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TGS 2009: Motion-controlled LittleBigPlanet demo is grief-filled
Anyone who's ever played LittleBigPlanet knows that the experience is enriched when played with friends -- but what if one of your "friends" was not a Sackboy in the context of the game, but rather, an invisible agent of divine intervention? Think of it: He or she could effortlessly lift objects through the air, discard obstacles, bridge gaps or, depending on their temperament, instantly murder you. Sony and Media Molecule are teaming up to incorporate this unsettling omnipotence into the customizable platformer with the launch of the PlayStation Motion Controller. You can check out a video of the motion-controlled LBP multiplayer demo (culled from Sony's Tokyo Game Show keynote) after the jump. Fans of the title might see this new functionality as a bold evolution Media Molecule's lovable game -- we see it as an unprecedented advancement in hilarious griefing technology. [Via Kotaku]
TGS 2009: The worst logo of the show
There were plenty of game titles at TGS that we couldn't read because they were all in Japanese, but only one that we couldn't read in English. In fact, it was only because of the Japanese title underneath this logo, for an Akella-developed MMO published in Japan by Acquire, that we could parse this unfortunate image at all. Good luck!
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Bayonetta (PS3)
If you hope to impress the cultural sophistication and profound artistic merit inherent in the video game medium (ahem) upon a doubtful acquaintance, you probably shouldn't count on something like Bayonetta to help illustrate your point. Centered on the exploits of an improbably posh witch and her fashionable pair of gun boots, Bayonetta feels like the result of designer Hideki Kamiya answering every development question with, "Sure, why not?" The game's hyper excess occasionally veers into the distasteful -- Bayonetta's clothing seems to come and go as it pleases -- but it mostly leads to situations that feel creative and surprising. Even a boss fight avoids routine by constantly changing pace: a battle on a bridge eventually becomes airborne after the whole structure is flung across the stage, and the ordeal isn't over until after a brief chase and a final showdown atop a winding set of stairs. Sure, why not?%Gallery-22955%
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Splinter Cell Conviction
Let's make one thing clear: Splinter Cell: Conviction is more difficult than you think. When the game's "mark and execute" feature was revealed -- a feature that allows players to target and automatically take enemies out -- some players assumed the game would be a cakewalk. Beyond being one of the more difficult titles I personally had hands-on time with, Splinter Cell: Conviction leads the pack as one of the most impressive titles at TGS 2009. Our meeting with Ubisoft began with producer Alexandre Parizeau walking us through a never-before-seen section of the game before handing us the controller. Taking place "about three-quarters of the way" through the final product, this is the first piece of the real game Ubisoft has ever shown. The E3 2009 demo was developed specifically to showcase Sam's new abilities, but doesn't appear as it did in the final game. This mission's setting: Washington, DC. After living a life on the run, Sam is captured by Third Echelon and brought home. But now, it appears Sam is back on board with his former employers. Whether his return was made voluntarily, forcefully or due to a patriotic sense of duty is unclear. Parizeau and Co. want to keep a few things hidden in the shadows. %Gallery-74031%
TGS 2009: Tokyo Game ... Shopping
click to enlarge Aside from hosting playable game demos and extravagant cosplayers, the Tokyo Game Show offers up something for those less-than-frugal attendees on the prowl for nerdish knickknacks. Consider doing some window shopping (also Mac compatible) in our gallery below, perhaps lamenting the fact that: A) you're not here to buy that Aloha Slime shirt. B) somebody will actually pay $75 for the Cloud Strife Eau de Toilette. %Gallery-73993%
TGS 2009: Oh! Falling Egg!!
In my ongoing effort to find a game at Tokyo Game Show that didn't have a two-hour wait, I settled upon Oh! Falling Egg!!, a student game from Nagoya Kougakuin College. With a name like Oh! Falling Egg!!, how could I pass it by? The game is so surprised about the falling egg! I must address the situation!The situation is that there's a walking egg, and a pair of outstretched hands. Moving the hands left to right causes the egg to walk left and right along platforms. Holding a button while the egg is in your hands pulls back to toss the egg in the air. The goal is to navigate platform areas by tossing and catching the egg, making sure it lands only on soft yellow or bouncy pink blocks, and not the metal blocks upon which it will be smashed.It's a cute game with an inventive mechanic, and simple enough to understand that I didn't need a control diagram or a PR person explaining it to me. It was a pleasant experience that served as a nice break from being carried around Makuhari Messe in a wave of people.
