Asia Game Show 2009 Report

The last time I went to this show was in 2006. I pretty much summed it up as the Playstation Show and for 2009, it's no different. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I would have loved to see the show expand to include Nintendo and Microsoft.

Still it was an interesting show where the other booths were a mix of vendors and local game developers. Most of which develop online games that usually veer towards the RPG market. MMO and RPGs are huge in Asia.

I went to the show with my friend Sunny. He’s an old university buddy of mine. The first two things we tried out was Gran Turismo 5 and Final Fantasy XIII--yes, just the Japanese version folks. The cuts scenes are as one would expect, breathe taking. Yet the game play graphics weren’t as crisp as you may imagine. After that we checked out the rest of the games they were showcasing, which you can read commentary from the photos below.

Two things from the show that I must mention before the photo parade, first is Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain looks and plays as a great detective thriller should. You immediately get immersed into the game where the options are presented as "feelings" and "thoughts,” like that of Rise of the Argonauts, but more elaborate if you will. Some may find it annoying with so many options and possibilities of how to play the game, but to me that gives it a strong replay value, which many games today lack. They made the process of looking up old files to solve the Origami Killer case an interesting one. Instead of reading mass text files on your screen you dive into a virtual world (see photos for reference), where you sit at your desk with VR glasses. You grab the rotating orbs and slam them onto your desk to create a virtual world. The cut scenes are handled in a manner that utilizes story telling mechanics from the film and comic book mediums. This is on the top of my list to buy when it hits stores.

The other is not really a game, as it was a showcase for a new branch opening up in Hong Kong from SCAD. What do you get when you have a smart phone sized screen, a printed out bird's eye view of some city streets and a hand full of Skittles? A zombie game of course!

You place the Skittles anywhere on the map; they become your grenades and mines. View map through the screen; so wherever you aim the camera on the printed map, you will see where the zombies are coming from, who they are attacking and more importantly, how close they are to your Skittles--I mean grenades and mines to set them off for some zombie splatter. This alone would be impressive, but when I tilted the screen the buildings became 3D. You can move the screen around the map and view the 2D, bird’s eye view, printed map the city in 3D. Hands down this was the coolest thing in the show. I made a shot video that I hope is viewable here about it.

Where's the booth gals and cosplay people? Yes there were there in force as usual in such shows. Yes, there are some photos, so those that are interested in that, there you go. Yet, let me take a moment to talk about how Sunny and I ended our Asia Game Show 2009 experience, which does tie in with the booth gals.

We're not the youngest guys in the world, so we looked for a place to sit for bit before making the journey home. We accidentally found the PSP Go station (I hope my Toronto friends get a little chuckle out that name like I did), which had benches to sit at. We then noticed people around us all having a PSP Go. One of the volunteers asked if we would like to try some ourselves and after saying "sure, why not," he replied with, "great, let me get a girl for you."

"Wait. Sunny did he just say what I thought he said?"

So he comes back with a booth gal that sits down and teaches Sunny how to use the PSP Go. We didn't' see anyone else having this, er, introduction to the PSP Go--not that either of us were complaining. So after trying out the PSP Go, we end up talking about university and learning abroad. I noticed a small line of other people (yes, all of them, but a few were guys) waiting to try out the PSP Go. All were a little disappointed when given a PSP Go by various show volunteers. No idea why. I felt a little bad when a guy that waited for a while to build up his courage came up to her an asked if he could try out the PSP Go, only for her to just give it him and continue our conversation. Anyway, her manager politely asked her to get back to posing for strangers and they're crazy sniper scoped cameras--I mean work. We left afterward (Yes, I did tell me wife about this. No idea if Sunny did. Maybe I’ll tag him on some photos in Facebook so his wife can see how the show was for him).

Did I pick up anything from the show? Well, I guess you'll have to look at the photos to find out then.

I’m going to be busy packing (again) to move as I mentioned in my last post, so there will be some delay in new posts in the coming week or two. Before that happens I’m going to get more photos uploaded about Stanley and yes, more Weird Food photos too.