TGS 07 “Might have Missed” articles

September 24th, 2007

Over the last few days there has obviously been a bit of commotion going around in the games industry thanks to the Tokyo Game Show. With events like the TGS, E3 or the Game Convention on every year sometimes we can miss a few important bites of information. So to remedy this I have been gathering a nice collection of articles that may have been originally overlooked.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi interested in making a Space Channel 5 title for Wii
More Bomberman for Wii, DS and PSP
Final Fantasy IV Trailer
Populous Remake for the DS
Motor Storm 2 Announced
Jam Sessions Review
Final Fantasy IV Impressions
Lost Odyssey to span 4 DVDs
SNK Game Line up
Booth Babes at Sony’s Booth
More info on Link’s Crossbow Training
Retro Studios Interview on developing Metroid Prime 3
Best High Resolution 2D games yet to be Released
MyStyle Book Hands On
Star Ocean: First Departure
Blue Dragon DS
More Front Mission for the DS
Stranglehold’s 50gb Install problem resolved
PSP Sales Success
UC developer jokes about Biohazzard Fitness
New Mario Galaxy Character shots

Argh, I feel kinda frustrated because I lost a link to an article about the montage clip that Square Enix showed off at the show. This clip had video of FF XIII, FF VIII VS, the 3 Kingdom Hearts titles as well as a snippet for a title called 3rd Birthday. 3rd Birthday is the 3rd title in the Parasite Eve franchise. Only that small snippet and some concept art stand ups were shown at the show.

Major Sony Micro Announcements

September 20th, 2007

sony playstation 3 announcement

Thats right folks a double helping of Japanese game expo excellence. Now to put it bluntly, the TGS is really Sony’s events. With no Nintendo to distract people from Sony’s showings and the Xbox 360 being a dud in Japan its no wonder why Sony seized the opportunity to make some small announcements. Being:

Rumble Shock 3 Announced

Thats right folks, Sony have finally announced the real PS3 controller, with rumble. Theres not much else to say really. What surprised me though was the upcoming titles that are already supporting the rumble, namely:

I guess this shows that Sony have had this idea in the pipeline for a while. Considering that it already has support by important 3rd party developers.

Article

Home Service Delayed

Sony’s Online Home service has been delayed until Spring due to Sony wanting to respond to use feed back on some important service issues

Article

Playstation Store available via PC

Thats right the Playstation store will be available to use via your PC. You can use the sevice to access most features, games being the exception. The PSP can also use the PC to access the store hence not requiring a PS3 console.

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Konami Vs Square Enix – TGS Supremacy

September 20th, 2007

square enix konami tokyo game show

This years Tokyo Game Show is definitely gearing up to be a fantastic event, mostly due to the hype surrounding big hitters from Konami and Square Enix. With Nintendo once again out of the picture and other companies having fairly average showings, its time for these guys to strut their stuff. So lets breakdown what to expect from these guys

Line up of Games

Square Enix

Konami

Square Enix’s Showing

SE have a nice selection of first time and already played titles on their list with a number of core titles still in video form. There is obviously a strong showing of mobile phone games which for most of us probably isn’t much of a big deal although the new Tobal title was a bit of a surprise.

I think that titles like Rings of Fate, Crisis Core and FF: Tactics A2 will really be what we are expecting out of these titles. There has already been plenty of news and media on Rings of Fate and (just recently)Crisis Core, so really we’ll just hear more on how they play. Its also pretty safe to assume that FF Tactics A2 will play the same as its predecessor especially with no touch screen field control.

I think that the two remakes(DQ and FF IV) as well as Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon should be the more interesting titles of the show. The new videos of FF XIII, Dissidia Final Fantasy and Last Remnant should also maintain quite a buzz. Hopefully these trailers will contain a solid amount of gameplay video. Chances are they all should.

The other bit of buzz around Square Enix’s showing are the number of surprise announcements that people are expecting. Here is a list from QJ of all of the rumoured titles to be announced:

Now, as of writing Square have shown the media video of 3 new Kingdom Hearts titles being:

These were all shown off in a montage behind closed doors.

Konami’s Showing

What Square misses out on Konami fits in. Playable versions of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Solid Online(6 vs 6) is definitely the highlight here. Konami much like Square are also into the mobile phone gaming market and announced several big franchise titles for mobiles at their conference.

Overall they have plenty of Metal Gear Solid to show off:

Along with MGS there are the 3 new Silent Hill titles; Origins, Silent Hill 5 and a new mobile phone title. Sticking with their best franchises there will also be a slew Wining Eleven on show. The Wii also won’t be left out with titles like Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party, Big Head Baseball and Big Head MLB. All of these titles are designed for the non gamer in mind.

As of writing, news has been put out of even more titles announced at Konami’s TGS Conference. So to find out about more of what they have on offer click the following link.

Conclusion

More big hitting franchises definitely seem to be the theme this year. With Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill and Wining Eleven all due for at least 3 new titles(per franchise) being released in the near future. Its clear to see that key, stable franchises seem to be the future of gaming. Look below to see the current highlights.

News Links

Metal Gear Solid 4 Trailer
Kingdom Hearts Announcement
Konami Press Conference
Square Enix Rumoured titles
Metal Gear Online Package Announcement