Tokyo Game Show 2010 Hype Thread

[teddymeow]

What happened to the Kojima "I'm working on something massive and PS3 exclusive and the fans will kill me if it's rubbish" announcement?

[Kongster]

His next project will be on 3DS or PSP2. That's where pretty much all the Japanese devs will be focusing on, too. HD engines are, for the most part, a big ask for them it seems

[Supergoal]

Woot! I'm 1 hour away from this years show.
Was supposed to be working today but bugger that!

[arada392]

My own TGS photo album is here.

Looking at the reports about the show on other sites and what was shown, TGS 2010 looks like it was a disappointment. It was a relatively smaller show, and all surprises in-store were spoiled before the show began. However, I thought it was a really enjoyable TGS. Maybe it’s because the games shown this year looked more interesting, or because there were more gadgets and gimmicks this time around. However, I think it’s that, more than anything, this year’s show had flavour.

Going over the initial reports and news from the various conferences before the start of this year’s show, I was complaining that TGS had become for me not really a place where you see the latest games, but a stage play where you see the major actors doing a play about the videogame business. I still think that’s true, but this year was a bit different because the business is in a bit of a transitional period, and nobody is quite sure where it’s heading. (Everybody’s waiting to see what Nintendo is going to show later this month, too.)

The organisers have been trying to spice up the show for a couple of years now, and this year they added on top of the Sense of Wonder and the Game Museum exhibits the Tougeki “Space Battle Opera”--a series of fighting game tournaments encompassing several games. It was interesting to see Umehara live, since I’d read so much about him. The best thing about the tournament was the atmosphere, though. Sometime in the afternoon, TGS stopped being so much about business and started being a little more about the games themselves. You could sense it at the Tougeki tournament, with people cheering and reacting to the SFIV action on-screen.

My favourite moment of TGS 2010, though, was at the end of the last public day, when I stumbled across a concert being held at the Sega booth, and found Takenobu Mitsuyoshi singing a Vocaloid song. Intrigued about this, I stayed to see the band play “Let’s Go Away,” from Daytona USA. (You can see the performance here.) The Sega of old is dead, of course, and this was an old trick. I realised that even then, but it still worked on me. Maybe it’s an illusion, but, like at the Tougeki tournament, it was good to be reminded that the game business isn’t just about business.

[abigsmurf]

TGS always looks such great fun. Eurogamer Expo is the closest we have to it but it doesn't really compare.

I miss the days of the Future Entertainment show.

Does TGS give you bags of funky freebies/tat?

[arada392]

Well, what I always say is that it may look like great fun, but it's still a trade show. Negotiating the crowds and waiting in line (and you do a lot of waiting around if you want to play the bigger titles) are never fun, but there are fun moments.

TGS always gives you bags of tat, and only some of them are funky freebies. What's worse is that I've noticed that they have started giving you fewer freebies as the years have gone on. This year I got a couple of towels (including a MegaMan one), a few cards and an interesting USB stick. (I'll try to post photos later.) I went on a public day, though; you usually get more stuff on the business days.

[abigsmurf]

*remembers queues that went twice around Earls Court for the Future Entertainment show*

[teddymeow]

Seeing the 6 hour queues for Zelda and 3DS at E3 made me feel terrible - until we met the Nintendo rep and he pushed us to the front. Then I couldn't see them behind me while I was playing!

It's weird, as a Brit I love queuing. And bitching about queuing!

[QualityChimp]

Thanks for your feedback and photos, arada392.

It's nice to get some feedback from people who wanted to be there.

I've read reports from this year's TGS and San Diego Comic Con and people were moaning about queues and the size of them and yadda yadda. For somebody who's paid to buy their magazine to read articles about how they've been paid to go to a show that many people would love to attend and all they can do is moan seems a little rude to me!