In case you missed 'em, I've gone ahead and put all the links for the New Generation World Hobby Fair posts below for hopefully easy readin'.

Kickin It With Kiddies
Storm the Palace
Old Friends
Nintendo is a Magnet
Dress Like Dragon Quest
Shadow Kills Innocent Bystander
Msoft Representin' (Sort Of)
Two Hour Mario Kart Wait Time
Sony's Booth, Slick & Spacious
Worst Job Ever
Sega Traps Girls and Old Dudes
No DSes Till Feb.
Drum Rolls
Konami Hands Out Poop on a Stick
Yoshi Is More Popular Than Mario
Done and Dusted [All Kotaku]

On my way out the door, I pass by the Taiko Drum Master booth, where Katamari's still waiting patiently to be picked. Hope they give her a shot. I climb and descend a series of stairs. I finally make my way out of the dome and toward the station. I take off my press pass and realize that I never got around to Capcom.

Next time, do you think she'll be dressed up as the Drum Master?, I ask myself. Nah, I mutter and go down a flight of stairs to the train station.

WHobby [Official Site]

The woman in front has snagged her son's DS. We're all waiting for the Mario Kart Grand Prix to start up. Players will be selected from the demo race winner. The first group is called to the stage.

"Select your character," says a booth companion.

That they do. Too bad they all pretty much selected the same character, because this looks like a boring race.

If I were a betting man, I'd say Yoshi's gonna win.

Pay up, Luke.

Mario gave the winner a Mario Kart hat.

The second race began, and I stuck around to see if I could track a trend or see which character was the most popular. And yup, everybody loves Yoshi.

Big surprise.

There was a third race, but I didn't stick around. Time to go home. And I had a feeling that you-know-who was going to take all again.

WHobby [Official Site]

Didn't even bother trying to figure the pink part out.

WHobby [Official Site]

The sound of drums drew me. That, and the guy wearing a Taiko Drum Master on his head and with a QWERTY keyboard around his neck. He's announcing the next rhythm game.

"Smily shimashouka!"

While I'm wondering why local gal Ai Otsuka didn't go ahead and add that missing "e" to her song, the Drum Master asks for volunteers from the audience. A green hand goes up, followed by pleas in nasally gyrau Japanese. Hello Katamari.

"Anyone else?" says the Drum Master.
"Me, me, me!"
"Anyone?"
Katamari's hopping up and down.
The Drum Master picks a little boy in the front row, and Katamari says something catty to herself.

The players launch into their rendition of Smily, and Katamari takes out a tambourine shaped as—surprise—Katamari. To my right, there's a cool guy in a suit, standing next to a girl in a purple down vest and cargo pants. Both have name cards with "EXHIBITOR" written on them. Namco folkin?

Katamari is wearing her giant head. It's so big that nobody can stand near here without peril of getting smacked in the face should she turn. Pulling her cart, she moves closer to the stage. Katamari is standing right in front of me. I move away.

The song finishes. Katamari puts away her tambourine. The Namco folkin are whispering in each others' ears as the Drum Master is looks for new contestants.

"Me! Me! ME!" Katamari starts hopping up and down again. And the Drum Master glosses right over her. Hey buddy, you're wearing a giant taiko on your head. He picks a handful of children, and they start pounding out Y.M.C.A. Fitting, somehow.

Katamari takes out her tambourine again and turns around. The front of her Katamari mask is completely covered. How does she see out? She's now holding a small Katamari hat, which she puts on some stranger's head. The man quickly takes off the hat, and his daughter screams in delight. I turn to see the Namco folkin standing close together.

There are no words to Y.M.C.A. of course, but my brain continues to supply a steady stream of lyrics. The pounding of the drum is starting to give me a headache. I don't know which is worse. The children on stage are focused, looking intently at the monitors. Nobody's looking at them, though.

A little girl is shoved in front of Katamari. She smiles and flashes the peace symbol. Katamari remains expressionless, and I think that this is probably what hell looks like. My temples throbbing, I make my escape. Namco folkin continue to whisper.

Old Friends [Kotaku]

Milling around the Nintendo booth, there are two types of staff jackets: one is orange, and the other is maroon. The booth girls are decked out in orange, so by default, I need to flag down somebody in maroon.

"Is the DS still sold out in Japan?" I ask.
"Let me check," says a woman in maroon.

She disappears into a small room in the middle of the booth. Behind that door, the guy in the Mario costume probably gets dressed. Probably even plays the Revolution during his breaks.

"Yes, it's still sold out," says the woman after emerging.
"When will the handheld go on sale again?"
"Not until next month," the woman says. "I'm very sorry." She bows.
It's okay. I've already got one.

As I walk around the Osaka Dome, I start to notice that even when people are waiting in line to play DS games such as Mario Kart, they are playing their own DSes. And it's not just children. It's their parents too, who are waiting too and playing their DSes, their own DSes. Playing the DS while waiting to play the DS—it's like out of a Dali painting. Utterly surreal.

WHobby [Official Site]

I swung by Sega's Love and Berry booth, hoping that Sonic had dragged Yuko "Yes My Real Voice Is This Nasally" Ogura along for some good ol' fashioned PR. Ogura was no where to be found. (Rats!) The booth was full of little girls pressing buttons, Love and Berry-branded goods they didn't need and middle-aged men very secure in their own sexuality selling stuff to them.

WHobby [Official Site]

Think you've got it bad? Not only does this poor guy hafta wear a sign strapped to his back...

...he's got to wear a sign strapped to his back for the crazy DS poop game Dangerous G-san. Talk about a crappy gig.

WHobby [Official Site]

I intended to post the complete Kitamura interview over the weekend, but got caught up at the New Generation World Hobby Fair. I've got tons more posts I plan on doing tomorrow, so make sure to check back. And, I'll work on getting the interview with Kitamura-san up as soon as possible. It's a longy.

