Yes, Gizmondo has a WHOLE SHOP all to itself on London’s Regent Street. It’s as stupid an idea as an undersea supermarket. Or a shop that only sells pre-chewed pen lids. Or a shop you go in to catch flu. Or a colon cancer booth. Or an MP3 player that won’t play all of an album’s tracks in a row.

ANYWAY…
So we went to the Gizmondo shop for two reasons; to see if it really exists or was just a joke, and if it DOES really exist, to see what kind of people would go in it.

IT EXISTS!
Wow. It’s all new and clean. Just like the Apple store, only not selling anything you aspire to own. It’ll still be new and clean when they board it up in a couple of months, too! And look! There’s a person actually inside it! (NOTE: that is NOT our reflection).

A CONFUSED TOURIST!
No, the Queen’s house is near Green Park. No, Tony Blair lives nearer Westminster. No, I’m not Robbie Williams. We probably should’ve told the poor man that the Apple store with all the iPods is just around the corner.

SOME STAFF!
There were four, but three ran away when we started taking photos. What is that man thinking? Does he think he’s on the bleeding-edge of a new-media revolution? Or is he worried that there’s only one person in the shop apart from some idiot taking photos, which means he’s probably going to be sacked in about two months when the money runs out? If it’s the latter he’s too good to be working there and should start a Blog about the comedic Gizmondo cash-squandering.

SURGING QUEUES OF RABID EARLY ADOPTERS!
Or… just one man half-heartedly playing a game because he has nowhere else to be and nothing else to do. This is what games industry parties are like, only we’re sober and not standing next to Richard Melville.

A TRENDY LOUNGE!
This is where the models will sit for the photoshoots, when they have a party to celebrate actually selling one to someone.

WIDE RANGE OF GAMES!
The shelf next to it had a similar row of Fathammer Classics — the ‘other’ Gizmondo game currently out to buy.

MORE COMING SOON!
Here’s an annoying fact. We went to the shop last week on a recon mission, at which time there was a game called “Sega Classics Collection” in this Coming Soon section. “That’ll make a good photo!” we thought, thinking how we could possibly say the Gizmondo is the best thing ever because it’s got Sega games. But then it wasn’t here when we returned to take the photos.

SUMMARY…
A picture speaks a thousand words. The word is “HA” repeated 1000 times.