Kotaku: tokyo+game+show+2008

Famitsu: The Best TGS 2008 Booth Babes Were...

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST

The Tokyo Game Show is long over. It ended last month, which in internet time is a decade ago. The latest issue of Famitsu has fascinating TGS 2008 data for us to look at and mull over. The publication surveyed 1,000 visitors, 79 percent of TGS attendees were male, 21 percent female. Here's the data:

• 78 percent own a DS, 69 percent a PSP, 32 percent a PS3, 43 percent a Wii and 24 percent an Xbox 360.
• 26.8 percent primarily use the DS, and 4.3 percent primarily use the Wii.
• 31 percent plan to buy the PS3 in the future — the most popular answer.
• Nearly half use their systems to play online.

The magazine also has a list of the most popular booth companions, along with quotes from those surveyed attendees:

5). SNK Playmore ("It's not fair how they have Mai Shiranui cosplayers there every year," one attendee said.)
4). Koei
3). Tecmo ("I went back to the booth several times without thinking about it, just to see more of the girls," said one attendee.)
1). Capcom
1). Microsoft ("[Microsoft's] outfits didn't seem to reveal much at first, but look again, and..." said one attendee.)

TGS: The Attendees' Take [1up via Go Nintendo]

TGS Interviews Round-Up Get!

Jim Reilly — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:00:00 MDT

Interviews galore! Peter Molyneux sat down and gave Kotaku just about everything there is to know about Fable II, RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi says he likes the new and improved controls for the game, and Akinori Nishiyama, producer of Sonic Unleashed, talks about the possibility of 2D, HD Sonic games. More TGS interviews after the jump!

Interviews
Justify Your Game: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
LocoRoco 2's Number One Fan
Last Remnant Team So Cannot Wait For Unreal Engine 4
Justify Your Game Loco Roco 2
But I'm Talking Bout Halo Wars
Justify Your Patapon 2
Fable II Coop Patch Getting Once Over By Msoft, Molyneux "Super, Super Hopeful"
A Fable II Primer for Dog Training
Molynuex More About Emotions, Less About Trees
Molyneux Walks Us Through Fable II's Deep, Casual Combat
What Is Halo 3: Recon? Here's What It's *Not*
Yes You Can Ditch Your Dog in Fable II, But Only if You're Cruel
Why Goichi Suda Brought Beer To The Interview...
Molyneux Frets Over Dangers of Casual Gaming
How Erotic Games Influenced Platinum Games
Microsoft Coy On Future Spring & Fall Upates
Resident Evil 5 Producer Likes New Controls Better
On The Possibility Of 2D, HD, XBLA & PSN Sonic Games
Can Japan's Number One Xbox 360 Fanboy Justify His... Hair?
Justify Your Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Here Is The Dragon Quest IX TGS Trailer

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:00:00 MDT

Watch it while you can! (And before Square Enix strongarms Game Videos into taking it down.) Someone snuck a camera into the Square Enix booth and filmed the Dragon Quest IX trailer, which looks great. Wasn't that excited about this game until I saw this. See Square Enix, people filming your trailers is a really good thing!

Star Ocean 4 Looks Amazing, Plays...The Same

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:20:00 MDT

Most games at TGS had one booth. Maybe two. Some more high-profile titles had 3-4 booths, some AAA titles like LittleBigPlanet had 10-12. Star Ocean 4, on the other hand, had around 25-30 machines running at the Microsoft stand, giving you a fair indication of how important this game is to the company, who are hoping it can be their next big, console-selling exclusive after Tales of Vesperia. So how’s it shaping up?

It’s shaping up as a safe, safe game. Like most Japanese games on the showroom floor, if you stripped back the graphical improvements a new generation of hardware has brought, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were playing a PS2 game. You still wander a linear overworld, you still encounter enemies, you still engage in closed-off battles with your party, the action is still punctuated by text-based conversation.

Basically, if you like Star Ocean – or JRPGs in general – you know what you’re getting yourself into before you even drop the disc into your 360.

