TGS 2009 has begun! We got an early breakfast, and then left for the convention center at about 7:30 AM. Setup was already mostly done, so we checked to make sure all the demo stations were working, and then I snuck off to get a couple shots of the SEGA Booth, since I can post them now – so here’s the glory that is the front of the massive SEGA shrine:

On the right is the demo area for Phantasy Star Portable II! Now with 100% more Fanta!

Below, the press guys lined up early to get in on the floor. I can only imagine what Saturday is going to look like…

Believe it or not, McDonalds food is actually good in Japan. Service is unlike anything you’ll generally find in the US, and the same can be said for the items on the menu – like the chicken shown here!

We also got to see some of the Swag you can earn by doing a little stamp-rally at the different areas of the SEGA booth. If you’re unfamiliar with how a stamp rally works (Anyone remember that part of the Rappy Holiday quest in PSO?), people go around getting virtual stamps at each location – then, once you have them all, you get the goods.

Yakuza fans, PSP2 passports, Resonance Postcards, Bayonetta DVD’s and a big SEGA book with info on all the TGS games, and another DVD with all the new trailers. I’m working now to bring some back – maybe some of this will show up in a future free stuff friday?

After a long day of demos, the SoA, SoE, and SoJ teams all got together for dinner nearby. The group shot:

What I didn’t know at first, however, is that the fifth guy from the front on the left side was Ueda-san, the Art Director for Jet Grind Radio! Halfway through the meal he jumped tables over to our side, and once he heard it was my first time in Tokyo, he started coming up with all sorts of plans and ideas… some of which involved me getting hooked up with a Japanese girlfriend.

“You need to say to her… Kawaii ne,” he told me. (In engrish: Ka-why-e-ney?)
“Kawaii ne?” I responded.
“Yes, perfect – just like that!” And then all the Japanese speakers at the table laughed as they started thinking of ways for me to use the phrase before the night was over.

He also suggested we go to a “Maid Cafe”, though I wasn’t entirely familiar with how those work until they explained it. On the train ride back, the discussion about preferences for girls continued. It was almost surreal, stepping off the train and thinking “That man was the art director for one of the most stylish games ever made, besides being one of my favorite Dreamcast games period – did that conversation really just happen?”

So there you have it – how a day at TGS turned from cool to awesome, and how I somehow found myself repeating “Kawaii ne” in front of three native Japanese speakers, one of whom helped create Jet Grind Radio and was a lead designer for the first two Yakuza games. It is refreshing to know that people like Ueda-san are still out there working with the company, because it was the games they created that continued my love for SEGA nine years ago, and the passion they show for their games that resonates among gamers even today.

Kanpai to you, Ueda-san!

For the full list of pictures from today, check out the album here or just click on any of the pics above. Tomorrow I’ll be going in for a detailed look at the SEGA booth, and any other fun swag we can pick up – anyone want me to bring them back a Yakuza fan?