Today has basically been walking, walking, walking and more walking. But it was worth it. It's always exciting to attend something for the first time. Especially something like the Tokyo Game Show. Took many pics but decided I won't spam my blog with them. If you're interested, visit my album. I've uploaded the pics there.
It was really very exciting. Took me about an hour from my hotel to Makuhari Messe, the exhibition centre where the TGS was being held. As I made my way from the station to the exhibition hall (about 8 to 10 min walk) I couldn't believe the people that were thronging in the same direction. I started worrying if they might even stop selling the tickets! When I finally reached the hall, I went to the overseas visitors booth. For printing out an application form, I paid 1000yen instead of 1200yen to get into the show. After receiving my ticket, I eagerly made my way to the actual exhibition floor, another 3 to 5mins walk away. As I reached the main entrance, my heart raced as I heard the wonderful sounds of video games blasting through the speakers.
The TGS is really something to behold. Just take a look at the pics in my album. The booths are all so elaborately decorated. Just take the first one which I saw, the one by Koei. This booth has got two gigantic LED screens on the left and right of the huge monitor you see in the middle. Yeah, images were flashing everywhere! Really breath-taking.
TGS took up three huge halls. But it was still not enough for the crowds that thronged th place. The first hall was anchored by Microsoft's Xbox360 while easily one third of the second hall was taken up by Playstation. The final hall was filled with some booths selling game/anime merchandise, an eating area and 2 huge performance zones. Basically, I went from booth to booth, snapping pics and watching some of the shows. There were dances, game shows, demos, etc, etc. On top of that, many were queueing to try the games. That was one thing I couldn't be bothered to do. Some queued for hours just to play a game for 10-15 mins! Sorry.. no patience for that. But the shows more than entertaining enough to occupy my time.
One thing which you can't help noticing are the famous booth babes. Yes, I admit, I took pics of them too. I mean, everyone was taking pics. It was hard not to snap a few. In between the first two halls, there was a large area designated for the japanese to do Cosplay. Wow.. this was one of the largest gathering of cosplayers I've seen. These japanese are really committed to their love for these anime characters. I even saw middle-aged cosplayers pushing their baby in a pram!
I was most excited to visit the Playstation booth. Of course, I wanted to see the PS3 in action. I must say that the games do look quite good. I particularly like LAIR, a game involving dragons battling in the air. But I don't know if it's really a big leap over the xbox360. It's not surprising that the Playstation booth is probably the MOST crowded one of the whole show. The queues to try the games were hours long! I didn't have much patience to join any of the queues. It's nice to hear that Sony has dropped the japanese launch price of the PS3. But, it's gonna be hard to shell out almost S$750 for the console alone.. not forgetting that I'll have to buy a game or two, which will cost at least another $150. Oh well, let's wait till november to see what happens.
Here are some pics of the stuff I collected from the show. The one I'm most happy with is the Playstation 3 paper bag and the folders for the new movie, Eragon. Next to the Playstation bag is the xbox360 bag advertising the new game Blue Dragon.
After the game show I decided to stop by Akhihabara on the way back. Bought some UMD movies for the PSP. Warner Brothers are having a sale for many of their movies on UMD. Couldn't help it, only about S$12 each. Bought the entire Harry Potter series, The Goonies and Matrix Revolutions. I think they are supposed to have Corpse Bride available. Gonna go hunting for more cheap UMDs tomorrow!
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