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 things off with a pretty darned impressive set of cosplays for Phantasy Star Online 2 |
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| One of the (many, many) GREE girls posing next to a scooter. GREE easily had the most booth girls at the show (the photo at the top was just a fraction of the lineup). |
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| EA’s booth had this amazing Dragon Age cosplay. Sadly, no one was actually playing Dragon Age (the rope at the back is meant to be the lineup) |
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| I have no idea what game these girls are selling, but they seem to be having fun. |
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| If you’ve played a Onechanbara game you’d appreciate how authentic this costume is. Equally impressive is how brave you’d need to be to wear this anywhere but at a Brazilian beach. |
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| A pre-show photo opp for a group of models working on an independent booth. |
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| It wouldn’t be a game show if there weren’t Final Fantasy cosplayers about. I’m not sure these two were even employed by a booth. |
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| Bandai Namco promoting Gundam, as you can see from the Gundam in the back. Namco had a very impressive booth, actually. Lots of games, lots of Gundam. |
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| Koei Tecmo has a franchise in Japan where it replaces historical Sengoku people with cats. Think Samurai Warriors, but with more meow, and you’re arriving at the same awesome place that created this series. |
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| Finally for our first gallery, Wargaming.net had a big presence at TGS, as it further expands on World of Tanks. Attention soldier! |
– Matt S.
Editor-in-Chief
Find me on Twitter: @digitallydownld
