.

Witzbold

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

dowingba — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:13:07 MDT

I went to my local walmart at midnight only to find they were having no such midnight sale. Surprisingly enough though, I casually strolled into my local Roger's Video and found like a hundred copies just sitting there. Not many people in my (Canadian) town have 360s yet, but I have a feeling that's about to change. I've already talked to a couple people who are on the verge of buying the system just for Halo.

By the way, I'm lovin' Halo 3. With all the disappointment so far on the 360, this game is making up for it. They should have waited to launch the system along side this game.

dowingba

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Brackynews — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 10:30:04 MDT

@ashcraft: I'm freeeeeaking ouuuuuutt!

Brackynews

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Tora — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:10:49 MDT

The sign only says out of stock of new copies... I'm curious as to if how much stock there is of used copies, as you tend to be able to find used copies of new games REALLY quickly there....

Tora

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Witzbold — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 01:21:42 MDT

@nrt: Most likely it was sold out of the Special Edition one, along with the System Pack.

Witzbold

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Witzbold — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 01:21:14 MDT

@chaos242: Buy the US version. It works.

Witzbold

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

chaos242 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:34:34 MDT

Does anyone know of a Halo 3 version that will play on a Japanese console with English language? Usually the Asia versions are what I always pick up but the ones I've found are all in Mandarin!

chaos242

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Darthvinder — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:07:48 MDT

@topgeargorilla:

Clusterfuck.

Darthvinder

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

nrt — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:08:09 MDT

you know what's funny, there were several stores that had "sold out" stickers on the display, but plenty of stock behind the counter [like bic camera, akiba yodocame, etc.]
why would they do that?

nrt

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Witzbold — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:25:51 MDT

@ashcraft: Wow you wake up early mate.

Then again Im up too late. :p

Witzbold

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:14:27 MDT

@carrierj1:
[kotaku.com]
Read the site, Captain.

@FarmboyinJapan:
You bet your ass it is!

@Chilly Hollow:
Deep breaths, Chilly, deep breaths.

Brian Ashcraft

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

CerberusXTX — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:35:20 MDT

@AbyssUK: Congrats, your the 10 MILLIONTH person to make a stupid RROD, joke. Pat Yourself on the back for being so clever!

CerberusXTX

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

pupaboy — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:34:17 MDT

It looks like they only got four copies in. Hardly a sell out.

The Japanese are too busy playing with their Wii Wiis to care about Halo!

pupaboy

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Guizzy — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:29:43 MDT

I went into my local EBGames tuesday @ about 3:30 in the afternoon with no preorder fully expecting not to leave with a copy of Halo 3. Surprisingly, they still had many.

But they were the french version (I'm in Quebec). The french version with the french voices. No one wanted it, apparently.

Personally, I rarely care for this stuff; I've even argued here FOR laws that encourage games be translated to french here.

For most character, the game is fine in french (or at least very acceptable). Sure, Master Chief got his rank switched to Major ("le Major", still sounds pretty badass, if you're able to ignore any preconception of what he should be named), but the one that really almost break the game is Cortana. Her french voice is just terrible; breaks the mood each time she pops up.

Guizzy

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Tonx — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:14:56 MDT

Halo 3 sold out in a single Japanese store.

You know... I think I remember a similar occurence... hmm... [www.vgcats.com] I wonder if Microsoft will use the same awesome PR tactics as Sony for their Halo 3 Japan Press release. You know, "we sold a great percentage of our stock because we're so awesome and not because Japan's total shipment of Halo 3 discs was a tiny number", or to put it another way, "The PS3 is the fastest selling console ever, having sold our entire worldwide stock within hours of it being available."

Tonx

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

carrierj1 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:59:18 MDT

What the - is "Super Potato" and why the hell should I care?

carrierj1

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

raikoh05 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:56:38 MDT

@shawnpfiore: they require an absurd amount of hype to convince them to buy an old shooter.

raikoh05

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Snukadaman_ — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:50:23 MDT

@landu13: maybe they should of paid people too stand in this line and feign hype.

[kotaku.com]

Snukadaman_

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Yatterman — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:27:46 MDT

oops sorry everybody, I mistyped due to hurry.
The circular sticker says "saikin" which means "new" as in "recent"

Yatterman

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Yatterman — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:23:22 MDT

@Furious_Liver: Just FYI, the circular red sticker just says "shinpin" (that means "new" as opposed to "used") and the date it will be on the shelves (September the 13th).
The triangular red sticker just says "shinpin".

