A Kiwi in Tokyo
Written by Kris Polglase
Written by Kris Polglase
With the imminent launch of next generation consoles and the ever-present bizarre culture of the Japanese, the Tokyo Game Show should have been on the must-see list for every gamer in 2005. This being my first time at the TGS, I was a touch surprised to find that the line and the wait to get into the Makuhari Messe convention centre was short and sweet. The atmosphere when first stepping in was electric, an epileptic nightmare of neon lights and sonic booms of noise greeting gamers as they entered the show.
…You call this a short queue?
The immediate reaction was then punctuated by the ever-present gamer-babes that loiter outside every booth in the entire arena, hawking their company’s brochures and free stuff. If the TGS show is primarily about games, then a close second is an opportunity to observe the best of Japanese culture - the gamer-babes being at the top of that list.
The first hall was home to some of the biggest names in gaming: SNK, Atari, Square Enix, Taito, and Koei delivered a platform for many wacky games and a truly Japanese taste in gaming.
Square’s booth was one of the most popular at the show and showcased numerous upcoming games, but had some surprising no-shows (where o where was FFXII?). They were solid if not spectacular this year, with Kingdom Hearts 2 the main attraction. Mobile gaming looks to have taken their interest quite a bit too, with no fewer than five games delivered in some form or another for my trusty Nokia (not that I can actually play them, but it’s the thought that counts).
SNK showcased numerous King Of Fighters games (a cow that just won’t give up being milked, with ten games by my count) and was the home for one of the numerous tournaments being held throughout the day. I wanted to sign up for the Samurai Showdown event, but realised that A: I only ever played Samurai Showdown while waiting for my fish and chips, and B: I don’t want to cry like a little girl in front of hundreds of people after being beaten by a five year-old.
Atari’s booth presented one of the more original and enticing games of the show, Fahrenheit. The new PS2 thriller offered a brief taste of split-screen play where your character attempts to evade detection by a policeman while disposing of a body, mostly in real-time and while having a view of the trouble approaching. Nice. The booth also housed the new Matrix game, which drew a solid crowd.
In between booths was home to the parade of gaming dress-up, where Japanese girls, and some men, dress in the clothing of their favourite gaming or anime hero and pose for the massive amount of Japanese men who want pictures. I don’t think this phenomenon could happen anywhere other than in Japan and I’m kind of glad. I think anywhere else it might be perceived as sad or a little weird, but here it just added to the experience.
Only in Japan is right.
The second hall was home to the big guns this year: Sony, Microsoft, Namco, Capcom and Sega, who dominated the entire length of the hall and packed the majority of the public into their spheres.
Sega has a soft spot in my heart (I lament the demise of the Saturn and Dreamcast almost every day), so naturally I choose one of their games to be my first for the day. The PSP version of Initial D was brilliant when seen on the small screen while playing, and not so brilliant when blown up on a regular TV screen. But the game plays solidly enough, if a little easy (Wait until you get to the later levels, bucko. – Ed) and will be at home with the other billion racing games on the PSP. Sega was otherwise dominated by the little blue hedgehog and his friends from Phantasy Star. From the first look at Sonic next-gen to Sonic Riders and Shadow, Sonic looks to be hitting 2006 in style.
Shadow takes center stage.
Phantasy Star was spectacular. With enough variation from the original game and a promise of tonnes of downloadable content, PSU promises to live up to the hype. Playing PSU on PC was a novelty, having only ever played it on Dreamcast, but once the controls were explained (Engrish style) it all fell into place, and they had to literally pull me away from the screen to make me leave.
Headlined by the impressive Soul Caliber III, Namco provided one of the longer queues of the day – but it was worth it. Getting my ass kicked while the entire hall looked on was nice. But, in my defence, my opponent was pretty cheap and I hadn’t played Soul Caliber in a while. The third iteration of the best fighting game ever looks to have expanded the RPG elements within the second title and added both more characters and a plethora of unlockables within the main game. I can’t wait and at 80% finished it doesn’t look like I will have to wait long.
Capcom had a surprisingly weak line-up, headlined by movie footage of Biohazard 4 and numerous kids’ games for the PS2. I was expecting a little bit more from the gaming legends but they aimed their product squarely at the Japanese and had little else to impress the foreign demons like myself.
Does this even need a caption?
The PlayStation 3 was the biggest draw card for the Sony booth, playing in-game footage and a majority of CG-based movies to a quiet crowd all day. These movies were, for the most part, a compilation of new and previously seen material. The impact these movies had on me was minimal and the majority of the audience seemed blasé about the whole presentation, yet the screenings still drew packed houses the whole day. The Sony booth this year focused on the PSP and expanding the ways and means in which the unit can be used. The best example of this was found within Talkman, the Japanese/English translator featuring a giant duck who talks to you. At least that is how it appeared – even with the microphone attachment in full effect I still had no idea what was actually happening. Sony relied heavily on the PSP and PlayStation 3 display to gloss over what was otherwise a pretty small set of games. Sure the third party support for the PS2, was huge but the actual Sony booth itself felt a little under whelming.
As Sony and Microsoft literally faced off across the game show floor (Capcom benefiting from the multitudes that streamed between the two giants), tension was in the air. You could see the Xbox babes staring out across at the PlayStation ladies, each wanting to secretly rip each other apart. In the end only one company truly dominated the show, and that company was Microsoft, with a display that showed their intentions to crack the Japanese market. It just might do it too, as this time the Xbox 360 not only has the games and the power to deliver them, but, more importantly for the Japanese, it has enough kitsch elements to sell consoles.
White, white and more white.
TGS showcased the very first hands-on of Xbox 360, allowing gamers the opportunity to play many nearly complete games. Of these games, a few stood out:
Ninety-Nine Nights suffered from a touch of slow-down when hundreds of enemies were on screen at one time, but otherwise was a great hack and slash title with just the right amount of puzzle/thought thrown in to keep the gamer interested. Ridge Racer 6 looked spectacular and played… Well, like past Ridge Racer games. But boy was it pretty. Dead Rising showed a lot of potential, too.
Chrome Hounds from Sega provided two three-man teams the opportunity to pit their giant mechs against each other. Most impressive was the Dolby 5.1 sound that blasted through your headphones as you absorbed massive amounts of damage from the other mechs (who seemed to play a funny game of ‘blow up the westerner’).
Final Fantasy XI drew the biggest crowds of the area and provided the Japanese gamers a glimpse into the future of the Xbox 360. I was doubtful if just one game could sway the attentions of the Japanese gaming population away from Sony and Nintendo, but given the huge lines for five minutes of FFXI, maybe it could.
The Xbox line-up was complemented by the best booth presentation of the whole show. Building on the 360 colour scheme of white and green the booth separated into three zones: Lounge, playing area and screening room. The lounge showed what could be accomplished with top-of-the-line audio and visual equipment while providing a comfortable area for the brave (you were up on a stage surrounded by people and those pesky Xbox babes) to game in.
”So, can you show me how this analog stick works again?”
Overall the 2005 TGS mixed the best of Japanese culture (videogames and queuing) with the best of western marketing (hot chicks and mini skirts) and blended it into an intoxicating mix of video game mayhem. One day of mayhem that hopefully points to the future of video gaming as a whole and makes me wish that every day was September 17th 2005.
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