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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Babes of Tokyo Game Show 2008

[WARNING: Lots of photos in this entry, may take some time to load.]

I went to the Tokyo Game Show 2008 today.

Me and two elf girls at the Tokyo Game Show 2008


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:

I don't know which booth she's from

Ambi (?) booth babe

cute cowgirl, not sure which booth


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.

Me wearing the Vuzix Video Eyewear

Me and the Mario brothers


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?

CDNetwork booth babe

3 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.

On the way to Tokyo Game Show 2008

Tokyo Game Show 2008 sign

Large statue outside Makuhari Messe


The ticket costs 1200 yen.

Tokyo Game Show 2008 Ticket Booth

Tokyo Game Show 2008 ticket


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 booth babe I saw at Tokyo Game Show 2008


First, I saw the Koei booth.


The Koei booth

The crowd in Tokyo Game Show 2008


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.

Cooking Mama 2 booth

Cooking Mama 2 booth 2


When I saw the Square Enix booth, I giggled giddily like a girlish fangirl.

Square Enix booth

Dragon Quest Slime and chocobo


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.

Gyakuten Kenji booth

People playing Gyakuten Kenji

People playing Gyakuten Kenji 2


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!

Capcom booth babe


When I moved from one hall to the next, I saw Ken.

Ken from Street Fighter 2


And Chun Li.

Chun Li

Chun Li 2


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)

Zero from Code Geass


There's also Papas from DRAGON QUEST 5 (I'm not sure who the other guy was, I didn't play DQ5).

Papas from Dragon Quest 5

Dunno who he is


I didn't know whether the Link cosplayer was a guy or a girl. Didn't dare to ask. What do you all think?

Link


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.

Haruhi Suzumiya

Haruhi Suzumiya 2


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.

Female Zack and Aeris


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.

Cloud (FF7), Zidane (FF9) and Kuga (FF9)


I don't know which Mecha this is.

What Mecha is this? Mazinger?


As I entered the other hall. I was greeted by a Docomo booth babe.

Docomo Booth babe


Then I was give a fan by the Hudson booth girls.

Hudson booth babe


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.

two Hudson booth babes


There was another Hudson showgirl:

Hudson booth babe 2


But my attention was really on the booth, not the showgirl.

Hudson booth 2

Hudson booth


I saw the AU cats.

AU cats


A singer songwriter, Mai Suida, was performing at the 絶対絶命都市 booth.

Mai Suida

Mai Suida performing


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.

IREM booth babe


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.

Suikoden Tierkreis booth


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.


Konami booth babe

Konami booth babe 2

Konami booth babe 3


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!

Level 5 booth babe

Two Level 5 booth babes

Nihon Kogakuin College booth maid


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.

Performance at Tecmo


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!

Tecmo booth babe giving instructions


But I noticed a huge group of people gathered at the side of the booth, in front of this pink car.

People crowding around Tecmo booth babe


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.

Tecmo booth babe A

Tecmo booth babe A 2

Tecmo booth babe A 3

Tecmo booth babe A 4

Two Tecmo booth babes

Two Tecmo booth babes 2


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.

Tecmo booth babe B drives the crowd nuts


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?

Tecmo booth babe B

Tecmo booth babe B 2

Tecmo booth babe B 3