Kotaku: lets tgs

Famitsu: The Best TGS 2008 Booth Babes Were...

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST

The Tokyo Game Show is long over. It ended last month, which in internet time is a decade ago. The latest issue of Famitsu has fascinating TGS 2008 data for us to look at and mull over. The publication surveyed 1,000 visitors, 79 percent of TGS attendees were male, 21 percent female. Here's the data:

• 78 percent own a DS, 69 percent a PSP, 32 percent a PS3, 43 percent a Wii and 24 percent an Xbox 360.
• 26.8 percent primarily use the DS, and 4.3 percent primarily use the Wii.
• 31 percent plan to buy the PS3 in the future — the most popular answer.
• Nearly half use their systems to play online.

The magazine also has a list of the most popular booth companions, along with quotes from those surveyed attendees:

5). SNK Playmore ("It's not fair how they have Mai Shiranui cosplayers there every year," one attendee said.)
4). Koei
3). Tecmo ("I went back to the booth several times without thinking about it, just to see more of the girls," said one attendee.)
1). Capcom
1). Microsoft ("[Microsoft's] outfits didn't seem to reveal much at first, but look again, and..." said one attendee.)

TGS: The Attendees' Take [1up via Go Nintendo]

Booth Showcase: SNK Is The King Of Fighters, Boobs

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:00:00 MDT

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.

Booth Showcase: Level 5's Grand Designs

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:00:00 MDT

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.

Booth Showcase: Konami's Solid Sense Of Longing

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:00:00 MDT

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).

Booth Showcase: Yes, Sega Were At TGS

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:00:00 MDT

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.

Booth Showcase: Capcom's Money Printing Apparatus

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:00:00 MDT

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.

Chun Li Crotchplay: Violation Of Cosplay Rule #117

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:30:00 MDT

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.

Chun Li was having her leg hoisted (willingly, mind you), seemingly so she was in an authentic "kick" pose, but really so these two could get a better shot. Of. You know. Was odd enough as is, but what kicked things up a notch was when the poor girl's hips started getting sore. She was in pain, and had to shake it off. Do a few squats, stretch it out. But after a quick flex and a gritting of her teeth?

She was right back into it. Come on, girl: cosplay rules explicitly state you gotta keep things a little classier.

Which writer “turned green” playing Mirror’s Edge at E3?

Booth Showcase: Microsoft's Big Push

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:40:00 MDT

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.

Booth Showcase: Sony's Great White Hype

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:30:00 MDT

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.

Tokyo Game Show: The Teardown

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MDT

As the clock struck 5pm on Sunday evening, the 2008 Tokyo Game Show drew to a close. But as the public streamed out of the place, booth companions kicked off their heels and PR types breathed a long, deep sigh of relief, the worker bees got to work. Why? Because a trade show never ends. Someone has to end it. Click below if you want to see how it's done.

Booth Companion Showcase: Konami Keep Things Understated

Luke Plunkett — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:30:00 MDT

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.

This Is What Those Guys Were Watching

Luke Plunkett — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:20:00 MDT

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?

Nope. It was none of them. Believe it or not, the video presentation that was showing at the time was for Rare's Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Really. And every other time I saw it shown, people stopped, turned, and watched, where for most other titles (Star Ocean 4's STUNNING cinematics aside) they'd just keep on walking.

Guess it's not being marketed that heavily here, and looks, I don't know, different. Unique to Japanese eyes, maybe. Who knows! If you guessed wrong, chin up. There are more important things in life. If you guessed right, remember, internet bragging rights are yours for a day.

Microsoft Remind Japan What 360 Games Look Like, Part II

Luke Plunkett — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:30:00 MDT

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?

Brown Man Bedtime Story

Luke Plunkett — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:00:26 MDT

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.

Meet Capcom's Crowd Ranchers

Luke Plunkett — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:00:00 MDT

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

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:30:00 MDT

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.

What The Hell Are These Guys Watching?

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:00:00 MDT

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.

Answer later in the weekend!

The Official Street Fighter IV Pins of TGS

Brian Crecente — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:30:00 MDT

After playing a round of Street Fighter IV in the Capcom booth at TGS08 the booth companions hand you a little packet of Street Fighter IV pins. I tried figuring out what the full set consisted of, but the time spent at the booth rooting through their freebie basket only netted me more eye time with the same two sets of pins.

Close-ups of the five on the jump

Square Enix, Capcom Booths Are A Teeming Mass Of Humanity

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:00:00 MDT

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.

These signs are all over Capcom's booths. From left to right, it's Monster Hunter 3, Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5. All three say, basically, they're not letting any more people in. No more. There are too many. Only one other place on the whole showroom has a sign like that.

And, yes, it's Square Enix. That sign for the Square Enix Mega Theater - which was showing new FFXIII and FFXIII vs trailers - went up before 10:00. And the show wasn't even supposed to open until 10:00. That's how quick the tickets ran out.

All of which basically means that nearly every single person at TGS is trying to cram themselves into those two company's booths.

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

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:30:00 MDT

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.