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Report from the Hong Kong Sony PlayStation 2 Expo: 22th-26th of December @ 12/17/2001 9:26:22 AM
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Over the course of 4 days, Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong held the Sony Playstation 2 Expo 2001 at the Hall B of the International Convention Centre.
The first thing to greet you as soon as you walk in there is a row of Cosplayers who dresses up as different anime and videogames characters. I even saw girls dressing up as Mai from KOF, and Eiji from Toshinden! (remember? the first fighting game that came out with Tekken when the PSone launched with Europe?) Once you get through the cosplayers, you'll be greeted with 3 giant posters of Gran Turismo: Concept 2001, Tekken Tag Tournament and ICO that is abt 3 metres high and 10 metres wide.
From there onwards you'll see alot of PS2 demo stands that is filled up by games such as ICO, Jack and Dexter, Vampire Hunter and (for the first time in the world) the finished, 100% complete version of Gran Turismo: Concept 2001. I finally be able to try out the Recaro seat + Momo steering wheel setup that the Japanese players was able to use in the Tokyo Motor Show 2 months ago. Its really tight and realistic and works really well with the game. New cars have been added and i finally get to try to drive with the cool Nissan Skyline GTR-34 JGTC Pace Car!!
There are also other stands in the expo that sells movie DVDs, a Konami stand (!) which sells posters, Metal Gear Solid 2 and other old games. I managed to find a Beatmania: Core Remix, Guitar Freaks 6thMix and Drum Mania 5thMix poster for the arcade but the organisers wouldn't give me them!!! Then next to it is the Capcom stand which was pretty bare. Then over the other side is another game shop which gave away (i cannot believe i saw these in my life either)Official Konami-lincensed DDR merchandise such as the headphones i saw in a picture in the PSX version of 5thMix and a DDR keyring! I nearly punched out the guys at the counter just to get my hands on them!!
The real highlight of the show for me was the So-Net (Sony's Internet-Service Provider section) Tekken Tag Tournament Competition: Grand Final. As i told you earlier i was one of the 8 finalists in Hong Kong and i managed to come 4th out of more than 170 contestants over a competition that ran for more than 1 month. Yes i lost towards the end of the comp because my opponant kept on dogging me with cheapy moves using Eddy and Hwerong. Anywayz i still walked off the stage with $500 cash coupon at the Sony Pro-Shop and 3 months of free Broadband Internet service from Sony.
Also on the 23rd, the 'Father of Gran Turismo', Kazunori Yamauchi, visited Hong Kong for the first time and came to the show to have a chat show with videogame magazine editors and the audience. Nicholas Tse, famous singer in Hong Kong had a short race with Kazunori Yamauchi on the same day and woned! But he was driving a Dodge Viper and Yamauchi-San was driving a Class-B car so obviously Nicholas woned with ease.
Overall the atmosphere of the show is really really good and Sony is planning to do something similar again in 2002. To see more, visit http://www.sony.com.hk. You might find a picture or 2 of me in there........but i wont tell you what i look like! blah!
Posted by Iori
Edited by Iori
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