In casual remarks prior to the start of our interview with him, Xbox Japan head and chairman of
the CESA events committee chairman Yoshihiro Maruyama noted that the Tokyo Game Show has diminished in relative size in
recent years. Even though the number of exhibitors this year reached an all-time high of 131, there were fewer large
exhibitors. Electronic Arts had no presence on the floor, and Square Enix had a much-diminished presence after holding
a July event in Japan.
"We have already been discussing maybe we need to separate trade and press events from consumer events," said Murayama.
The show's attendance was certainly strong, but we'd have to agree that the floor was full with perhaps the wrong sort of attendee. We were unable to play a number of games simply because of long queues. That means you (our readers) were unable to experience those games. For the benefit of the relative few attending the show, hundreds of thousands of gamers who visit Joystiq were not exposed to some games on the show floor. Case in point: pictured above is a sign showing a wait time of 50 minutes to see a demo of Capcom's Biohazard 4 for the PlayStation 2.
