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Karaoke Joysound Wii leaving Japan?
We're fascinated by Karaoke Joysound Wii, Hudson's karaoke program that allows players to turn their Wiis into karaoke machines and download selections from a massive library of songs for a 300 yen fee (for one day of unlimited downloading). But we believed that it was going to stay in Japan, for various reasons including the greater popularity of private karaoke in Japan, the reliance on a massive licensing deal that Hudson USA doesn't have, and the fact that Hudson said so.But 4cr's Keito reported in her hands-on preview of the game that "The game is going to be released in Japan on December 18th, and then in both the USA and Europe in 2009." Could Hudson be working on a deal with an American music publisher? If so, we may have $3 karaoke parties soon.%Gallery-33426%
TGS08: Castlevania: Order of Awesome Trailer
With Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia due out in Japan and the U.S. later this month, the Tokyo Game Show represents the last major event at which Konami can show the game off; and shown it off they have, with this spectacular trailer.The first minute and thirteen seconds consists of Order of Ecclesia character/location art, so if it's gameplay you're after, you'll want to skip to around one-third of the way through. Though why you'd want to skip Castlevania art is utterly beyond us.%Gallery-22992% Like Castlevania? We do -- to an embarrassing degree. Check out our impressions of Order of Ecclesia from E3, settle in for a trailer, or go Behind the Boxart with a Konami graphic designer. But enough talk -- have at you!
TGS08: Monster Hunter 3 not as gorgeous as it seems
Luckily for those of us who wanted to read previews of Monster Hunter 3, Capcom held a private demo session for foreign press, allowing people to actually see the thing and not just stare dumbfounded at the insane line. Wired's Jean Snow got a chance to play the guaranteed multi-million seller, and brought back not-entirely-great news.He calls the graphics "fine for a Wii title," which is a far cry from the eye-popping beauty we've seen in screens and video. That's not bad. Even better than not bad: apparently, your character can now hold his or her breath for "5-6 minutes," opening up an entirely new area of the world for exploration.Unfortunately, the wait for Monster Hunter 3 wasn't limited to the TGS line: the game as presented was plagued by "constant loading screens when entering new areas."%Gallery-32281%
TGS 08: Japan's cosplay
Click to embiggen No one does it like Japan. No one takes cosplay more seriously than them. To the Japanese it's an art form or even a form of sport, if you will. Cosplay takes massive dedication – there's getting into shape to look the part, and then talk about those hours upon hours applying wax in one's hair to get that exact patented look down right to the point of copyright infringement.It's all about going the extra mile, and Japan has perfected the Zen-like disciplined lifestyle of the cosplayer. Of course, we're not knocking down other countries and their costume mimicry attempts; Americans are getting there, we're sure you can agree, but it still pales in comparison. This is still very much Japan's homecourt. See for yourselves ... our gallery awaits.%Gallery-34303%
TGS08: Edgeworth points out his new trailer
The Tokyo Game Show has brought us quite a few things, but not many as exciting as the walking and arm-flinging in the latest Gyakuten Kenji trailer. All that effort spent on getting the movement just right seems to have worked out; the arm-flinging may be a little dramatic, but we're talking about the Ace Attorney universe, here -- the drama is what we've been craving.Gyakuten Kenji is scheduled to come out next spring in Japan, which means it's a damn long time yet before we'll see it. Gallery: Gyakuten Kenji [Thanks, Justin!]
TGS08: Bouncing beatdowns in Castlevania Judgment
Oh, if only we could always start the morning with hot Death on Death action ... well, we'd at least be more inclined to like Castlevania Judgment. Alas, it's only shiny and new this once, and hereafter, all Death v. Death deathmatches will be, as they say, played out.But for a moment, for one bright, shining, purply-explosions moment, Castlevania Judgment was beautiful. Now we're back to bursting muscles, wacky shorts, and flawed gameplay. But buck up, little campers: there's a bit of news on the Order of Ecclesia/Judgment DS-Wii connectivity front. We knew the DS title's heroine, Shanoa, was unlockable in Castlevania Judgment, and as we speculated, so is Aeon -- both through the DS/Wii game connection. In the DS game, Wii connectivity adds a hard mode and raises your level cap in one mode to a whopping 255. Do we need to be so badass? Oh yes. Yes, we do. Gallery: Castlevania Judgment
TGS 08 hands-on: Spelunker (PSN)
Click to make it bigger, okay? Spelunker is a remake of the NES classic from Irem. Does it look familiar to you? Do you remember the game from way back in the day, 20 years ago? If you do, it's probably because the aesthetics haven't changed much. Though boasting updated, modern graphics, the game's visuals retain a retro-stylized feel. The 2D characters are still there. The lifts and ladders are still in the places they would've been. Overall, it looks like an interesting title for those old-school gamers looking for a blast from the past. Of course, the question is: How does it play? First off, the controls are simple enough. It's a 2D game with a focus on platform jumping, with other actions including: riding down elevators; leaping over pits; climbing ladders; and dodging fire, steam, and toxic liquids. You can collect items such as bombs to demolish obstacles in your way, or keys in order to progress through locked sections of a stage. It all sounds very simple, familiar and arcadey -- in other words, a perfect fit for a PSN game. Right? Gallery: Spelunker
TGS 08: Full Square Enix Closed Theater impressions
Ah, the Square Enix Mega Theater. It's always something to look forward to at every TGS. We took the time to check out the theater and see what's cooking behind those big, black walls. Square Enix showed off trailers for nine games and a film in the Mega Theater, including two PS3 titles, the Advent Children Complete movie, and four PSP titles. Grab the full scoop on each title in our Square Enix Closed Theater impressions.
