Hey everyone. Kamiya here, fresh off beating Tower of Druaga on Namco Museum DS four times on the plane from LA to Osaka and back. You know, that navigation-mode feature that shows you how to get the treasure boxes is really useful. Back in the day I could get up to about the 20^th level without a strategy guide, but I’ve completely forgotten everything now… I just beat the game four times over and I still don’t remember how to get the treasure boxes. I’m such a bird brain. But thanks to being a dunce, I can play the game over and over, and it still feels fresh. I just want to keep on playing forever.

Anyways… I went to E3!! But… I couldn’t see anything at the show… My schedule was packed like a tin can every single day, stuffed to the brim with press interviews. A few members of the press would be invited into the closed room, Hashimoto would play a new stage we were showing, and then we would do a Q&A session. We were doing sets of interviews like that from morning to night, completely filling up our three days without an extra breath to spare. I love talking with members of the press for coverage, but this time the schedule was really rough, so when I get asked/answer the same question over and over again — Questions like “What is the background story for this game?” — Well, I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying “Come on, guys. At least read our website before you come over. ヽ(`Д´)ノ”

I got through it… But I really wish I would have had the opportunity to really give deep, good answers to all the questions. We only had a short amount of time, so unfortunately things were rushed. My apologies to the writers that came to see me.

As for checking out the show floor, I only had one chance, the show opened to the press on the first day, when I went to check out the God of War III booth. But since the show floor wasn’t technically open, I wasn’t able to play the game; however, I hear that at max there was something like a 3 hour line to play. It seems it is as popular a game as ever.

But for us this was a really important E3, because it was the first time anywhere in the world where Bayonetta would be hands-on at a trade show. Sorry to all the Japanese fans, but America got first dibs this time around to grab a controller and play Bayonetta. I wasn’t sure how it would play out, but I was really excited for whatever would happen at E3 from the moment I left Japan.

Even though we’ve released trailers with lots of different content in them, from our incredible stage direction to the action of Bayonetta herself, what we really want people to enjoy is the feeling you get playing Bayonetta. It’s not just lip service. I really want you to enjoy the gameplay, becoming one with Bayonetta on the screen and fighting your foes. Now that your chance has arrived, I’m filled with emotion. From now on, it is about what you think about the game, so there is no need to keep all our cards close to the chest. The only thought I have is that of wanting everyone to pick up a controller and give the game a try. Of course, I can say that as much as I please, but the truth is that I didn’t really get a chance to see everyone’s reactions at the show… Maybe if I would have spent some more time in the booth, some cute foreign girls would have chatted me up! (This is my greatest regret!!) And I definitely want to create an opportunity for people in Japan to play the game as well. Producer Yusuke Hashimoto is planning for the future now, so look forward to what lies in store.

As I said, it is hard for me to really put a finger on how people reacted to Bayonetta at the show; however, there is one bit of good news to report. Bayonetta was awarded Best Action Game of E3 in 1UP.com’s Best Games of E3 2009! For a brand new title with little familiarity and user trust, this award will help increase awareness of the game, so I am very pleased we won. Even though the true test of the game will be once it is in users’ hands, if this award helps even just a little bit in exposing even more people to Bayonetta and creating opportunities for them to play the game, I’m happy with that.

Other than that… I ate the much-vaunted American size portions of food and found myself properly inflated… I also decided to give in to jet lag and stayed up all night surfing online, making myself feel absolutely miserable everyday in the afternoon as a result… Oh, I should also mention I bumped into Goichi Suda and Hideo Kojima on the street. It was a pretty exciting few days.

Well, that wraps up this entry…

P.S. – We’ve gotten tons of questions from our fans in Japan and overseas. If I kept answering them at the pace we were going before, that would be all I could really write about. So we started to think of a good way to tackle the problem, and JP should have something to say about it soon. Keep your eyes peeled.