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The friendly face of video gaming
Words
Japan is the spiritual home of gaming.

By Jonathan Fildes
Technology reporter, BBC News website, Tokyo

The country may have the world's 10th largest population but it is the second largest market for gaming after the USA.

Although neither videogames nor games consoles were invented in the country, there is no doubt that Japanese people have embraced both.

Japanese cosplay, BBC
Many people spend hours making their costumes

friendly amical
spiritual spirituel
the home foyer
gaming jeu (video)
the country pays
large grand
although bien que
neither... nor... ni...ni...
games console (-s) console de jeux
to invent inventer
there is no doubt that il n'y a aucun doute que
to embrace adopter

This weekend thousands of Japanese gamers made the annual pilgrimage to the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) to pay homage to the videogames industry and to check out the latest it had to offer.


the weekend week-end
thousands of des milliers de
hte garmer (-s) joueur
to make a pilgrimage faire un pélerinage
to pay homage to rendre hommage à
the industry industrie
to check out vérifier
the latest les nouveautés
to have to offer avoir à offrir
Player power

And if one were looking for evidence of how much Japanese gamers are devoted to the digital artform, you needed to look no further than the crowds of people wearing "cosplay".

Short for "costume play", it involves dressing up as characters from Manga, anime, and video games. It is perhaps the Japanese version of being a Star Trek fanatic

The culture that spawned it certainly attracts the same level of devotion.

For example, when Japanese internet entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto announced his plans to become the fourth tourist to visit the International Space Station he said that he would blast off wearing a replica costume of Char Aznable, a character from the anime series Gundam.

Had he not failed his medical tests, Dice-K as the entrepreneur is nicknamed, would have been the first fancy-dress astronaut in space. At TGS, Gundam devotees mingled with cyber-pirates, robots and fantasy figures.

Daisuke Enomoto, AP
Mr Enomoto wanted to go into space dressed as an anime character
Hours, if not days, had clearly been spent getting "the look" just right.

Between two of the giant halls, stacked with computer games and new consoles, there was an entire area devoted to the videogame obsessed.

Whole families and gangs of friends were all dressed in elaborate home made suits in homage to their favourite characters.

the power pouvoir, puissance
the evidence preuve, évidence
to be devoted to être attaché à
the artform la forme artistique
digital digital
no further than pas plus loin que
the crowd foule
to wear porter
short for abbréviation pour
costume play jeu de rôles
to involve impliquer
to dress up s'habiller
charachter (-s) personnage
perhaps peut-être
hte version version
a fanatic fanatique, fan
the culture culture
to spawn engendrer
certainly
certainement
to attract attirer
the level of niveau de
the entrepreneur entrepreneur
to announce annoncer
the plan (-s) plan, intention
to become devenir
the Space station station spatiale
to blast off décoller
a replica costume réplique
to fail échouer
nicknamed surnommé
the astronaut astronaute
to mingle with se mêler à
the fantasy figures personnages imaginaires
clearly clairement
to spend passer (du temps)
to get obtenir
the look l'apparence, le look
right juste
the hall hall
to stack with remplir de
the area zone
devoted dédié
whole entier
the gang (-s) groupe
to dress s'habiller
the suit (-s) costume
elaborate élaboré
favourite favori

They were only outnumbered by the crowds of fans wanting to take a souvenir snap of themselves with their favourite imitator.

The cynical may think that they are paid by the multi-billion dollar gaming industry.

But chatting to one woman, dressed in a detailed, PVC cyber-page-boy outfit, she said that she spent hours tailoring her costume for no other reason than because it was fun and it made her smile.

Playing for fun

And it is this sometimes child-like attitude that seems to pervade much of what is on offer at the hundreds of stands at TGS.

On the Konami stand, gamers endured long queues to play on the latest versions of games like Pop Music Fever and Drum Mania. The latter involves players hitting a tiny drumkit in response to on screen prompts.

Everybody that stepped away from the arcade like atmosphere had grins on their faces.

