July 12th, the first day after the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference, the exhibition floor opened to the public, and countless players flooded in.
The organizers hadn't expected this year's expo to be so popular, and it was all because major Japanese game companies like Pokeni and Sony had joined.
Pokeni's booth location, environment, and size were decent, but the downside was that Pokeni was sandwiched between Nintendo and Sega.
This was truly awkward for everyone.
Aoki Haruhi and the Sega side were fine, but things were a bit awkward with Nintendo; Miyamoto Shigeru had flown back to his home country the next day, leaving only the marketing director for the American region.
Nintendo and Sega were also awkward; both sides couldn't stand each other, and having fought for so many years, it had become an instinct and a habit.
Therefore, in this entire exhibition area, apart from the lively players, the staff at the booths were generally quite cold, rarely speaking to each other.
Aoki Haruhi would occasionally chat with them, acting as a buffer in the middle.
Otherwise, the entire venue would have been frozen to the freezing point.
On the first day, as soon as Pokeni's booth opened, countless players flooded over.
Some wanted to experience what this so-called'super-era 3D game masterpiece' Frontier was all about.
A large portion of the others were there for Pokémon.
After all, Frontier hadn't been released yet, let alone have a fan base, but Pokémon was different; after being managed for over three years, it was now number one in popularity among single-player games in America.
Moreover, in order to make the booth richer and attract more attention from players, Pokeni was giving away a random Pokémon blind box for free every day, which each person could claim once, along with some small merchandise.
The Pokémon blind boxes basically contained large Pokémon pillows, ranging from Pikachu to Umbreon, but because it was a blind box, you weren't guaranteed to get a specific one; the Pokémon inside were random.
Even the staff didn't know who was inside.
On the first day, the Pokémon booth was bustling, and players were going crazy for it.
Takahashi Kazuma stood on the high platform, organizing the staff to maintain order at the scene, shouting loudly, "Everyone only has one chance to claim! Please queue in order! Queue in order!!!"
Besides adults, there were many children—or rather, children brought by adults.
They went crazy when they heard the word Pokémon.
"Giggle, giggle... I really want a Pikachu, which one is Pikachu?!"
"Give me one, give me one!"
"I want one too, I want one too!"
The chattering of the children made Aoki Haruhi's ears ache.
He felt like his head was about to explode.
It felt like there were a hundred mouths around him.
And after Takahashi Kazuma had been organizing for a while, they finally got into line, and a quick glance revealed that the line was incredibly long, stretching from the Pokeni booth all the way outside the hall.
Even the surrounding partners were stunned.
As expected of Pokémon.
"What did you open? Do you want to trade with me?"
"What did you get? Mine is Psyduck."
"Wow, Psyduck is so cute, mine is Bulbasaur."
"Does anyone want Pikachu?! Trading Pikachu for Eevee! Anyone with an Eevee can trade with me!!"
"Oh my god! I actually opened an Umbreon!!! Oh my god!!!"
"No way?! I really want an Umbreon too! How about you name a price? My child really likes this Umbreon."
"I pulled an Espeon!!! It's so pretty, just like a spirit from a fairy tale."
The children were jumping and noisy, surrounding the entire Pokeni booth so tightly that not even water could trickle through.
Even the players trying out Frontier nearby couldn't stand it.
And it wasn't just children who loved Pokémon; many adults loved Pokémon too, and were willing to pay for them.
Less than half an hour after opening, the 500 prepared Pokémon blind boxes were'snapped up'.
So scary!...
Nearby, Sonic and Uncle mario were silent.
Is Pokémon really that good?
...After the free giveaways were finished, the Pokeni booth suddenly became much quieter.
It wasn't that no one was coming, just that it wasn't surrounded three layers deep like at the start.
There were still quite a few children, who were looking for the Pokémon performers at the scene to take photos and play with.
Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but exclaim—Pokémon really is the world's number one IP, luckily he had secured it, otherwise wouldn't Nintendo be flying high right now?
The human-sized Pokémon walking around the scene contrasted sharply with the scantily clad cosplayers in other booths.
In the sweltering July weather, wearing a mascot suit was truly uncomfortable; to earn this money, the cosplayers really didn't have it easy.
No, to be precise, they weren't even called cosplayers, they should just be called mascot performers, because you didn't even have a chance to show your face; you had to be wrapped in such heavy mascot suits the whole time, and also pose in various classic poses from games or animations.
Making cute movements, taking photos with passersby, and so on.
It was actually quite hard work.
No line of work is easy.
Aoki Haruhi sat in his booth, his gaze constantly drawn to the Tomb Raider 2 Lara cosplayer diagonally opposite.
In fact, it wasn't just Aoki Haruhi; most people at the scene, including media reporters, were attracted by her.
Although Pokeni had rightfully become the biggest winner and the brightest star at the pre-exhibition press conference the day before, thanks to the game Frontier and Nvidia's powerful graphics card capabilities, those were just titles based on strength.