What you won’t be ready for will be this game’s graphics. The in-game action looks crisp and clean, with a vibrant colour palette and bold character designs helping the game stand out on the 360 amongst the its Square Enix & Mistwalker competition. Cutscenes using the in-game engine look even better, with so few ragged edges around the player models that they trump many other game’s rendered sequences.

As for Star Ocean 4’s rendered sequences…they’re simply amazing. I didn’t catch many on the showroom floor, but in an interview with the game’s producer Yoshinori Yamagishi, they had a 50” LCD running the game’s intro sequence. And I know, this was so rude, but I couldn’t help but be continually distracted by it. If you’re the type to grind through a JRPG for the fluff sequences, you won’t find many better than those in this game.

As for the mechanics of the game, new nuts & bolts, etc, sadly the demo ran for only 10 minutes or so, enough time to only get a few quick battles in and go for a run outside before the game shut down. Still, from what I saw, I didn't notice much new stuff. Combat did seem a little easier than previous games, with switching between characters being a lot faster, and there were a range of new charged attacks available for each character, and…that was about it.

As with most JRPG titles this generation, it seemed a case of same old gameplay, shiny new graphics. Which may seem lazy to most (including myself), but hey, to Star Ocean fans, it’s probably exactly what you’re after.

TGS News Round-Up Get!

Jim Reilly — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:00:00 MDT

Tons and tons of news came out of this year's TGS over the weekend. From the announcement of Halo 3: Recon to Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion coming to Xbox 360, Kotaku covered it all, and at the expense of sleep, no less. It's all right here after the jump! So what do you, the commenter, think was the biggest piece of news to come out of Tokyo?

Namco Bandai's Teenage Boy Friendly Line Up Dated
Tetsuya Mizuguchi Is Making New IP
Microsoft Has Over 140 Demo Kiosks, Buddies With Square Enix
Sorry, But Ninja Blade Is *Not* Otogi 3
Tecmo Announces New Third Person Shooter
Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G Sells 2.5 Million In Japan
This is Your Tokyo Game Show 2008
Tekken 6 Coming To Xbox 360
New Xbox Dash Gets Release Date
Halo 3 Expansion Hits Fall 2009
Vague Date for Final Fantasy XIII, Nothing For Versus XIII
These Fighters Are In The King of Fighters XII
"PSP Plus" Brings DualShock Control To PSP
Old Snake, Sephiroth Get Sackboyed For LittleBigPlanet
Classic Controller For Wii Monster Hunter 3
Ensemble Studios May (Soon) Be Dead, But They're Not Out
360 Sales Have Doubled in US, More Than Doubled In Europe, Quintupled In Japan
Bionic Commando Delayed, Coming "Early 2009"
Uncharted Waters Online Getting PS3 Version
Microsoft: Japanese Sell Out Is "Totally Legit"
Resistance: Retribution, Resistance 2 Connect To Add "Infected" Gameplay
Xbox 360: Official Console of 2008 Recession
Konami Whips Up Castlevania For Xbox 360, PS3
Goichi Suda Has Not Given Up On You Nintendo Wii
Bionic Commando Movie Is A Definite Possibility
First Look At Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li Movie Poster
Tokyo Game Show Attendance Plummets Again
Revenge Of Public Day: TGS Attendance Rebounds!
Kojima Might Announce New Game At Next Year's TGS
Perhaps Why Tokyo Game Show 2009 Has Been Rescheduled...
Tokyo Game Show 2008 Attendance Actually Up!

Tokyo Game Show: Best In Show Winners Announced

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:30:00 MDT

TGS is over. *Sniff*. But with the Makuhari Messe now devoid of bright lights, scantily-clad ladies and the sweaty musk of tens of thousands of Japanese gamers, attention now turns towards the important stuff. Like what won "best in show". Or, as CESA (Japan's ESRB) call it, the "Future Awards", held as part of their Japan Game Awards 2008 festivities. Twelve games were recognised - most of them having been playable on the showroom floor - and every major Japanese gaming platform (ie everything bar the PC) is represented.

