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AGSDE Expo Asia 2005: The PS3 Construction
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posted by: Aaron Stanton
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date posted: 10:23 AM Fri Dec 23rd, 2005
last revision: 10:28 AM Fri Dec 23rd, 2005


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Click to read.The PS3 Opportunity You Didn\'t know You Had:

Expositions like the 4th Asian Game Show & Digital Entertainment Expo Asia 2005 might not be well recognized in the United States, but that doesn\'t mean you shouldn\'t be envious that we here at GamesFirst get access to the floor over the week. The exposition clears nearly 300,000 visitors from the point it opens its doors to closing four days later, nearly 5 times E3\'s annual claim of 60,000. Combining elements of a game show and a consumer electronics event, attendees see everything from cell phones to sound systems and mp3 players.

Oh, and the PlayStation 3.

It takes seeing the luminescent white PS3 logo over the top of a booth before you really start to get excited. Sony\'s image and presentation are similar at every convention, be it E3 in California or ASGDEE in Hong Kong, and their booth here looks very reminiscent of what they had during the summer in the U.S.

Only with something worth seeing inside, this time.

The Hong Kong exposition isn\'t without its drawbacks. The show floor will have all sorts of games around, but you won\'t see Nintendo or Microsoft making a showing. Sony is obviously the dominant player at the event. However, I have an Xbox 360 sitting at home in the States; there\'s no mystery left to solve in Microsoft\'s next-generation offering, and there\'s all sorts surrounding the PS3. As with the first glimpse of any new console (E3 doesn\'t count because all they showed was plastic mock-ups), all it takes is the logo to send chills down your back.

There\'s something special about seeing an exposition site in the process of construction. Normally by the time the media has a chance to look around, there\'s nothing but the glamor and glitz of a polished presentation. Yet since I was invited here as one of the speakers in the conference before the event, my exhibitor pass gets me earlier access than I\'d normally enjoy with the traditional media badge.

When I saw it earlier today, the PlayStation 3 booth was still being assembled. I wanted to photograph it, but refrained since I was backstage as a guest of the exhibitors, not as a member of the media. Tomorrow, when the show is in full swing, will be a different story completely.

As of tonight, as the sunlight dims and the neon lights cast their glow on the streets here in Hong Kong, there is nothing yet to report. Nothing except the strange switch in my hotel room that apparently does nothing but turn an ambiguous red light on and off. Perhaps, somewhere, I\'m arming and de-arming a nuclear device. I have no way of knowing. But the heart of this trip, the expo, doesn\'t open until tomorrow at 11:00. There has been nothing but a PS3 sighting, and a limited one at that. But there is potential in the air. Much like the CES, AGSDEE packs a gigantic building wall-to-wall with every gadget you could ever want to own. Unlike conference events like E3 in California, the sponsors don\'t limit themselves to any specific form of digital entertainment; here, anything that\'s sparkly and beeps under its own power shows up in the mix.

We at GamesFirst might traditionally be a game only magazine, but that doesn\'t mean we don\'t have a love for small expensive objects. We\'ll let you know what we find.

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