By today, people had returned from rationality to sensibility, and the Lara model from Tomb Raider was simply more eye-catching than all the games combined; there was no helping that.
Who said game geeks don't like beautiful women?
That's just because they don't have the opportunity to get close to beautiful women.
Now, many game geeks at the scene were dying to take a photo or two with Lara; this wasn't just Lara, this was Rhona Mitra, the actress from the TV series Ghostbusters of East Finchley, a future movie star.
(Perhaps many people don't have an impression of Rhona Mitra, but she is best known for playing the beautiful neighbor next door in the thriller Hollow Man.)
They definitely all wanted to go over and take a picture or two as a souvenir.
..."President, do you want to go to a nightclub or something to relax tonight?"
Takahashi Kazuma's voice came from the side, pulling Aoki Haruhi out of his deep thoughts.
"Hmm?" Aoki Haruhi blinked in confusion.
"I saw you staring at someone else's model for a long time. If you like her, I can go get her contact information, or I can find some local friends to take you out tonight?"
Takahashi Kazuma also blinked, but strangely, he only blinked one eye.
"Huh?"
Aoki Haruhi was stunned for a moment, then realized what was going on.
"What are you talking about? I'm not that kind of person, I'm married."
Takahashi Kazuma suddenly felt his face burn. "Ah, sorry, I thought you were also..."
Many men become bad after they get rich, especially when the president is so young and handsome; Takahashi Kazuma thought that now that Aoki Haruhi's wife was pregnant, the president might have unsatisfied desires or something.
As a loyal subordinate, especially since he was mainly in charge of operations, he naturally had to know how to read the room, so he subconsciously assumed that the president had needs in this area.
"It's fine, use that strategy on clients."
Aoki Haruhi smiled and patted his shoulder.
Aoki Haruhi had done similar things; he kept himself clean, but if some clients liked it, you still had to arrange it properly.
Thinking of this, the figure of Hattori Hiroyuki couldn't help but appear in Aoki Haruhi's mind.
That guy was also a playboy before he got married.
Who would have thought that he would be tamed by his wife after getting married.
Aoki Haruhi certainly didn't believe that Hattori Hiroyuki had truly turned over a new leaf; it could only be said that his wife's zaibatsu influence was too great, forcing Hattori to restrain himself a bit.
"I was looking at the other model because..."
Aoki Haruhi turned back. "Look, isn't the contrast between us very strong? The cameras must all be aimed at the beautiful female model; who would want to come and take pictures of us?"
Well, it's not like you could say the Pokeni booth was completely empty.
You could say that in terms of games, Pokeni was still quite popular, it's just that most of the people who came over were children.
There were plenty of people who liked Frontier, it's just that they lost a round when it came to cosplayers.
...
Future E3 Electronic Entertainment Expos won't just be about competing on games and strength; they'll also be about who can hire the most beautiful showgirls.
Sigh, how should I put it? Once one person starts the rat race, the entire industry gets dragged into it.
Aoki Haruhi was starting to understand those peers who hated him.
Could his flashy moves at these two E3 Electronic Entertainment Expos have caused the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra's value to skyrocket, to the point where everyone would be fighting to hire them for performances at next year's expo?
At this thought, Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but chuckle.
"In that case, how about I go find a group of beautiful cosplayers to come over?" Takashi Kazuma asked thoughtfully.
No, to be precise, he was extremely nervous and panicked inside.
Because this was something he should have done in the first place; when participating in an E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, you have to make sure the event is handled beautifully.
Now that he'd made the President lose face, it was truly a sin.
If the booth loses face, then the President loses face.
If the President loses face, then Takashi Kazuma loses face.
"That won't be necessary." Aoki Haruhi shook his head. "The others hired TV actresses, and they're game spokespeople. Where would we even go to hire one? Should we hire a female celebrity too?
It's already too late for that anyway."
"Hmm... that's true." Takashi Kazuma frowned.
It was too rushed to find a celebrity spokesperson now. If they were willing to throw money at it, it probably wouldn't be a big issue, but the process would take time, and in terms of cost-effectiveness, it was too low.
If they just found some pretty girls to rush over, they certainly wouldn't have the same level of fame as the others, and naturally, they wouldn't become the focus of reporters and the media.
Takashi Kazuma thought to himself that the President really should have chosen a spokesperson for Frontier from the very beginning.
"Besides, look at our games: one is Pokémon, the other is Frontier.
One follows a cute children's pet route, and the other is a hardcore, gritty, war-style shooter. Neither of them is suitable for hiring beautiful cosplayers, okay?"
"Then... how about we hire a group of muscular tough guys?" Takashi Kazuma asked tentatively.
"That's kind of interesting, huh." Aoki Haruhi smiled.
"Yeah, yeah, the kind where their thighs are thicker than my neck, the kind that could kill someone with a single punch. It would form a sharp contrast with the other side.
The guys next door are selling sex appeal; we'll sell muscles."
