Hi there folks, it's Nagamatsu, the mysterious Judo man. Hai-yaa!!

Well, the summer holidays are over and school has been going for about a month now.
Have you all got used to being back in your classes?
I wasn't able to adjust well to coming back to work, and unfortunately caught a cold because of the change in temperature.
Make sure you all take care of your body when the season changes.

So today I'd like to tell you about an industry-run games festival called the "Amusement Machine Show".

From September 18th to 20th, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX was exhibited at the Amusement Machine Show at Makuhari Messe.
It's the first time the game has seen the light of day since the location test.

Eight machines, in all their glory!! When you get this many machines lined up in a row, they have a certain power, right?

On the open day, when members of the public could enter the venue, a huge number of players came to try out the new game.
I'm sure people must have waited thirty minutes or more in those long queues to play the game.
I'd like to say a really big thank you to all the fans who came along for a test drive.

But of course, the game was not just there for display.

On the open day at the Amusement Machine Show, we had the "825HP Challenge Tournament".

Using either the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X or Subaru Impreza WRX STI that appear in Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX, players competed in VS Battle and progressed to the next level if they won their match.

Over 100 players took part in the tournament.
A grand heated battle began to unfold.

I was watching the play stealthily from behind, and I noticed that it was mostly veteran players.
They were racing around the new course as if they had been racing on it all their lives.
I felt sure that if I'd entered, I wouldn't have got past the selection stage, far less the first round.

The semi-final and the final battle were both shown on the large main monitor.
The final battle was fought between the remaining four players on the new course, the Nagoya Speed Ring. They took the course so well that it seemed like they really had been playing it for along time, fighting for the best lines through the corners, pulling out tactical play to defeat rivals and drifting gracefully round corners - it truly was an impressive, exciting match.
What I'd really like to know is just how much racing it takes to get as good as you guys...

And so the tournament ended in the midst of enthusiastic clapping from all the audience.
I'd like to say thanks and thanks again to all the people who took part the players, the spectators, and everybody else.

Whaddya mean, "Who won?"
I'll tell you about that some other time.
Expect it in a Future Lab News report...

OK, that wraps it up for today...hai-yaa!!

(Original article in Japanese released on 9.24.2008)