The Tokyo Game Show this year was packed with flashy booths and exciting games.  There was much more than could be taken in within just two days, especially with the over 180,000 people in attendance.  The drawing on the left (reads 832 min. wait) is an exaggeration of some of the horrendous wait times.  At times, the line for Dragon Quest VI actually took over 6 hours!

To gauge what fans found the most popular, this week Famitsu has printed the results of a survey they ran at Tokyo Game Show 2009.  Around 1,500 people responded, indicating their favorites from this year's exhibition.  Despite the small showing, would you believe that Final Fantasy XIV got into a couple Top 10s?  Square Enix overall did pretty well for itself too, (with one exception later on) with Final Fantasy XIII helping it to rake in a number of accolades.  Read on to find out what convention-goers enjoyed the most!

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Square Enix was #1 for Most Interesting Booth at the show with 197 votes.  There were over 150 machines set up for trial games such as Final Fantasy XIII, Dragon Quest VI and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.  Another fan-favorite was the area set up for players to download new content to their DS for Dragon Quest IX.  However, Final Fantasy XIII was definitely the golden child of Square Enix's world, with one contributor commenting, "The Final Fantasy XIII trailer gave me goosebumps!"

Next up, was Best Trial Game.  Final Fantasy XIII earned itself the #2 slot with 100 votes even.  There were 60 screens set up for this title within the heart of the Square Enix area.  Everyone got 15 minutes to try out either the "Lightning Version" or "Snow Version."  Once players finished, they were shuffled through to the closed theater area where they were treated to a number of exclusive new trailers. 

Speaking of which, Final Fantasy XIII also picked up #1 for the next award, Most Exciting Trailer, a category that asked players to indicate what promo movie got them the most excited for an upcoming title.  One visitor said, "Everything about the presentation was great.  I expected as much from Square Enix!"  In this category, the new trailer for Final Fantasy XIV was able to gather up 19 votes and secure 9th place.

Sony might be happy to know the results of Most Wanted Hardware, which looks to measure what gaming systems people most want to purchase after seeing what they have to offer at the Tokyo Game Show.  Playstation 3 came out a clear victor with 497 votes.  The next highest was the PSP Go with 303 votes.  When asked to indicate Hardware You Own, Playstation 3 was in #4 with 174 votes - this was well behind the #1 Nintendo DS with 518 votes and even behind Nintendo DSi, which earned its own individual slot at #3 with 182 votes.  This holiday season should be a welcome boon for the trailing PS3 though.  I wonder if the new PS3 Lightning model had anything to do with the excitement?

Still, the Nintendo DS has nothing to worry about, as it certainly had the best showing out of portable devices.  As you can see in the above pictures, a number of makers had tons of DS units ready and waiting for players to try out the latest games.  As a result, Square Enix's Dragon Quest VI, the one with the 6+ hour wait, scored #1 Most Anticipated Portable Title and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep got #6.  Famitsu notes that last year Dragon Quest IX took home #1, which just further proves Japan's undying love for the series.

It probably comes as no surprise then, that Square Enix earned itself #1 for Most Anticipated Maker.  As one commenter put it, "They have a bunch of titles coming out I'm interested in."  I can already think of two I want coming soon: Final Fantasy Gaiden for the DS and Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3.  Of course, there's Final Fantasy XIV next year as well.  Square Enix seems to show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Square Enix shines again in this next category, Most Anticipated Game with Final Fantasy XIII at #1 and Final Fantasy XIV at #3.  Vote-wise, XIII demolished the competition with 346 votes, while 2nd place Bayonetta only had 70, and XIV got 34.  I guess when you look at it from that perspective, it isn't very impressive at all.  Still... 3rd place!

Now, while Square Enix might be cleaning up in the gaming industry, there is one area where they were sorely lacking - booth babes.  In Japan, they are called コンパニオン which is the phonetic spelled of "companion."  They are an important part of any company's booth, handing out promotional material, flashing bright smiles and posing for creepy men.  The Square Enix area was all business however, without a shiny top or skimpy skirt to be found.  Still, Famitsu made sure to ask which companies attendees thought had the best "presentation."  Here are Famitsu's Top 5 Booth Babes.  Included with each one is a selected quote from a participant.

#5 - KONAMI

Favorite Quote - "The army styled uniforms were beautiful!"

#4 - SEGA

Favorite Quote - "The Cabaret girls were the best!"

For Ryuu ga Gotoku 4 (Yakuza 4), SEGA set up a throne with cabaret girls.  One of the big mini-games from the latest title is scouting a lady and grooming her to be the best escort in Okinawa.

#3 - Capcom

Favorite Quote - "I was so glad to see some cleavage."

#2 - Level 5

They should have gotten #1 just for that awesome Layton plushie.

Favorite Quote - "The skimpy bikinis gave the booth a bright atmosphere and were really great."

#1 - Microsoft

Why did people like Microsoft so much??  Let's give the winning booth 3 quotes:

"Even though it left a lot to the imagination, the outfits were really cute."

"They were so polite when explaining things."

"The had beautiful smiles."

OK, that wraps that up.  No Final Fantasy XIV information this week, so we had a little fun and I hope you enjoyed the read.  With FFXIV info coming in steadily and a beta on the horizon, it will be interesting to see what next year's E3, Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show might bring for eager fans.  And hey, how about throwing a FanFest in there somewhere?