Wizcorp Blog Tokyo Game Show 2018

For game studios and publishers, not just in Japan but worldwide, the Tokyo Game Show is perhaps its grand showcase, generating the most hype for new titles, new hardware, new companies, and new artists.A four day spectacle, events begin on Thursday and don't end until Sunday of that week; the first two days being reserved for patrons with business or press connections to the gaming industry. This year, the event ran from September the 20th to the 23rd. The general public can attend too, but be warned to show up early. If you don't queue up very early in the morning to get tickets, you probably won't get any opportunity to play anything by the time noon comes along.For a representative from a game studio and publisher, though, the Tokyo Game Show offers more than just a look at the newest releases. It's an opportunity for us and others to connect with other studios and particularly, potential talent that we'd like to hire or work with in the future.Personally, I came with three objectives:1. Check out the latest developments in AR (in particular, libraries for detecting and analyzing human hand digit motion)2. Follow-up with students I have kept in contact with, and have them demonstrate their work and projects to me. In particular, there was one demo from Tokyo Net Wave using hand recognition that I was quite impressed with.3. And in a non-work role, on general admission day on Saturday, with my daughter (who is a student herself studying computer illustration and animation), inspect the portfolio and work done in the design schools - usually done with Maya and Photoshop.In addition to big sections of the Makuhari Messe hall that are devoted to works from other countries (especially those in southeast Asia, eastern Europe, and South America) and Indie and Amateur game development, there is a large hall dedicated to educational institutions: from full size universities to specialized vocational schools. These institutions offer educations not just in game programming and engineering, but the fine arts and design that are necessary for any high quality work.It's a treat perusing the student's portfolios and works on display, and catching up with the career guidance representatives at each school.In addition to standard recruiting, Wizcorp actively works with many of these schools: we attend their career fairs and their students attend our "Wizard Academy" internship program. Alumni of the Wizard Academy have ended up becoming wizards here in our building in Higashi-Nihonbashi, and we expect many more to join us.These schools in Japan are not just limited to Japanese, nor are they limited to pure programmers. Here at Wizcorp we are international, having a mix of both Japanese and non-Japanese... technical engineers and computer animators and artists.The Tokyo Game Show is a place to see not just the latest AAA games and the hardware for the next console. It's a place where budding stars and those with dreams of making their own games come to find where to learn those skills, and possibly meet the company that will enable their dreams.If you're interested in learning more about the Wizard Academy, please check out our web page.