Header Menu

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Feature: Visit to NicoNico Conference 2


Want to know a bit more about what went on in the NicoNico Conference but couldn't because pictures, video and player testimonials were so scarce? One Taiko fan from Taiwan, named Woolala (烏拉拉), went to Japan to attend the conference. He is one of the main committee members of the petition campaign to bring Taiko no Tatsujin Sorairo Version outside of Japan, and aside from enjoying the events and obviously being able to play the new Taiko's event-exclusive songs, he was also there to look for Etou and ask him about exporting Sorairo.



The lines to play the Taiko were extremely long. It doesn't look like it in the shot above, but by day 2 you could be waiting for up to two hours just to play one round. Anyway, Woolala played all three songs and performed the best in Night of Nights. Just for playing the songs, him and everyone else at the event received a Taiko Sorairo plastic folder.


After having fun, the next thing on the to-do list was to look for Etou, as he has said that he himself would be at the event. It took Woolala quite a while before spotting Etou standing by the corner. He's quite a tall fellow, about 180cm.


Etou was a friendly fellow, and after some chatting, Woolala brought up the topic of the month: bringing Taiko Sorairo to everywhere.

Etou sounds hopeful about Taiko Sorairo gaining a good following overseas and is actually very interested in doing it. The main hindrance is setting up a network infrastructure to support Taiko Sorairo. Seeing as both Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Wangan Midnight 4 both have good networks set up overseas, the main issue doesn't seem to be whether they are able to do it or not, but whether the move will generate a good return according to their calculated risk. It's probably more of a corporate decision than anything else. The petition was mentioned, however the activity still isn't over so Woolala couldn't say for sure how many supporters we currently have (nearing 450 at the moment, slowly increasing...Petition is here if you want to sign it.)

Anyway, Woolala didn't leave empty handed, as Etou autographed his copy of Taiko PSP DX and took a photo together with him. Wouldn't it be exciting if we too got a chance to meet him in person?


Later in the day, Woolala played the Vocaloid songs on the Taiko again and got the IA costume unlocked (yep he has a Banapass and makes frequent trips to Japan). A lot of other things happened in between, including an event involving IdolM@ster and Taiko (watch if you have a Nicovideo account), and tons of other fun stuff at the conference, but the main focus of Woolala's post and this is Taiko so I'll leave it at that. He did say goodbye to Etou on day 2 of the conference.


The original post is here, in traditional Chinese. Thanks to tetsutaro for finding it and a huge thanks to Woolala for taking the trouble to represent all us international Taiko players!