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[supernova8]

So as the title says, I attended Tokyo Game Show 2022 this past weekend and honestly I thought it was shit. Qualifier is that this is the only major gaming expo I've ever been to so I have nothing to compare it against per se, but I would imagine TGS was better around a decade ago and E3 was likely waaaay better.

Some thoughts:

The fucking lines were atrocious

I attended on the last day so I pretty much could only do whatever I could do. By the time I arrived (I was a little late getting there):
1) Capcom had already stopped accepting people to play Resident Evil Village VR. We couldn't even take photos or film (there were annoying members of staff running around with "no photography" signs getting in people's faces and harassing anyone who did manage to pop off a shot.
2) Square Enix had already stopped allowing people to line up for Forspoken and their other stuff.
3) The queue for Alone in the Dark kept jumping between being 45 minutes and it being sort of "suspended" (presumably to stop the line getting too long).
4) For the games that were accepting people to try them, there were gigantic lines even for stuff I've never heard of. Fucking Tower of Fantasy, 2 hours! There were some mobile games that you had to line up over 90 minutes.

In the end I didn't get to play any "proper" games beyond various titles from unknown developers, which I can only describe as "Yeah I know it's indie but this is still shit, sorry".

I guess some people are more willing to stand in line than others but it was hot in the expo center. A lot of places were handing out hand fans (uchiwa) with whatever branding they were advertising, which helped, but standing line for more than 5 minutes would have been a killer. Maybe it's just not for me. It's why I cannot stand going to places like Universal Studios because it feels like I'm paying for the privilege to stand in line all fucking day.

There were so many mobile games on show

I get it that mobile games are popular now (especially in Japan) but fuuuuck me it felt like half of the entire TGS show floor was just mobile games. There were various stage events with "celebrities" (Japan has this thing where there is an army of "talents", people who are famous but it's hard to tell why) talking about stuff and playing mobile games. Also a lot of (apparently) popular Japanese twitch streamers playing games on stage (again mostly mobile games).

On top of that there were zero next-gen looking games, which compounded the feeling of "this is just fucking mobile shit", but I already expected as much since no next-gen looking games have been announced for a while, and this event was extremely Japan-centric anyway (and we all know Japanese developers are not exactly known for their groundbreaking visuals except for the occasional Squeenix title that makes an effort).

Limiting the flow of people between sections of the exhibition center was extremely annoying

The event was basically split into three "zones" with a semi-outdoor walkway between them. At times the security/event management staff would block off access to stop certain sections from getting too crowded. I understand it was for safety purposes but the weather was shit and we ended up getting stuck semi-outdoors getting rained on a few times.

The booth babes were the only saving grace

So I remember seeing a post a while back saying how there are no booth babes anymore because of political correctness etc etc but I'm happy to say in Japan they are alive and well. I unfortunately don't have any photos (I'm not the sort to take photos, I just remember stuff the good ol fashioned way).

Inb4

I would say most of the booth games were 8/10 or higher (we're not talking average Asian girls who would seem hot to someone who has yellow fever, we're talking objectively gorgeous, at least from their masked faces and slender, toned bodies). It was actually interesting how 90% of the booth babes were stunning and then there was one company that had an army of totally mediocre (slightly podgy) booth "babes".

One other thing I found interesting was how in the West, I imagine guys would say hi to the booth babes and talk a photo with him whereas in Japan there is like this horde of sweaty fat Japanese dudes with professional grade cameras with proper tripods (and in some cases, portable studio lights) who were far more interested in taking photos of them than with them.

I suppose the booth babes didn't care either way since they appeared to be more than happy to strike various poses for the aforementioned horde of sweaty dudes (literally your stereotypical Japanese dude with a gigantic rucksack, glasses, wearing a checkered shirt and with a towel around his neck, if you google "Japanese nerd" it's pretty much that).

In conclusion

So the ticket I got was an all-day ticket and it was about 15 USD (ish).

