The experience has been had...and the results are in.
Hello Everyone! Pandalicious here! Talking to you about the interactive experience found at this years Anime Boston 2009! Needless to say, the dealers room [where all the purchases of the merchandise take place] allowed for maximum traffic. Sadly, there was a certain "buzz" missing from this place. However, the darker the cloud, the shinier the silver lining, and this year's silver lining for the dealers room was the emergence of an interactive area dead set in the middle! This area was designated to the promotion of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for the Nintendo DS/DSi
I know before I left for my "animeventure", that I touched briefly on the game and their reasons for coming to this convention. The premise still stands that they were there to promote this game. It could have been as simple as showing highlights of the game, and having some models walking around as some of the characters of the game. [Yes this was done, who can blame them, it works!] However they went ahead and fully enticed walkers by to in fact stop walking, and start watching!
They hosted head to head simulation battles while explaining the core fundamentals of the game. [Remember this is a battle tactics game, so strategy is KEY] Since this is a tactics game the objective is to defeat the opposing side [usually for portables this is a fairly decent AI, however through the power of wireless, we as gamers no longer have to out think a computer, we have to out think another person!]
These head to head simulations were not just a demonstration, these guys really rallied the crowd to cheer on their favorite side, and some were even rewarded with helpful accessories for say....a Nintendo DS/DSi [It never hurts to entice the gamer base with free merchandise]
Once the battle was over,a victor was named. You'd think that the crowd would just go back to their world of anime goodness. Now some of them did this but, the majority of the group stuck around in the footprint! There were attendants who had versions of the game and even stations set up so that people w/o a Nintendo DS/DSi could get a hands on feel for it.
I have it on good authority that this was the hot spot in the dealer's room this year and they even got talked to about their noise levels. In my opinion, their buzz and noise was definitely needed. It brought some life back to this hall! Now I could have just waltzed right over to them, slinging my press badge like some magical trinket, however, I decided to just stand and be cloaked by the crowd.[Like a ninja....with cat ears on...] All the attendants were upbeat, peppy and informative! For the most part they were FUN...that is what made this interesting, it was F-U-N!
As of Saturday, when a very stealthy Pandalicious cat girl slipped into the crowd, the attendant who spotted her was asked about their traffic and their feelings about their exposure at this convention. They were very pleased with their outcome. Especially on Saturday, which in this person's POV (Point of view) is the "Make it or Break it Day"
So if all of this wasn't enough to make people stop by and say "Hey!" This interactive booth was also holding a raffle. It was one you could enter everyday of the three days, and the prize was a copy of the game Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and a life size replica of the legendary sword Falchion. [ Which the main character of this game wields, it was very cool!!!]
All in all I was very impressed by the overall set up, arrangement, and execution of this interactive area. I would love to see more attractions like this at Anime Boston. It is certainly an experience I shall not forget!
Hello Everyone! Pandalicious here! Talking to you about the interactive experience found at this years Anime Boston 2009! Needless to say, the dealers room [where all the purchases of the merchandise take place] allowed for maximum traffic. Sadly, there was a certain "buzz" missing from this place. However, the darker the cloud, the shinier the silver lining, and this year's silver lining for the dealers room was the emergence of an interactive area dead set in the middle! This area was designated to the promotion of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for the Nintendo DS/DSi
I know before I left for my "animeventure", that I touched briefly on the game and their reasons for coming to this convention. The premise still stands that they were there to promote this game. It could have been as simple as showing highlights of the game, and having some models walking around as some of the characters of the game. [Yes this was done, who can blame them, it works!] However they went ahead and fully enticed walkers by to in fact stop walking, and start watching!
They hosted head to head simulation battles while explaining the core fundamentals of the game. [Remember this is a battle tactics game, so strategy is KEY] Since this is a tactics game the objective is to defeat the opposing side [usually for portables this is a fairly decent AI, however through the power of wireless, we as gamers no longer have to out think a computer, we have to out think another person!]
These head to head simulations were not just a demonstration, these guys really rallied the crowd to cheer on their favorite side, and some were even rewarded with helpful accessories for say....a Nintendo DS/DSi [It never hurts to entice the gamer base with free merchandise]
Once the battle was over,a victor was named. You'd think that the crowd would just go back to their world of anime goodness. Now some of them did this but, the majority of the group stuck around in the footprint! There were attendants who had versions of the game and even stations set up so that people w/o a Nintendo DS/DSi could get a hands on feel for it.
I have it on good authority that this was the hot spot in the dealer's room this year and they even got talked to about their noise levels. In my opinion, their buzz and noise was definitely needed. It brought some life back to this hall! Now I could have just waltzed right over to them, slinging my press badge like some magical trinket, however, I decided to just stand and be cloaked by the crowd.[Like a ninja....with cat ears on...] All the attendants were upbeat, peppy and informative! For the most part they were FUN...that is what made this interesting, it was F-U-N!
As of Saturday, when a very stealthy Pandalicious cat girl slipped into the crowd, the attendant who spotted her was asked about their traffic and their feelings about their exposure at this convention. They were very pleased with their outcome. Especially on Saturday, which in this person's POV (Point of view) is the "Make it or Break it Day"
So if all of this wasn't enough to make people stop by and say "Hey!" This interactive booth was also holding a raffle. It was one you could enter everyday of the three days, and the prize was a copy of the game Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and a life size replica of the legendary sword Falchion. [ Which the main character of this game wields, it was very cool!!!]
All in all I was very impressed by the overall set up, arrangement, and execution of this interactive area. I would love to see more attractions like this at Anime Boston. It is certainly an experience I shall not forget!
Labels: Anime-Boston, DS, Games, Nintendo, Pandalicious
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