Photos by Matt S.
Tokyo Game Show would certainly look different without its girls. The “booth babe” is a tradition all-but outlawed with most western game shows, but it’s alive and well in Japan, as you’ll see from the series of photo slideshows that we’ll do this week.
The question on whether TGS should get rid of the girls is an interesting one. It can be exploitative, and it doesn’t do anything to enhance the conversation around games. This is all quite true. At the same time most of the exhibitors at TGS are now hiring cosplayers to do a lot of the costume side of things, and generally speaking everyone seemed to take these things in a good spirit. What the booth girls do do is add a showbiz atmosphere to the event.
Anyhow, while I’ll happily have the debate about booth girls at another time, I’m not going to do it in these pieces. Rather, across these photo galleries, I’ll be showing off some of the weird, wonderful costumes and cosplays that I saw at TGS.
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| Let’s start with another group shot. My favourite bit about this is the dude on the right that is taking this so very seriously. |
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| Serious acting advice also being given over here at the World of Tanks booth. |
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| That schoolgirl thing in Japan is a real thing. |
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| Samurai Warriors fans should recognise this costume: It’s Lady Oichi! The finest Warrior of all, no less. |
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| Speaking of Koei Tecmo games and its booth… |
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| Its models were really quite gorgeous. Koei’s booth was encouragingly busy, in fact. Good show for the publisher. |
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| Apparently the kimono isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world to wear. So it’s not really surprising that at the end of the day this poor lady looked exhausted. |
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| These ladies gave me a free can of Monster. Because I’m the only person on the planet that likes Monster it was a good thing. |
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| The schoolgirl thing again… |
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| Apparently when Lightning isn’t killing hordes and Yuna isn’t running after Sin, they’re playing games on their Sony phones. Bet you never guessed that one. |
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| Here’s a joke for our Aussie readers: What happens when you take an Western Sydney bogan and turn him into a mascot character thing in Japan?
This. |
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| And finally, SEGA may have given up on localising those Yakuza games, but we’ll always have fond memories of the hostess clubs.
Hint, hint, SEGA. |
– Matt S.
Editor-in-Chief
Find me on Twitter: @digitallydownld
