Editor’s Forward: While Ripten did report on news coming out of TGS 08, we were not able to attend the event in person. Therefore, we thought it may be interesting to our readers to get insight from a fellow journalist in the area who attended the event as non-press. Big thanks to Sean for the write up.

This past weekend I went to the Tokyo Game Show. I didn’t have a press pass, and I wasn’t able to enter earlier than anyone else, so this will be a story that describes what a normal person has to put up with when going to the game show. Since most people have already released all the information on the new games and stuff soon to come I feel as though talking a bit more about the experience than the event would be more interesting, but don’t worry there are a few games I feel I should discuss.

My trip started in Yamanashi prefecture, the place I live. It takes me a little while to get to Tokyo by train so I decided to spend the extra money and ride the fast train into Shinjuku station. This was my first mistake. The train I decided to take was also one that most every businessman took home on Friday afternoon so I got to stand in the doorway between trains for about an hour and a half. I decided to spend the time thinking about what games I might get to see at the event, and what I really want to try out (Monster Hunter 3[tri]) before they are released. I arrived in Shinjuku at around 8pm and decided to do a little shopping since the event wasn’t until tomorrow. I visited a couple of the larger game centers to check out the newest card games, and hit up the local ドンキホウテ(DonkiHoute), just to see what kind of Halloween goods were for sale.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I awoke at around 7:30 in the morning from my hotel capsule(I dig small spaces), and decided to venture out to the event. It didn’t start until 10AM so I assumed that I would be fine to catch a train and get in line a little early that way maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with the crowds. From Shinjuku station you have to change trains once or twice depending on how you wanted to get to the event, one change onto the Keiyo line is the worst platform change ever. Did I mention that the Keiyo line is also the same train line people take to goto Tokyo Disney Land?

This weekend the train is packed both with people interested in video games, and mickey mouse. I’m sure some are interested in both but today they had to make a big decision on what to see. I digress, thinking that getting to the station early I could maybe get a seat, and somewhat enjoy the near hour train ride to the event, oh how wrong I was yet again. Standing for another hour, we pull into the event area at a wonderful 9:30 (I stopped for breakfast). Now the Messe Hall is a short walk from the station, and you can also go see the local baseball team of the area the Marines play near the same station (yay more people!). I met up with a guy that was just visiting Japan and actually planned his trip to end at the same time as the show, which I thouht was a pretty good way to end a trip.

The first time I went to this event I got there a little after 10 and had to stand in line for almost 20 minutes before I got to enter. This year I got there 15 minutes before it started, and still had to stand in line over twenty minutes before I got in. I’ve read that attendence is going down each year for this event, but being in the thick of it you really can’t tell. It was a rainy Saturday morning so all you could see was a sea of umbrella’s coming toward the Messe Hall. Anyway in we go, out of the rain. Excitement is running rampid in my head as to what I am gonna see and play, etc.

The first game adverts I saw were from Koei plugging their Dynasty Warriors game for both PSP and the online MMO adaptation that is coming out. I’m looking forward to both but decided I didn’t feel like giving them a try. I was on the hunt for a capcom beast called Monster Hunter 3, along with all other 11,000 people that were there. The line filled up to play and to sign up to line up to play within minutes. My heart sunk, but I did enjoy seeing the wonderful town stage they had setup for MH3, and those lucky enough to have played the game usually got a really nice bag to carr the rest of your paper junk with you.

For the regular people the only way to get (read: earn) your swag from TGS is to stand in line for hours and play the games, or stand in line for hours at the stores in the back and buy really expensive but sometimes very exclusive goods. I ended up with a fan, a cap, a towel, and a file folder.

Now, the part that rarely gets discussed from what I can tell, is the horror that revolves around just being at the event and trying your hardest to get around. Some areas or more boring game companies usually have no traffic what so ever, but the more popular companies like Microsoft, EA, Capcom, Konami, Square Enix, all draw massive numbers. This is where the planning comitee should work out a new system for placement of booths at the venue.

There was a massive traffic jam in multiple parts of the venue from people wanting to see a certain game on both sides of the walkway causing a bottleneck. Japan does not like a bottle neck, I mean this is the country that mashes people into trains to fit as many as possible, so yeah we got mashed around the event. At one point I was stuck between somewhere between Metal Gear Solid Online, and the latest installment of Resident Evil, only to begin moving without my brain telling my legs to do so. I was part of a wave of people that wanted to move on or were being forced to move on to a less crowded area, the only problem with this was not everyone wanted to move in the same direction. Luckily I got stuck in the direction I wanted to go, some smaller people ended up moving in the opposite direction they had been planning on and got swept away possibly never to be found again. Much of this issue of people comes from wanting to be the first there. Had I waited until noon it may not have been as bad, but I didn’t want to stay at the event all day so I decided to finish up what I was looking for and get out of there as soon as possible.

I told you earlier I wouldn’t leave you completely game talkless, so here we go. The games that I think will be big at least in Japan are going to be of course Monster Hunter 3 with local 2 player and online 4 player. Theres swimming now which is a new and very interesting game mechanic. From what I could see I think there was a breathing meter, which goes along with your health and stamina. You can use the Wii mote or the classic controller depending on what kind of hunting you line to do. Gundam Online for your docomo cell phone is going to be huge according to the numbers I saw. It does suck that you can only play it on your phone, but it is a really cool idea. Street Fighter 4 on the console of course looks wonderful, but has had what I have seen as a very lackluster release in Japan, maybe it will do better in the states. Metal Gear Online, Resident Evil, and Need for Speed Undercover were drawing large numbers as well. One of my favorite anime Hajime no Ippo is getting a new series run this Janurary and a little before that a game for the DS is coming out, so you might wanna look for it. The only other thing I am somewhat looking forward two is the Dynasty Warriors MMO. Of course it will be a grind fest considering all the games up to this point have been grindfests, but hey its a very gratifying one to say the least.

Well, thats all from the land of the rising sun. Hope you enjoyed my take on the Tokyo Game Show, and I hope the games you want to play come out stateside, or wherever you live, as for me. I know I’m getting them.

Tags: non-press account, TGS 08, Tokyo Game Show

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4 Comments » Sam Naylor on October 14, 2008 11:39 pm Sounds…fun. Was it worth going to? Sean Mitchuson on October 15, 2008 1:24 am Yeah, it was an enjoyable day, but they just don’t know how to handle the crowds for some reason. The Whaler on October 15, 2008 10:57 pm I heard SE had security guards for the closed theaters They had guns and tazers j/k Jae Brav on October 30, 2008 12:25 am Hell, I would go just to see the cosplay. Video games? What? RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.