Not game over but a new name of the game – ‘social’ – showcased at Tokyo exhibition

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People visit the booth of GREE Inc. , a growing social gaming service, at the Tokyo Game Show in Makuhari, Chiba, near Tokyo,Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. Some 200 companies take part in the annual gala exhibition which opens to the public on Sept. 22-23. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

CHIBA, Japan – The Tokyo Game Show is highlighting both anticipation and worries in the industry.

Smartphones and other computer-like devices are luring people away from consoles devoted to video games, such as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360.

Game fans are waiting for the arrival of console upgrades — perhaps a PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720. Nintendo Co. announced earlier this month that its Wii U home console was going on sale later this year.

Some booths at the show, opening Thursday, are highlighting games for smartphones, a big area of growth, including social games, another expanding area, in which players interact with each other.

Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief executive of Gree, a Japanese social games company, said he was looking to emerging markets for a new wave of growth.

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