The winners are (they're not ranked or anything):

Idolm@ster - Namco Bandai - PSP
Gyakuten Kenji - Capcom - DS
White Knight Story - Sony - PS3
Star Ocean 4 - Square Enix - Xbox 360
Final Fantasy: Dissidia - Square Enix - PSP
Dragon Quest IX - Square Enix - DS
Resident Evil 5 - Capcom - Xbox 360/PS3
Monster Hunter 3 - Capcom - Wii
428 - Sega - Wii
LittleBigPlanet - Sony - PS3
Yakuza 3 - Sega - PS3
Let's Tap - Sega - Wii

[Japan Game Awards 2008]

I Wish I Hadn't Played Castlevania Judgement

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:30:00 MDT

Of all the days I had to play games at TGS, and of all games I had the chance to play, why the hell did I leave it until Sunday afternoon to play Castlevania Judgement? I mean, my last memory of TGS could have been of something good, like Macross Ace Frontier or, in Konami's case, another kick at Pro Evo 2009. Instead, I walked away from the show feeling bad. Bad for Castlevania fans, at least.

There is just nothing right about this game. Nothing. As a Castlevania game, it’s…well, as a fighter, it’s not a Castlevania game at all. And as a fighter, it’s one of the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s as though Konami looked at 3D fighters, saw what worked, what didn’t work, and just for shits and giggles, threw in everything that didn’t work.

So what, exactly, doesn’t work? Like I said, everything. It’s like a daisy-chain of failures. Let’s kick things off with the arena. The arena doesn’t work. It’s too large. So instead of fighting for 90 seconds, you end up chasing each other around for 90 seconds. Which is bad enough, but then, the camera doesn’t work. Because it’s fixed, one player will often end up running at the camera, losing all sight of where it is they’re going.

But that’s OK, because you lose sight of where you’re going most of the time anyway, thanks to the woeful controls. The players are locked into only eight directional movements, and also move too quickly, meaning you lose all sense of timing and precision. Which are kinda important in a fighter. But that's OK, since most attacks – activated by furious waggling, no less – are so broad that you don’t even need to be facing your opponent to get a shot in. You just need to waggle and get lucky.

And when you do get lucky…boy. The game has special attacks. You charge them through regular combat. And when you set one off…you get a Final Fantasy-esque cutscene. All the ones we saw (I was playing 2P with Crecente) ran for over twenty seconds. Twenty. Seconds. Interrupting the middle of a fighting game. Oh, and they also take off around 1/3 of your damage, which for a fighter, is potentially game-breaking.

Want to know the good parts? Couldn’t see any. Sorry. It really was that bad. I'd say Konami have a job on their hands trying to get this one fixed in time for release, but with the game due out in the US next month, things aren't looking good.

Booth Showcase: SNK Is The King Of Fighters, Boobs

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:00:00 MDT

We close out our TGS booth tours with SNK’s. Thanks for stickin' around. It was both larger and more impressive than last year’s mild effort, thanks in most part to the presence of an row of eight playable King of Fighters XII arcade cabinets. Oh, and two 60” LCD’s showcasing that action, helping make it easily the most visually impressive game of the show. The rest of the stuff in their booth (ie anything not King of Fighters) was standard SNK fare: boobs, more boobs and mouse pads with boobs on them.

Studio Ghibli/Level 5 Game Box Gives Other Game Boxes The Finger

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:10:00 MDT

[Gallery fixed, pics now up] The best thing about Level 5’s booth wasn’t a game. Wasn’t even a game trailer. It was the box for the company’s upcoming collaboration with animation house Studio Ghibli, Ninokuni. The entirety of the final retail package was on display, including glorious box art and ridiculously extravagant spell book (which you’ll actually need to use whike playing). This can’t be cheap, and might not even look like this when it hits the West, but that doesn’t matter. For now, just enjoy the craftsmanship

Booth Showcase: Level 5's Grand Designs

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:00:00 MDT

Level 5 are on the up. And nowhere was this more evidenced by their increased TGS presence, the company hosting an impressively large booth that housed demo pods, game art, the ROID game portal and a mega theatre that rivalled Square Enix’s in size, if not in stature.