Yatterman

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kreean — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:56:46 MDT

@onikuwagata: @Konchu:

Red = Hot
Blue = Not

Yeah thanks... now it makes sense!

Kreean

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

megahurtz — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:05:21 MDT

Maybe the red/blue thing is like how O is confirm and X is cancel on all the Japanese Sony games/systems. That drives me nuts!

megahurtz

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

easytarget — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:27:45 MDT

Hey Bash, where in Osaka was the store that sold the imported versions of Halo 3? I'd love to pick it up ASAP as I'm way impatient and can't wait for Play Asia to ship it... Thanks!!!

easytarget

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Konchu — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:23:12 MDT

@Kreean: Well its hard to just say anything about availible being red without being able to read the text. As far as I know the red could be hot new gaming action and blue which is a calming color could be Sorry we are currently sold out.

Konchu

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

iransofaraway — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:05:09 MDT

"fuckles" is my new favorite word.

iransofaraway

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Chirphin — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:46:15 MDT

Makes a lot of sense, Halo 3 is pretty much FPS GAME: OCD EDITION, and most of those people have severe OCD due to the way schools and parenting works over there...

Chirphin

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

carlogz — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:43:36 MDT

i went to 3 ebgames and 5 walmarts to look for skate on the ps3....they all had towers of halo 3. which means they all distribute them in america ol

carlogz

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Swift_ — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:36:02 MDT

@shawnpfiore:
They don't like insipid shooters.

Swift_

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

onikuwagata — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:26:34 MDT

@Kreean: Red is hot, blue is cold.

@Toasticus: I think the people that bought the PS3 have put a lot of money on the line, so any example of success of the competitors is an affront to them. In the case of the 360, the easiest way to deal with this is to defy Occam's Razor and accuse Microsoft of paying or buying people out. It's your typical conspiracy theorist mentality. (Granted, on the internet, conspiracy theorists are a dime a dozen because the internet allows people that would normally be lone nutballs to put their heads together. And there's strength in numbers.)

onikuwagata

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

deviantCharles — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:08:23 MDT

I have encountered Japanese players on Xbox live for Halo 2 before, so it's not all that surprising to me that stores are selling out considering that most people with 360s will probably be picking this up.

deviantCharles

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

y2julio — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:59:05 MDT

@Toasticus: Exactly. Bill Gates didn't get rich by writing checks.

y2julio

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

blahism — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:49:54 MDT

@Wren:

Not a whole lot of depth? who are you kidding.. the online play will keep it numero uno for 2-3 years and then some. Depth has lost any meaning.

blahism

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

redzie — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:48:31 MDT

Selling all five copies in a store still means it sold out.

redzie

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Chilly Hollow — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:48:20 MDT

@ashcraft: As if changing the header will prevent Nerd Freakouts. Nice try, though.

Signed, one of the hysterical herd

Chilly Hollow

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

nickbgsu — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:35:42 MDT

Japan doesn't like good games, neither does the US. Because PC shooters crap all over this. You see what I did there?

nickbgsu

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

PkerUNO — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:34:15 MDT

@midwynter: Yeah, there's almost always an assistant dressed with an Xbox jacket and trailers playing on a big HDTV. It's a shame people keep ignoring it...

I see people playing the demo stands but they don't seem even slightly interested in purchasing a system. Half the time they don't even realise that they can change the camera with the right stick. :S

PkerUNO

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

midwynter — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:12:55 MDT

@PkerUNO:
I find Bic Camera is one of the few stores here that actually puts on a good show for the 360. Their Xbox section is clean and well spread out. Nothing at all like the Media Mall or the various Wanpakus.

midwynter

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

PkerUNO — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:05:38 MDT

Bic Camera Fukuoka still has 3 boxes of Limited Editions. It's doing its best to promote it, though...

Also, the Japanese version has English menus, English subtitles, English mission text...

... but no English voices. Which means I can't understand a word of what any of the characters are saying outside the cutscenes. Good Job Bungie.

PkerUNO

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

7ucky — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:53:31 MDT

A bit of a misleading title when only one store sold out.

7ucky

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

belo — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:51:01 MDT

@Wren: Clearly you aren't aware of the several different multiplayer gametypes an the possibilities with Forge.

belo

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Tepoz — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:47:57 MDT

So, why haven't there been any rumblings against Takahashi Sensui yet? Advertisement and game selection have gone a long way in America in differentiating the 360 from the PS3. The 360 and its games have been advertised heavily since the beginning and even movies and tv shows have characters using a 360 controller instead of a PS2 controller. The are more games that American audiences like to play on the 360 versus the PS3. Why hasn't that same priciple been applied to Japan? Does Takahashi Sensui not know Japan?