Takashi Kazuma immediately got excited. "Then we equip everyone with a gun—a real gun, but with the bullets removed.
A group of tough guys with bare arms, wearing camouflage, standing right here in a row.
The aura would definitely be intimidating, and no one would be able to say that our cosplayers aren't as pretty or as famous as the other side's.
We're going for the hardcore, gritty route anyway.
War is inherently cruel, and shooter games, even more so, need that adrenaline-pumping feeling."
Aoki Haruhi watched him go on and on, and eventually, Takashi Kazuma realized something was wrong; his voice grew quieter and quieter...
"President, why are you looking at me like that? You looking at me like that makes me nervous."
"Sure," Aoki Haruhi smiled. "Stand a row of tough guys here, and the players don't even need to come over; it'll all be for the reporters to take pictures.
Tomorrow's headline will be: 'Pokeni hires a bunch of tough guys for their booth, forming a sharp contrast with the beautiful Lara opposite them.'
Guess what? Will the players want to go play the game with the beautiful woman, or will they want to come play our game with the tough guys?"
"Ah, this..." Takashi Kazuma scratched his head. He really wanted to say that tough guys were great, but when he saw Aoki Haruhi's sharp gaze, he had to lower his head.
"Players all like things that look fierce but actually have no lethality."
Aoki Haruhi concluded, "And think about it, why do so many games use showgirls instead of showboys?"
No matter what kind of game you're making, generally speaking, you can choose a famous spokesperson regardless of gender.
But as for the cosplayers on-site, even if you're making an all-male baseball game, you still need a beautiful woman to throw the first pitch.
You wouldn't really hire Jordan to stand at an NBA game booth; the ones standing there are always good-looking girls.
Or a group of girls with a few good-looking boys mixed in.
It's about the same in every country.
The reason... well, I can only say there are too many perverts in this world.
And just like Aoki Haruhi said, people like things that look fierce but actually have no lethality. Lara looks fierce and is very sexy, but most people wouldn't really think she has any lethality because she is a girl.
But if you put a bunch of muscular tough guys standing here, you'd have the gimmick, but it would create a sense of distance.
The sense of oppression is too strong; instead, no one would dare come over to play the game.
Not to mention you want them to hold guns; how could that possibly work?
...
"Forget it, forget it," Aoki Haruhi shook his head. "Let's prepare ahead of time next time."
"Yeah."
Takashi Kazuma nodded helplessly, while simultaneously noting down the lessons from this time in his little notebook.
A good operations director must always try to understand the user's psychology, as well as the President's psychology.
But... Takashi Kazuma thought to himself, who else can you blame? You can only blame yourself, President.
You haven't really designed a representative character with a female lead. In this E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, even if there was just one more galgame, you could have brought a group of beautiful cosplayers directly.
Look at it now: one is a shooter game, the other is Pokémon. There's simply no choice, okay?
The room for maneuver is very small.
You can't just have beautiful women wear Pokémon costumes and flaunt themselves there, right?
That would be really weird, okay?
Actually, Aoki Haruhi also had a tiny bit of regret.
If he had made a rough prototype of my robot girlfriend, he could have logically had a row of robot girls standing in front of the booth.
Whether they could compare to Lara is debatable, but at the very least, it would definitely be very eye-catching.
Just think about it: a group of girls wearing sci-fi robot costumes, dressed cool and beautifully, with great figures standing here—who wouldn't want to take more pictures?
Now look around him: Nintendo's big-headed mario, next to Sega's sonic the hedgehog, plus their own Pikachu...
A bunch of oversized plushies, each one clunkier than the last, attracting mostly children.
"Sigh..." Aoki Haruhi crossed his arms and sighed again.
A character like Lara is truly rare; especially after it became a hit in the future when played by Angelina Jolie, Lara's charming and cool-to-the-bone warrior woman image is deeply ingrained in people's hearts, making everyone deeply remember this girl.
If only we had a similar character.
Aoki Haruhi turned back and looked at his own booth.
If there were a Lara placed in the middle of a bunch of Pokémon.
That scene, just thinking about it, is really quite interesting.
...
But what kind of character could achieve this effect?
If it were to follow the Europe and America style, it would be best to be cooler and more handsome; for example, a gun in hand is a must, and they also need to be very good at fighting.
It would be best if it were like in Hong Kong kung fu movies.
One person can take on ten, can run on walls, and jump off cliffs and high buildings.
Facing danger without changing expression...
The more Aoki Haruhi pondered, the clearer the shadow that emerged in his mind became.
In the end, it turned into a man in black.
Holy crap!!!
Aoki Haruhi stood up from the ground, giving Takashi Kazuma, who was next to him, a start.
His eyes were unfocused as he looked at the booth in front of him.
The Pokémon mascot performer he was staring intently at felt their heart race, and then silently shifted their position.
Fortunately—Aoki Haruhi's gaze didn't follow; he was lost in thought.
Aoki Haruhi now had only one word in his mind—The Matrix.
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