Tokyo: Day Two

September 2005

back

  DSC07944  
 

Wow. Nice... feathers!

 

 
 DSC07948  DSC07947 DSC07953
 

Off to TGS - a 1.5 hour trip from Shibyua station

 

 

 
 DSC07958  DSC07957 DSC07960
 

 

 

 

 
 DSC07964 DSC07962 DSC07968
 

 Before lunch, we find a friendly moth on Kim's shoulder. His feet were tired, we think.

 

 

 
  DSC07972  
 

 Oddest peripheral: the Finger Commander, which vibrates your thumb rapidly for simplified button mashing (other uses not discussed during the demonstration). On the left hand, the "cyborg" candidate wore a special set of sporks, modified for easy munching during play.

 

 

 
DSC07973  DSC07974 DSC07975
 

 Demonstrations of the King Kong game: well-rendered, giant-robot fighter mechanics.

 

 

 
 DSC07979 DSC07981  DSC07980
  

 

 

 
 DSC07982  DSC07985  DSC07983
 

 It is always cool to see women hanging out playing at TGS, totally unselfconsciously...

 

   DSC07986  
 

...even though the booth vibe is still pretty tired.

 

 

 
DSC07987 DSC07988 DSC07991
 

Yogurting is a multiplayer RPG with a school fiction - and the best name on the floor...

 

  DSC07993  
 

... GI Jockey was certainly in the running, though.

 

 

 
 DSC07999 DSC08000 DSC08001
 

Eric, Justin and I wait through Fahrenheit's tedious opening credits and masturbatory introduction. All told, I it took 2 or 3 minutes to start interacting with the one-room, 2 minute demo.

 
 DSC08002  DSC08003 DSC08004
 

 The split-screen cues were interesting, but overall, it felt stiff and dictatorial. The controls were frustrating (essentially a button/cut scene menu, a la Myst, with fancy icons) .

Who knows. Perhaps "mainstream" gamers will enjoy the slow pacing and cinematic striptease stylings of this aspiring horror/thriller... Better writing would probably help.

 

 

 
 DSC08005  DSC08009  DSC08015
 

Driving, Shooting .... and Beat Boxing? A small Korean title, looking for a publisher.

 

 

 
 DSC08011 VICTORY!!  DSC08012
  

 

 

 
 DSC08020 DSC08021 DSC08017
  

Student games included some interesting titles and slogans...  but tired game design.

 

 
DSC08023 DSC08024 DSC08025
  

This one was about helping a failing student make it to an exam - by navigating through a low-poly maze of city streets. The prostration scene, sadly, was about as good as it got.

 

 

 
DSC08027 DSC08029 DSC08030
  

Katamari's art direction is fantastic. You really notice it, in an environment like this.

 

 

 
DSC08031  DSC08034 DSC08032
  

The PSP version uses both the buttons and d-pad as substitutes for the analog sticks. Responsive and quick, with some new content in the same lighthearted fiction - I had to wait 20 minutes to play it. Even 3rd run, I think it could do pretty well in portable form.

 

 
 DSC08036  DSC08048  DSC08041
  

PS: I *heart* the King of All Cosmos.

 

 

 
   DSC08051  
 

 

 
DSC08052  DSC08057 DSC08055
  

Idol Master combines collectible cards with networked arcade playl, wrapping them in a talent-contest type fiction. Could be very successful, if the idols are customizable enough.

 

 
  DSC08059  
  

Sock technology in Japan is still light-years ahead of the West.

 

 
DSC08062  DSC08063 DSC08065
  

Apparently, each Japanese 360 will ship with a diminutive, beautiful girl.

When she isn't playing with you, she can help heft the DOA peripheral around!

 

 
 DSC08069  DSC08067  DSC08072
  

Kameo felt like a roughly-tuned version of Metroid, with less interesting art direction.

We did discover that the demo level of Dead Rising was titled "A Woman With Secrets". Justin apparently found a zombie with some secrets, too. Get out of that closet, boy!!

 

 

 
   DSC08073  
 

 

DSC08075 DSC08076 DSC08077
DSC08078 DSC08079 DSC08080
  

Loco Roco was the EGW pick for this year - and I'm not just saying that because it involves a roll-y ball! The game has a musical, vibrant world and interesting toy-physics mechanics... something like a cross between Kirby and Gish. I really hope that Tsutomu-san comes to GDC.

 

 

DSC08084  DSC08091  DSC08092
  

Talk Man was not nearly as interesting as it looked while we waited in line. You're probably better off selecting the phrases (translating requests or comments into various languages) directly based on the context menu (airplane, bar, etc) than trying to get it to recognize what you're saying.

It's an interesting idea - but without more complex generation capability, it seems like a strange investment from the consumer perspective. And... why a muppet-esque bird dude? 

 

 

 

   DSC08095  
  

After a long day of trudging around, we headed out for shabu-shabu. Sadly, the scorpians were not there this year - but the food was just as tasty. Gonzalo's mullet made the evening all the more delicious, and a good time was definitely had by all. Beeeeeeeeefy!

 

 

 DSC08098 DSC08100 DSC08099
DSC08107  DSC08106 DSC08109
  

 

 

 

DSC08113  DSC08114 DSC08118
  

 You don't see a ton of kids in the shopping districts...
but when you do, they are dressed much more stylishly than any adult.

 

 

 

DSC08120 DSC08121 DSC08123
  

 

DSC08125 DSC08135 DSC08127
  

 

 

 

  DSC08131  
  

 Portable dessert technology - another lost opportunity.

 

 

 

DSC08136 DSC08137 DSC08138
 

 Morning.

You guessed it - we woke up too early!

 

DSC08140 DSC08141 DSC08142