Hundreds of electronic game lovers mobbed stores in Tokyo's Akihabara Thursday to snap up the latest version of Final Fantasy, a popular PlayStation computer game that went on sale in the morning.
Well before noon, stores began posting notices indicating they were already sold out of the new game software. "Before we opened our Sofmap 13-Ban Kan shop at 10 a.m., about 200 people were already waiting in line outside to get Final Fantasy VIII. The products were gone in one hour. We don't know when additional packages will arrive," said Nobuyuki Matsuda, a spokesman for Sofmap Co.
The first version of the series, created by Square Co., was put on the market in December 1987. It instantly proved popular.