"This Place is Weird": Day 7: The Swag

Oh yes, this just happened.

Today I went to the Tokyo Game Show with a few friends from the group. That place was insane—so many people, so many games, so much swag! This was the first game con I've ever been to, so it was pretty overwhelming. There were lights and signs everywhere, blasting music, character costumes, and people yelling through microphones and handing me stuff . . . now that I read that again, it sounds just like the rest of Japan.

Anyway, I got to play a bunch of unreleased games that I'm dying to pick up. I got to check out Metal Gear Rising at the Konami booth, which was spectacular. I played a bit of Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, which was pretty much impossible without knowing the language. "Solve these word puzzles! Cross examine this witness!" "Umm, watashi no Nihongo wa chotto warui desu..." The game looks like it's going to be fantastic, though, and it's awesome to get to say I played it.

It wouldn't be a con without booth babes.

I got to get my hands on a Wii U for the first time as well. I played against one of my friends in the Wii U version of Tekken. The system was pretty cool, Tekken less so, but that's just a preference issue.

I didn't actually play them, but I got to see quite a bit of Project X Zone, the Sega/Capcom/Namco Bandai crossover mash-up game which looks like an insane mess of crazy and awesome. Who doesn't want to see Resident Evil's Jill Valentine duke it out with .hack's Kite? Nobody, that's who. I also saw some of Professor Layon 6. (We don't even have 5 in the States yet. What's up with that?) I also saw some of Ace Attorney 5, Resident Evil 6, and a bunch of other stuff that's slipping my mind right now.

I had so much swag that I couldn't fit it all in my
swag bag. It's pretty much the best problem to have.

Let's see, what else did I do? I picked up a bunch of awesome junk from the Square Enix Booth's store. I got a Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance wall scroll, a plush Kingdom Hearts Meow Wow, a Keyblade keychain, a chibi Cloud figure with his motorcycle, and a deck of Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary playing cards—plus all the free stuff people just kept handing out (except for this one staffer who was being really stingy with the Metal Gear swag).

I got to try takoyaki for the first time today (that's balls of fried octopus for those of you not in the know). It was so good! It actually tastes kind of like pasta. We got dinner out at an udon place tonight, which was also quite good.

It's late and I'm exhausted, so I'm gonna wrap this one up early and put down some pictures to fill space instead. Do note that the center was rather dim, so a lot of the pictures are a bit blurry or poorly lit.