If you’ve never been to a public day at Tokyo Game Show, I recommend going. But just once.

Over the course of two days, over 70,000 people visit the show, making the booths occupied by the major Japanese publishers an absolute terror to navigate, and playing anything AAA requires standing in a line longer than Disneyland on Christmas. But that is also the wonder of Public Days at TGS. 70,000 gamers gather in one room, interacting with some of the world’s best creators as they show off their latest titles. It can be a mind-blowing experience.

PlatinumGames took part in a special one-day only talk show on the first public day of the show. Located in the SEGA booth, fans were treated to much of the same content as the press conference on Thursday, but this time in front of a much larger crowd.

Kamiya-san and Hashimoto-san once again started off the show, clearly feeding off the energy of the crowd as they presented Bayonetta to the public for the very first time.

Inaba-san and Kouno-san were also excited to speak to the fans that would be playing Infinite Space for the rest of the weekend.

And the fans responded in kind when shown the Infinite Space anime.

After another introduction of MadWorld to the Japanese crowd, the show shifted to the special talk show. Inaba-san took the lead, asking questions to the gathered creators about how the felt about having titles at TGS, and their personal philosophies for making games.

Hashimoto-san told the crowd how he wished he could have made Bayonetta playable for them, but the time just wasn’t right yet. But judging by the reaction to the trailer, I doubt that anyone left disappointed.

Kamiya-san also chimed in, telling the crowd how important it was for Bayonetta, as a female lead, to differentiate herself from male lead characters. One way he is going about this, he said, is in having her express her sexiness.

Kouno-san touched upon his experiences making adult-oriented PC games in the Japanese market, and how they have affected how he makes games. While many people avoid the topic, he said that we should openly discuss adult issues as adults, and not run away from them.

Although he initially thought 10 minutes would be a long time to fill, Inaba-san actually went over time, and the chat had to be cut off by the SEGA MC. Hopefully there will be an opportunity for our team to talk with our fans even more in the future. The PG group ended the event by going back to a well deserved break backstage before emerging to meet our fans.

All in all, it was a great first TGS for PlatinumGames, and it will be a long wait until we get to do it again.

Until next time!

-JP

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So the first couple of days of TGS are over, and it’s been quite a ride.

On Thursday, we opened up the show with a press conference for the assembled media. First out was our President and CEO, Tatsuya Minami, along with the head of development at Sega, Miyazaki-san, to describe the relationship between SEGA and PlatinumGames.

Then Kamiya-san and Hashimoto-san came out to discuss Bayonetta.

As I’m sure you have seen around the web, or on sites like GameTrailers and GameVideos, this event brought the public debut of the Bayonetta trailer.

While we know you’d all love to get on hands on and play Bayonetta right away… No, you can’t touch her just yet.

It’s funny, because Kamiya-san and I actually had a discussion of whether Bayonetta would actually let you touch her like she asks in the trailer. We both agreed that she would kill us before we even got close!

Bayonetta is all about climax action, which is what Kamiya-san described to the crowd. Hopefully the trailer gives you just a glimpse at what this concept means, and what you have to look forward to when you finally get to “touch” Bayonetta.

After Kamiya-san and Hashimoto-san gave the crowd what they were looking for, Inaba-san and Kouno-san from Nudemaker took to the stage to talk about Infinite Space.

Infinite Space was playable at the show (look for previews soon!), and so Kouno-san went in-depth explaining the games battle system, command time gauge, and plot.

Kouno-san and Inaba-san also talked about the different ship designers on the game, one for each of the approximately 10 different cultures in the world of Infinite Space. Designers like Steel Battalion designer Junji Okubo are on board to make sure that all the designs feel different and unique.

Inaba-san then introduced the first episode of the Infinite Space anime, now in production in coordination with world-renowned studios Production I.G. and Studio Gonzo. Hopefully you will all get a chance to see it when the Japanese version goes live next week. But until then, here is a little teaser.

Inaba-san then stayed on to give the Japanese crowd a taste of MadWorld. Since a Japanese release hasn’t been announced at this time, they were only given a small snippet of game footage, and a hint that they could find out more on Google.

Things wrapped up with the classic photo-op, and the PG/SEGA crew were happy to satisfy the many photogs in attendance.

Once the conference was over, the focus shifted over to Infinite Space, were Japanese consumers got their hands on the game for the first time. You might not have gotten the chance to join then, but here is a taste of what they got to see.

Next up we have our talk show on the first day for the public, Saturday. I’ll be taking tons of pictures, so you have more to look forward to! Who knows, maybe even something interesting will be said and we can make some news.

Keep looking here, as you’ll get that public day report, and a behind the scenes photo diary of TGS 2008 starring the PG as we roamed the show floor.

See you soon!

-JP

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Being based in Japan allows you to experience all sorts of wonderful things the country has to offer such as shopping in Akihabara, attending a sumo match, visiting the Hama Rikyu Garden, climbing Mt. Fuji and getting lost in the crowds at the Tokyo Games Show. Unfortunately for me, I’m not based in Japan; however JP at Osaka-based PlatinumGames is and he kindly took time out from his busy schedule to report back on the Tokyo Games Show. Over to you JP.

Tokyo Game Show is a very big deal. It is an opportunity for foreign game companies to show their wares to the domestic market, as well as the large contingent of foreign press that attend the show.

However, being based in Osaka poses some challenges. While many Tokyo based companies can host guests during the week, it requires special games, and a special trip to get the press to come to Osaka.

Luckily, we have Bayonetta and MadWorld.

Yesterday (Tuesday, October 7, 2008) we invited selected print media from around the world into the Umeda Sky Building, and PlatinumGames’ studio to check out the latest on MadWorld and Bayonetta.

Press were able to see new areas demoed by MadWorld director Shigenori Nishikawa and producer Atsushi Inaba. They were also treated to new areas of Bayonetta by director Hideki Kamiya andYusuke Hashimoto (producer).

Yesterday (Tuesday, October 7, 2008) we invited selected print media from around the world into the Umeda Sky Building, and PlatinumGames’ studio to check out the latest on MadWorld and Bayonetta.

Press were able to see new areas demoed by MadWorld director Shigenori Nishikawa and producer Atsushi Inaba. They were also treated to new areas of Bayonetta by director Hideki Kamiya andYusuke Hashimoto (producer).

We know that many of you have been waiting to see actual game play footage of Bayonetta, and last week’s Famitsu DVD was just a teaser. The wait is over. As the press saw yesterday, you will see tomorrow.

Bayonetta’s first full gameplay trailer will debut at TGS.

Thanks for waiting to see our latest labor of love. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Compared to E3, the party circuit at during TGS is rather tame; however, after our press tour, I jumped on a bullet train to Tokyo to take part in the 8-4 (a boutique localization company run by former EGM editor John Ricciardi) TGS party. Some of the press who had attended the Osaka event were excited about what they had seen, and many more who couldn’t make it were curious about what they would see in coming days. It was also a great opportunity to meet up with gaming luminaries and friends like Suda 51 or Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

So there you have it. PlatinumGames is ready to assault Tokyo Game Show 2008. Playable Infinite Space. Bayonetta Game Play trailer. And a special stage appearance by our talented creative team on Thursday and Saturday of the show. (I hear that SEGA will be streaming this over the internet, but you’ll have to check their Japanese TGS site for the details.)

You can expect more reports on our news during TGS, so keep your eyes peeled here and on other sites.

Talk to you soon,

JP (from the awesome Granbell Hotel in Shibuya)

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