Gamers Line Up for DS Lite

Via IGN

In the eternal battle of pink and black, black seems to have come out on top. While the release of the pink-colored DS Lite to Japan last month was met with early morning lines exceeding 200 in some locations, the release of Jet Black on the 2nd managed to double that!

Yes, it was an expected sell out for the debut of the fifth DS color variation. Nintendo Japan launched the DS Lite Jet Black color on a Saturday morning along side two heavily-advertised titles: Tingle RPG and Chousouju Mecha MG. We're not sure just yet how well the games did (although there were actually some reports of sell outs for Final Fantasy III, which was released the week before), but the hardware disappeared rather quickly.

In Shinjuku, lines of over 200 had formed two hours before the 9:30 opening time of the large Yodobashi Camera shop outside the station's East exit. The store managers decided to open at 8:30. A good thing, as the line continued to grow, until it reached a maximum of 500! It took just an hour for the system to sell out at this location.

As tends to be the case, this scene was repeated throughout Tokyo. The massive Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara (do give this place a visit if you find yourself in Tokyo) had a line of over 300, including one person who'd waited since midnight. Bic Camera's large Ikebukuro shop saw lines of over 400.

Famitsu.com reports that this particular launch appealed to the boys. Said one Yodobashi employee to the site, "At the release of pink, there was a tremendous number of girls. But today, male customers overwhelmingly dominated."

A few customers shared comments with Famitsu.com. "I really wanted black, so I waited for this day," said one person. "When I saw the line, I wanted one, so I just lined up and saw what happened," said another, proudly displaying his beehive mentality.

With the release of Jet Black, Nintendo has run out of announced color variations. Expect the lines to keep on forming, though, especially with games like Pokemon Diamond & Pearl coming later this month.