[WARNING: Lots of photos in this entry, may take some time to load.]
I went to the Tokyo Game Show 2008 today.
Although I don't mention it much in this blog, but I'm an avid gamer ever since I was a child. While film will always be my one and greatest love, video games and literature might tie for second. In fact, when I'm in Malaysia, during down periods (no film shoots), I actually spend more time playing the PS2 (I'm always in some RPG marathon, I've completed all the Final Fantasy games except the first 3) than reading a book.
For many years, I've been buying video game magazines like ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY (but stopped because it's faster to get gaming news online). And it's through gaming magazines that I know about those gaming expos like Tokyo Game Show or E3. Back then, like most hardcore video gamers, of course I dream about attending these events, but E3 was impossible because it was open only to the press.
Tokyo Game Show, on the other hand, is a different matter. During its first two days, it's open only for the press, but then it opens to the general public on Day 3 and 4. So when some of my dorm mates said they wanted to go today (it's the last day of the show), I immediately decided to tag along. How can I miss this opportunity?
When I say Babes of Tokyo Game Show, I don't really mean the booth babes, because I am not that shallow, and I won't splurge my blog entry with photos of yummilicious booth babes like this:
Because that's a very shallow thing to do. And I'm not that shallow. I'm a brooding filmmaker who just happened to, on this one special day, reconnect with his own inner child. The 'babes' in my blog title is actually referring to myself.
See how I smiled like retard when I saw the Mario Brothers? That's how giddily joyous I was! It had nothing to do with the gazillion amount of booth babes I took photos of. Did you seriously think I would do that? Line up like everyone else and take photos of booth babes?
Nuh-uh. Of course not.
Anyway, let me rewind to the beginning.
When I was on my way to the Tokyo Game Show, which was held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Tokyo.
The ticket costs 1200 yen.
When I entered the hall, the tall lady below was the first person I saw, so for courtesy's sake, I took a photo of her. No, I wasn't lining up with everyone else just to take a photo of her. That would've been sad!
First, I saw the Koei booth.
Then, the Taito booth, promoting Cooking Mama 2. Knowing that my little sister is a fan (because her head is shaped like Cooking Mama's), I snapped some photos.
When I saw the Square Enix booth, I giggled giddily like a girlish fangirl.
They were promoting the new Valkerie Profile and Star Ocean Story games. And then, there was a notice saying that they'll be giving a sneak preview of FINAL FANTASY 13 at 4pm!
Being a lifelong FINAL FANTASY fan (it all started with FF6, when I was 11 years old, yes, my love affair with the series actually lasted for thirteen years, and I've completed every single FINAL FANTASY game since FF6, yes, including FFX-2, damn it!) I was excited, but I knew I wouldn't hang around for that long (it was 11 something when I got there)
I hurried along.
Saw the GYAKUTEN KENJI booth. I snapped more photos because, you know, my sister's a big fan of the Ace Attorney series too.
And of course, horrors of horrors, a pretty Capcom booth babe came over to let me take a photo of her. Feh? As if I came to the booth merely to take a photo of her. But I was a gentleman, so I complied. Really!
When I moved from one hall to the next, I saw Ken.
And Chun Li.
No, once again, I didn't line up to take photos for her and asked her to pose for me like everyone else. She just did a few poses for me and I just politely snap photos of her, that's it.
I saw Zero from CODE GEASS too (I just finished the series, both part 1 and part 2 recently, really good stuff)
There's also Papas from DRAGON QUEST 5 (I'm not sure who the other guy was, I didn't play DQ5).
I didn't know whether the Link cosplayer was a guy or a girl. Didn't dare to ask. What do you all think?
Then there's Haruhi Suzumiya. Aain, I didn't line up and ask her to pose repeatedly for me. I thought the first photo wasn't that clear, so I took another one, it had nothing to do with me seeing that she's cute and I wanted her to strike another pose for me. Yup, turned out I was wrong and the first photo was clear. Better safe than sorry, right? After all the efforts she placed on posing for me, I wouldn't want to disappoint the poor lass, and it's really not because I was in this long queue with a group of other otaku photographers waiting to take photos of her.
I saw a chick whom at first I thought was playing PAINE from FFX-2, but looking at her closely, I realized she was playing ZACK from FF7.And I assumed the other chick was AERIS. I was wrong. My sister pointed out that the other one was MARLENE, Barrett's adopted kid.
A sicker person would've thought of asking them to, you know, kiss. Since the two ladies were playing lovers. But because I'm not THAT disgustingly sick, so that impure thought had NEVER crossed my mind.
Since she was Marlene, the above paragraph is irrelevant.
Ahem. There was a pretty good Cloud cosplayer, and then there's Zidane from the underrated FF9, cosplayed by a girl. FF9 main baddie Kuja, a dude who looked like a chick, was fittingly played by a chick too.
I don't know which Mecha this is.
As I entered the other hall. I was greeted by a Docomo booth babe.
Then I was give a fan by the Hudson booth girls.
