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When it comes to the E3, Jay-Z got it best when he said, “After the show it’s the after party, and after the party it’s the hotel lobby”.
I got my fill of virtual reality inside the Convention Center today, so what better way to unwind after the first day of the E3 than some in-the-flesh reality at the Hotel Figueroa. That’s right, yours truly got into the Ziff-Davis E3 after party at the Hotel Figueroa. You go through the door, run into the packed bar/restaurant grab a drink and squeeze your way outside to the poolside.
I had no sooner gotten outside than I saw the face of a Japanese psychedelic rockabilly whose face I knew, but whose name I didn’t. It was Satoshi Kanematsu, the man responsible for Monster Rancher and Rygar for the PS2. But the conversation wasn’t videogames, it was music.
Behind the Music: Satoshi Kanematsu
I told him he looked familiar, and asked him what was his name. He told me he was the man behind Rygar and Monster Rancher. Delighted, we exchanged name cards, after which I commented on his clothing. He explained that he was a huge classic rock fan. We went through the usual name game.
Kanematsu-San: Jimi Hendrix
Hsieh-San: Cream
Kanematsu-San: Santana
You see where its going, but then I threw out the name of all names, the godfather of British Blues, John Mayall.
Hsieh-San: John Mayall
Kanematsu-San: Oh, John Mayall, very good.
Now that we were legit, I whipped out my Ipod and showed him my Cream Collection, and played Sunshine of Your Love. He strapped on the headphones and started tapping his boot and singing, “In the Sunshine of your, luh-uh-uh-uh-uhhhhve”.
Eager to reciprocate, he brought out the tiny Sony MagicGate MP3 player, which has a native 512MB flash memory and a MagicGate port. He showed me his collection of Santana, which he literally kept close to his heart.
Then I brought it back to videogame music, and asked him if he knew of Yasunori Mitsuda, of Chrono Trigger and Xenogears fame. My Japanese was not up to snuff, so I had to show him his name in romanji on my Ipod. Then he knew, and approved.
But I was getting a little too much into other people’s music, so he brought me back to his contribution to the Orchestral Game Concert in Moscow, Russia. Bringing out me his Sony Mp3 player, he had me listen to what he happily described as an 80-piece orchestral treatment of his music. I was impressed, and had him listen to my Orchestral Game Concert (Yasunori Mitsuda’s opening) and Seiken Densetsu 3.
Now we were on the same pages.
So then he tells me he’s got three recording labels in Japan, and if I understand correctly, that his brother is involved in psychedelic rock, progressive rock and post-rock projects. As an avid fan of blues-based rock and roll, I was much impressed and glad to see that real rock lives on outside of the United States.
Then I asked him if he had met Shigeru Miyamoto.
“Yes, yesterday at the Nintendo Press Conference,” he said.
“No, but I mean, have you hung out with him,” I replied.
With a grin on his face, he held up his Corona bottle and said, “Last night we were out drinking”. Then one of his Tecmo lackeys asked him if they could get him another drink. “Wow,” I said, “You got people getting you drinks”.
“They’re Tecmo guys,” he said smiling.
Then FFDog came in and started speaking Japanese to him. Kanematsu asked him where he lived and laughed when he heard the answer. Apparently, FFDog lives in the nicest part of Tokyo. Kanematsu-san called him a very rich man. Then more people who spoke Japanese talked to him and I got pushed out of the conversation. We shook hands and went our separate ways. It was a good day.
I used up the free bar inside, and the Chiquita Banana like girl who was passing out Cuban cigars and matchboxes. I finally got around to eating the Hawaiian pork and the fried Cuban bananas, which I took outside with my drink and cigar so I could listen to the Cuban Band, Johnny Polanco y Su Conjunto Amistad. The two people they paid to dance danced all 4 hours of the party and never tired of dance or each other. That’s true love.
I don’t know if it was love at first sight with Dan Hsu and I. First I told him I’d read him since the early 1990s in EGM and it was a pleasure to meet him. Sincere pleasantries aside, I took it to the next level and pointed out that both our last names are spelled with an Hs that is pronounced “Sh”. Immediately each of us knew the considerable frustration that this has brought our respective peers and friends over our lives. The bond was there.
I then spoke to him about some of my convictions and excitement for the smaller Asian markets. His reply gave me some insight to the considerations of mainstream magazines like EGM, which are run by hardcore gamers like Dan, but would not be successful magazines without careful consideration of the mainstream audience. Furthermore, he rightly added that not all of the smaller Asian markets have completely convinced everyone that they are ready for the limelight. I would have to agree with this, despite the success of Lineage, which will most likely be one of a kind in the Western market. Still, I was able to impart some knowledge and receive even more. It was cool, Dan’s a nice guy and seemed very sincere. But when I pressed him about Sushi-X, he immediately coiled up and said, “I have no comment on anything to do with, Sushi-X”. And that was that.
At this point the party winded down, after which I ended up in the hotel lobby, just like Jay-Z said I would. And then it hit me. Sushi-X is to Dan Hsu as Jay-Z is to Sean Carter.
joshua hsieh wants an alphabetical hyphonate.
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