TGS 2009: Wait to play Halo 3: ODST, get UNSC threads
During the last day of TGS 2009, Microsoft was handing out free (and stylish!) UNSC-branded t-shirts to gamers willing to wait in line to play (the already released) Halo 3: ODST. For their effort, gamers seemed to enjoy the reward of partaking in local multiplayer sessions of ODST's Firefight mode. Check out a closer look at the shirt after the break.
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Echoshift
I think that if I hadn't played Yoshio Ishii's Cursor*10, I wouldn't have had any idea what was going on in Echoshift. But because I have played both Cursor*10 and its sequel, I had no problem playing Echoshift, because the Echochrome sequel is that game, but side-scrolling. This is not a complaint. Echoshift was one of the most engrossing games at Tokyo Game Show. There's far more room for exploration in the still-fresh time-loop genre.
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Ace Combat Xi
One of the few iPhone games I've seen at TGS is Namco Bandai's new Ace Combat Xi, which uses the iPhone's tilt controls to simulate flying a fighter jet. Of the two available control schemes, I went with the "easy" one, mostly so I wouldn't fail and embarrass myself in front of the nice people at the Banamco booth. I'm not sure what the more advanced mode adds. And it is easy to control! After a few seconds of severely oversteering (and severely approaching a big old mountain), I got the hang of gently tilting the iPhone to control my flight. A little icon on the left of the screen controls throttle -- oddly, requiring constant taps to increase speed, despite throttle not really working that way. Weapons are fired with icons on the right of the screen. The demo level I played was a simple enough matter of keeping enemy fighters (who were very far away and therefore tiny on the screen) in target lock until the icon turned red, then tapping the "missile" icon and watching them explode. For a bite-sized Ace Combat experience, that seems like enough. The graphical presentation is somewhere in the early PS2 era, which is to say very impressive for an iPhone experience. I went through about ten enemy planes before my brief three-minute demo elapsed. Ace Combat Xi should be in the App Store sometime this winter. [Image credit]
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Though it's been available in Japan since late May, Capcom's Phoenix Wright spin-off, Gyakuten Kenji, was playable in English form at the publisher's Tokyo Game Show hotel suite. Inefficiently dubbed Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, the game sees you ditching the spiky-haired idealist and donning a delightful cravat in service of the prosecution. In what could have been just another Phoenix Wright game, but presented from an opposing perspective, Ace Attorney Investigations diverges from tradition more than any other title in the series -- which is to say that it actually diverges from tradition just a bit. The focus is still heavily on plot, characters and clever yappin', but the sterile, first-person point-and-click investigation process has now been replaced with a third-person view. The control system is functional, but quite unnatural in one respect. You can maneuver Edgeworth through the 2D environments, displayed on the DS' top screen, by either dragging the stylus across the touch screen or simply using the d-pad (thanks for the option, Edgey!). When you've gotten him close enough to an item of interest, you tap a context-specific icon on the bottom screen to interact with it. So, it's less point-and-click and more walk-over-there-and-tap-the-button. %Gallery-74040%
TGS 2009: Here's our obligatory cosplay gallery
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/comics_animation/TGS_2009_Here_s_our_obligatory_cosplay_gallery'; When the Tokyo Game Show opens its doors to the public, you can expect two things: hour-long waits to play anything; and cosplay fanatics. Enjoy this collection of images we took while waiting in a line ... and then uploaded while waiting in a line. Where is this line going? Who knows! It's TGS 2009's first public day and we're going to wait here like gentlemen, dagnabbit. %Gallery-74039%
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Sands of Destruction
Sands of Destruction has been a long time coming. After being released in Japan in September, it was announced for North America in December 2008, and then given a distant release date of January 2010. I was honestly a little surprised that the English version of Image Epoch's RPG was actually in attendance in Sega's meeting room at TGS, as that suggests it's a real game that Sega actually intends to publish. %Gallery-24031%
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Ghost Trick
Ace Attorney series creator Shu Takumi's next game is Ghost Trick, a puzzle adventure game which is very different from the chronicles of Phoenix and Edgey, but carries over that series' trademarks of humorous characters and sharp, brightly colored suits. There is no English demo for the just-announced DS title yet, so I can't really say anything about the dialogue, but I understood the story in the demo quite well just through animation and gameplay. %Gallery-73943%
Joystiq vs. TGS '09: Day Three
Tokyo has gone game crazy! With the public joining the party, TGS 2009 has exploded from a stream of bodies into an full-blown ocean. Today, a few members of Team TGS jetted off to secret meetings, while others got to sit down and really get some work done. The result? Not a very exciting video, but another look at what's happening thousands of miles from home.