Space Puzzle Bobble Hands-On Impressions

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:40:32 MDT

Taito has dragged Bub and Bob out to solve another Puzzle Bobble conundrum, one that can only be unraveled by launching bubbles from a cannon in the hopes of more match three puzzle gameplay. Space Puzzle Bobble doesn't bring too much to the Puzzle Bobble (aka Bust-A-Move) series, it just slaps it on the Nintendo DS, tossing in some outer space themes for good measure. We're okay with that.

Using the DS touch screen isn't exactly the best interface for angling your shots, but it's good enough. Just make sure you have a steady surface on which to play.

We were hoping that the excellent dial controller — used in the previous Taito effort Arkanoid DS — would be one of the options on hand at Tokyo Game Show, but no dice.

The scope of the demo was unfortunately very limited, giving us a few dozen stand Puzzle Bobble boards to clear. They came pretty fast and furious, but there was no danger of losing. We didn't notice anything in the way of new gameplay elements; most of the bubble types we'd seen before.

The Space Puzzle Bobble moniker seems regrettably fitting. Taito seems to be keeping the series in a vacuum, with little in the way of new features to keep long time players coming back. Based on the short demo, we were left a little disappointed in what Space Puzzle Bobble had to offer. There may be more to it than we saw in our brief hands on time, but given the enduring gameplay, it might just be "good enough" for forgiving fans to dip into the game one more time.

Bionic Commando Is "Not Fucking Spider-Man"

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:00:00 MDT

People are worried that Bionic Commando might be a bit too hard. I’m one of them. There’s a fear that, because the game’s swinging mechanic is both integral to the game and difficult to master at the same time, a lot of players may not take the time to learn the system and give up on the game. Is this a concern to the development team? No, not really. Making the mechanic hard was the whole point, says GRIN's Ulf Andersson:

It’s not fuckin’ Spider-Man. We made a swing mechanism that’s not automatic. This means you have to focus a bit more, because it’s a proper mechanic instead of just a button press; it’s the core mechanic of the game. Everything in the game is built around that, from the environments to the enemy.
It’s really hard to do a good swing mechanic. Not many games have got it right. But we’re all really proud of ours. The original Bionic Commando was skill-based. There was a risk in jumping: you might die, you might not. We’ve stayed true to that core mood and feeling of the original in our game.

That mechanic will be too hard for some. Heck, might be too hard for many. But for others, it'll be a hoot. It’s at least refreshing to see a developer make a decision like this and stick with it, if only so you kids that are always complaining about stuff being dumbed down can take a look.

Booth Showcase: Konami's Solid Sense Of Longing

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:00:00 MDT

Oh, Konami. What a difference a year makes. Last year, they were the star of the show, Metal Gear Solid 4 winning over both critics and public alike. This year? They…well, let’s just say they probably wish they could re-release Metal Gear Solid 4 all over again, as without it, their lack of depth in other areas really showed. Pro Evo 2009 was great, as we’ve already discussed, but after that there was little else to see but the sad (still peddling MGS4 and Metal Gear Online? Really?) and the God-awful (Castlevania Judgement is a farce of a title).

