Sunday, October 12, 2008
Microsoft Remind Japan What 360 Games Look Like, Part II
11:30PM Luke Plunkett | One of the better booths at last year’s TGS was Microsoft’s. Mostly because they had a neat wall, which was displaying the game disc and cover art for every 360 game ever released in Japan. This year, they didn’t exactly go one better (it’s the same schtick), but they did make sure the game boxes weren’t left out. Above, and below, you’ll see Microsoft Japan’s 360 timeline, charting every release of every game chronologically. They even cheat and show XBLA games. Somewhat interesting, no? galleryPost('tgsxbox', 3, 'Its Japans 360 Lineup'); More »
Xbox 360, Cave Shoot ‘Em Up, Up, Up
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | There’s no doubt. Your official Japanese shoot ‘em up console is the Xbox 360. Shuffled away in the Microsoft booth, there are short lines for two very solid Cave shooters: DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label Extra and Ketsui. Both games are getting Xbox 360 ports, and there’s even a Hori arcade stick for Ketsui and thus really making the floor demo experience. Obviously, since it’s the first Ketsui stage, it’s hard to get an in-depth comparison between the port and the arcade version. However, when I asked a representative from the company that did the port, I was told that it was a straight-up arcade port. More »
News
When Tecmo’s Logo Met Koei’s Logo
10:30PM Brian Ashcraft | Tecmo meet Koei. Koei, Tecmo. After rejecting Square Enix’s “friendly” takeover, Tecmo announced on September 4th that it was in talks to merge with game company Koei. In an official announcement, it was stated the aim to integrate management was in hopes of creating a “stable and secure environment” as well as respect each other’s individuality. The first fruits of that appear to be this plastic folder that shows a polite meeting between two Japanese companies who seem totally uninterested in getting gobbled up by a monolith like Square Enix. Want to know what the back of the folder says? More »
Klonoa Wii-make Hands On: Awesomely Waggle-Free
10:00PM Michael McWhertor | Klonoa: Door To Phantomile, in its PlayStation incarnation, is now almost 11-years old. In its remake journey to the Wii, it’s been surprisingly unfucked with. There’s no waggle gimmick — at least not in the portions of the Tokyo Game Show demo we played this week — with the only major change being a serious step up in graphical fidelity. It’s a fantastic looking Wii game, looking better than the proper PlayStation 2 sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil, but dropping that game’s cel-shaded look. More »
MotorStorm With Mini-Motorbike Motion Controller
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | This isn’t a product, but rather a concept product. Spotted a mini-motorcycle that had been modded with an embedded PS3 SIXAXIS controller. The guy on the motorbike said the original plan was to have the game projected lower so players weren’t looking up at the wall, but it wasn’t possible to work that out logistically, apparently. Fittingly, the PS3 was running MotorStorm, and playing it on a mini-bike did give the title an nostalgically arcadey feel. The only downside was that the handle was a tad too low so twisting the throttle wasn’t so easy on the wrist. More »
The Simple Booth Companions
7:00PM Brian Ashcraft | D3Publisher, the folks behind the delightful Simple Series and the not so delightful Dark Sector, have Tokyo Game Show booth companions. Six of them by our count. That’s a very conservative number for a company that releases not so conservative games. More »
Brown Man Bedtime Story
6:00PM Luke Plunkett | The setting: Enterbrain’s (publisher of Famitsu) TGS booth. The man? Brown Man. Otherwise known as Toshihiro Nagoshi. The event: no idea, can’t speak Japanese, but from the relaxed vibe and the crossed legs we’re pretty sure he’s reading everyone a bedtime story. Something about Yakuza, monkey’s balls, tanning salons and rip-off track pants. Oh, and ice cream. galleryPost('brownman', 3, 'Tales of Nagoshi'); More »
