Tokyo retro game shop Super Potato in Akihabara has more and more cool, made-in-house drawings of old game characters and other nerdy references plastering the walls of its building’s hallways every year. This year, I was impressed by this one, which not only features the much-better-known-in-America-than-Japan Power Glove, but also an apparent reference to Penny Arcade Expo.
Either that, or the “PAX” is supposed to be an ironic message of peace on an instrument of destruction, like writing “Smile!” on all your bullets. But personally, I want to believe that Japan looks across the Pacific and envies PAX, a consumer-facing game event at which (unlike Tokyo Game Show) consumers actually get to play more than two or three games over the course of the event thanks to lines that aren’t three hours long.
There were nearly a quarter of a million attendees at this year’s TGS; if everyone attended for, say, a day and a half on average, that works out to something like 2.3 million man-hours spent waiting in line over the past weekend. And people think Japan is so efficient. Pah!
Sadly, PAX was the company that distributed the Power Glove in Japan. I’d still like to think that they were referencing the Penny Arcade Expo.
Or it could be that they really liked that Kevin Spacey movie where he thinks he’s an alien.
Actually, the PAX bit is what’s printed on the Japanese Power Gloves, pretty sure they manufactured them or something.
Mind, I didn’t realise this until I was reading up on a recent Power Glove-purchasing incident over at Famicomblog, where pictures showed a happy PAX logo stamped on said glove.
I like your idea better though. Just sayin’.
Reality is so lame.