Mr. DeHartchuck Goes To Tokyo: Game Over? Not Quite

Wait, what's this? More than one entry in one week? That's right, true believers. In order to make up for information lost, I am going to cram as much information onto this blog in as little time as possible. My next entry is about the Tokyo Game Show.

This has been something I have been looking forward to ever since I started planning my study aboard trip. Tokyo Game Show is an exhibition of all the latest video games to be released within the next few years. Sony, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Konami, and Microsoft are gaming companies and they had huge displays at the show. It is open to the public for two days, where people wait in lines for hours to play some of the hottest games out there. But first, the journey itself...

It began the week, in which I had a five day weekend. My friends and I were getting excited about attending Tokyo Game Show. We knew what train to take, how to get there, how long it would take, how much it would cost, and what time we needed to be up. The show opened to the public on Saturday and a group of us left the dormitory at 7 a.m. to beat the traffic. We honestly thought that the earlier we got up, the less people we would have to deal with. Oh how we were so wrong.

We arrived at the show with a sea of people ahead of us at around 9 a.m., one hour before the doors officially opened.

My friends and I were looking forward to playing the big games, namely Square Enix titles like Final Fantasy XIII and the new Kingdom Hearts game. Sadly, we entered the show at 10 a.m. and tickets were sold out to play these hot games. Wait, tickets? Yes, you had to reserve a ticket once you arrived to play the big games and fans were outside, waiting for hours to play. My hopes were shattered in just a few moments of entering the event.

Hurdles would immediately present themselves after this. No pictures and videos were to be taken inside the booths. I saw Japanese booth representatives wave down anyone, who had a camera on them and were not with the press. The show itself was only open seven hours each day, for two days. Unlike Disney World, which is open for hours, the window of opportunity to play games is very limited. The show was packed with attendants, meaning lines were long and it was hard to move, no less breathe. It was claustrophobic and quite annoying. So the first day was kind of a drag.

For a video game enthusiasts, was it still fun? I would definitely say yes. I got to play games that were not going to be out for months, years, or never in the U.S. The first game was with a friend at the Microsoft Booth called Left for Dead 2. It is a cooperative game with four other players, fighting off screaming, running, climbing, special zombies. Zombie clowns are not cool, by the way. I waited in line for two hours and the time with the game was quite memorable. Unlike roller coasters, where lines are two hours long and a ride is only a few seconds long, my demo with L4D2 was over half an hour; to me that is time well spent. As my friend and I were playing, it was completely in Japanese and the booth babes behind us (I'll get to those much later....) were actually cheering us on. They tried to explain the controls in Japanese and we just nodded our heads. As we played and defeated zombies, the girls were cheering, "Hurray! Bonzai!" It was so great and funny that I named Microsoft one of the best booths at the show for myself.

On the first day, I played L4D2, Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain was my favorite game of the day. In it, you could take on one of two demoed protagonists. The booth babe pressed a button and I had to play an old cop. What made this game so interesting was that it was an adventure game, where each decision made led to an entirely different situation. My friend and I played the same demo and character and told two completely different stories. In my game, I walk into a convenient store, asking for information about a killer. A burglar comes in and holds me at gun point. I talk to him about his family and girlfriend and how the police would be after him, should anything happen to me. As the burglar thought about this, I tackled him and beat him to the ground. My friend just convinced him to leave and he did. It was visually amazing and a wonderful game and I planned on playing the second half of the demo the next day. I even watched a PS3 game in 3D. It came with 3-D glasses, but the television itself was made for 3-D. I was watching something will not be really mainstream in the U.S. for another few years. It was another cool thing I saw that day.

As the day ended at 5 p.m. I knew I had to come back and play a big game. So my friends planned once again.

On Sunday, we decided that in order to beat the crowds, we had to be there earlier than anyone else. We left the dormitory this time at 4 a.m. and made the first trains. No one was on practically except us. When we arrived at the show, there were still people ahead of us? Would we get a ticket to play FFXIII or KH? As the line began to move, my heart raced, I saw people moving for the tickets, and I dove for them.

I got one of the last tickets for Final Fantasy XIII.

You had to be there at a certain time in order to play the game. My time was for 2:40 and a friend of mine would be playing at the same time. Here is the ticket:

I literally felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory when I entered the Sqauare Enix booth to play Final Fantasy XIII. What you have to understand about Square Enix games in Japan is that they are a national phenomnan. When a new game comes out from their studios, it will be televised and people will skip school or work to play it. I was playing a near finished build of the game, one that has been in production for over five years. I got to play about twenty minutes worth of the game, which was fast, beautiful, and pretty cool. The staff invited us to watch some closed off trailers for other products that were not shown on the actual floor. Getting up early was so worth it for this.

That day, I played a lot of great games. I played Bayonetta, God of War III, Ratchet and Clank again, Okimaden, and the other Heavy Rain demo. All of these games had so many great moments and I'll list some right now:

Bayonetta: Being filmed at the Microsoft Booth, gaining a Gold score, the first level is a building you fight on, while falling, with choral music blasting in your ears, summoning a giant demon to take down a huge foe.

Ratchet and Clank: Beating the demo to one of my favorite series of all time.

God of War III: The amazing visuals, fighting a chimera, all the details, and the last battle (look it up).

Okamiden: A sequel to one of my favorite games, the booth itself (check it out!), and the cute gameplay.

Booth action: I saw Hideo Kojima, mastermind behind the Metal Gear Solid games, Konami booth babes (ladies that stand outside booths, help visitors, and act as demo guides), amazing set pieces, a huge Gundam head, the Canada booth (because, you know, they are huge in the gaming world now).

I was able to play another level of Heavy Rain, and like before, my friends and I all had different experiences. The character I played was a detective looking for a missing person. He comes across a junk yard with a suspicious looking man, who will not talk to you. After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering around, the booth babe signaled for me to press a button so I could find clues. Clues lit up all over the screen and I found most of them. As I was about to leave, the other man attacked me and I fought him to the ground. Suffice to say, I wind up in car, handcuffed, and about to be dropped into a car crusher. This was one of my first moments of gaming where I experienced fear. I got out of the car and fought the man once more. We talked about the game again, how we had different tales to tell, and how all of us were blown away by the presentation of the game. This game is on my radar for when it comes out.

At the end of the day, we waved good-bye to Tokyo Game Show and had dinner at a Tony Romas. It was great to have some American food again, as I had classic barbecue ribs. As we talked about the games we played, we watched a real taping of Ninja Warrior. For those of you who don't know, Ninja Warrior is a show, known as Sasuke in Japan, where people perform through obstacle courses to be the best ninja in Japan. What made this viewing different was that, instead of half-hour segments, the entire show was six hours long, with all the contestants and the last stages shown. As we cheered on our favorite players, so did the other customers in the restaurant and it was an interesting cultural experience.

Tokyo Game Show was a blast and quite an interesting experience in Japan. I hope in the future, I can return to this exhibition and escape the long lines for games. That is all for now and I'll have another entry up sooner than you think. By the way, those pictures and videos you could not take on the floor... I did. Enjoy.