The friendly face of
video
gaming |
|
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 |
|