TGS 08: RE5, SFIV, White Knight, more to support PS3 Trophies
We're still recovering from our trip to TGS (in fact, we're still here in Tokyo). However, we thought you'd appreciate this list of new games which will definitely be supporting Trophies when they release on the PS3. Big first-party and third-party titles can be found on this list: Demon's Soul Derby Time Online Gomibako Quantum Theory Resident Evil 5 Street Fighter IV White Knight Chronicles Yakuza 3 Unfortunately, the status of other big PS3 games, like Final Fantasy XIII, is still TBD. To check out the full list of Trophy-supported games on PS3, don't forget to check out PS3 Fanboy's Trophy Portal.
TGS 08: Old Snake and Sephiroth flip out and kill ninjas
As cute as Old Sack and Sackiroth may be in digital form (despite being gun-toting, sword-wielding mass murderers), they're nothing in comparison to their real life counterparts. These costumed SackBoy plush dolls appeared during the public days in the LittleBigPlanet section of the Sony booth. Media Molecule continues to tease us with physical SackBoys that we just can't have.On nearby screens a trailer showed the two newest members of the LittleBigPlanet family running and jumping through various levels of the game. Adorable and ecstatic? Yes, but also ruthless Ninja killers. Check some of it out in the video after the break.
TGS 08: LocoRoco 2 and the curiously embargoed trailer
Strangely, only one thing we reported on at Tokyo Game Show this year was under embargo. And that was this LocoRoco 2 trailer. Why? We don't know. If you read our hands-on impressions, you'll know that we're absolutely in love with this rather substantial sequel. Take a watch and see if you can find all the new gameplay features and enemies.
TGS 08: White Knight Chronicles impressions
Click to enlarge White Knight Chronicles has changed a lot since we played it at Tokyo Game Show last year. Our conclusion at the time was that the game would be a gorgeous JRPG with an intriguing, customizable battle system; an exciting prospect for RPG-starved PS3 owners to be sure. However, after today's White Knight Chronicles presentation, we're sure the game has the potential to be much more than that.A Level-5 employee introduced us to the game's story: It follows a boy and his search for a kidnapped princess slash love interest after discovering a conveniently hidden set of magic armor ... a tad clichéd (even by Japanese standards). In order to demonstrate the game's sense of enormity and scale we were shown a few concept pieces for the game. While rolling plains and towering castles are par for the course when it comes to JRPGs, it's been a while since we've seen an entire town straddled atop an enormous creature.We covered the battle system quite extensively at TGS last year. We took the opportunity to space out a little while the developers explained how to link character abilities together into combos, using the palette menu and how Leonard can transform into the eponymous White Knight. Not that we were bored -- the battle system was the only thing that really set White Knight Chronicles apart. Until it was revealed that the game would have a four-player online mode, that is. Gallery: White Knight Chronicles TGS 2008
Confirmed: Girls and booze at Tecmo TGS party
Tecmo's John Inada took the stage, welcoming video game journalists who had made the long journey to Tokyo Game Show. He was obviously a little intoxicated, spilling a bit of wine from his glass as he swayed around. TGS was over, he told us, wanting us to take a break and relax with some free food.The evening was filled with a number of strange "jokes" about the troubled state of Tecmo, which includes its former star developer, Itagaki, initiating a lawsuit against it. One of the most awkward moments of the evening came from Inada's comment about over-the-top gifts made by publishers to journalists. "If you don't know who I am," he said, "then you probably haven't accepted one of my gifts, as they're called by some guy named after something I put on my stinky feet."That joke left the room a little silent. But that silence wasn't meant to last long. Shortly afterward, Tecmo's Yoh Watanabe took the stage to once and for all put an end to the rumors of Tecmo's outlandishness. "Tecmo has been accused of plying the media with booze and girls," he said. "Well, it's true!"