'Demon's Souls' Hands-On Impressions

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:40:54 MDT

From Software had two console exclusives on its plate at TGS, Ninja Blade for the Xbox 360 and Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3. Both are dark and moody hack and slash affairs, filled with demonic beasts to slay. But Demon's Souls is billed as an action role-playing game, seemingly a greater time investment than its "cinematic" action sibling. The poorly translated fact sheet describes the game with "Nothing but a player's decision and a tactics of using various weapons are important than anything that you really need to think to play." While that makes no sense, Demon's Souls is fairly easy to wrap one's brain around.The TGS demo kicked off with an extended narrated cut scene, explaining why you, the lone warrior capable of saving this endangered kingdom, must take up arms. A plague of, you guessed it, demons are inching ever closer to your homeland, devouring the tasty souls of every man, woman and child. Your task? Kill 'em. You'll create your own customized character, based on gender, class and appearance. We fumbled through Demon's Souls' menus, eventually settling on a spellcaster who seemed to be pretty capable with a dagger. While we're sure there's some variance to the classes, they all seem to have one thing in common: extreme ugliness. Seriously, From Software, these are some of the most frightening looking human faces we've ever seen in a video game. We're hoping some of this is unfinished or placeholder, because our female fighter could easily have been mistaken for one of the game's monsters. Hideous. Out on the battlefield, we hacked and slashed against some low level zombies. We burned through our mana quickly, our meager wand doing little damage. Fortunately, demons drop weapons, so we quickly upgraded to a deadly cudgel. In another play through, we opted for a giant Siegfried from Soulcalibur-like knight, complete with over-oversized sword and massive thorny shield. He wasn't nearly as spry as our sorcerer, but was less frustrating to play. The combat was adequate. Block with L1, attack with one of the face buttons, and lock on a target by pressing in the left analog stick. A handy dodging roll helps add to the fighting mechanic, but the general impression of combat made Demon's Souls feel more like an MMO in the hand-to-hand department. It took a while to get the hang of the action, resulting in more than one (okay, four) deaths. Demon's Souls appears to be one of those games that just doesn't showcase well in a ten minute demonstration. Outside of a brief cut scene that gave us Lair flashbacks, we saw nothing of the giant monsters that populate the game's screen shots, nor did the early combat mechanics impress. The environment we adventured in felt dull and lifeless. The game is listed as only 65% complete, so there's plenty of time to tighten up the graphics and whatnot, but the TGS demo did not impress. Demon's Souls is due for a PlayStation 3 release in 2009, so we look forward to giving it a second chance when things start to shape up a little better.

The PSP Needs More Games Like Macross Ace Frontier

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:00:00 MDT

Macross Ace Frontier is in a no-lose situation. The lucky thing. If it sucks as a Macross game, well, it’s a Macross game. They have a history of sucking. If it sucks as a PSP game, well, it’s a PSP game. They (mostly) have a history of sucking. What’s so surprising given both of those expectations, then, is the fact that having played the game at TGS, it’s not sucking. On either count.

It’s strange to pick up a PSP and not just play a PSP game, but enjoy it. It’s been a while. But enjoy Macross Ace Frontier I did, finding the game to be one of the smoothest, most responsive and action-packed PSP games I’ve seen in a long time.

Most PSP game are sluggish. This isn’t. Your veritech pitches and rolls quickly and smoothly, with a consistently high frame rate untroubled by the enemies and missile trails flying around you.

Controls are of course a little tricky – made trickier by having three separate schemes for each transformation mode – but if I can get the hang of them in a 15-minute presentation without knowing any Japanese, they can’t be too hard. Those worried about input, know that the PSP’s awful analogue controls are used for toggling stuff, not for movement, which is handled surprisingly well by the d-pad.

As a Macross game, this is the best one since Super Dimensional Fortress on the PS2. I couldn’t really make out things like music (too loud) or plot (it was in Japanese), but it certainly looks the part, and the battles are fast enough to pay their respects to the franchise. Letting off a salvo of swirly missiles before transforming into robot mode and blasting with your rifle – the kind of little touch that’ll make all the difference to a Macross fanboy – is both easy and really, really satisfying.

One thing to note, though, before you think of importing this: it’s heavy on Japanese text. As an example, you don’t just jump in and start shooting; missions are precluded by a “hangar” mode, where you need to go through a ton of menus and screens configuring your payload, craft, etc. Sure, you could hope and pray for a Western release, but with that looking unlikely your time would be better spent brushing up on your kanji.

