From October 9-12, Japan's capital was home to Tokyo Game Show 2008 (TGS). Two weeks ago we previewed the event, including Microsoft's keynote, what to expect from Sony and what the Japanese Role Playing Games (RPGs) prospects were for the show.

To put it fair and bluntly, expectations were mostly unmet, and no company managed to really deliver to eager fans.

Microsoft's keynote, that you may recall was designed to “bring more people together than ever before to enjoy the next wave of interactive entertainment experiences” more so was just Microsoft trying to spread the word about Xbox Live and the new user interface. A few interesting announcements did break during the event though, specifically Tekken 6 coming to the Xbox 360, Star Ocean 4 releasing in Japan in February, and Halo 3: Recon.

Halo 3: Recon is a new project that has been in development within Bungie Studios since sometime after Halo 3's original release. Like Halo 3, Recon is a first person shooter, but instead of playing the roll of Master Chief, gamers will be suiting up as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. The game will feature single player as well as multiplayer, which will basically be Halo 3's multiplayer plus new maps. Although the game totes 1,000 Achievement Points, Bungie isn't viewing it as a full game. As such, the game will likely be more towards a budget title's price. Bungie is hoping for a Fall 2009 release.

If you managed to catch our TGS preview two weeks ago, you might also remember the big news that Sony Japan had nine or so new PS3 games up their sleeves to debut at the show. As it turns out none of the titles are anything that we were expecting, nothing from big studios, no blockbusters rocking the showroom floor. One title that the gaming world already has quite intimate knowledge of did manage to wow audiences though, White Knight Stories, which is now known widely as White Knight Chronicles.

White Knight Chronicles is a Japanese RPG for the Playstation 3 that is wrapping up development within Level 5's studios. Level 5 is well known for their quality RPGs, including Dark Cloud, Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest 8. However, White Knight Chronicles, since it was originally announced, has been in the shadow of forth coming Final Fantasy XIII, also a forthcoming RPG for the PS3. Lucky for Level 5, that wasn't the case at this year's Tokyo Game Show.

Square Enix, the developer behind Final Fantasy XIII, showed nearly nothing of it's biggest in-development-game at the event. This has been a shocking surprise to fans who have nearly chewed their nails right off by this point as the title has basically been in hiding since 2006, popping up only here and there. This, along with an overall underwhelming TGS, actually made a lot of room for White Knight Chronicles to shine to the gaming press.

And shine it does, very, very well. The graphics are stunning, and the gameplay is delighting those privileged enough to get some hands on time with the title. The story line starts with a young man as he's discovered the ability to transform into a giant knight, allowing him to fight back against the corporation that has kidnapped his lands princess. Not much has been said about the bulk of the story, but the overall package that is White Knight Chronicles is polished and refreshing to see. The game hits stores in Japan before New Years, but it's not clear when it will make it to North America.

Square Enix didn't completely ignore TGS this year, as surprising as that may sound considering the lack of anything on their most anticipated game, Final Fantasy XIII. Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Square Enix's take on a Final Fantasy painted Super Smash Bros. meets Mortal Combat in three dimensions, actually won a game of the show award. Overall TGS was not bad, far from it. What has developed within the gaming world is simply a constant expectation of earth shattering news out of these game conventions. E3 2008 in July suffered a very similar reaction as TGS 2008 now has, as big announcements from game developers are more and more being held at private events, like Square Enix's DK£3713, or Ubisoft's Ubidays.