Prep Work

Covering the Tokyo Game Show is definitely different from anything else we do here at GameSpot all year. Sure, we cover other trade shows and company events, but the way the time difference works, the mobile command center we have to establish in a series of smaller-than-average hotel rooms, and the sheer number of games that we simply know next to nothing about make it an experience unlike any other.

The time difference actually works out pretty well for coverage purposes. While we're over there seeing games, most of you are probably still asleep. We get back from the show and immediately start tearing through the day's worth of notes and video footage and start cranking out our reports and gameplay video. Then you wake up and, ideally, there's plenty there for you to look at. We work through the majority of the night, some of us get a few hours of sleep, and process repeats for Day 2 of the show.

But Day 2 is a completely different animal, because the second and third days of TGS are open to the public. So our goal is to see all of the major stuff on the first day, when the crowds aren't quite as thick. The process repeats until we're left shrugging at each other and drawing straws for who gets to go on "cover all the weird anime games" duty. By the end of the show, we're usually looking at games that have almost no chance of a US release that are so esoteric that most of us don't even know what they're called. That's when you defer to the people on staff that can actually speak and read Japanese, of course.

Sometimes those weird games do make it over here, though, which is why the process is important. Last year I played Eureka Seven, some kind of anime-based sky surfing robot shooter or something. It was pretty much impossible to decipher from the 10 minute demo I played around with, but now that game's coming here. Baito Hell 2000 for the PSP was another weird one that you would never expect to hit the US, but now it's coming as Work Time Fun. And, of course, TGS was the place where I first saw Katamari Damacy. It was running in a small corner of the Namco booth, right next to Tekken 5 arcade machines. So there weren't many people paying attention to it. I pretty much fell in love with it instantly and was super-surprised when it was announced for US release.

Of course, the big deal at this year's TGS will be more playable PS3 games. Apparently Devil May Cry 4 will be playable. Hopefully there will be some more new stuff there. The Wii, of couse, won't be much of a factor on the show floor, since Nintendo doesn't participate in TGS, and Microsoft has its own event right after TGS called X06. That's in Barcelona, and that'll probably be the place where we hear more big news about upcoming 360 games. So TGS is looking like it's going to be Sony's show. Lots of PS3 stuff and tons of PS2 stuff. But how much of it will be mahjong?

In addition to the show itself, plenty of publishers will hold smaller events around the show, giving us a little more access to games than we're likely to get on the show floor. It all adds up to a mountain of information about upcoming games, so be sure to check out the site next week.

Also, we're going to attempt to record an installment of our weekly podcast, The HotSpot, from Tokyo. That should be at least somewhat crazy. Anyway, I'm going to get back to my pre-packing shopping list. First up? Razor blades!