Previewing the Tokyo Game Show
The west may have a little event called the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but the east too have a contender of an event just around the bend, the Tokyo Game Show (TGS).
TGS is Japan's biggest video games convention, landing once a year around the beginning of the fall. This year's event runs from October 9 to 12, and there's no doubt that quite a few surprises are in store for gamers once again.
Historically the event has mostly been backed by Sony, with very little participation from Nintendo, and a negligible amount from Microsoft. This year, Nintendo is completely foregoing the event, Sony is representing in full force, and Microsoft is actually taking on a larger role, surprisingly holding their own keynote.
Microsoft, in its ever-growing initiative to infiltrate the elusive Japanese video games market, is sending vice president of LIVE, software and services, John Schappert to head up the keynote. Dubbed “A Canvas for the World,” Schappert's keynote is, according to Gamerscore Blog, designed to convey how the Xbox 360, “will bring more people together than ever before to enjoy the next wave of interactive entertainment experiences.”
What can be expected during the keynote are updates on forthcoming 2009 blockbusters Street Fighter 4 and Resident Evil 5, among others. An announcement from Mistwalker, the studio responsible for the Xbox 360's first two substantial role-playing games (RPGs), Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, is also a wildly speculated possibility.
Sony at the moment seems to be touching up the paint on the tank-of-a-line-up they have planned for TGS. Western games such as SOCOM, Motorstorm 2, LittleBigPlanet, and Resistance 2, all for the Playstation 3, will be strutting their stuff to the Japanese press. However, the secrets that Sony has in store for the event is what is most enticing.
Japanese video games magazine Famitsu has reported that 11 new PS3 titles will be revealed at TGS. Nine of those being published by Sony themselves. This has led to much speculation as to what the tight-lipped internal Sony studios could be cooking up. For instance Japanese Sony studio, Team Ico, developer of world-renowned PS2 titles Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, is known to be working on two PS3 games at the moment. To note, Sony has more internal development studios than both Nintendo and Microsoft combined.
Those of you with your eyes peeled for some Japanese RPGs for the PS3 can rest easy as you can expect to see lots of Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Kingdom Hearts on PSP from Square Enix. Developer Level-5's RPG White Knight Chronicles will more than likely also be at the event as its release date is thankfully inside 2008 for Japan.
The first two days of TGS are the days to pay attention to as they are exclusively press-only, with the third and fourth days open to the public. TGS 2007 saw three new Kingdom Hearts games, the PS3 rumble controller and more than enough Metal Gear Solid 4 and much more. If TGS 2007 is any indication as to what caliber of surprises and content to expect from this year's TGS, Japanese video games fans, mark your calendars for October 9.
TGS is Japan's biggest video games convention, landing once a year around the beginning of the fall. This year's event runs from October 9 to 12, and there's no doubt that quite a few surprises are in store for gamers once again.
Historically the event has mostly been backed by Sony, with very little participation from Nintendo, and a negligible amount from Microsoft. This year, Nintendo is completely foregoing the event, Sony is representing in full force, and Microsoft is actually taking on a larger role, surprisingly holding their own keynote.
Microsoft, in its ever-growing initiative to infiltrate the elusive Japanese video games market, is sending vice president of LIVE, software and services, John Schappert to head up the keynote. Dubbed “A Canvas for the World,” Schappert's keynote is, according to Gamerscore Blog, designed to convey how the Xbox 360, “will bring more people together than ever before to enjoy the next wave of interactive entertainment experiences.”
What can be expected during the keynote are updates on forthcoming 2009 blockbusters Street Fighter 4 and Resident Evil 5, among others. An announcement from Mistwalker, the studio responsible for the Xbox 360's first two substantial role-playing games (RPGs), Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, is also a wildly speculated possibility.
Sony at the moment seems to be touching up the paint on the tank-of-a-line-up they have planned for TGS. Western games such as SOCOM, Motorstorm 2, LittleBigPlanet, and Resistance 2, all for the Playstation 3, will be strutting their stuff to the Japanese press. However, the secrets that Sony has in store for the event is what is most enticing.
Japanese video games magazine Famitsu has reported that 11 new PS3 titles will be revealed at TGS. Nine of those being published by Sony themselves. This has led to much speculation as to what the tight-lipped internal Sony studios could be cooking up. For instance Japanese Sony studio, Team Ico, developer of world-renowned PS2 titles Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, is known to be working on two PS3 games at the moment. To note, Sony has more internal development studios than both Nintendo and Microsoft combined.
Those of you with your eyes peeled for some Japanese RPGs for the PS3 can rest easy as you can expect to see lots of Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Kingdom Hearts on PSP from Square Enix. Developer Level-5's RPG White Knight Chronicles will more than likely also be at the event as its release date is thankfully inside 2008 for Japan.
The first two days of TGS are the days to pay attention to as they are exclusively press-only, with the third and fourth days open to the public. TGS 2007 saw three new Kingdom Hearts games, the PS3 rumble controller and more than enough Metal Gear Solid 4 and much more. If TGS 2007 is any indication as to what caliber of surprises and content to expect from this year's TGS, Japanese video games fans, mark your calendars for October 9.
