Tokyo Game Show

September 2006

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Ahh... concrete.

 

 

 
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KiraKira Music Hour was fun - once you got to play it.

The 3 minutes of text at the front end of the demo was... less than charming.

 

 
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Seaman2 was ... appropriately inexplicable.

 

 

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PS3 was looking pretty hairy.

Super aliased backgrounds in many games due to fill rate issues.

 

 

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Despite said problems, Julian's game (Lair) was pretty nice to look at.

Gundham... not so much.

 

 

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To Whom It May Concern: I want one of these. Badly.

 

 

 

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New crate physics demo in Heavenly Sword.

Ok, that's a lie.

But if you had such rave reviews at E3, would you bother showing new stuff? I wouldn't!

 

 

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Kelley and Jenova's production of FLOW (for PS3 download) hidden away in the back corner of the floor.

"Very Zen," said Tim. "It reminds me of Spore's cell game."

 

 

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Cute graphics in an RPG called Trusty Bell.

An illustrated and cozy storybook look.

 

 

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Look! One more to go and Winning Eleven will be tied!

 

 

 

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Turbine, educating TGS showgoers on RPG classes (huh?)... in English. With English slides. Inexplicably.

 

PS: Fishing game peripheral - not so great.

 

 

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Papermanam: a paper-look multiplayer shooter that's... really just a standard 3D shooter with flat characters.

 

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The design and costuming aspects were certainly cute.

And who knows... perhaps this window dressing on conventional shooter gameplay will engage the Japanese audience.
 

 

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But I couldn't help dreaming about the cool mechanics that paper characters afford. Sigh.

 

 

 

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Despite the strange-sounding name of PuppyOn (an online chat game where avatars have a pet companion) the art style was quite nifty.

A little less illustrative than the Trusty Bell look, but similarly storybook inspired.

 

 

 

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And then there was Viva Pinata.,,

 

 

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I really want to believe that this game will open up a new, kid-friendly market on the Xbox platform.

 

 

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But that is hard to believe - especially given how difficult it is to control.

It felt slow and tedious. Even when you smash pinatas! How is that possible?

 

 

 

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Check out the loner goth gal!

"Soooo depressing to be surrounded by all these perky pink-haired wonders!"

 

 

 

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Time to go home!

 

 

 

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Eventually, we headed back to Shibyua to meet up with Keita and Fumito for dinner.

Nick and I got lost 3 times before agreeing to meet "In the Mouth of Hachiko"

 

 

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I took pictures from the same spot, turning in a circle... to avoid getting lost again.

 

 

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Dinner outside, in a cool breeze - a rarity in Shibuya.

Everything was wonderful - even the natto!

 

 

 

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Time to dream.