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Silent Hill Shattered Memories (PSP)
Much like 2007's Silent Hill: Origins, the PSP version of Shattered Memories is quite capable of conveying an eerie, unsettling experience, even on a platform that might seem ill-equipped for the survival-horror genre in comparison to home consoles. The Wii re-imagining of Konami's PS1 classic is faithfully represented on Sony's portable, with only a few framerate hiccups tarnishing a very impressive visual representation. Recreating the Wii version's moody ambiance isn't the port's only major success, as it handles the absence of the motion-sensitive remote quite elegantly. Here, you manipulate Harry Mason's flashlight from a third-person perspective by holding R1 and moving the analog nub. While this removes the ability to move and peer into the terrifying town's dark recesses at the same time, the game's generally slow pace makes such multitasking more of a luxury than a necessity.%Gallery-65287%
TGS 2009: The next generation of Real Arcade Pro joysticks
Well, it's time to throw that Real Arcade Pro 3 joystick in the garbage, because it's obsolete and you should be ashamed to own it. At its booth in the Tokyo Game Show shopping area, accessories maker Hori handed out a pamphlet introducing its new Real Arcade Pro V and other joysticks. Few details are included in the pamphlet: we know it weighs 3 kilograms and features a Sanwa JLF joystick and Hori buttons, and that it should be in Japanese stores sometime this winter. The mock-up image even uses Roman numerals for the button labels instead of anything that would identify the platform. In addition, new mid-range sticks for PS3 and 360 are due out this winter for 5,500 and 6,980, respectively -- a price discrepancy that suggests that wireless technology is involved, based on the historical evidence of Rock Band guitars. See all three sticks after the break, along with some gigantic Taito-licensed stick that was on display at the Hori booth.
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Minna no Sukkiri
The latest Hot Shots title from Clap Hanz isn't about golf or tennis. Minna no Sukkiri is more Hot Shots ... baseball! And karate! And ... vegetable fighting! And book sorting! And other things that I didn't get to play in my short demo session! Sukkiri (something like Hot Shots: Refresh) is a minigame collection featuring twelve wildly different games. If the four I played are any indication, the descriptions for all of them would include the phrase "and that's it."
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
Seeing that everyone around me was playing the same introductory sequence of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers that I had seen at E3, I loaded up a random save, fairly confident it would place me in another carefully chosen demo location. (Or at least that it would be some other part of the game.) Whether intentional or not, I hit demo paydirt with a sequence of the game that involved combat, exploration and heavy use of the game's telekinetic grappling hook.%Gallery-70584%
TGS 2009: Hands-on: Final Fantasy XIII
Arguably the most anticipated game of the show, Final Fantasy XIII is prominently featured at Square-Enix's TGS 2009 booth. The newest demo for the game features two combat systems -- Optima and Driving -- absent from the demo included with Final Fantasy: Advent Children Complete. The two modes, while polar opposites of each other, do a great job of giving gamers a wider variety of strategic options. %Gallery-41346%
Videos: Dead Rising 2's buffet of death
One of the best parts of the original Dead Rising was its huge variety of weapons. Thankfully, if this new round of Dead Rising 2 videos is any indication, the sequel will expand on that arsenal. Capcom has released four short videos, each showcasing a different weapon. We don't want to jump the gun here, as it were, but we think the pitchfork / shotgun combination -- embedded above -- just might exceed the awesomeness quotient set forth by the Lancer. Check out all the videos after the break. As an added bonus, we've also embedded the not off-screen version of the Terror is Reality trailer.
