Offside game

Just as Su Yi and An Jing finished decorating their love nest, before they could even move in, he had to leave Yanjing for Tokyo, Japan, because the 2002 Tokyo Game Show (TGS) opened on September 20th. Two months earlier, Dream International had received a formal invitation from the organizers of the Tokyo Game Show, the Computer Entertainment Software Association of Japan. Dream Games' "Mechanical Civilization" was a key title in the Sony PS2 vs. Microsoft Xbox lineup at the show, and as a partner, Sony hoped Dream International could attend.

The Tokyo Game Show (TGS) was first organized by the Computer Entertainment Software Association (CESA), established in 95, and began in 96. TGS has always been a stage for Japanese game companies to showcase their works, with the major Japanese game companies dominating the event. Since 1997, the venue for TGS has been the Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Tokyo, and it has been held twice a year, in spring and autumn. With its expanding scale, it has become the largest game show in Japan.

Starting this year, the exhibition has been changed back to be held once a year in the fall, and the exhibition has begun to invite game manufacturers from Europe and the United States and other regions to participate. In fact, TGS, which has become the largest game exhibition in Asia, seems to have the ambition to challenge E3 to become the world's number one game exhibition.

However, it's a bit strange that Nintendo, as a member of the Computer Entertainment Software Association of Japan, has almost never participated in this game show. The only recorded instance of Nintendo being seen at the TGS is the single TGS.

When E3 was held in Los Angeles this May, DreamWorks only announced one game, *Mechanical Civilization*. Although it sold very well, the company's global influence remained relatively small, thus preventing them from participating in the world's largest gaming expo. This year's Tokyo Game Show, however, presents a golden opportunity for DreamWorks, having acquired Vivendi Games and Umberto Eco, becoming the world's second-largest game company. It's a perfect chance for DreamWorks' various game design studios and companies to showcase a new image to the world, and there's absolutely no reason for them to miss it.

The game expo will begin on September 20th at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, Tokyo. Dream International, along with its two subsidiaries, Lechang Network and Dream Games, will be sending a large delegation to Japan. Su Yi, a very low-profile member of this delegation, will also be traveling to Japan again.

Compared to the exchange of ideas and business between exhibitors that industry insiders focus on, many ordinary gamers are probably more interested in the blockbuster games launched at the game expo and the alluring female booth models. Hearing that Su Yi would be attending the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, Ji Feng was also eager to join him. However, although they had already secured a ticket to the Seoul WCG finals, the Dream Team's goal was the WCG championship. Therefore, before going to Korea, the team had been continuing intensive training. As the captain, he naturally couldn't slack off and go to Japan with his mentor to feast his eyes. He could only sigh and declare that he wouldn't miss next year's E3 and TGS.

The trip to Japan, as announced to the media, was led by Zhang Qi, the Chinese-American vice president recruited by Mo Yuqing from EA and general manager of Dream Games. Su Yi was taking Mo Jin'er on a purely touristy trip to experience the gaming atmosphere. Undeniably, the Japanese game industry is highly creative in game development. Acquiring a few Japanese game teams and learning from their game creation experience to penetrate the Pan-Asian game market would be a good idea. Mo Jin'er had spent almost the entire summer vacation with her grandfather in Beidaihe, separated from Su Yi for a long time. Furthermore, Mo Yuqing was busy with the Dream Charity Foundation, which was still in its early stages and had many tasks, leaving her little time to care for Mo Jin'er. This provided a good opportunity for Su Yi to take her to Japan. Since it was only second-year school, missing a few days could be easily made up, so after requesting leave from school, Su Yi took Mo Jin'er to Japan.

Su Yi and his team arrived in Japan a few days in advance. Employees from Dream International had already come to set up the venue. After everyone met up, they made the final arrangements for the venue under Zhang Qi's instructions.

Because the Tokyo Game Show is held in Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo, the airport they landed at was New Tokyo International Airport, which is also located in Chiba Prefecture.

Sony was initially unaware that Su Yi had also come to Japan. It wasn't until a Sony employee who had previously helped receive Su Yi picked him up at New Tokyo International Airport that they unexpectedly spotted Su Yi holding Mo Jin'er's hand among the members of the Dream International exhibition team. After reporting this to the head office, they learned that the chairman of Dream International had also come to Tokyo.

As a partner of DreamGames, Sony immediately demonstrated the enthusiasm of a host. After all, in recent years at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony's PS and PS2 series consoles have completely dominated the competition with other game consoles. Among the games exhibited at the Tokyo Game Show, the number of PS2 games has far exceeded that of other consoles. Calling Sony a host is not an exaggeration.

However, CESA also invited Microsoft, whose momentum is gradually increasing, to participate in this year's Tokyo Game Show. You can imagine how fierce the competition between the various console camps will be at this year's game show.

Faced with Sony's invitation, Su Yi instructed Zhang Qi to repeatedly state that the chairman was attending the exhibition privately and taking the opportunity to tour Tokyo, and did not wish to disturb others. Even so, Sony still enthusiastically arranged a tour guide for Su Yi, who was said to be very familiar with the famous sights around Tokyo.

Since the other party was so enthusiastic, Su Yi didn't want to keep refusing them. However, upon meeting the so-called tour guide, he finally understood why Zhang Qi's expression had seemed a bit off earlier. This so-called tour guide was none other than Matsu Takako, a popular Japanese actress. Su Yi finally realized that Matsu Takako was currently signed to Sony Music Japan, a subsidiary of Sony. He also understood that during his last trip to Japan, he and Mo Yuqing had mentioned liking Matsu Takako, who played Ryoko in "Long Vacation," when discussing Japanese dramas. He hadn't expected that this casual remark would be remembered by Sony, and that Sony had specifically sent Matsu Takako, who happened to be under their record label, to be his tour guide this time.

Having Matsu Takako as a tour guide would only create more trouble. She'd probably be on the front page of the newspapers the next day, since she's currently single, and entertainment reporters in any country are always very interested in female celebrities' scandals…