TGS 08: Street Fighter IV extended trailer
There is little doubt that fighting games and arcades go hand-in-hand, so the death of arcades should mean the death of the genre, right? No! Thanks to the advent of online competition, fighting games have been given a new lease on life. One of the many fighting titles still battling for console attention is the upcoming Street Fighter IV from Capcom. Bringing the series back to the quarter-stealing roots of Street Fighter II, SFIV is one of our most anticipated titles of ... whenever Capcom decides to release it!
TGS 08: Street Fighter IV trailer
Fighting games have made a big comeback, and the evidence was clearly seen at TGS this year. Tekken 6's announcement for home consoles is one of the bigger stories on the show floor this year. (Probably because there wasn't that much else happening ...) Capcom's revival of the Street Fighter franchise in SFIV looks rather exciting, and the TGS trailer offers excited fans over three minutes of anime and fighting footage.
TGS08: The dead rise in latest Chop 'Til You Drop trailer
A release date wasn't the only thing concerning Dead Rising: Chop 'Til You Drop to come out of Japan this week. A new trailer for the game, as you can see above, managed to escape the craziness that is TGS08.Within, you'll see a lot of the stuff you've seen before, just, you know, in motion. There's zombies, Frank jumping out of a helicopter and plenty of carnage to satisfy your every need.%Gallery-28028% Want to know more about Frank and his quest to survive the undead? Well, first off you should check out our comparison piece that looks at the Xbox 360 version versus the Wii port. Then, be sure to check out some of the game's waggle, as well as some more footage of the game in action. Braaaaaaaaains ...
TGS 08: Eternal Sonata trailer
It isn't too long until PS3 owners can get their hands on Trusty Bell Eternal Sonata. We're hoping that the PS3 version, which includes a significant number of extras over the 360 original, will do exactly one thing: explain what the heck a Trusty Bell is. The original game had absolutely no bells at all -- that's pretty untrustworthy to us.
Joystiq tries out the NXE, the news is good
Joystiq -- otherwise known as the lucky bastards currently at the Tokyo Game Show -- have gotten a chance to try out the New Xbox Experience. There are some quibbles, namely that you still can't set your default online status and some elements -- like Netflix -- are oddly placed. Even with the quibbles though, the pros seems to outweigh the cons. The NXE is fast, Avatars are easy to create, and the new party system allows players to jump from game to game with ease. Best of all, according to Joystiq, is the new guide, which recreates the original Blades system. The guide allows all the same functions as the current dashboard, even allowing you to launch another game from within one already being played (and allowing you to take your party with you).It all sounds pretty sweet to us. Oh, and it's fast. Head over to Joystiq for their full impressions.
TGS08: Sonic Unleashed and unbelievably cool
Hey, Sonic Unleashed on the Wii looks great! Sure, this level appears to pretty much play itself, requiring only occasional input from the player, but it's fast, the graphics are incredible, and the music is classic Sonic silliness. It looks much better than that other Sonic game in which he turns into a werehog with stretchy arms for some reason.... what? That's this game? Oh, crumbs. This is how we'd want a 3D Sonic to be --not terribly 3D, and starring Sonic. Even the simplistic "hold right" gameplay is enough to sustain us for the single level we'll enjoy before the werehog, or Sonic's friends, or mandatory Rouge the Bat level, or cutscene, or whatever else shows up to ruin it.%Gallery-19031%
PSP Fanboy hands-on: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
The Kingdom Hearts series was first born on the PlayStation 2; however, it has gone and spread its wings into other realms since then and now it carries a new bundle of joy in the form of portable PSP title Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. While the title radically takes the story aspect of the game farther away from the original setting with Sora and friends, this new game will focus on the three (slightly) new faces pictured above (from left: Aqua, Ventus and Tera).Birth by Sleep was indeed playable on the show floor at TGS and we sunk in some time with the title. The playable build that was available let us try out both Ventus and Tera in battle. We decided to just go with trying out Tera's abilities and then go straight into the action. Tera's level starts off in a forest area which gets you into a fight right away. Kingdom Hearts vets will notice that the controls are incredibly familiar; they're nearly identical to the original console games from the past, though with slight differences due to the change in input interface (ie, shoulder buttons once again control the camera since there are no dual analog nubs).%Gallery-29323%
