Thursday morning, at the blistering hour of 6:30, I staggered into the shared bathroom of the Andon Ryokan and began to curl my hair. Smash to: 7:30, as I threw down some cinnamon-set French toast (this was the only Andon breakfast I’d get, regrettably). SLAM! By 8, I was on a train bound for the MAKUHARI MESSE convention center, tagging along with several of my new friends. We got to the Tokyo Games Show at 10ish, and I dashed off to my first interview. I missed running into just about everyone from the magazine, and then missed them again when we were scheduled to rendevous. Yeah, it was lonely work. But it was in Tokyo. The show itself is like the old E3, ‘cept bigger. Because the first two days were media only, the lines were short and respectable, and I got to sample a bunch of games that I’ll be covering in the next issue of Play Magazine.
After the show ended, I met up with editors and writers from a few different corners of the internet, and we went to the Microsoft party.
From the response at the party, it doesn’t look like there’s anyway to drum up interest in Halo 3 in Japan.
Before the event wound down, we fled to Akihabara for some quick shopping and arcade action. At the HEY on the main drag, I got my ass kicked by veteran Street Fighter III players, and then we ate some curry in a restaurant that can only be described as an Amersterdam version of authentic Indian cuisine. Dutch foreign food places always strike me as very plastic, and the Indian place in Akiba — with its narrow dining area and wall-to-wall tupperware surface — reminded me of the eateries of Holland.
Soon, it was time for five-or-six hours of sleep, as I unknowingly prepared for thirty-one straight hours of being awake and on the move.