G-Star

Reasoning

Like everywhere in the world, teenage boys love video games. This is why G-Star exists here in Korea. I'm starting to realize I'm a dinosaur when I talk about video games because, to me, nothing compares to a solid six-hour bender of FF7. More and more games are getting more universal ever since the Wii, no ten year-old has experienced organizing their materia or the speed burst button. Now everyone plays games on their phones or tablets and honestly they seem like modern Gameboys with reinventions of Angry Birds and Donkey Kong except the animals and premises have changed.

Here's an really good article to help explain why I'm upset with the path of video games. I've never been a "good" gamer and obviously never became that committed (the newest game I own is Chel '12) but I have realized that I'm in need of some upgrades. That's why I'm heading to G-Star:

The Adventure

The wrist band to get inside was 6,000 won and was pretty worth it for someone with patience to wait in line to test out these new games. I wasn't surprised at all by the lack of controllers. Everything was either on a phone or a computer. Some games needed a controller to play, but they were about as complicated as an SNES game: flat background, run and jump to the left, collect coins, don't fall in the hole, level complete. A lot of games seemed like variations of WOW or better versions of Runescape with more violence or sex appeal. Having post-its on the computers listing the controls in Korean didn't real inspire me to play.

G-Star appeals to a general audience: teenage boys, and young men. Somehow, these young men manage to convince their significant others to come with them. All the women I saw were collapsing from the inside. Even mothers taking their husbands and children were off daydreaming about things that didn't involve a hit points, coins, and hot keys. Of course I saw some of my kids there, BEXCO is two subway stops away, and it was the sixth graders that don't talk to girls, now I know why.

The disturbing highlight of this expo was the objectification of women. Obviously CGI boobs aren't enough for these pimple-faced teens and college students but the game industry has gotten some real-life Koreans to dress up like video game characters, or rock a tube top with their brand name. My favorite part of it all is these video game junkies bring stools with them so they can stand above the crowds and take pictures of these fantastic pin-ups. This is what happens when you outlaw pornography in a country.

This was typical for all costumed-girl displays.
Note the baked panda on that kids' hoodie too.

This was the best photo I could get of this antlered dragon-tailed character brought to life... who is friends with Princess
Peach?

To further my point, there's a game called Princess Maker, where you, a retired knight, has to build the perfect Princess in order for her to find a suitable mate. Maybe it's targeted to girls as an electronic Barbie, or maybe it's just a way to for people to spend more money on plastic surgery.

There was a section I did not expect to find at G-Star and that was the board game area. Then I realized that Magic is still really popular here. They also had variations of Hungry-Hungry Hippos with chopsticks and fruit which is soooo Asian. A variation of chess where you build walls around the board to protect the only movable piece on the board. Some seemed really interesting but others bothered me: there were a bunch of games with numbered tiles which obviously could be replaced by cards, and cards are just way better than tiles for so many reasons, in my opinion. I bought an English game for my English  Library which is a much less challenging version of scrabble.  

I've had a couple days to digest what I saw and the future is bright with new forms of technology and life-altering games, in which a game becomes your life. Here are a collection of photos from Korean is costume, some weird words, random stuff, and upcoming mobile games. Apologies for the blurriness.

Hunt Monster, look handsome.

THIS IS MOST INTENSE GAME IN THE WORLD!! PUTT,
SCREAM, AND FIST-PUMP ALL FUCKING DAY!!

I just liked the artwork of this poster.

Premise: President Tankington has been assisinated by
those Red Commie tanks, and as a brave righteous Korean
tank you must infiltrate and avenge President Tankington.

Does he bust the wild? Or is he just a wild buster?

Real Cart Game, race around a grocery store.

Satisfying your hunger  for game before you dinner. 

I feel this Woong-Ca Woong-Ca farts every time he moves,
or he's an old disgruntle pink bear. possibly wearing a cape.

Behold! The best looking girls of the convention!