On Saturday, Sachie and I went to the Tokyo Game Show (TGS). TGS is an annual event in Japan where video game developers come to display their upcoming products. Unfortunately, the venue was entirely too far away, at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, so it took two hours to get there. I'm not that much of a gamer—if I can say that, since I own an Xbox, a GameCube, and GameBoy Advance—so I didn't have much reason to go other than Ben Judd said he was going to be there. (That and Sachie was interested in going.) Ben was in my Japanese class at OSU, and is now working for Capcom in Osaka, hence his presence at TGS. Although I've been pretty lax about meeting up with friends since I've arrived, I've met with a couple people in the Tokyo area once or so. Ben, Yohei, and some other people I know in the Kansai area are a bit far from where I live.
We left for TGS around noon, so didn't get there until after 14:00. There was a mess of people, albeit not as bad as the Comic Market. There were a lot of weirdos, as can be expected, but especially weird were the guys carring expensive digital SLR cameras taking shots of the girls in skimply clothing. Sachie asked me, "What do you think those guys are going to do with the pictures?" ...you can imagine my reply. ^_- Girls in skimpy clothing are all well and good for marketing to guys, and I did some looking when I could (when Sachie was looking the other way...), but come on, do ya hafta take rapid-fire pictures with your mouth hanging open?! The girls didn't seem to mind; I suppose they are captive to the flash of the camera.
There were a few cosplayers there as well, both semi-pro and amateur. There was a good Chun Li cosplayer, as well as a few freakish ones, like some dude dressed up like some blonde female video game character. Crossdressers might be run of the mill in SF or NYC, but one doesn't see them in public so much here. Tokyo is very progressive, though.... Guy I know had this to say:
There were lines all over the place: for buying character goods at the company booths and to play demo games for upcoming releases. I hate waiting. Accordingly, I didn't get to play a whole lot. I met up with Ben while he wasn't being interviewed for new game info. We chatted for a bit and made plans to meet up later but never did, partially due to the stampede of people exiting the show as it shut down Saturday and partially due to a misunderstanding on my part. However, in a couple weeks, another guy from my ol' Japanese class crew, Ray Grieselhuber, will be visiting, so we'll have a chance to hang out then.
The one game I did play, "Puyo Puyo Fever", is actually already released—on GC and PS2. I played it on a PSP prototype. The game's of the Tetris-like falling block genre, but it's more fun. The PSP looks cool, but then again, so does the new Nintendo handheld (which I didn't see at the show). Sachie played one of Capcom's new offerings based on the Nightmare Before Christmas, since she likes the movie. Ah, I paid more attention to the hardware than the software, and the PSP was what I wanted to see. ATI and nVidia had booths, more to showcase the upcoming games using their video cards than the cards themselves. As the show wrapped up for Saturday, a lot of booths had dance-type performances by costumed women for a finale. Whatever gets the gamers worked up, I guess. Gotta leave with a buzz.
That's my report. Crowds give me headaches, so I probably missed a bunch of cool stuff, but oh well. I was happy to get home!
We left for TGS around noon, so didn't get there until after 14:00. There was a mess of people, albeit not as bad as the Comic Market. There were a lot of weirdos, as can be expected, but especially weird were the guys carring expensive digital SLR cameras taking shots of the girls in skimply clothing. Sachie asked me, "What do you think those guys are going to do with the pictures?" ...you can imagine my reply. ^_- Girls in skimpy clothing are all well and good for marketing to guys, and I did some looking when I could (when Sachie was looking the other way...), but come on, do ya hafta take rapid-fire pictures with your mouth hanging open?! The girls didn't seem to mind; I suppose they are captive to the flash of the camera.
There were a few cosplayers there as well, both semi-pro and amateur. There was a good Chun Li cosplayer, as well as a few freakish ones, like some dude dressed up like some blonde female video game character. Crossdressers might be run of the mill in SF or NYC, but one doesn't see them in public so much here. Tokyo is very progressive, though.... Guy I know had this to say:
I went once and saw a 50+ year old man wearing a girls high school uniform. totally skinny, hunched over, with hair on his legs too. It's photo-op city. Total freakshow.
There were lines all over the place: for buying character goods at the company booths and to play demo games for upcoming releases. I hate waiting. Accordingly, I didn't get to play a whole lot. I met up with Ben while he wasn't being interviewed for new game info. We chatted for a bit and made plans to meet up later but never did, partially due to the stampede of people exiting the show as it shut down Saturday and partially due to a misunderstanding on my part. However, in a couple weeks, another guy from my ol' Japanese class crew, Ray Grieselhuber, will be visiting, so we'll have a chance to hang out then.
The one game I did play, "Puyo Puyo Fever", is actually already released—on GC and PS2. I played it on a PSP prototype. The game's of the Tetris-like falling block genre, but it's more fun. The PSP looks cool, but then again, so does the new Nintendo handheld (which I didn't see at the show). Sachie played one of Capcom's new offerings based on the Nightmare Before Christmas, since she likes the movie. Ah, I paid more attention to the hardware than the software, and the PSP was what I wanted to see. ATI and nVidia had booths, more to showcase the upcoming games using their video cards than the cards themselves. As the show wrapped up for Saturday, a lot of booths had dance-type performances by costumed women for a finale. Whatever gets the gamers worked up, I guess. Gotta leave with a buzz.
That's my report. Crowds give me headaches, so I probably missed a bunch of cool stuff, but oh well. I was happy to get home!
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