Cave summer matsuri - 8/14/2010

[EOJ]

http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2010/07/2010-5fae.html

It will be at the UDX, second floor, in Akihabara, on Saturday August 14th, 2010. There will be new goods for sale, and new games for play there.

[GaijinPunch]

A queue down the fucking street as well, I'm sure!

[EOJ]

New goods added to the festival page:

http://cave-gameshow.cocolog-nifty.com/fes201008/

That DDPDFK iphone case looks nice.

[EOJ]

Weird ass promo video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-NDr3KCA3w&feature=player_embedded

[Kiken]

Weird ass promo video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-NDr3KCA3w&feature=player_embedded

Asada's hair looks relatively normal in that photo... good shot of Ikeda though.

[GaijinPunch]

What time are you losers heading out there?

[Tesuman]

If anyone is going (and can afford an extra book), let me know, you'll be well compensated for the effort!

[Kaneda]

I think I'm gonna go at the crack of dawn and hope for the best.

[Tesuman]

Isn't that at like 4-something in the morning?

[GaijinPunch]

Yeah, it gets light early.
I'm in Akasaka at the moment.  I'm going to walk down there at about 2AM, which should get me there about 3AM or so.  It's only 6k, which is like walking home for me, so no big deal.  Might cab some of it.

Rain might be an issue.

[Jockel]

Let's hope for some announcements!

[EOJ]

So now that the event has started, the random 2Ch comments about it are trickling in. So far:

"The Guwange 360 mode is really fun!!"

[EOJ]

Live updates to be posted in English on this blog in a few hours:

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/08/14/cave_festival_live_report/

[EOJ]

Update: NAL just did a run in Futari BL Maniac Palm where he died a few times and ended his credit at Larsa with 1.08bil.

[GaijinPunch]

Well, I went, queued from 3AM, slept a bit, got my gear and left.  Even if I didn't have the gear I probably wouldn't have had the heart to stay.  THe queues were really long.  On display for us mortals:

-Guwange 360 (Arrange Mode apparently)
-DFK 1.51

The former needs no explanation.  I asked one of the staff when it would be released, and he said "fuck off".  Haha... just kidding (lack of sleep here).  He said they were waiting on the ratings of each region.  When I asked if it was just Europe, US and Japan, he said also Australia, Korea, and maybe even some other country I forgot about.  They said they have some, but not all.

DFK 1.51 was apparently put together (show only, of course) by some new blood at Cave.   I think there's quite a few differences but the main one is if you use "a lot of hypers" each stage will go to the 2nd-loop version.

I wanted to give it a try, but there's like 20 people waiting, and only 1 cab.   I had a bag of shit as well which didn't help.

There was an iPhone/iPad display booth w/ DFK shit.  When we were queing outside it looked like a DFK booth with an LCD.  I was sure it was going to have a 360 version of DFK.  Had a bit of wood, but as I got closer, I could make out he iPhone/iPad writing.  It was also only viewable by people queing... not other guests, so yeah, stupidity on my part.

[GaijinPunch]

Almost forgot... the gear.
I've not watched the DVD yet, and probably won't get around to it for a while.  I did thumb through the book on the way home.  It's nice.  Has a lot of art, quite a few sketches from each game, pictures from various AOU shows (from about 2005 on), all the Cave Matsuri's (including some of  the special items they had), and interviews with 9 staff members.  They're pushing the whole "15 years thing", and in at least IKD's interview, they ask him to reflect on his time, etc.  Nothing really amazingly secretive.  We know a lot about the guy.  There's a Yagawa interview which should be interesting, considering how (seemingly) reclusive the guy is.

Really wish the iPhone cases were iPhone 4 compatible. 

[EOJ]

There's a Yagawa interview which should be interesting, considering how (seemingly) reclusive the guy is.

If I can get my hands on one of those books that's the first thing I'm translating.

[Monouchi]

Nice with two new astros on the stage.

[GaijinPunch]

If I can get my hands on one of those books that's the first thing I'm translating.

Do you have one sorted out?  The usual suspects claimed all of my lot.

[EOJ]

Kaneda said he'd try to get one for me, but I'll have to get lucky. Need a DVD too, but those should be easy to find on the auction sites a bit later.

[GaijinPunch]

Kaneda showed up somewhat early, but was still about 300 or so in line.  And then he said over 100 showed up after him.  The best part of the event was someone going down the line, having everyone "tighten it up".    Then he comes back by like 5 minutes later and has everyone get in lines of 3 b/c it's backing up into the station.  I thought it was suspicious as he was wearing headphones.  Then, he jumps in line a few people behind me.  He didn't even work there -- just a devoted fan.

Kaneda was like, "if we weren't white we could take this line to all kinds of interesting formations".

[Kaneda]

EOJ and Monouchi, I got your books and Plasmo and CRI, I have your DVDs. Sorry to the rest of you that I couldn't get more but I imagine they should be relatively easy to come by in the following months.

Edit: My impressions of the event:

All dignity was checked at the door, or rather, the moment I stepped into a snaking line of hundreds of nerds at 5 in the morning. It's been a while since I set foot in a comic convention so such a huge concentration of social awkwardness kind of hit me hard at such an unbearable hour. From a Cave game fan perspective there was some good merch and a mini-washoi superplay event that was neat enough, but the matsuri was really more interesting anthropologically. I watched with grim fascination as the handful of women working there talked with these nerds but it was less an interaction between two potential sexual partners and more like the interaction between a day-care worker and her 5-year-old children. I watched this one large individual wander around with a thousand-yard stare as he mumbled "I'm so happy" to himself over and over. The area was rather large and was all windows, so curious onlookers could peer into this nerdy terrarium.

Anyways, I got my goods and it was all good. Pretty schweet DVD and the book is ok too.

[GaijinPunch]

Pretty much concur.  It seems that there are very few cool kids that are digging on these games these days.  And 60-year-old-creepy-woman-dress man I thought was a bizarre touch (he was at the end of my group).  The one girl putting triangles on everyone's heads had a nice rack, but that's it.  This is weird since Cave seems to be hiring somewhat fashionable developers... Asada being the leader.

The event was definitely worth it when I wanted some of the gear for myself, and you didn't have to queue for ages to play the games.  As crowded as it was at Hey, you could just jump up and throw a credit in.  That's no longer the case.  So, while as a capitalist it's not a bad gig (even though a bit humilating) but the "value" is totally questionable.

[gsl]

I watched this one large individual wander around with a thousand-yard stare as he mumbled "I'm so happy" to himself over and over.

Video -> looping .gif with subtitles -> new Cave-STG.com frontpage image.

[charlienash87]

anyone care to share their impressions on the book?

[lmagus]

I'm also curious about the book, as I really wanted to get one.. Any ideas of how to now?