JAPAN: Tens of thousands of people to attend Asia's biggest video game show
- 00:00:11
- ITN Source
JAPAN: Tens of thousands of people to attend Asia's biggest video game show
One of the world's largest video game exhibition's kicks off in Tokyo, with nearly 200,000 people expected to attend over the next three days. Asia's largest Video Game event, the Tokyo Game Show, kicked off on Thursday (September 20), with hundreds and perhaps thousands of media from around the world pressing and lining up, some for over an hour, to get a first glimpse of the latest and trendiest video games. Over 200,000 people, from industry specialists to the common video game players, are expected to flock to Makuhari Messe on the outskirts of Tokyo for the three day show. Over 200 companies, video game software makers and including Sony and Microsoft, are pulling out all the stops to promote their latest gadgets and games. Sony is especially keen to show off its latest upgrade to its PSP or Playstation Portable. Beside being slightly smaller and lighter, Sony says it can also be set up to receive digital television programmes. However among the crowds of game makers competing for attention, one game stood out from the rest -- or more accurately stretched out from the rest with yoga and pilates poses. "There is very much a health boom these days. So we thought it would be great if we could make people healthier or more beautiful with these games and provide value-added services to the gaming industry," said Katunori Okita from Konami Digital Entertainment. In the software for Nintendo's DS Lite portable game player, a digital instructor helps you through all the moves, giving you detailed tips on where to stretch and keeping a daily log of your activities. Both a Yoga and Pilates version is available for about 35 U.S. dollar per programme. Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation 2 dominated the global game industry for about a decade from the mid-1990s, but Sony was one year behind Microsoft in releasing its latest console. The PS3 has lagged far behind Nintendo's Wii in monthly sales due to a lack of hit game products and its high price. The global gaming industry, console and software, is estimated at around 30 billion U.S. dollars.
ITN Source | September 24, 2007
