You may be having fun playing your next-gen console, but did you have fun buying it? Doubtful. No, you probably just strolled into Target and set it down on the counter along with a six-pack of Tab and some deodorant. Pathetic. Buying a console in Japan is a little different. Take the Game-in Cassette Computer, for example. It may not have all the Blue Rays and teraflops of today’s consoles, but you can’t just walk into an electronics retailer and buy it either. You have to win it with a skill crane (which are known in Japan as UFO Catchers). This particular skill crane was found in a Japanese bowling alley.

Sure, the Game-in Cassette Computer looks like the afterbirth of R2-D2 and an eight-track’s lovechild, but it makes up for it by playing eight games and costing up to infinity yen (about $872) depending on how bad you suck at skill cranes. Its Dual-Shockesque controller offers a third shock: a handy sharpened point beneath the start and select buttons for gouging your friend’s eye if he scores on you in pong. The display box also features the following unfortunate “English” catch-phrase:

This is Compatibility Machine. Let’s play the game. Everybody gets off.

Don’t make any promises you can’t keep, little computer.

1. Dale North says:
   February 8th, 2007 at 5:58 am

   I want one.