Tokyo Game Show 2011

After much anticipation, the day of one of our most looked forward to events finally arrived. The Tokyo Game Show, held in Chiba brings together some of the biggest video game companies under one roof to demonstrate their upcoming games and technology.

Excited to try out some of these new games, we made our way to the Makuhari Messe, the location for the Tokyo Game Show, for what was by far the most disappointing day of our trip thus far.

Yes I know, how could such a large, important, international event be such a disappointment?

Let's start at the very beginning.

As we arrived, we were greeted by mass queues of thousands of people waiting to get into the hall. As we made our way along the path, we were herded like cattle into separated pens to await our turn. With hundreds of people in each pen, we waited about half an hour to be let out. Once we were allowed to exit, we made our way to the ticket gates with our pre-purchase tickets. This was another long line to wait in just to hand in our ticket and move past the security checkpoint. After all that standing around waiting in the heat, you'd think we'd be able to enter. However, there was still more queueing to do, although this line remained moving it looped around the entire facility (this place is massive) and at some points it looped back on itself several times. As the mercury rose, we shuffled along with hundreds of other sweaty video game fans wondering if the entry even existed.

Just a small section of the extraordinary line to enter the game show.

After walking for what seemed like an eternity, we were tired and hot. They actually had the nerve to try and sell us cold drinks towards the end of the line, for much more than we would pay anywhere else. Needless to say, Zak and I chose not to buy any, we'd rather give our money to a vending machine.

Finally, after about an hour and a  half, maybe two hours, we made it into the venue. It was packed, and I mean packed. Busier than Shinjuku and Tokyo station combined. As we slowly walked around, we looked for something to do, perhaps try out a new game or check out a PlayStation Vita. As it turned out, after the hours of queuing outside, pretty much the only thing to actually do at the show, was to queue. Minimum wait to play any game was about 60 minutes, with anything good getting up to 2 hours. The queues weren't even clearly marked, so it was hard to tell what you were actually lining up for. We walked around, having a look at the merchandise area, to our surprise (not really) you had to queue to even look at most of the stores.

I think that the main thing that really annoyed Zak and I was that when we tried to catch a glimpse of a particular video game, not play or anything, just watch someone else play, we were told to move along and line up.

We ended up leaving the show about midday, meaning we spent more time lining up outside than actually at the show. We decided to catch the train to Tokyo Station and explore the surrounds a little, which turned out far more interesting than the show itself.

Had we known that the TGS would have been such a disappointment, I think we would have chosen to stay in Shinjuku for longer, as there is actually stuff to do there. Unlike the small, boring town we ended up staying at for the Game Show.

I apologise for such a long rant, but I think it was necessary. Today has been a far better day. We took the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) from Tokyo to Nagoya, our current place of accommodation. It's lovely area and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.




Me about to board the Shinkansen (Bullet Train)

 Thanks for reading!