The final attendance numbers for the AOU 2008 Trade Show have been released, showing a dramatic year-on-year increase in attendees at the show. On Friday there was 21,249 attendees (+4,519), with Saturday seeing 17,193 attendees (+6,019). Overall 38,442 people attended the event, an increase of 10,529 people.
Attendance figures were buoyed by the phenomenal hype surrounding
Street Fighter IV, with the long awaited and highly anticipated fighter exhibited to the public for the first time.
Street Fighter IV garnered a huge reception, with reported queues of up to 90 minutes to play the game. Not to be overshadowed by
Street Fighter IV,
BlazBlue, the new 2D fighter developed by Arc System Works, was very well received by attendees on the AMI booth. The game features high definition graphics, and was a standout at the event, with many believing that BlazBlue and King of Fighters XII could be the real fighters to watch out for in 2008. Also on the Capcom booth were the fighters
Sengoku Basara X, and
Fate: Unlimited Codes.
The SNK booth continued the theme of new fighters for 2008, and was awash with hype with the screening of the King of Fighters XII video, which was very well received. Also on the SNK booth was
King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match and
Samurai Spirits Sen.
Konami exhibited their new music rhythm game
Jubeat. Jubeat is the latest game in the Bemani series of games, with the cabinet featuring a 4x4 grid of touchscreen square panels. These panels light up, and players must use their hands to touch the panels in time with the music. Konami also exhibited
Criminal Action, a action game which uses motion-based handheld controls, and
Byon Byon, a game where the player uses a plastic fist like controller to shoot targets and animals. Both of these games utilised innovative control systems, and proved very popular with attendees. Also on the Konami booth was Horseriders,
Pop n Music 16, and
Drum Mania V5 /
Guitar Freaks V5.
Interestingly, the traditional big names of Sega and Namco Bandai Games had few new products to show at this years event. Sega took the opportunity to announce Virtua Fighter 5 R with a video shown of the coming game. From the video, it appears that there will be a new character, as well as new stages and new modes of play. However the anticipated fighter Melty Blood Actress Again was a no show, with the game needing more development time before it is exhibited. Other products of note on the Sega booth were Virtua Fighter 5 Version D, the Simuline manufactured Mini-Rider 2, and UNO the Medal Series.
