Tokyo Game Show Overview
By - Posted Apr 13, 2001
This show looked much like other game conventions, with some distinctly Japanese touches, mostly in the variety of games. We saw games based on cooking, horse racing, mosquitoes, DJs, and of course, lots of dancing.
Consoles dominated the show, since PC games aren't very popular in Japan. All the major manufacturers were there. Nintendo, however, had only a minimal presence at the show, showing its new Game Boy Advance. The aging Game Boy Color wasn't quite as popular.
"Nintendo has never been at the Tokyo Game Show before," says Yasuhiro Minagawa, "We are planning to have our own show." Nintendo's own show, called Spaceworld, will be held in Japan this summer.
With the announcement of the end of Dreamcast production, Sega pulled out of the show. A couple of Dreamcast games could be found on the show floor, if you looked hard enough.
Sony, on the other hand, was there in force, showing over seventy games for the PlayStation and PS2.
"One of the most important games we're displaying here is 'Gran Turismo III'," explains Masatsuka Saeki of Sony Computer Entertainment, "because it will be our first multi-million unit seller for the PlayStation2. We are also excited about 'Final Fantasy X.' We hope to sell about 10 million units of that game worldwide."
"Final Fantasy X" was definitely a huge draw at the show. This was the first time a playable version of the highly anticipated title was shown. People waited in line for as long as an hour to play the impressive-looking demo.
"The game is about a girl called Tina, who goes on a journey to beat this demon called Sheen," says Koichiro Sakamoto or Square. "Throughout the game she comes across many people, and tries to get a group of people together to defeat this monster."
While "Final Fantasy X" has no online component at this time, "Final Fantasy XI" will be all online.
This could mean interesting things for the future of PlayStation2 online gaming. The PlayStation booth was showing tons of games, but it wasn't the only major console appearing at the show. There was that little box from Microsoft.
Xbox had an impressive booth where attendees could get a look at, well, dancers, as well as the broadband adapter and new Japanese controller. Bill Gates himself gave the keynote at the convention. This was the first up-close look Japanese consumers got at the upcoming American console, and some of its games.
"The Tokyo Game Show is an exciting milestone for the Xbox," said Bill Gates. "We announced partnerships with Japanese companies like Sega and NTT, it gave us a chance to show the special design of the Xbox for the Japanese market, and to give a glimpse of title development in our new Japanese Xbox division."
Microsoft announced that Sega would be developing at least eleven games for Xbox, and showed off titles in its booth from other Japanese developers. Seamus Blackley, Xbox technical officer, admits, "Japan is the cradle of game design -- crucial to Xbox strategy."
It's clear that the Japanese console manufacturers are thinking about the looming Xbox launch.
Many successful games have debuted in the past at the Tokyo Game Show and on the Japanese market. Americanized versions of games from this year's show may make their way to the States before you know it.
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