Osaka Games Japan Festa 2006 (and Nintendo World 2006) on the same day

(tags convention, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Osaka)

After Nintendo World 2006 spit me out at around 14:00 I started walking back to the station intending to go home but there was a steady stream of people leaving in another direction. Only after the flyer guy handed me the Games Japan Festa 2006 sheet did I figure that they were look for some Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 action. I headed over counting my lucky stars that I was still in the mood to play games.

So it was just a short 10 minute walk from Intex Osaka to the Asia and Pacific Trade Center. When I got to the event, I was underwhelmed. Sure there was a lot of demo units but Nintendo World 2006 used a lot more space. Plus it was dark and gritty while Nintendo's event was light and airy. There was a lot more "official" cosplay over here than at Nintendo World. I surveyed the whole room before settling myself in the Gears of War line. As a Unreal Tournament fan it was my duty.

Gears of War and two other games had the over-18 CERO Z rating, so the demos were curtained off. The Microsoft presence was decent and organized, pouncing on me as I entered the event. I saw the Blue Dragon line from afar and it was long. When I got into the GoW line, the HDTV in front of me showed a video of an chiseled-lean asian guy doing skillful capoeira and circles circles circles as is the Xbox 360 theme. It was then jarring to see screenshots of The Idolm@ster on the same screen. Thus wowed with the incongruity, I proceeded to finish off the Metroid Zero game (up to the 2nd to last boss).

I thought I warmed up my reflexes with the GBA Micro while waiting for 40 minutes, but when I got my turn and the guy handed me the controller with a minimal amount of instruction, I proceeded to humiliate myself by dying 6 times. I wasn't paying attention to the other visitors but they looked like college guys with freakin' FPS skillz anywayz press A to continue. The demo companions stepped in at a humiliating time to remind me to use the left trigger for zoom targetting but I didn't pick that up the first time. I then remembered that CliffyB demo way back during E3 2006 and I wanted to get some chainsaw action going but all I could get was punches and a drafty head. It just occured to me. Maybe they don't have the chainsaw for the Japan region? I mean, Dead Rising is censored and toned down in Japan, so... Naw, it's probably only my incompetence with the controls, and the demo was plenty bloody. Unfortunately the official home page lacks info one way or the other.

Anyway, I wasn't getting the hang of that wall-hug button. I wanted to do that "roadie camera" run but I didn't figure out the button. I tried to run towards my AI teammate at the end game but I was stuck to the wall. Definately I want the game, but it seemed like there was a lot to learn. When I finally cleared the demo, the guy thanked me. And I thanked the guy. And he gave me that sticker in the photo here so I was like Xbox 360 rulez yo.

I really gotta get me an HDTV. Truly.

I didn't feel like trying the other demos on the floor. I didn't even bother stopping to see the PlayStation 3 demos either. The only thing I looked forward to after that was the small game vendors outside and the cheap games.

I got that Love Complex (ラブコンパンチDEコント）limited edition PlayStation 2 game as new for 4000 yen (pictured way above). Cheap but this game wasn't selling at all so maybe it's a stinker. It's basically a game based on the hit love comedy manga. The game uses the so-called NBT system, which is nori-boke tsukomi (ノリボケ ツッコミ), which by crude and dangerously inaccurate summary means "Osakan humor" or straight-guy comic-guy duo stand-up comedy with the "nande ya ne" repeated over and over again. I heard it's an art form. I can just imagine it now, the zingers in the game going over my head.

Kotaku had a photo-expose of the event concentrating on the Blue Dragon. Only after starting to write this entry did I realize I went to the Osaka Games Japan Festa 2003. Geez time flies.