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TGS 2009: Unboxing the Level-5 Premium Gift
Level-5's booth is one of the most popular attractions at Tokyo Game Show. It was our first stop this morning when the expo floor opened, and still we waited in line for at least 30 minutes -- a line that completely surrounded the ginormous booth. The line ended at a small theater lounge, in which we sat down to watch the Ni no Kuni, Professor Layton and the Devil's Flute, and ROID trailers we had just seen from the line. Finally, we were ushered into a game demo area, and then handed the requisite swag bag. Having been told that the swag bag contained this year's version of the vaunted Level-5 "Premium Gift," with either a DVD or a DS demo cartridge, we decided to share the excitement of opening the sealed envelope with the internet. Enjoy the exciting conclusion in the video above!
DS Daily: Most anticipated
Since the first footage of Ni no Kuni: The Another World appeared at the Tokyo Game Show last week, it has become the DS game I'm most looking forward to. A Level 5/Studio Ghibli collaboration is the stuff dreams are made of. The animation, predictably, looks wonderful. I already just want to hold the included spellbook. Maybe stroke it. Is that wrong?Plenty of other titles were showcased last week in Tokyo, so now seems like an appropriate time to see which made the most impact on each of you. Are you crazy about Chrono Trigger? Giddy about Gyakuten Kenji? Cuckoo for Castlevania? If you could have one upcoming DS title in your hands right now, what would it be?
TGS 08: Resident Evil 5 co-op impressions
While Capcom wasn't showing off any new Resident Evil 5 levels at TGS, it was enabling one of the game's biggest back-of-the-box bullet points – co-op gameplay – as well as showing off the game's new (and improved!) control type: "Shooter" mode. Ludwig and I took the game for a two-player spin, then condensed our thoughts for you in this totally unedited back-and-forth format. Chris: Maybe since it was such a poorly kept secret, we almost forgot to play Resident Evil 5 co-op at TGS this year. Almost! Ludwig: Well, as one of the most popular games at the show, the lines for it were quite intimidating. Good thing we used the Microsoft Booth exploit. A brief wait the morning of the first public day (seriously, someone should have told the hundreds of people lined up at Capcom's booth!) we were in Microsoft's RE5 tent, an English-language sheet in front of us detailing the "Classic" and "Shooter" control types. You get to choose the control type before the play session starts, but can also change it mid-game. I initially went with the "Classic" setup, which is identical to that found in Resident Evil 4.
TGS08: New Fragile trailer reduces stress
Because seriously, how mellow is that tune? Lovely. Yours truly almost drifted off at his keyboard watching this. It's also nice to be reminded that we don't reside in a post-apocalyptic wasteland! This is the Tokyo Game Show trailer for Namco Bandai's Fragile, featuring plenty more of hero Seto and his female colleague Ren (who could both do with a comb through their hair), the floating spirit of a young girl, and a lot of cut-scenery. All in all, it's as enchanting and as beautiful as ever, if a little light on gameplay.%Gallery-26285%
TGS 08: Hands-on with Demon's Souls
click to embiggen "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." This line, taken from the official Demon's Souls site blurb, should make you feel as scared and confused as I felt when I got my hands on the game. My first thought, "ouch," remains scrawled at the top of my notes and, sadly, it's all downhill from there. Gallery: Demons Souls
TGS 08 picture tour: Namco Bandai booth
click to enter Namco Bandai was all about the anime games at TGS this year. That's counting playable builds of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, at least three Gundam titles, Macross Ace Frontier and Soul Eater. Other titles like the Idolm@ster PSP games were also a hit with the crowd, as huge queues snaked beyond the booth's perimeter. Get a closer look inside our Namco Bandai Booth Photo Tour.
TGS 08 hands-on: Gomibako (PSN)
Click to embiggen When we say that Gomibako -- a new PSN title -- is trashy, we're not aiming to dis the game. You see, we're not referring to the game's quality, we're simply referring to what the game's all about. The given name "Gomibako" literally means "trash box," or "trash can" if you prefer. It's all about festering piles of garbage and how to get rid of them properly (and by "properly," we really mean "in outrageous and silly ways"). In going about our Earth-friendly activities, Gomibako asks players to fill up a giant blue bin with as much trash as possible. The game plays a lot like Tetris, and so, it's important to properly place each falling piece of garbage in order to conserve space for more items to come. But since we're talking about irregularly-shaped articles of trash, conserving space proves to be a little more difficult than it sounds. %Gallery-34460%
TGS 08 picture tour: Tecmo booth
click to enter Tecmo showed off about a dozen games at TGS this year, though only a few took up actual floor space. Newly revealed games like Quantum Theory and Undead Knights were only shown in trailer form, but other, already known titles like DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense 2 Shin Tantei Series (say that five times fast!) took up space as large as an entire side of the squared Tecmo territory. (Perhaps Tecmo needed the extra room just to fit the game's title on the wall.)Honestly, Tecmo's booth isn't about the games anyway. That's not what draws the crowds. Ask people who visited Tecmo's booth what they loved most and they'll likely respond: booth babes! You'll see what we mean once you take our Tecmo Booth Photo Tour.