I, ah, liked the fan they gave me, so I decided to take photos of the Hudson fans. The hall was suffocating, but the fan was a life-saver.
There was another Hudson showgirl:
But my attention was really on the booth, not the showgirl.
I saw the AU cats.
A singer songwriter, Mai Suida, was performing at the 絶対絶命都市 booth.
She has a wonderful voice, and her songs were for this game about earthquake. But my limited Japanese skills weren't enough for me to know more about it. I think 絶対絶命都市's by IREM, represented by the girl below.
I saw the Konami booth, which was promoting many games, like this new fighting game with CASTLEVANIA characters, METAL GEAR SOLID ONLINE, and SUIKODEN TIERKREIS for the DS.
I've loved Konami since as early as I can remember. The makers of Suikoden (I've completed Suikoden 1,2 and 3, yes, and found the 108 Stars too), Tokimeki Memorial, Castlevania, Winning Eleven and Metal Gear Solid. So I thought I'll give them more props by snapping more photos of the booth.
It's just unfortunate that the showgirls got in the way every time I was taking a photo.
I gave up and continued walking. Why can't they understand that I was hear for the video games and reconnect with my inner child, and not solely to take photos of beautiful women? Who do they think I am? Kenny Sia? I'm really a self-serious and sensitive filmmaker. I don't objectify women!
Yet my silent cry was in vain, as every time I took a photo, there was a beautiful booth babe standing in my way.
I mean, come on, of course that's the only logical explanation. Would I really go around and ask each of them whether I can take a photo of them? HAH! Never!
They may have been cute and tempting. But I am as swift as one who calls himself the Great Swifty, so I was like, you know, grumbling quietly when I unintentionally snapped a photo of a beautiful woman, and just moved on.
There was a performance going on at TECMO booth.
So I went and watch. I also wanted to try out one of the games, and not because it was attended by scantily-clad booth girls, but because I was interested in playing the game!
But I noticed a huge group of people gathered at the side of the booth, in front of this pink car.
I was curious and went to see what was going on. And turned out that the large crowd was trying to take photos of a showgirl. I went closer to take a look, not because I was lusty, but because I was inquisitive.
The girl was rather good-looking, I conceded. So I just absently snapped a photo or two of her.
Because I was, ah, testing out my camera. So I just happened to take a few more than expected.
I left for a while and came back a while later. The crowd was getting bigger than before. I seriously didn't get what the fuss was all about.
Then I noticed it was another girl. And I had also conveniently gotten stuck within the crowd, so I had no choice but just to take some photos of the Tecmo booth babe and humour her. After all, what else should I be doing? Take photos of the fat photographer on my left? Or the short balding old photographer on my right?
I went to the Tokyo Game Show 2008 today.
Although I don't mention it much in this blog, but I'm an avid gamer ever since I was a child. While film will always be my one and greatest love, video games and literature might tie for second. In fact, when I'm in Malaysia, during down periods (no film shoots), I actually spend more time playing the PS2 (I'm always in some RPG marathon, I've completed all the Final Fantasy games except the first 3) than reading a book.
For many years, I've been buying video game magazines like ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY (but stopped because it's faster to get gaming news online). And it's through gaming magazines that I know about those gaming expos like Tokyo Game Show or E3. Back then, like most hardcore video gamers, of course I dream about attending these events, but E3 was impossible because it was open only to the press.
Tokyo Game Show, on the other hand, is a different matter. During its first two days, it's open only for the press, but then it opens to the general public on Day 3 and 4. So when some of my dorm mates said they wanted to go today (it's the last day of the show), I immediately decided to tag along. How can I miss this opportunity?
When I say Babes of Tokyo Game Show, I don't really mean the booth babes, because I am not that shallow, and I won't splurge my blog entry with photos of yummilicious booth babes like this:
Because that's a very shallow thing to do. And I'm not that shallow. I'm a brooding filmmaker who just happened to, on this one special day, reconnect with his own inner child. The 'babes' in my blog title is actually referring to myself.
See how I smiled like retard when I saw the Mario Brothers? That's how giddily joyous I was! It had nothing to do with the gazillion amount of booth babes I took photos of. Did you seriously think I would do that? Line up like everyone else and take photos of booth babes?
Nuh-uh. Of course not.
Anyway, let me rewind to the beginning.
When I was on my way to the Tokyo Game Show, which was held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Tokyo.
The ticket costs 1200 yen.
When I entered the hall, the tall lady below was the first person I saw, so for courtesy's sake, I took a photo of her. No, I wasn't lining up with everyone else just to take a photo of her. That would've been sad!
First, I saw the Koei booth.
Then, the Taito booth, promoting Cooking Mama 2. Knowing that my little sister is a fan (because her head is shaped like Cooking Mama's), I snapped some photos.
When I saw the Square Enix booth, I giggled giddily like a girlish fangirl.
They were promoting the new Valkerie Profile and Star Ocean Story games. And then, there was a notice saying that they'll be giving a sneak preview of FINAL FANTASY 13 at 4pm!