Tepoz

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

kidko — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:41:18 MDT

A couple of Japanese developers I met in Osaka have 360s and they told me "see you on Halo 3!"

kidko

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

quen — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:35:28 MDT

@landu13: If they were going to do that they'd have bought all the 360s at launch.

So, Halo's going to be #1 in Japanese charts, right? Or did something else come out this week.

quen

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Elixir — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:34:41 MDT

Congratulations on finding one place that's sold out of Halo 3.

Elixir

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Toasticus — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:31:57 MDT

@landu13: People assume Microsoft pays everyone for everything. It's truly bizarre. You seriously believe they would pay people to get a small store sold out? What, so all the Sony fans in Japan could mock how many copies of the game the store got in the first place?

Seriously, can we get over this "Microsoft pays off EVERYONE" mentality? People have gotten absurd about it. Apparently Microsoft buys review scores, people standing in line, people buying their games, delays for PS3 games, lower framerates for PS3 games, and probably a dozen other little ridiculous accusations.

The 360 has a lot of great games and is doing very impressively overall considering that it's going up an absolute behemoth of a brand, but whenever something good happens for it some people always write it off as Microsoft bribing someone to make it happen somehow. As if Sony were some poor little defenseless kid and Microsoft were a big bully. Give me a break.

Toasticus

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

skyzxelementz — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:28:42 MDT

Don't fall for the trap they only had a few copies of Halo 3 in the stores!!

skyzxelementz

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Billqvist — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:25:22 MDT

@JESSE IN JAPAN

You know, it was a joke?

Billqvist

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kum0 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:18:13 MDT

Wow, that is impressive... considering how feeble the 360 is in Japan.

Or maybe that particular store only had a few copies and everyone with a 360 in Japan just went to that store :D

Kum0

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

FelixLighter — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:17:15 MDT

@AbyssUK:
Ugh... worst RROD joke ever...

FelixLighter

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Truepatriot — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:13:49 MDT

@landu13:
that has to be the stupidest conspiracy theory i have ever heard.my head hurts trying to figure out why you came to this conclusion.

Truepatriot

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

midwynter — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:11:34 MDT

Ahhh, looks like someone shops at Gero, eerrro Geo. Bastards were open until 2am last night, but would they sell me a copy of Halo 3 once the clock struck midnight? No sir :(

midwynter

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

cerberus_oz — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:11:13 MDT

An X360 game selling out in Japan.

Now I've seen everything.
I can finally die.

cerberus_oz

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Lethal_Dosage — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:10:34 MDT

@Kreean:

He doesn't have a girlish, annoying voice, so I'm going on the assumption that he's going to be one of those rough and rugged, manly types.

That will come back and bite me in the ass, I'm sure.

Don't know about crossing the street. Sadly, I've never been to Japan. Maybe Bash can answer that for you.

Lethal_Dosage

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Strangelove — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:08:03 MDT

@Wren:

Not a game with a lot of depth? Have you even played the game? This iteration is the very defition of depth, between the huge battles, the saved films, the co-op, regular multiplayer, campaign scoring, and the forge editor. But, oh yeah, it's Halo, so people have to hate on it.

Strangelove

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Jesse in Japan — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:04:21 MDT

@Billqvist: You know, they usually put the embassies in foreign capitals.

Jesse in Japan

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

landu13 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:01:41 MDT

i wouldn't put it past microsoft to have people paid to buy the copies in japan. to show that a store is sold out

landu13

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Billqvist — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:01:30 MDT

@Ashcraft

Actually, I just freaked out when I say the "Halo 3 Japan Sell Out Shocker" headline in my feeds. Then I thought "It's Kotaku. Of course it's a pun of some sort".

Could you, by any chance, try to find out at a later stage how many copies the store had? Is it by any chance close to the american embassy?

Billqvist

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kreean — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:53:40 MDT

@Lethal_Dosage:

...and do they cross the street when lights are red?

Kreean

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kreean — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:52:48 MDT

@Lethal_Dosage:

"Master Chief isn't androgynous enough for them."

How do you know? Did you see his face?

Kreean

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

FarmboyinJapan — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:52:24 MDT

Is this Geo?