Like I mentioned at the top, this is my first (possibly last...?) "big" game convention so I didn't really know what to expect. It felt like one massive commercial, which I guess is exactly what it is. There was some free swag but most of it was like "scan this QR, follow our twitter account and hashtag bla bla bla this" which I just have no interest in doing whatsoever, so I got relatively little "free swag". I did buy some merch. I was thinking of getting a Ludens figurine from the Kojima Production merchandise booth but then I found out a small figurine (like less than 6 inches tall) was about $150. Fuck that, not that interested. I might've bitten for about $50.

Over to you guys

Anyone else attend TGS this year? Or any other game events this year or previous years? Particularly interested to hear opinions from folks who have attended past Tokyo Game Show events because I have no frame of reference. I just feel like this one was shit in and of itself. Party pooper, I know.

 

[ManaByte]

E3 was likely waaaay better.

E3 was always shit. People fantasize what it was like due to its previous exclusivity, but the reality was that it was just another trade show where the big publishers would take the retail buyers up into rooms in their booth and suck them off to ensure their games would have plenty of shelf space for the upcoming holiday season.

Were there games to play there? Sure, if you didn’t mind spending the entire day in line just to try one of the biggest games. Forget about playing more than one thing on Nintendo’s booth. And in later years the biggest non-Nintendo games weren’t even playable on the floor - they just had scripted demos in a controlled theater.

The only good thing about E3 was networking and seeing friends you might only get to see once a year at the show. But the connected world we live in today even makes that less of a reason to put up with E3.

 

[ranmafan]

The TGS of today really is no comparison to the shows of the past thats for sure. I went to TGS 2001 for instance and that show was amazing. Back then it really felt special. I got to see Hideo Kojima, Yu Suzuki, Yuji Naka, the cast of Sakura Taisen and more. Got to try out he xbox before launch. Amazing booths and games from sega and so many other companies. Great free merchandise. Awesome cosplays. Just a fantastic show all around. But now a days, it's lost all the specialness with it. I've thought about going again for a while now but have passed on it cause it's just not the same anymore. Shame too, cause it was an awesome experience at one time.

 

[Jonnie_Darko]

This is bait right? It should be.

 

[supernova8]

E3 was always shit. People fantasize what it was like due to its previous exclusivity, but the reality was that it was just another trade show where the big publishers would take the retail buyers up into rooms in their booth and suck them off to ensure their games would have plenty of shelf space for the upcoming holiday season.

Were there games to play there? Sure, if you didn’t mind spending the entire day in line just to try one of the biggest games. Forget about playing more than one thing on Nintendo’s booth. And in later years the biggest non-Nintendo games weren’t even playable on the floor - they just had scripted demos in a controlled theater.

The only good thing about E3 was networking and seeing friends you might only get to see once a year at the show. But the connected world we live in today even makes that less of a reason to put up with E3.

Yeah I think I underestimated how bad the lining up would be.

 

[supernova8]

This is bait right? It should be.

Bait for what?

The TGS of today really is no comparison to the shows of the past thats for sure. I went to TGS 2001 for instance and that show was amazing. Back then it really felt special. I got to see Hideo Kojima, Yu Suzuki, Yuji Naka, the cast of Sakura Taisen and more. Got to try out he xbox before launch. Amazing booths and games from sega and so many other companies. Great free merchandise. Awesome cosplays. Just a fantastic show all around. But now a days, it's lost all the specialness with it. I've thought about going again for a while now but have passed on it cause it's just not the same anymore. Shame too, cause it was an awesome experience at one time.

Oh wow that would've been cool.

Yeah there was nothing like that this year. There was an AEW wrestling event on the THQ Nordic booth, however, like a proper wrestling ring with announcers and a massive screen. That was pretty good but I'm not really a pro wrestling fan so I could only muster a "cool".

I suppose the other positive was that I finally got the chance to play on a PS5 (and thus use a PS5 controller). That said, I really didn't like the controller. I can now say categorically I think the Xbox controller is way better.

 

[ManaByte]

Yeah I think I underestimated how bad the lining up would be.

E3 was worse BEFORE it was open to the public.

 

[supernova8]

E3 was worse BEFORE it was open to the public.

Whaaaat? Sorry you'll have to explain.

 

[ManaByte]

Whaaaat? Sorry you'll have to explain.

I did above. Even before it was open to the public you could spend the majority of one day at E3 in line at Nintendo’s booth.

