Kotaku: cesa

Tokyo Game Show 2010 Dates Don't Bode Well

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT

One of the problems with Tokyo Game Show 2009 is that the mid-September dates are just too close to the August Gamescom. If the TGS organizers, the CESA, were smart, they'd move the Japanese event to October like in 2008.

That's if they were smart.

The dates that are currently being tossed around for the 2010 TGS are either between September 16 and September 19 or September 17 and September 19 — the CESA still needs to iron out how many business and public days the 2010 event will have.

Germany's Gamescom 2010 will run between August 18 and 22.

Regardless, CESA is announcing that the event will happen in mid-September and doing so right on the heels of a show with falling attendance. Wouldn't it be smarter to move the show back a month to October in order to give publishers and developers a chance to breathe and bring new builds and announcements to TGS 2010? Isn't the CESA aware of what is happening elsewhere in the industry? Or even what is happening to the industry in Japan?

Because right now, the way CESA is scheduling TGS 2010, the organizing is in a way forcing game companies to chose between two shows: Gamescom and TGS. Compared to the Tokyo Game Show, Gamescom draws a bigger crowd of gamers (245,000 attended this year's event) and has a bigger reach as the show is far more international in scope than the Tokyo Game Show.

So if you were a game publisher, which one would you bring your latest builds and announcements to?

Tokyo Game Show: Best In Show Winners Announced

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:30:00 MDT

TGS is over. *Sniff*. But with the Makuhari Messe now devoid of bright lights, scantily-clad ladies and the sweaty musk of tens of thousands of Japanese gamers, attention now turns towards the important stuff. Like what won "best in show". Or, as CESA (Japan's ESRB) call it, the "Future Awards", held as part of their Japan Game Awards 2008 festivities. Twelve games were recognised - most of them having been playable on the showroom floor - and every major Japanese gaming platform (ie everything bar the PC) is represented.

The winners are (they're not ranked or anything):

Idolm@ster - Namco Bandai - PSP
Gyakuten Kenji - Capcom - DS
White Knight Story - Sony - PS3
Star Ocean 4 - Square Enix - Xbox 360
Final Fantasy: Dissidia - Square Enix - PSP
Dragon Quest IX - Square Enix - DS
Resident Evil 5 - Capcom - Xbox 360/PS3
Monster Hunter 3 - Capcom - Wii
428 - Sega - Wii
LittleBigPlanet - Sony - PS3
Yakuza 3 - Sega - PS3
Let's Tap - Sega - Wii

[Japan Game Awards 2008]

TGS Attendance Numbers Padded Nicely By Press

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:00:36 MDT

With the hearts and minds of Japanese gamers won over by Nintendo and its casual-skewing software, this years Tokyo Game Show saw those in the nation issuing a collective "meh." The press? They had to show up, helping to pad this year's attendance figures by an extra 30,000 for a combined total of 193,040 over four days. By comparison, last year's three day show pulled in an impressive 192,411 over just three days.

But who can blame attendees for a lack of interest in the 2007 flavor of TGS? The market leader didn't show up and many games were simply old news or Western focused. Despite the fact that a playable Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Online had a big presence, as did Devil May Cry 4, most attendees seemed to be taken by Wii and Nintendo DS titles—Biohazard: The Umbrella Chronicles, Final Fantasy IV, and the sequel to Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village.

Has Tokyo Game Show peaked? Unless CESA expands the thing to five days or somehow convinces Nintendo show up—or a massive shift in tastes occurs—the show may see even further declines next year.

CESA Announces 2007 Japan Game Awards Winners

Matt Buchanan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:06:14 MDT

The 2007 winners of the Japan Game Awards, sponsored by Japan's Computer Entertainment Software Association, have been announced, with Wii Sports and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd for the PSP picking up the Grand Award. Wii Sports brings it home for winning over "new demographic sectors, particularly women and seniors" while the Monster Hunter gets props for the other end of the spectrum as a "social phenomenon among junior high and high school students." Check out the full list after the jump—a handful of 360 titles even made the cut, picking up both Global Awards.

Grand Award Wii Sports, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP) Award for Excellence Wii Sports, Okami, Gundam Musou (PS3), Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS), New Super Mario Bros., Blue Dragon, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd, Ryu ga gotoku (PS2), Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS), Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Best Sales Award Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Global Award: Japanese Product Dead Rising Global Award: Foreign Product Gears of War Special Award The Idolm@ster, Love and Berry Dress Up and Dance! (DS)

[Japan Game Awards]

Japanese Interest In Wii Up, PS3 Down

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:22:57 MST

[Insert snide Xbox 360 remark here] The country's Computer Entertainment Software Association polled consumer interest in game machines. What did they find? Interest in the Wii shot up from 20.9 percent this time last year to 48.9 percent. The PS3 dropped from 64.4 percent interest down to 57 percent. And the Xbox 360, ahem, interest in it fell from 23 percent last year to 13.6 percent. (Odd considering how Blue Dragon is right around the corner.) What's more, interest in the DS doubled! Go figure. Brian Ashcraft

What Japanese Gamers Like [QJ.Net]