FarmboyinJapan

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Gray665 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:52:10 MDT

@Wren:

Not a lot of depth? Really. I'd love to see another FPS (especially on a console) with a good single player campaign (with 4 player online co-op, meta-scoring, hidden skulls and terminals plus gameplay that changes considerably on higher difficulties), the best matchmaking system in existence (on consoles), awesome multiplayer (with customizable, unlockable armour permutations, incredible stat tracking and community features on bungie.net), tons of weapons-vehicles-equipment-levels, forge, saved films, etc etc. Yeah, no depth there. Keep trying dude.

Gray665

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Lethal_Dosage — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:47:48 MDT

@Kreean:

They also wear red at weddings, and white at funerals.

Wee, cultural diversity. :D

Lethal_Dosage

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

MooseMuffin — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:47:46 MDT

I'll 2nd a previous poster. How can you not be carrying cash in Japan?

MooseMuffin

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Sparx — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:45:37 MDT

Yeah it sold out, but what they fail to mention is there was only like 5 copies anyway, so yeah... =)

Sparx

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Lethal_Dosage — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:45:08 MDT

@shawnpfiore:

Master Chief isn't androgynous enough for them.

Perhaps they would care about Halo 3 if MC sported long, spiky hair, a leather body suit with random pieces missing, illogically and inefficiently placed chains and belts, and a back story that would put any lyrics of Death Cab For Cutie or My Chemical Romance to shame.

Bungie should get to work on that download content.

Lethal_Dosage

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Mr_Fuzzypaws — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:43:34 MDT

I was at EB in Buffalo, NY yesterday and they had a mountain of copies. I was at Target too but didn't think to look. Neither had Wiis.

Mr_Fuzzypaws

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Heliophage — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:42:50 MDT

@ashcraft:

I don't have a problem believing that Japanese people would buy Halo 3, I just have a hard time contemplating the color coding of the tags. It's just different is all.

The bigger pic is nice, though I still can't read it. XD

Heliophage

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kyle81 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:40:49 MDT

@Heliophage: Boxes like that in Japan don't mean squat, they can have one box for a game out and have 20 copies in stock or vice versa. They are merely empty boxes to promote a game. Notice how you go to gamestop and they got stack of Wii boxes yet no actual Wii's in stock?

Kyle81

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

AbyssUK — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:40:48 MDT

3 red halos of death...

AbyssUK

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Gameboy415 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:39:51 MDT

Ah, you took the pic @ GEO I see.

I was just in my local GEO today (in Shima) and, while they still had several copies of Halo 3 in stock, I noticed they had the CE on sale for 6080 yen.
It retails for 7140 yen so its a pretty decent discount, considering the game just came out today.

Gameboy415

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

mateo — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:39:37 MDT

This only proves Japan is not immune to hype.

mateo

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

topgeargorilla — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:36:54 MDT

fuckles is a good word.

fuckery is good too.

topgeargorilla

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:32:40 MDT

@Heliophage:
Posting bigger pic. Also changed the title from "Halo 3 Japan Sell Out Shocker" to "Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker" to avoid nerd freak out.

@jive238:
Thank you kind sir!

Brian Ashcraft

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Witzbold — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:31:15 MDT

@FelixLighter: Small stores no dont usually take credit cards.

The larger stores / chain stores will usually accept credit cards. But there are times when you can run into stores that accept Japan only credit cards and then they have to call in your credit card to confirm it. Its so stupid / kinda defeats the purpose of credit cards. XD

@Ashcraft man that sucks not being able to find it. The little store in my town still has copies left. Tommorow Im gonna go to akiba to pick up my US version and see how things went, since it looks like the Kotaku crew already hit the streets in the morning. :)

@Kyle81: For christs sake, quit fucking trolling.

Witzbold

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

NateN — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:29:39 MDT

Things I will never get:

Why everything always priced at something.99 in the US.
Why they can sell things on TV that say stuff like "This will boost your immune system" and say in the fine print "This product is not meant to treat, prevent or cure any disease." (This is probably also US-centric)
Why game stores need to have multiple fake, empty boxes to show they don't have a product in stock. This is apparently international!

NateN

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

thaKingRocka — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:28:43 MDT

i can't believe i bought a regular version when i could have bought an "important" version. glad to see some people in japan are buying the game regardless.

thaKingRocka

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Number41 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:28:41 MDT

Well, uh, Xbox 360 might be getting its ass kicked by PS3 and Wii in Japan, but tens of thousands of the thing have still sold. And people in Japan who bought the Xbox 360 are probably people who like the kind of games that are available on Xbox 360. Maybe they even liked the first two Halos, eh? So I don't think it's much of a surprise that Halo 3 has sold out in some stores.