 

[ranmafan]

Oh wow that would've been cool.

Yeah there was nothing like that this year. There was an AEW wrestling event on the THQ Nordic booth, however, like a proper wrestling ring with announcers and a massive screen. That was pretty good but I'm not really a pro wrestling fan so I could only muster a "cool".

I suppose the other positive was that I finally got the chance to play on a PS5 (and thus use a PS5 controller). That said, I really didn't like the controller. I can now say categorically I think the Xbox controller is way better.

Yeah the whole show back then was something else. Lots of talk shows with game creators. Really big games to get excited for. I remember the year I went Metal Gear Solid 2's booth was already full for the day within a few minutes. And here was so much variety of games to try. And even there were cell phone games and all, it wasn't a real part of the show at all. It was worth going to, even with the long lines and all.

 

[TLZ]

I get it that mobile games are popular now (especially in Japan) but fuuuuck me it felt like half of the entire TGS show floor was just mobile games.

On top of that there were zero next-gen looking games, which compounded the feeling of "this is just fucking mobile shit", but I already expected as much since no next-gen looking games have been announced for a while, and this event was extremely Japan-centric anyway (and we all know Japanese developers are not exactly known for their groundbreaking visuals except for the occasional Squeenix title that makes an effort).

This is why the Switch took over.

 

[supernova8]

I did above. Even before it was open to the public you could spend the majority of one day at E3 in line at Nintendo’s booth.

Oh sorry I thought you meant it was "even worse" at E3 pre-public compared to E3 post-public but now I see what you mean. Crossed wires on my end.

 

[AndrewRyan]

Did you see the Valve booth? What was it like?

 

[lachesis]

I heard Sega booth with Yakuza Ishin girls were the bomb.

 

[supernova8]

Did you see the Valve booth? What was it like?

There was a big area for the Steam Deck. I didn't get a chance to play because there was a large-ish line (I think I had line choice paralysis, in hindsight I should've just picked at least one line to stand in so that I could play something worthwhile).

There was like a big fenced off sitting area and they were bringing people in large groups (like 50 people or so) who all seemed to have a Steam Deck play. Presumably they had like 10-15 minutes to play on it. Looked cool! Oh I also played on the Aya Neo Pro (or Air?) can't remember which one but it got pretty damn hot underneath.

 

[supernova8]

I heard Sega booth with Yakuza Ishin girls were the bomb.

Damn I walked past the Yakuza Ishin section a few times but there were never any girls, standing there just the red sign thing. Bad timing, I guess.

 

[Kuranghi]

Damn I walked past the Yakuza Ishin section a few times but there were never any girls, standing there just the red sign thing. Bad timing, I guess.

I imagine an alternate timeline where you had seen those Yakuza Ishin Boo(th)ba Ladies and it affected your memories of the show so much that you came here to tell us how amazing the show was and you just twisted the truth about all the things you didn't like, ie most things.

I was talking to a woman on Tinder last night I had swiped in no small part due to huge lovely booba (there was no profile, obviously that fits in with the next part of the story), and after a while it became clear she was a prostitute, I was considering employing her services until she hit me with some lines that indicate it was clearly a scam and I most likely talking to a gangster called Ronnie who had nicked photos from vivastreet.

Even after all that though, the photos "she" sent me were quite delicious and it kept making me think "well maybe its not a scam" for like 10 microseconds before I slapped myself back to reality.

This is the power of big ol' booba. Let alone big booba attached to very pretty lady.

 

[KuraiShidosha]

Of course it was rubbish. Gaming is dead. All you see moving in the world of gaming today is its skeleton coasting down the tracks, burning off momentum as it slowly grinds to a halt.

 

[ManaByte]

Of course it was rubbish. Gaming is dead. All you see moving in the world of gaming today is its skeleton coasting down the tracks, burning off momentum as it slowly grinds to a halt.

Posted to a video game forum on the internet.

