Thanks to one of my neighbors, I had the chance to attend one of the hottest events in Japan: The 2008 Tokyo Game Show.
For a mere 1000 yen (about $10) I was granted access to the newest game releases from every major game company known to gamers. Granted, I haven't really played video games for about a few years and a craving for playing midnight rush 2 on PS2 doesn't really count for serious gaming, but this event made me want to get back into gaming again.
The game show allows visitors to view and play the newest game releases. The lines did get ridiculously long, but I was lucky enough to arrive early enough to play a Wii game called "Cooking Mama" where literally all you do is cook Japanese food. It sounds boring, but it was all so fun and at the end of it all they gave us a little "present" for trying the game out.
It was interesting to see the types of people that come to these shows. Most were young guys who came to play and oogle the game girls who are famous for advertising a booth's games by dressing up in cute little costumes.
In Japan, it is not uncommon for most girls to dress up in cute little outfits when advertising or handing out goods for advertisement on the streets of Tokyo especially in Akihabara. Akihabara, which I happened to mention in a previous post, is the electronic capital of Japan. Here a lot of gamers and anime fans as well as anyone who wants discounts on electronics, phones, etc. will go to shop. These girls are very much against tourists or anyone for that matter taking their pictures. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think it might have to do with the whole lolita-esque fascination that many japanese men have in japan. They are probably afraid of their picture being used for *ahem* other purposes by へんたい (perverts). So I was pleasantly surprised that all of the game girls allowed their pictures to be taken at the show.
What was most noticeable at the game show were the amount of がいじん or foreigners who attended the expo. Many were clearly from the US, but I noted a few from Spain, Italy, and France. Also, many of the people who attended also cosplayed. In case some of you don't know, cosplay is when you dress up as a character from a japanese manga, anime or game. They even had dressing rooms that people could pay to dress up in their cosplay outfits and store their luggage in. They were everywhere! So it was pretty strange and yet rather so japanese to be standing in front of the bathroom mirror with Yuna from Final Fantasy standing to my left and Chen-li from the game Street Fighters standing to my right. But I did manage to get a picture with Yuna!
The process of getting out to the game show was rather arduous. It took a good two hours by subway to reach the expo which took place in Chiba-city, Japan from Machida-shi which is where I live. Once we got there we were packed in a line for a good half-hour until we finally made it in. But what a sight it was: a barage of bright lights, lots of colors, loud music and lots of people. Many of the boths were playing sneak peaks of the newest games due out in the spring of next year. My main concern was to find the playstation booth and fast. ^^v The newest release that I am dying to obtain is the Final Fantasy Versus XIV it's darker and edgier than the previous FF's released.
For a mere 1000 yen (about $10) I was granted access to the newest game releases from every major game company known to gamers. Granted, I haven't really played video games for about a few years and a craving for playing midnight rush 2 on PS2 doesn't really count for serious gaming, but this event made me want to get back into gaming again.
The game show allows visitors to view and play the newest game releases. The lines did get ridiculously long, but I was lucky enough to arrive early enough to play a Wii game called "Cooking Mama" where literally all you do is cook Japanese food. It sounds boring, but it was all so fun and at the end of it all they gave us a little "present" for trying the game out.
It was interesting to see the types of people that come to these shows. Most were young guys who came to play and oogle the game girls who are famous for advertising a booth's games by dressing up in cute little costumes.
In Japan, it is not uncommon for most girls to dress up in cute little outfits when advertising or handing out goods for advertisement on the streets of Tokyo especially in Akihabara. Akihabara, which I happened to mention in a previous post, is the electronic capital of Japan. Here a lot of gamers and anime fans as well as anyone who wants discounts on electronics, phones, etc. will go to shop. These girls are very much against tourists or anyone for that matter taking their pictures. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think it might have to do with the whole lolita-esque fascination that many japanese men have in japan. They are probably afraid of their picture being used for *ahem* other purposes by へんたい (perverts). So I was pleasantly surprised that all of the game girls allowed their pictures to be taken at the show.
What was most noticeable at the game show were the amount of がいじん or foreigners who attended the expo. Many were clearly from the US, but I noted a few from Spain, Italy, and France. Also, many of the people who attended also cosplayed. In case some of you don't know, cosplay is when you dress up as a character from a japanese manga, anime or game. They even had dressing rooms that people could pay to dress up in their cosplay outfits and store their luggage in. They were everywhere! So it was pretty strange and yet rather so japanese to be standing in front of the bathroom mirror with Yuna from Final Fantasy standing to my left and Chen-li from the game Street Fighters standing to my right. But I did manage to get a picture with Yuna!
The process of getting out to the game show was rather arduous. It took a good two hours by subway to reach the expo which took place in Chiba-city, Japan from Machida-shi which is where I live. Once we got there we were packed in a line for a good half-hour until we finally made it in. But what a sight it was: a barage of bright lights, lots of colors, loud music and lots of people. Many of the boths were playing sneak peaks of the newest games due out in the spring of next year. My main concern was to find the playstation booth and fast. ^^v The newest release that I am dying to obtain is the Final Fantasy Versus XIV it's darker and edgier than the previous FF's released.
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