Xbox 360 in Japan is like the Saturn was in the US. A distant third, sure, but it's not like the people who are buying it are turning right around and tossing it in the trash.

Number41

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kreean — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:26:04 MDT

@SuperMaxZero:

I find it odd that they are using red (a warning colour) for "available"

Kreean

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

FelixLighter — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:24:53 MDT

@SleepyBum:
So it's common for stores in Japan to not accept credit cards? Even in stores where the average cost of an item is so high? I would have assumed credit and debit cards would be more commonly used in Japan because the population is generally more tech savvy. I guess it's never safe to assume.

FelixLighter

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

FoxHoundADAM — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:23:17 MDT

How sad would it have been if Fatial Inertia was sold out but not Halo 3. Although while it would have been sad it wouldn't have been surprising given Japan's track record for like crappy games over good ones, so long as those good ones came from the west.

FoxHoundADAM

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

maxnyc — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:20:56 MDT

the store probably had about 3 copies to begin with, not exactly hard to sell out.

maxnyc

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Heliophage — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:18:36 MDT

@Heliophage:

Nevermind :P

Heliophage

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

SuperMaxZero — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:18:02 MDT

Umm...all stores have layouts like that. And all stores have tons of copies behind the counter. Why do you think they had the red label/green label system if that was all they had? The case would be gone...

SuperMaxZero

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Heliophage — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:16:57 MDT

Ah, yes, seven boxes. I didn't notice those at first. Strange, though, there there are seven boxes, stacked on top of each other, with blue tags, while there is only one with a red tag -- a color commonly associated with a warning, as an out of stock message would be.

Are you sure you didn't get it backwards? >.> Not to challenge your grasp of Japanese, of course, but that's really, really strange.

Heliophage

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

jive238 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:16:26 MDT

@ashcraft:
I think you meant "imported" versions in your title post.

jive238

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

SleepyBum — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:12:35 MDT

Yeah... Looks like that neighborhood store only stocked the amount that people pre-ordered. Guess they didn't want any excess games sitting around.

How can you not carry cash? It's Japan!

SleepyBum

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:11:42 MDT

Oh! Those are totally empty boxes, yo. (They don't look like Xbox 360 game boxes, do they?) The actual games are behind the counter, so the number of boxes there means, well, jack snot.

Hope that helps! :)

Brian Ashcraft

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

demonwolf — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:09:59 MDT

i make a correction there are aparently 7 ... 7 boxes

demonwolf

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

demonwolf — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:08:33 MDT

so was this first store a pretty small place? by the looks of it they dont have any much shelf space to advertize what with 4 copies jammed together. I will take the obvious and say yes ... 4 copies sold in a store where 4 copies were ordered.

demonwolf

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kreean — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:07:47 MDT

Another odd thing...
in the picture you can see seven "sold out" copies of Halo 3...
but why is there only one so-called "available" Fatal Inertia copy?
Ashcraft, please explain?

Kreean

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Furious_Liver — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:05:36 MDT

@Heliophage: ZING!

Furious_Liver

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Recusor — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:04:16 MDT

I wandered into a local EBGames yesterday and tried to pick up Halo 3. They were the only store in the city who NO one had lined up for. Canada>Japan? :o

Recusor

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Heliophage — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:04:13 MDT

@Kyle81:

Two copies with four display boxes? Interesting logic... you must be a Blockbuster employee.

Heliophage

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kreean — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:01:26 MDT

Blue for sold out and red for available?
How odd...
So do Japanese cross the street when the light is red?

Kreean

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

burningranger01 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:57:35 MDT

I am sure its mostly Americans who live in japan who baught it.
I mean c,mon, only 1 store?? give me a break.
Its a good 1st person shooter, but not game with a lot of depth.

burningranger01

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Kyle81 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:55:48 MDT

Easy to sell out when you order 2 copies

Kyle81

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

shawnpfiore — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:50:11 MDT

What is wrong with Japanese people?

shawnpfiore

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

ChocolateReign — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:47:19 MDT

sweet

ChocolateReign

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Furious_Liver — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:47:08 MDT

Nooo don't go comment! The deceit!

But yeah, just re-read. Aww.

Grats to Halo. :P

Furious_Liver

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Rebochan — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:46:48 MDT

So Japan isn't a total loss.

Rebochan

Halo 3 Japanese Store Sell Out Shocker

Furious_Liver — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:46:17 MDT

Is that Warriors Orochi I see sold out also? :D

Furious_Liver