Tokyo Game Show - Part.... Last

Now that TGS is finally over, let us finish up with a few stories that did not quite make it into the other two posts.

Halo 3, do I really need to describe it? Some of you should be playing it at this very moment. But the real news is that Halo 3 garnered really big crowds... in Japan. Gamers could not get enough of it, interesting since the Japanese stay away from senseless-violence American games, like Halo. However, it made a pretty huge impact, but will it be enough to raise the popularity of the 360 in that country as well?

The popular Soul Caliber series will soon have its fourth installment on the 360 and PS3. Not only are we getting the the crisper graphics and more "enhancements" to the fighters (just look at Ivy), there will also be an updated ring out system to make it more difficult for both sides to get off an easy win, with the use of barriers and breakable walls.

Capcom's pride and joy, Devil May Cry 4, had two new trailers and some playable demos on the show floor, and it is still impressing. Running at a smooth 60 fps at 720p on both a 360 and PS3, people only had good things to say as the action was fast and the controls were responsive. You will be able to find out the story between Nero and Dante in early 2008, with a PC version coming soon after.

For all the Katamari fans with a PS3, don't feel bad that Beautiful Katamari is Xbox only, since Jun Morikawa, game director of the series, has confirmed to 1up.com that a PS3 katamari game will be coming sometime in the future.

Again, there was so much at TGS to talk about, this is what caught our attention. The show is finally over, and we have enough to salivate over for the next year, no matter what platform(s) you own.

Tokyo Game Show Madness Part 1

Yet another big video game event is upon us, this time in Japan, where most of the major game companies are showing off their latest products for their fans, and not just for the Japanese, but for everyone.

Sony seems to be heading the show with most of the news in some way or another applying to them. First to the general system news. The rumours that rumble will be finally brought back to the Sixaxis are indeed true, with the new and unoriginal name of DualShock 3. The controller still includes the motion controls, but now has vibration features similar to the DualShock 2.

Unfortunately, this is not the amazing "vibration for each button" controller we have heard about, but at least the basic feature is back, which Sony still says required a bit of work to coinside with the motion sensors. Almost all games from here on out will support it, and other games already out may include the feature with an update. Some bad news is that this new controller is only coming to the US and Europe in Spring 2008, while Japan gets it in November of this year.

Remote play between the PSP and PS3 is also hot news, where not only can you stream games and media stored on your PS3 to your PSP anywhere you go (as long as there is wi-fi), you can also turn the PS3 on and off remotely to save power when not using the feature. Definitely something to look out for.

There is some more bad news unfortunately. The "Xbox Live killer" Sony is working on, Home, is also delayed to Spring 2008. Also, there is still no talk of that infamous 2.00 firmware update to include XMB support in-game. Hopefully more will be announced soon.

It would seem the other big news from the show floor would be the plethora of new Kingdom Hearts games for multiple platforms. The DS has KH 358 / 2 Days, the PSP has KH Birth by Sleep, and Mobile platforms have KH Coded. All these games are different and seem to have different stories and gameplay elements.

Lastly, there is just too much buzz around Konami to not mention them today. During their press conference, they seemed to put a lot of concentration on their new Wii fitness game, and some interesting titles for portable platforms. They of coarse also continued to talk about Silent Hill 5, Winning Eleven 2008, and the big daddy of them all, Metal Gear Solid 4, which had yet another amazing trailer.

Devicing will cover the major games of the show in a later post, since more news is coming in each day. Stay tuned!

Pictures from Kotaku.com and IGN.com