Could Translate It As "Next" [Offical Site]

Compared to the Nintendo madhouse, things at the PSP-heavy Sony booth were a bit quieter. Maybe it's a Kansai thing. Anyway, Sony had a couple of big titles to promote, including the crowd-pleasing LocoRoco. As of late, the company's released a couple of strong PSP games that can compete with the DS. However, they're gonna hafta put out alot more should they plan on winning the portable war. Chin up, there's always that console war.

Whobby [Official Site]

Sign says that the wait time to play the Mario Kart demo is 120 minutes. The middle part explains that folks who come in first or second place get a chance to compete in the World Hobby Fair Grand Prix. Remember: this is for a game that is already out and has been so for a month. Somebody really ought to look into this, because it seems like Nintendo's putting heroin in their DS games.

WHobby [Official Site]

ME: "It's been really difficult for Microsoft here in Japan."
TOMY GUY: "It certainly has been."
ME: "Making a Zoids game was a really good idea."
TOMY GUY: "Thank you very much."
ME: "It looks like it's going to be really popular."
TOMY GUY: "Thank you very much."
ME: "It should really help the 360 here in Japan."
TOMY GUY: "I hope so."

WHobby [Official Site]

Ohmygod, no, Shadow, no, don't do it, Shadow. Shadow, no!

Team Sonic Was There [WHobby]

Screw Slime plush toys, I want Slime clothes!

Cooler than that dude in a red suit. That's cool.

Square Was There [Whobby Site]

Talk about superfluous. Does Nintendo really need a raffle to attract customers? In fact, I'm wishing they'd shelve the damn thing. The booth is about to burst.

"There's only one DS?" I ask, pointing to the prizes.
"Yes. Only one," a chipper booth girl says, offering me a Mario facemask.
"Can I have a Luigi?" I ask.
"Of course."

Ditch the goodies, the booth companions and even the downloads. The Dual Screen's so popular in Japan that all they'd have to do is put up a cardboard sign that said "DS" and people would gather. Keep those niffy Nintendo colored pencils, though. Gonna need something to write with.

Nintendo Was There [WHobby Site]

I'm not even in the show five minutes, when guess who I see?

Diehard Katamari Fan at Osaka Games Festa [Kotaku]

This must be the third staircase I've gone up. I'm disoriented and have lost count. Just as soon as I climb a set of stairs, head down some dark corridor and pass an elevator leading to Lord-knows-where, there are more stairs. Occasionally, the stairs lead outside or back inside. Sometimes they go up and sometimes down. But, there's always some guy in a blue coat directing traffic.

"Why's this so complicated?" I ask a blue coat.
"Don't know," he says.

I continue on, following behind a troop of mothers and children. We surface again and this time for good. A lone line snakes around the side of the Osaka Dome, leading to another line and then to what looks like the line for Space Mountain. "There's an hour wait," announced a blue coat.

We're all trying to get into the World Hobby Fair — actually, it's the Next Generation World Hobby Fair. Whatever they call it, the game show is kicking off here in Osaka. It's like the Tokyo Games Show, but for nine-year-olds. Reaching into my wallet, I take out a business card and show it to a blue coat.

"Do I have to wait in line?" I say, like some spoiled child. "I'm a journalist."
"I don't know."
"Can you find out?"

Geez, I'm a real prick. Another blue coat comes over and ushers me past the people waiting in line to another staircase. He tells me to go down this staircase, then walk about ten feet and go up another staircase.

"Are you serious?"

He bows herky-jerky and apologizes, as I descend the flight of stairs. I do just as he says: down, walk and up again. There are a couple of folding tables and several blue coats standing behind them.

"I'm a journalist."
"Have you registered?"
"No."

I hand him my business card, which he shows to another blue coat, who kinda shrugs. "Here's another one," I say, giving them my Wired business card as a backup for press creds. Another shrug.

For a "New Generation World Hobby Fair", we've suddenly gotten very provincial. I explain what Kotaku and even what Wired is, but everybody's looking at me sideways. Never heard of 'em.

"Do you want to interview anyone?"
"I wasn't planning on it. I was just going to walk around."
"Then you'll have to wait outside."
"I'm working," I say.
"Do you want to interview anyone?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Somebody at Capcom about Rockman."

There's a pause. He exhales slowly and gives me a sheet to fill out, which I do in passively aggressive messy handwritting. A press pass is placed in my hands.

"Convention center is that way," he says.

I head down the hallway, when another older man chases me down and asks if I know how to get to the convention hall.

"As long as there are no stairs, I'll be fine."
"Huh?"
"This way, right?"

"Yes," he says and bows. "Have a good show."

Thanks. I'll try.

Not Everyone Was Frosty [Whobby]

I'm heading south, burrowing through the city towards the Osaka down. The rest of the train is packed with children, GBAs and DSes. It's like a grade school field trip save for some lady with grocery bags screaming in Chinese.

Blondie takes out a piece of paper and unfolds it and refolds it. Her face is fresh, scrubbed clean of make-up, and she smells like soap. She's really got to do something about those shoes. They're hideous. The side of the sheet I can see reads:

Model's Name: KATR—
Meet Time: 10:00
Meet Place: Shinsaibashi (in Japanese)
Shoot Type: —

She stuffs the paper into her purse and takes out another. It's a map of the area around Shinsaibashi Station. There's the sound of the bag lady screaming again in Chinese, just as the train grinds to a halt, and the doors open. Blondie gets out.

The doors close, children play their handhelds and the bag lady doesn't utter a word. Next stop: New Generation World Hobby Fair.

How I Spent My Day [Official Site]