Swarms of people surrounded this poor bird. I was wondering if someone would walk up and hump it, but, alas, it was not to be.

Living in Tokyo does have some benefits, especially if you're a gamer. And this weekend is definitely one of those times. My one year in Tokyo couldn't be complete without going to the Tokyo Game Show for the first (and hopefully not last) time. Actually, come to think of it, this is the first trade show I've gone to for just games. Always been too damned far from anything related. Wish me luck!

You ... really made the grade?

Well, looks like the MS representation is just dropping a notch for TGS, now. M.Nelson managed to [a href="http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/09/17/major-nelson-grounded.aspx"]lose his passport[/a] somewhere between home and the airport, so, well, you certainly need a passport to get yourself into Japan.

Sucks for him, sucks for XBox, sucks for ... well, I guess it just sucks. Getting a new passport ASAP is by no means an easy feat.

"As a public service, I offer this advice: Be very careful with your Passport. And go make a photocopy of it right now and keep it in a safe place so you can have all the details handy if you need to get a replacement."

Ok, soon I am going to crack the code for using one of these fancy Japanese multi-player tactical card/arcade hybrids. I can't read the user manual that you can pick up, but damnit, i'm going to get it done!

I mean, how many arcade games do you know that have manuals?!

Yes, that's right! We now have some idea of what the races will be like in the not-yet-announced-for-release-outside-of-Japan Final Fantasy Tactics A2.

So, I went ahead and de-mangled the google translation and wrote it up here on controller code.

Well, time to crack open a new box, new game.

After a long weekend of less-than-great weather, the day has come to a close and I can now dedicate some good time to play my newest addition: Phantom Hourglass.

What few of you will know is that, yes, I live in Japan. Sadly, this doesn't mean I can read all of the menus in the damn game. I hope I don't get too lost.

Wish me luck!