AOU 2008

I attended both days of the AOU 2008 game show at Makuhari Messe (Friday and Saturday), with a few of the photos taken appearing in this Kotaku post, as well as some impressions (and more photos) of STREET FIGHTER 4 — I got a “perfect” win, yes I did! I had an absolute blast at the show, and think I enjoyed it more than the Tokyo Game Show (TGS always feels too intense). The real reason I was there was for the book I’m working on for Kodansha International.

Funny thing, as I was leaving the show on Saturday, pretty much at closing time, I was a bit perplexed by all the people that were walking in the opposite direction, arriving to the hall. First clue: everyone was wearing black. Second clue: most people were wearing Iron Maiden t-shirts. Oh yeah, Iron Maiden was playing that night! I was huuuuugely into Iron Maiden back when I was 15-17, and if it wasn’t that tickets were so pricey (the usual 8-10 000 yen), I might have gone for a bit of nostalgia.