Kazuyuki Inakoshi, manager of Akihabara's Messe Sanoh, doesn't pull any punches in his Famitsu.com column about the recent PS3 Slim launch. In short: The launch could have been smoother.
"If you are talking about the basic demand for the newly designed PS3, it seemed so-so," Inakoshi blogs. There was no line in front of his landmark Akihabara shop, he writes, and the first customer on that day did not buy a PS3 Slim, but a copy of Konami DS dating sim title Love Plus.
Inakoshi pegs three things as the problem: "Lack of preparation, lack of recognition and a weekday launch". The ad campaign didn't seem to help, either — Inakoshi calls it "creepy".
The shop did sell out of the PS3 Slim stand; however, that seems to be because Sony did not provide enough product. The one good thing Sony Computer Entertainment did? The company was able to help Messe Sanoh set up a demo kiosk of the new Gundam Senki title, which appears to help the shop sell through all copies of the game as well as the PS3 Slim Gundam bundle.