 

[Gameboy415]

I lived in Japan from Summer of 2005 through Spring of 2010 and went to TGS every year from 2005-2009.
The first few years were AMAZING! It seemed like every company/game had multiple demo kiosks set up and I was able to try out pretty much everything I wanted to each year. I got to see the Final Fantasy Versus XIII reveal trailer in-person! I got to try out XBOX 360 games before launch (because Microsoft's giant booth was empty, lol), try out Playstation 3 & Nintendo Wii games months before they released in the US, and got lots of cool brochures, preview DVDs, & swag!

Over the years there was a growing transition to mobile game booths (and this was pretty basic, pre-Smartphone era stuff) and the major publishers all seemed to shift to giant 'showcase' booths.
Instead of having rows of playable kiosks, they'd have an amazing-looking themed booth for a single game with only 3-4 demo kiosks. This led to obscenely long lines/wait times and many booths even required you to get a ticket at the start of the day to wait in line at a designated time!
TGS 2009 was especially disappointing - we were there when the show opened but the only demo I was able to get a a ticket for was Okami-den on Nintendo DS. The demo was fun and I got a free/exclusive paper fan afterwards but I really didn't have time to try anything else.

It's sad to hear it's seemingly only gotten worse over the years.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Honestly, since it was the first public TGS in 3 years because of COVID, I can't say I'm surprised if it was a bit messy. If it went right back to business as usual, that'd be extremely impressive. But 3 years is a long time, TBH.

 

[Nautilus]

I guess it depends on the show.

I went to Gamescon in 2016 and had a great time. There were some lines that were enourmous(FF XV had a 5 hour long line) but alot of MS titles were reasonable, and smaller(and interesting) devs were 10 minutes tops.

So yeah, I guess it depends on the show, and how lucky you are(In that gamescon, I cut in front of a 5 hour line for playing Valkyrie EVE for PSVR without even knowing. Met someone there that just shoved me into the line, and I only realised I cheated a 5 hour long line when I was 5 minutes away from playing lol)

 

[ahtlas7]

Sorry to hear this but at least you got to attend. I will attempt to attend Gamescom next year, hopefully it’s good times!

 

[Spyxos]

Like you, this year was my first time at a gaming fair (Gamescom) and what can I say, it was awful. There was almost nothing interesting to see and when there were huge queues. I will definitely never visit a gaming fair again.

 

[KuraiShidosha]

Posted to a video game forum on the internet.

Compare any year in the 90s or early 00s to 2022. Compare to 2021. Compare to 2020. Which period was a better time for gaming? Hint: it wasn't the one where the only hot topic games are fucking Fortnite and league of legends.

 

[ManaByte]

E3 lost something when they banned Nintendo from throwing Pokemon beanie-babies out of the Pikachu VW Beetle.

One or two people get compound fractures in the melee for a toy Pokemon and everyone's fun gets ruined.

 

[Fbh]

I've never been to any of these but my understanding is that all of these events (tgs, E3, Gamescom) are shit unless you are famous or part of the media.

You can either go play unknown Indies or stand in line for 7 hours to try some hot upcoming game for 30 mins.

Yeah no thx

 

[Lady Jane]

I heard Sega booth with Yakuza Ishin girls were the bomb.

Booth babes is a sign that the country still has culture

 

[AJUMP23]

Looks like a trade show to me.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The booth babes were the only saving grace

So I remember seeing a post a while back saying how there are no booth babes anymore because of political correctness etc etc but I'm happy to say in Japan they are alive and well. I unfortunately don't have any photos (I'm not the sort to take photos, I just remember stuff the good ol fashioned way).

You had one job to do....

 

[supernova8]

Like you, this year was my first time at a gaming fair (Gamescom) and what can I say, it was awful. There was almost nothing interesting to see and when there were huge queues. I will definitely never visit a gaming fair again.

Yeah pretty much how it felt for me. Paying money to stand in a massive never-ending queue - basically DisneyLand lol.
I did arrive a few hours after it started so I guess if I did go to TGS 2023 (assuming there is one), I will get there early and basically sprint to the booth where I want to play a game. Problem is that there are likely 500,000 Japanese dudes with the same idea who will not only do that but line up for hours before it opens.

