TOKYO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS: Quote, NEWS , Research) game console, the Wii, went on sale in Japan on Saturday, greeted by thousands of shivering but exhilarated game enthusiasts who had lined up through a wintry night to bring home the latest machine.
"My friends and family called me a fool. They don't see a point of rushing to a store on the launch day when you can get it much easier a while later," said Junpei Ito, a 24-year-old company employee.
"But joining the line like this is part of fun," said Ito, one of about 2,000 people in a queue besieging electronic retailer Bic Camera Inc.'s (3048.Q: Quote, NEWS , Research) flagship shop in central Tokyo.
The Wii, which competes head on with Sony Corp.'s (6758.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile , Research) Xbox 360, features a motion-sensitive controller that allows players to control the game by swinging the device like a tennis racket or wielding it like a sword.
Nintendo, known for such game characters as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon, sells the Wii for 25,000 yen ($216.6) in Japan, making it the lowest-priced game gear among the three.
"The most fascinating thing about the Wii is the control scheme, the way of playing the game ... Now there are Xbox 360 and PS3, but the Wii is, like, completely different," said Sam Thomas, 32, also in the Bic Camera queue.
Thomas, a vice president of a Tokyo-based placement agency for the game industry, waited for nine hours before the store opened its door to the Wii crowd at 7:00 a.m. (2200 GMT Friday).
Before the official store opening, its inventory of about 3,000 units had already been committed to around 1,000 customers who placed pre-orders and the other 2,000 in the queue.
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