Screenshot from Blue Dragon, Microsoft
Blue Dragon proved popular at the Tokyo show

outnumbered supplanter en nombre
a snap photo
the cynical cynique
the gaming industry industrie du jeu
to chat bavarder
the outfit équipement
to tailor tailler
to be fun être drôle
child-like enfantin
the attitude attitude
to pervade se propager, envahir
to be on offer ce qui est proposé
at the hundreds of aux centaines de
to endure subir
a queue queue, file d'attente
the latter cette dernière
player (-s) musicien
to hit frapper
tiny tout petit, minuscule
a drum kit batterie
in response to en réponse à
the screen prompt message de l'écran
to step away from s'écarter de
the arcade galerie marchande
grins grand sourir
to have grins on one's face afficher un sourire

Elsewhere, other gamers were being introduced to Cykan's Puppy On, where players look after and groom a virtual puppy. The posters for the game read: "In a beautiful European style village, you can live with a pet that you've always wanted."

Japanese companies even manage to turn some of the more mundane aspects of daily life, such as the financial markets, into fun games.

Konami's Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore (Stock Transaction Trainer Kabutore) follows in the footsteps of other profession-based titles like Caduceus: Surgical Operation, released in the west as Trauma Centre: Under the Knife.

elsewhere ailleurs
to be introduced to initié à
to look after surveiller
to groom soigner
a virtual puppy chiot virtuel
a style village village de style
a pet animal
to manage to réussir à
to turn into transformer en
to follow in the footsteps suivre les pas de
to release paraître, sortir
the Trauma Centre Centre de Traumatologie
Under the Knife Sous le scalpel

But to say that all games available in Japan are pure wholesome fun would distort the picture. Well-known titles in the west with a more violent bent, like Devil May Cry 4, were also on show and getting their fair share of attention.

But titles like this tend to depict violence against fantasy creatures, devils or aliens; certainly not humans.

That kind of thing is just not on in Japan, one senior executive told me. To portray any sort of violence against humans and particularly authority figures, like policeman, is frowned open and shunned, he said.

Realistic blood is also not acceptable.

On the Xbox stand, three games - Dead Rising, Crackdown and Rain of Vampires - were only allowed to be shown in an enclosed area for those people who were over 18.

Screenshot from Trauma Center, Atlus
Trauma Center lets players perform virtual surgery

The queue for the exclusive area had just six people in it at one point while on the other side of the stand, the new fantasy Role Playing Game (RPG), Blue Dragon, had queues of two hours.

available disponible
wholesome salutaire
to distort déformer
the picture l'image
a fun distraction
well-known réputé, connu
a bent tendance
to be on show être en démonstration
to get attention obtenir l'attention
the faire share of la juste part de
to depict dépeindre
to tend to tendre à
fantasy creatures créatures imaginaires
devils démons
aliens extra-terrestres
to be not on ne pas avoir cours
a senior executive cadre
to portray faire le portrait de
authority figures autoritiés
to be frowned open être réprouvé
to be shunned être évité
realistic blood sang réel
acceptable acceptable
to be allowed to être autorisé
an enclosed area zone fermée

An industry insider said that he thought that part of this aversion to bloodshed could be in response to Japan's sometimes-violent past.

Germany, he pointed out, was the only other country with gaming laws as strict as Japan's.

Others suggested that it could be because of the deep level of respect ingrained in Japanese culture or the fact that Japan had never embraced guns in the same way as the west.

One woman sat eating her lunch from a bento box away from the main hall, told me that the long working hours common in Japan meant that people liked to escape into a happy, fantasy world.

Not one with the same downsides as normal life, she said.

Whatever the reason, the result is that the products of the Japanese games industry and the Tokyo Game Show are eclectic, and sometimes peculiar, worlds to dip into.

Both have their eccentric characters and their idiosyncratic rules. But both too are about having fun. Like cosplay it is about raising a smile.
an insider initié
the aversion aversion
the bloodshed sang versé
to be in response to être une réponse
the past passé
to point out souligner
ingrained enraciné
gun (-s) arme( s)
common courant
to mean signifier
to escape into s'échapper dans
a fantasy world monde imaginaire
the downside dessous, inconvénient
eclectic éclectique
peculiar bizarre
to dip into plonger
eccentric excentrique
idiosyncratic caractéristique
to raise a smile susciter un sourire