Being a lifelong FINAL FANTASY fan (it all started with FF6, when I was 11 years old, yes, my love affair with the series actually lasted for thirteen years, and I've completed every single FINAL FANTASY game since FF6, yes, including FFX-2, damn it!) I was excited, but I knew I wouldn't hang around for that long (it was 11 something when I got there)
I hurried along.
Saw the GYAKUTEN KENJI booth. I snapped more photos because, you know, my sister's a big fan of the Ace Attorney series too.
And of course, horrors of horrors, a pretty Capcom booth babe came over to let me take a photo of her. Feh? As if I came to the booth merely to take a photo of her. But I was a gentleman, so I complied. Really!
When I moved from one hall to the next, I saw Ken.
And Chun Li.
No, once again, I didn't line up to take photos for her and asked her to pose for me like everyone else. She just did a few poses for me and I just politely snap photos of her, that's it.
I saw Zero from CODE GEASS too (I just finished the series, both part 1 and part 2 recently, really good stuff)
There's also Papas from DRAGON QUEST 5 (I'm not sure who the other guy was, I didn't play DQ5).
I didn't know whether the Link cosplayer was a guy or a girl. Didn't dare to ask. What do you all think?
Then there's Haruhi Suzumiya. Aain, I didn't line up and ask her to pose repeatedly for me. I thought the first photo wasn't that clear, so I took another one, it had nothing to do with me seeing that she's cute and I wanted her to strike another pose for me. Yup, turned out I was wrong and the first photo was clear. Better safe than sorry, right? After all the efforts she placed on posing for me, I wouldn't want to disappoint the poor lass, and it's really not because I was in this long queue with a group of other otaku photographers waiting to take photos of her.
I saw a chick whom at first I thought was playing PAINE from FFX-2, but looking at her closely, I realized she was playing ZACK from FF7.
Since she was Marlene, the above paragraph is irrelevant.
Ahem. There was a pretty good Cloud cosplayer, and then there's Zidane from the underrated FF9, cosplayed by a girl. FF9 main baddie Kuja, a dude who looked like a chick, was fittingly played by a chick too.
I don't know which Mecha this is.
As I entered the other hall. I was greeted by a Docomo booth babe.
Then I was give a fan by the Hudson booth girls.
I, ah, liked the fan they gave me, so I decided to take photos of the Hudson fans. The hall was suffocating, but the fan was a life-saver.
There was another Hudson showgirl:
But my attention was really on the booth, not the showgirl.
I saw the AU cats.
A singer songwriter, Mai Suida, was performing at the 絶対絶命都市 booth.
She has a wonderful voice, and her songs were for this game about earthquake. But my limited Japanese skills weren't enough for me to know more about it. I think 絶対絶命都市's by IREM, represented by the girl below.
I saw the Konami booth, which was promoting many games, like this new fighting game with CASTLEVANIA characters, METAL GEAR SOLID ONLINE, and SUIKODEN TIERKREIS for the DS.
I've loved Konami since as early as I can remember. The makers of Suikoden (I've completed Suikoden 1,2 and 3, yes, and found the 108 Stars too), Tokimeki Memorial, Castlevania, Winning Eleven and Metal Gear Solid. So I thought I'll give them more props by snapping more photos of the booth.
It's just unfortunate that the showgirls got in the way every time I was taking a photo.
I gave up and continued walking. Why can't they understand that I was hear for the video games and reconnect with my inner child, and not solely to take photos of beautiful women? Who do they think I am? Kenny Sia? I'm really a self-serious and sensitive filmmaker. I don't objectify women!
Yet my silent cry was in vain, as every time I took a photo, there was a beautiful booth babe standing in my way.
I mean, come on, of course that's the only logical explanation. Would I really go around and ask each of them whether I can take a photo of them? HAH! Never!
They may have been cute and tempting. But I am as swift as one who calls himself the Great Swifty, so I was like, you know, grumbling quietly when I unintentionally snapped a photo of a beautiful woman, and just moved on.
There was a performance going on at TECMO booth.
So I went and watch. I also wanted to try out one of the games, and not because it was attended by scantily-clad booth girls, but because I was interested in playing the game!
But I noticed a huge group of people gathered at the side of the booth, in front of this pink car.
I was curious and went to see what was going on. And turned out that the large crowd was trying to take photos of a showgirl. I went closer to take a look, not because I was lusty, but because I was inquisitive.
The girl was rather good-looking, I conceded. So I just absently snapped a photo or two of her.
Because I was, ah, testing out my camera. So I just happened to take a few more than expected.
I left for a while and came back a while later. The crowd was getting bigger than before. I seriously didn't get what the fuss was all about.
Then I noticed it was another girl. And I had also conveniently gotten stuck within the crowd, so I had no choice but just to take some photos of the Tecmo booth babe and humour her. After all, what else should I be doing? Take photos of the fat photographer on my left? Or the short balding old photographer on my right?
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