Monster Hunter 3, two Sega games honored by TGS organizers
CESA announced their list of the best games of TGS 2008, known as the "Future" category of their Japan Game Awards. Of the twelve games given the award (in no specific order), three are on Wii. Of course Capcom's Monster Hunter 3 got a nod; nothing short of not calling it Monster Hunter 3 will keep this from being a ridiculous hit in Japan, and that held true at TGS as well, with the game commanding ridiculous lines. But the two other Wii winners may be more of a surprise: Chunsoft's Sega-published visual novel 428: The World Doesn't Change Even So, and Prope's experimental Let's Tap. Sega must be very happy right about now!For the sake of Nintendo fandom, we'll include the DS winners here as well: the Phoenix Wright spinoff Gyakuten Kenji and Dragon Quest IX, which wasn't even playable.%Gallery-27138%[Via Kotaku]
TGS 08 picture tour: Konami booth
click to enter Konami's booth may not have been one of the larger booths at Tokyo Game Show this year, but it was certainly the most visible. It was nearly impossible to miss Konami's booth considering it was the very first thing you'd see after passing through the media entrance. Anyway, what did Konami show on the floor? Its showing this year was all about sequels. The company dropped names for games from the Suikoden, Silent Hill and Castlevania series, just to name a few. Grab your tickets for the Konami Booth Photo Tour and see Konami's wares. It's free!
TGS08: Chrono Trigger, as good as it ever was
This Chrono Trigger trailer from TGS may seem familiar to you. No, not because it's the same ol' Chrono Trigger, but because it's the same ol' trailer. Not precisely the same -- the new trailer is a little longer and differs in parts, but most of it is the same.Listen, we love Chrono Trigger. Which is why we think that maybe Square Enix could use that entire game they have lying around, largely unaltered, and hack out a little more footage for a new trailer.%Gallery-27682%
TGS 08 picture tour: Sega booth
click to enter Sega's booth was hidden away in a corner at the backside of the Makuhari Messe. Despite this, Sega still drew in massive crowds. We suppose the guiding blue lights of Sega's logo would grab any fan's attention and bring them back towards the house that Sonic built. This year's Sega offering was all about Yakuza 3, Phantasy Star, and many more DS J-RPGs. Why not take our Sega Booth Photo Tour and see things for yourself.
Konami: 'We're actively looking' into MGS4 on Xbox 360
And here you thought we'd escaped TGS without this rumorang whizzing by again. Oh no, we most certainly did not (duck!). "We're actively looking into a [Metal Gear Solid 4] release for the Xbox 360," a Konami rep told Japanese investment research firm Morningstar for a TGS report published today (in Japanese). Feel free to take that as "no duh" or a renewed glimmer of hope -- Morningstar's report does not include further evidence that Konami is any closer to bringing a MGS4 port to Xbox 360 than when the rumor first appeared ... two years ago!As IGN notes, the key dilemma is in the discs. How to transfer all that optimized Blu-ray data? And, where to put it? [Via IGN; thanks Joe!]
TGS08: Monster Hunter 3 controls: now in English!
Capcom's online control diagrams for Monster Hunter 3 are informative, especially with the video clips. But they lack one important component for most of us: coherent text. Nintendo World Report snapped pictures of English-language move charts at TGS.The five separate control guides completely shatter the notion that the game's controls would be simplified in the transition to Wii. The MH3 controls don't look overcomplicated, just complicated. Every button is used, some in multiple ways. Different weapons have subtly different control schemes. Interestingly, there are different controls for "sub-aqua," so it must be more than just walking around on the bottom of the sea.%Gallery-32281%
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!
TGS 08: Public attendance up, business visitors way down
Tokyo Game Show organizer CESA announced (via IGN) that the show had 194,288 visitors this year, up about a thousand attendees from last year. The increase in visitors on the public days made up for the significant drop during the two "business only" days of the show. Thursday (Business): 27,305 ('07 - 29,783) Friday (Business): 24,178 ('07 - 32,390) Saturday (Public): 71,639 ('07 - 64,795) Sunday (Public): 71,166 ('07 - 66,072) Good thing TGS is open to the public because those figures really help distract from asking: where have all the business folks gone?
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%
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