Booth Showcase: Yes, Sega Were At TGS

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:00:00 MDT

For a publisher of their size and stature, Sega’s Tokyo Game Show booth was a little on the disappointing side. Nothing on hand was really wowing the crowd – not even the promise of a new Sonic game (Unleashed) – and were it not for the mild excitement accompanying Yakuza 3 the booth would have been one of the emptiest of the major publishers.

Tokyo Game Show 2008 Attendance Actually Up!

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:40:00 MDT

People came to this year's Tokyo Game Show. In droves. The event's organizers have released the final tallies, and they are:
194,288 attendees for TGS 2008 compared to 193,040 attendees for TGS 2007. Those interested in the breakdown, hit the jump. Those not, don't.

Tokyo Game Show 2008
10/9 Business Day
27,305 attendees

10/10 Business Day
24,178 attendees

10/11 Public Day
71,639 attendees (included: 9,207 kids)

10/12 Public Day
71,166 attendees (included: 13,963 kids)

TOTAL: 194,288 attendees

Tokyo Game Show 2007
10/9 Business Day
29,783 attendees

10/10 Business Day
32,390 attendees

10/11 Public Day
64,795 attendees (included: 11,829 kids)

10/12 Public Day
66,072 attendees (included: 15,347 kids)

TOTAL: 193,040 attendees

So fewer kids this year and more press last year. Fascinating.

Perhaps Why Tokyo Game Show 2009 Has Been Rescheduled...

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:00:00 MDT

Notice something missing at this year's TGS? Besides lack of major news, there was a noticeable lack of nerd stench. The best thing about this year's Tokyo Game Show is that it was in October. The worst thing about last year's Tokyo Game Show was that it was in September, a month that is still humid, sticky and generally gross and disgusting. So it was quite nice not turning into a sweat monster during the show. The thing that wasn't so nice was the show's timing if you're a parent of small children.

See, October 13th was "Taiiku no Hi" or "Health and Sports Day." On that day (or the three-day weekend of), many schools hold their annual athletic field day, which is a big deal in Japan. Kids and teachers spend weeks organizing the event and practicing for it. This year, I missed my son's field day, much to his chagrin. He did get a gold medal with the character Anpanman on it for winning a foot race. Pure speculation on my part, but rather sure I wasn't the only father to miss his kid's field day because of this year's TGS.

With that in mind, it's no surprise the show's organizers have announced that next year's Tokyo Game Show will once again take place in late September and not October. Much to the delight of game industry parents across the country, we're sure.

Street Fighter IV Getting Animated For Your Viewing Pleasure

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:00:00 MDT

Those brushstroke heavy Street Fighter IV trailers are going to get turned into an anime that will fill in the gaps between Street Fighter II and its spiritual sequel Street Fighter IV. Producer Yoshinori Ono stated at TGS that the new animated feature will run between 50 and 60 minutes and hopes to tie the flick with the game's home console release. The company that churned out the original clips, Studio 4C, is working on the full-length version. The three minute trailer shown at TGS showed Cammy making her way through a wooded ares with some troops, Ryu discovering his dark side, Sakura and Chun-Li battling goons, and Ryu and Crimson Viper fighting.

Feature-length Street Fighter IV anime in the works [GameSpot via Eurogamer]

Kojima Might Announce New Game At Next Year's TGS

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:00:00 MDT

Yet another Japanese game developer getting all down on the Japanese game industry. This time it's Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima bringing the negativity. In a talk at this year's Tokyo Game Show, Kojima said: "If you honestly compare Japanese games with Western ones, Japan has lost."

Continuing, Kojima stated that the Western game industry system is closer to Hollywood in that the best creators from all over the world are brought together and given large budgets for the projects. Kojima also called this current situation "dangerous" with discussing how far the West has come — especially with how far Western development tech has come in the last few years.

Not one to sit out and let the game industry pass him by, Kojima added: "Until the end of this year, I have my hands full with Metal Gear Online, but at next year's show, I think it's okay that I should be able to announce something."

小島監督のトークイベントにて [Famitsu]