E3 First Day (7)

No one answered.

For media people who had spent years clawing their way through the gaming industry, the answer was far from certain. But for businessmen, everyone knew the answer in their hearts.

Lunch on the exhibitors' side was more respectable.

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IDSA had reserved a lounge on the second floor for exhibitors, with hot meals, fruit, and decent coffee.

But most executives from the companies did not go there. Instead, they gathered in the backstage areas of their own booths, eating while holding quick meetings.

Nakayama Takuya stood in the backstage corridor of the Sega booth with a cup of black coffee while Hisao Oguchi reported on the morning's media feedback.

"So far, the media has asked most often about the contents of our afternoon presentation. The next most common question is when the MGS2 demo area will open."

"The demo area will open after the presentation, according to plan." Nakayama Takuya took a sip of coffee. "What do you make of this morning?"

Hisao Oguchi flipped through the notebook in his hands. "Sony's WipEout really landed a clean hit.

"But they only brought two games, which means their first-party development capacity still hasn't caught up. The one truly holding up Sony's show is Namco."

"Namco is tied to Sony even more tightly than I expected."

Meanwhile, in Sony's backstage area, Ken Kutaragi leaned back in a folding chair, his crossed legs resting on an equipment case in front of him. His assistant handed him a summary of immediate feedback just gathered from the media area.

"WipEout has the highest mention rate," the assistant reported. "Tekken from Namco is next. Most outlets are discussing those two games together when talking about the PlayStation's 3D capabilities."

Ken Kutaragi glanced over the summary and casually set it aside.

"When