Perhaps we can *finally* start to trade this?
One of the best PS3 games to come out this year never made it to the States. Hot Shots Golf 5 tore up the Japanese sales charts thanks to its attractive graphics, accessible gameplay and ultra-cute characters. PS3 Fanboy has learned that SCEA will finally release one of our favorite games in the States in March 2008.
@Jess__, In NeoGAF, where this same story was posted, someone mentioned that this was merely a bad translation of an originally German(?) source which actually said that some Japanese stores sold through 50% of their original stock on the first day. Original shipment is at 300k. That's where they got the 150k number.
"The game's a hit in Japan, where reports indicate the title has sold over 150,000 copies over the course of its first day on shelves, which is half of all the preordered copies. That's a popular, cutesy golf game. Across Japan, stores are calling in sick with a case of the "sold outs" and this just makes us more anxious to get our grubby mitts on the full game."
The PS3's biggest game yet over in Japan is just about a month away from release, and, sure enough, Sony isn't being quiet about it. Following a heavily promoted downloadable demo of Minna no Golf 5 (known as Hot Shots Golf 5 oustide of Japan), Sony has announced a special PS3 package to coincide with the game's release.
Officially known as the PlayStation 3 Beginners' Pack, this bundle combines a PS3 system with a copy of Minna no Golf 5, all in a slick new box. It will be available on 7/26 at a cost of 61,980 yen for a 60 Gig version and 51,980 yen for a 20 Gig version.
There are a couple of points of note in this announcement. First, different from other territories, Sony seems to be continuing with sales of the two PS3 models in Japan. Currently, both 20 Gig and 60 Gig versions of the hardware are available for purchase at.
More importantly, the price of the bundle represents a savings of nearly 4,000 yen off the price of purchasing the game had hardware separately. It's not quite a price drop, but perhaps it will draw in a few holdouts.
1