 

[NanaMiku]

TGS is always packed on public day. In 2016 I went to TGS on business day, registered as media. Not too packed but still a long queue. Saw Ryozo Tsujimoto when I was queuing for MH Stories demo

 

[Tams]

1. They've always been (cringey) shit.
2. You were late. Move your fat arse.
3. You went on the last day.

 

[Porcile]

Queuing in a line for something mediocre is the quintessential Japanese experience though.

 

[supernova8]

Queuing in a line for something mediocre is the quintessential Japanese experience though.

Yeah it really is amazing here how people will line up for anything. The drop off rate is next to zero. What makes it more "authentic" (worse) is the numerous security (basically old Japanese dudes in over-the-top uniforms that look like something out of a North Korea military parade) guards with megaphones all shouting (over each other) so that all you can ever hear is "fjkfkhfhsdkfhksdhfk MAAASU hjfhdjfhdjfdh KUDASAI!"

 

[Porcile]

Yeah it really is amazing here how people will line up for anything. The drop off rate is next to zero. What makes it more "authentic" (worse) is the numerous security (basically old Japanese dudes in over-the-top uniforms that look like something out of a North Korea military parade) guards with megaphones all shouting (over each other) so that all you can ever hear is "fjkfkhfhsdkfhksdhfk MAAASU hjfhdjfhdjfdh KUDASAI!"

If there is one thing I have learned about Japan, it's that there is always something better elsewhere that you don't have to queue for.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Admit it OP, you're slightly podgy,sweaty, were wearing a checkered shirt with a towel around your neck...

Joke

 

[consoul]

Until the pandemic, TGS was an annual pilgrimage for me. From what I saw online of this year's, it was probably the worst one yet.

To be fair though, many of your criticisms have been valid for many years. Huge lines and not being able to get hands-on with many games are part of the TGS experience. Some years I was there had over 250,000 attendees, so the only way you had a shot at playing the high profile games was to get an early-entry TGS Supporters ticket and run like fuck to the booths you wanted play tickets for.

The cosplay areas were always a highlight for me and those got nuked this year. That's a real shame. Sony usually had the biggest presence and great stuff to show off, so their absence this year (apart from in the Indie Hall) was also a big loss.

I'm hopeful TGS can get back to its former glory. This wasn't the year for it, but I'm glad it's back to being a physical event. It's a start.

 

[supernova8]

Admit it OP, you're slightly podgy,sweaty, were wearing a checkered shirt with a towel around your neck...

Joke

I threw away all my checkered shirts after seeing the Densha Otoko J-drama.

 

[supernova8]

Until the pandemic, TGS was an annual pilgrimage for me. From what I saw online of this year's, it was probably the worst one yet.

To be fair though, many of your criticisms have been valid for many years. Huge lines and not being able to get hands-on with many games are part of the TGS experience. Some years I was there had over 250,000 attendees, so the only way you had a shot at playing the high profile games was to get an early-entry TGS Supporters ticket and run like fuck to the booths you wanted play tickets for.

The cosplay areas were always a highlight for me and those got nuked this year. That's a real shame. Sony usually had the biggest presence and great stuff to show off, so their absence this year (apart from in the Indie Hall) was also a big loss.

I'm hopeful TGS can get back to its former glory. This wasn't the year for it, but I'm glad it's back to being a physical event. It's a start.

Yeah I figured as much. I suppose it's better to treat attending these gaming expos more like going to a theme park. My takeaway was that if you're not willing to (1) get there early and (2) line up for at least an hour, you're probably not going to get to enjoy it. For the answer is "no" on both counts so I probably shouldn't have bothered.

 

[Manji Uzuki]

I went in 2016 and quite enjoyed it. But there are some tricks to improve your experience a lot. There is a ticket which is more expensive called TGS Supporters Club or something like that. If you get that one you can access the event 1 hour before they open to the rest. The best part of that is that when you enter there is basically a corridor with the babes from most of the stands giving away tickets for the demos and some other stuff. The ticket itself also gives you demo access to one game from a list. In this way, I could organize my day and try a lot of things like FFXV, World of FF, REVII, Playstation VR, etc. It is also nice to check on the cosplay areas and be aware of when the stands do events. For instance, in that year I managed to see a small Persona concert at the Sega booth which was pretty nice.