Booth Showcase: SNK Is The King Of Fighters, Boobs

We close out our TGS booth tours with SNK’s. Thanks for stickin' around. It was both larger and more impressive than last year’s mild effort, thanks in most part to the presence of an row of eight playable King of Fighters XII arcade cabinets. Oh, and two 60” LCD’s showcasing that action, helping make it easily the most visually impressive game of the show. The rest of the stuff in their booth (ie anything not King of Fighters) was standard SNK fare: boobs, more boobs and mouse pads with boobs on them. More »

Booth Showcase: Level 5's Grand Designs

Level 5 are on the up. And nowhere was this more evidenced by their increased TGS presence, the company hosting an impressively large booth that housed demo pods, game art, the ROID game portal and a mega theatre that rivalled Square Enix’s in size, if not in stature. More »

Booth Showcase: Konami's Solid Sense Of Longing

Oh, Konami. What a difference a year makes. Last year, they were the star of the show, Metal Gear Solid 4 winning over both critics and public alike. This year? They…well, let’s just say they probably wish they could re-release Metal Gear Solid 4 all over again, as without it, their lack of depth in other areas really showed. Pro Evo 2009 was great, as we’ve already discussed, but after that there was little else to see but the sad (still peddling MGS4 and Metal Gear Online? Really?) and the God-awful (Castlevania Judgement is a farce of a title). More »

Booth Showcase: Yes, Sega Were At TGS

For a publisher of their size and stature, Sega’s Tokyo Game Show booth was a little on the disappointing side. Nothing on hand was really wowing the crowd – not even the promise of a new Sonic game (Unleashed) – and were it not for the mild excitement accompanying Yakuza 3 the booth would have been one of the emptiest of the major publishers. More »

Booth Showcase: Capcom's Money Printing Apparatus

By far the two biggest draws of TGS were the Square Enix and Capcom booths. But you know what, Square Enix doesn't count. Everyone was there for trailers. Capcom's booth, meanwhile, was chock-full of playable demos, from Resident Evil 5 to Street Fighter IV to probably the most popular demo on the showroom floor, Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii. Click below for a tour. More »

Chun Li Crotchplay: Violation Of Cosplay Rule #117

The Tokyo Game Show is many things, and classy is generally one of them. The show's a safe, friendly, clean place to hang out for a few days. But sometimes - just sometimes - somebody has to take things one step too far. Example: this unfortunate incident, spotted on Sunday afternoon. More »

Booth Showcase: Microsoft's Big Push

As you'd expect from a company that's starting to pick up a little steam in Japan, Microsoft went all-out with its booth at this year'sTGS. The booth looked bigger, they had a lot more demo units on-hand (seemed like half of them were for Star Ocean), and no other company had so liberally employed the use of booth companions. Click below for a tour of the place. More »

Booth Showcase: Sony's Great White Hype

There were lots of booths at this year's Tokyo Game Show, but only a few of them were worth spending any great amount of time around. One of those was Sony's, which seemed a little smaller than last years - most likely because, as with most other publishers, there aren't as many AAA games around compared to last year - but was still a pretty impressive setup. Click below for a tour. More »

Booth Companion Showcase: Konami Keep Things Understated

Those Tecmo girls? Sure, they were easy on the eye, but flashing skin is so cheap. And cheap is something Konami are just not interested in. At least when it comes to booth companions. Instead, the company that wishes they could release Metal Gear Solid 4 every year kept things a little classier, opting for this classic number that sits somewhere between naughty nurse and 50's flight attendant. More »

This Is What Those Guys Were Watching

We're done counting the tens of thousands of votes you people cast in our "What The Hell Are These Guys Watching?" poll, and the results are in! So just what was it that had the Japanese crowd enthralled/confused? Was it Microsoft's star show-stopper, Star Ocean 4? Or perhaps the other Square Enix attention-grabber, Last Remnant? Or maybe, just maybe, it was the other other Square Enix 360 exclusive, Infinite Undiscovery? More »

Microsoft Remind Japan What 360 Games Look Like, Part II

One of the better booths at last year's TGS was Microsoft's. Mostly because they had a neat wall, which was displaying the game disc and cover art for every 360 game ever released in Japan. This year, they didn't exactly go one better (it's the same schtick), but they did make sure the game boxes weren't left out. Above, and below, you'll see Microsoft Japan's 360 timeline, charting every release of every game chronologically. They even cheat and show XBLA games. Somewhat interesting, no? More »

Brown Man Bedtime Story

The setting: Enterbrain's (publisher of Famitsu) TGS booth. The man? Brown Man. Otherwise known as Toshihiro Nagoshi. The event: no idea, can't speak Japanese, but from the relaxed vibe and the crossed legs we're pretty sure he's reading everyone a bedtime story. Something about Yakuza, monkey's balls, tanning salons and rip-off track pants. Oh, and ice cream. More »

Meet Capcom's Crowd Ranchers

As we showed you yesterday, Capcom's booth at TGS has been going bananas. So much so that they've got booth boys running a unique form of crowd control. In case you can't make it out, the kid's holding a long, thick rope. And there are 15 more kids like him. They're crowd ranchers. As I took this, I could swear I heard a "YAH!", and the crack of a whip, as 1000 wide-eyed Japanese teenagers were herded - by the shuffling rope boys - into a pen and forced to watch Monster Hunter 3 trailers over and over and over.

Street Fighter IV Booth Punches The Competition In The Face

Man, Capcom are pulling out all the stops with their booths this year. We've already shown you the Gyakuten Kenji setup, but equally amazing is the company's Street Fighter IV booth, which is a replica of Chun-Li's stage. It's even got a chicken. Great stuff. More »

What The Hell Are These Guys Watching?

Look at these guys! There's a ton of them! And they're hooked! And, strangest of all, this is at the Microsoft booth! So, question time: just what are these guys watching? Here's a clue: it's a video presentation of a major upcoming title. One that's playable on the showroom floor. So, think you can guess what it is? No prizes for the winner, only the promise of internet bragging rights. More »

Square Enix, Capcom Booths Are A Teeming Mass Of Humanity

There's no question about what's most popular amongst the locals here at TGS. It's not even close. Seems every single person is here for one of two things. Or, hell, probably both. They're here for the Square Enix, and they're here for Capcom. More »

Lets TGS! Oh, Mai, Mai, Mai, Mai, Mai

SNK Playmore knows how to draw a crowd at Tokyo Game Show — just line up five girls in Mai Shiranui cosplay get ups and let the booth babe hungry masses snap dozens and dozens of photos of their perfectly smooth knees. Then, hope that at least one of them will be interested in playing King of Fighters 2002 or Slot Panic on a cell phone.

Ace Attorney Booth Is Guilty of Being, Well, Amazing

Behold: the Gyakuten Kenji booth, encased within Capcom's monstrous Tokyo Game Show setup. Isn't it just great? While most booths here settle for murals or the odd statue/attractive lady in costume to set the mood, Gyakuten Kenji's is a fully decked-out courthouse. Fancy chairs, bookshelf, the works. If that doesn't get you in the mood for some courtroom drama, you really are a husk of a man/woman. More »