TOKYO GAME SHOW 2015 Business Day 1 Review & Day 2 Preview
Commanders!
One of the largest gaming expos in the world, TOKYO GAME SHOW has just started!
As always, the Wargaming booth centers around play areas where you can get goodies for trying out games such as World of Tanks and World of Warships, but there's more than that! This year at TGS there's special collaboration play rooms with anime "Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova-" and "Girls und Panzer" themes, as well as life-size tank displays!
See below to see the highlights of the first business day at TGS and get a feel of what it's like at our booth!
For information on the programs and goodies and details on the bigger, better Wargaming booth this year, check out the page below!
Tanks Take Over TGS!
Privately owning an armored vehicle is pretty much impossible in Japan. So, Wargaming brought to TGS the next closest thing to a real tank: life-size replica! ...And two of them! One of them, the Pz.kpfw IV in the "Girls und Panzer" style modified Ausf D (Ausf. H configuration) sits right outside the entrance to the Makuhari Messe, the event hall where Tokyo Game Show is held! This replica was created in Weta Workshop Limited, a renown movie set/prop maker in New Zealand!
And yes, we said two tanks! The other one sits right at the Wargaming booth, and it's the latest addition to World of Tanks, the Tier VI Japanese superheavy tank O-I!
Just look at the WG Girls and how huge this thing is in comparison! This isn't exaggerated in any way, this is to 1:1 scale, what the O-I actually looked like!
The story of how the O-I was came to be in the game will be discussed in a stage talk show on the second day, if you are interested, check out the Niconico Live!
Special Themed Play Room
This year there are special themed play areas at the Wargaming booth, a sci-fi submarine-like room with an "Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova-" theme and a tank hatch shaped door that leads to the " Girls und Panzer" collaboration room. Look at the goregeously decorated rooms! But it's not just the decoration. These rooms feature specially modded game clients! The Arppegio room features a special Coop mode where you can play as the "Fleet of Fog" ships Haruna, Kirishima, or Kongō, while the GuP room features the latest GuP mod with more natural looking skins and several additional GuP themed tanks from the upcoming movie.
The entrance to the "Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova-" looks like an submarine hatch. Fans of the anime, notice something strange with Iona?
Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi Announcement Stage
The first major stage event at the Wargaming booth is, of course, CEO Victor Kislyi's speech and announcement! Various gaming media and industry personnel flocked to see the stage!
The first big annoucement was the official launch of World of Warships! CEO Victor noted Japan's rich maritime history and thanked Warships fans in Japan and around the world for supporting the fledgeling title.
But that's not all, it was announced just yesterday in SCEJA Press Conference 2015 World of Tanks will be coming to PS4, and so CEO Victor invited Sony Computer Entertainment Senior VP Shiro Kawauchi on to stage to share the exceitement!
World of Tanks will be available free to play for all PSN account holders, although PlayStation®Plus account holders will benefit from various bonuses such as special camouflage and sales, free premium tank, and free 3 days of premium time. PS4 version will have two new maps, and one of them called "Scorpion Path" will be introduced first into the PS4. Localization in Asian region will be provided in Korean, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese.
"Girls und Panzer" x "Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova-" x Wargaming Special Talk Stage
After the annoucements, CEO Victor handed the microphone over to the next stage: the collaboration stage with "Girls und Panzer" and "Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova" where the producers Kiyoshi Sugiyama (Girls und Panzer) and Takeshi Minami (Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova-) as well as voice actress Mai Fuchigami, who starred in both series, talked about this year's collaboration and upcoming events!
Girls und Panzer Producer Kiyoshi Sugiyama talked about how both the creators of World of Tanks and Girls und Panzer shared a passion for accurately depicting tanks in their respective works, and this lead to the synergetic relationship. Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova- Producer also shared his enthusiasm in working with World of Warships. Both Girls und Panzer and Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova- have a feature film coming up, and discussion on stage shifted to speculating what might happen in the movies!
Now, some of you with keen eyes (and knowledge of anime) may have noticed an oddity in the costumes of the character panels in the special play room photos. Iona (from Arpeggio) and Miho (from GuP) have switched clothes! This was done as a part of a three way collaboration among World of Tanks, Girls und Panzer, and Arpeggio of Blue Steel-Ars Nova-. Visitors to TGS will have a chance to get goodies featuring the characters with their uniforms switched!
TGS 2015 Wargaming Booth September 18 (Business Day 2) Program
Please see below for the timetable of events for September 18.
13:00 - 13:15 World of Tanks: Special Talk Stage
Cast:
Kunihiro Suzuki (Fine Molds Corp. President)
Tadamasa Miyanaga （Wargaming, Military Advisor）
13:30 - 14:15 VS Wargaming Special Battle Stage
Cast:
Wargaming Employees
*Battles will be conducted on World of Tanks
14:45 - 15:30 World of Warships: Special Talk Stage
Cast:
Masatoshi Kodaka (Military History & Weapons Researcher)
Tadamasa Miyanaga （Wargaming, Military Advisor）
Niconico Live Information
Don't worry if you can't come to TOKYO GAME SHOW 2015! All four days of TGS 2015 will be livestreamed on Niconico Live! There might be a special gift if you can collect the keywords during the livestream! (Streaming will be in Japanese only.)