Tokyo Game Show

The Tokyo Game Show (東京ゲームショウ, Tōkyō Gēmu Shō, or simply TGS) is a video game expo / convention held in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. In 2007, it may well become the largest video game expo in the world, rivaled only by the Leipzig Games Convention because of the downscaling of E3 that was announced in mid-2006[1] and the E for All expo making its debut this year. Like the Games Convention, and different to the E3, the Tokyo Game Show allows the general public to attend during the final two days.[2] As a result, it has much higher attendance than E3. In 2007, the show will be held from September 20th to the 23rd, with the first two days being business days, whilst on the latter two it will be open to the public.

History

The first Tokyo Game Show was held in 1996.[3] Originally, the show was held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn (in the Tokyo Big Sight), but this format was discontinued in 2002 when the show was held only in the autumn.[4] The show is still held once a year.

Summary of events

2004

The Tokyo Game Show 2004 was held on September 24 2004, September 25 2004 and September 26 2004. It featured 117 exhibitors showing off more than 500 computer and video game-related products to the 160,000 visitors.[5]

2005

The Tokyo Game Show 2005 was held on September 16 2005 - September 18 2005.[6]

Microsoft held its own press event on September 15 2005, one day before the opening of the Tokyo Game Show.[7]

The show was opened with two keynote speeches on September 16. The first was given by Robert J. Bach, senior Vice President for the Home and Entertainment Division and chief Xbox officer at Microsoft.[8]

While traditionally Nintendo does not participate in the Tokyo Game Show, its president, Satoru Iwata held a keynote speech there in 2005, where he revealed the controller for Nintendo's next generation video game console Wii.[9]

There were hints by Ken Kutaragi that the PlayStation 3 would be playable at the Tokyo Game Show,[10] but this was not the case. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was shown publicly for the first time in trailer form. The MGS4 demo was also demonstrated by Hideo Kojima on the Konami stage, though it was not running in real-time on an actual PS3 dev-kit.^{[citation needed]}

2007

The upcoming Tokyo Game Show will be held from September 20-23.

External links

Official sites

Coverage

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