One year ago, I headed to Japan to cover my first-ever Tokyo Game Show. I was excited, I was gainfully employed, I had a full plate of appointments, and a list of games I couldn't wait to see.

Today, I head to Japan to cover my second-ever Tokyo Game Show. I'm still excited, but in a different way -- that excitement's filled with a twinge of uncertainty. Unlike last time, my employment's, uh, "sporadic," I'm covering the show for several different outlets (including Bitmob), and I'm still not sure what I'll be covering there. Rumor has it the show's going to be a little more subdued than last year, and -- Final Fantasy 13 aside -- it feels like there's not as much buzz when it comes to actual games, either.

In fact, TGS seems emblematic of the current dearth of Japanese games in general, as a good number of centerpiece show titles are actually Western games -- French games, at that! Who would think it'd come to the point where I'd be assigned the same amount of French games to cover as Japanese games? At E3 or Gamescom, sure...but at TGS?

So with coverage sort of wide-open and uncertain at this point -- I'll know more once I land in Japan -- is there anything Bitmob readers would like to see covered? Any idol simulations the other sites won't touch? Any cultural aspects of Japan you'd like to see in particular? I'm thinking the Akihabara electronics pilgrimage has been done to death in the gaming media (and Jeremy Parish already did it better than I ever could, anyway), so perhaps something a little more off the beaten path would be better?

I guess what I'm saying is this: If the Bitmob readers want me to infiltrate a maid cafe, then infiltrate a maid cafe I shall.