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TGS: Blue Dragon = Dragon Quest + Chrono Trigger + Grandia
Wired's Game|Life blog has posted an early, albeit vague, impression of Hironobu Sakaguchi's pair of upcoming Xbox 360 RPGs, Blue Dragon & Lost Odyssey. During today's media briefing in Shibuya, Japan, Sakaguchi took the stage and demoed (read: picked up controller and played) his studio's new projects. While Game|Life doesn't provide many specifics, its post does draw some big comparisons, describing Blue Dragon as a fusion of Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, with "maybe" a dose of Grandia. Game|Life notes that enemies are on-screen (i.e. no random battles) and that the Job Change system (from Final Fantasy V) is featured in Blue Dragon. Game|Life's description of Lost Odyssey is even more provocative, as it declares the game to look like a "much more dramatic" Final Fantasy. We're sure that Microsoft has its fingers crossed that this impression will stick -- and spread. We'll hit you with our own from the show floor in the coming days. In the meantime, see for yourself: Blue Dragon Lost Odyssey
Downloads spotted at Tokyo Game Show
If you're lucky enough to be going to Tokyo Game Show, you'll see that Sony's offering tons of game demos at their PlayStation Spot kiosks. There are eleven in all including Monster Hunter Portable 2nd, Homestar Portable, Ridge Racers 2, Bounty Hounds, LocoRoco, Exit, and more. According to Famitsu, you will need firmware 2.81 to run these demos. Hopefully these TGS demos will eventually make their way to the internet so that all of us can enjoy them. Who doesn't love game demos? [Update 1: Actually, some of these demos should appear online because some of them will be saved to your Memory Stick. Previously, Spot downloads will be erased from memory once the system was turned off. Notable game demos that will be saved on the disk include Bounty Hounds and Exit.] [Thanks, steve! Via MaxConsole]
TGS: video of Trusty Bell
Let's get this out of the way right now: if you don't like news about RPGs, this is going to be a rough couple of days. As for the rest of you, read on. You might remember the whacked out concept behind Namco's Trusty Bell -- you know, Chopin (yeah, that Chopin) is dying of tuberculosis and flies away to a magical dream world where he is granted magical powers. Let's just say we thought the idea was, well, wacky at first, but it's grown on us. A lot. And seeing this video just put it much higher on our list. If you're still a non-believer, just think of it this way: if someone told you they were making a game about plumbers jumping on turtles, what would you say? See the (beautiful) video after the break.
TGS: See Blue Dragon gameplay (finally) [update 2]
Xboxyde has scored actual in game footage of the would be killer app for Microsoft in Japan, Blue Dragon. Split into two parts, the video shows off the game's graphics and combat system. For the RPG buffs out there, it's worth noting that battles are not random and that enemies can be seen before the player decides to engage them (or not). Beyond that, the game is very nice to look at. We know that a lot of readers will disagree on this point, but these graphics are solid and polished beyond belief. The gameplay, on the other hand, looks fairly standard. There are big chests with items in them, turn-based battles, summoning techniques, and a boss battle (complete with craptastic rawk music). Granted, the quality of the video makes it difficult to pick apart the intricacies of the combat, but it all looks pretty traditional. Then again, it also looks an awful lot like Dragon Quest -- a game so popular in Japan it's practically a national holiday when a new sequel is released. Will bundling Blue Dragon with a core system be enough to entice Japanese buyers? Only time will tell.Update: It looks like Xboxyde's servers are getting beaten up by the demand for this video. See the embedded YouTube video after the break.Update 2: Fixed some weird formatting.
TGS: And the mystery XBLA game is ...
Yesterday we mentioned that an new franchise was to be announced for XBLA sometime during all this TGS/X06 hullballoo. We even asked all of you for your best guess. Well, it looks like we got our anwer sooner rather than later, and the answer will most likely be a disappointment to many. In total, four new franchises have been announced, and they are: Gyruss New Rally-X Rush'n Attack Yie Ar Kung Fu (Japan only) While these games are a welcome addition (especially Rush'n Attack), it falls well short of our hope for original content -- or even an XBLA specific entry to a classic franchise. We hold out hope that a real contender will emerge before all is said and done. But, on to business. We said we'd name drop whoever guessed right and ... oh, wait ... nobody got it. In that case, we'll just give the Perv of the Week Award® to reader, AOE, for suggesting Boon-Ga Boon-Ga "complete with custom controller." Sick, man. Just sick.360 at the Tokyo Game Show:Today's TGS Marketplace contentHD-DVD for $170, $250 Core w/ Blue Dragon1080p for 360!
Today's TGS Marketplace content
The first batch of Marketplace content has (mostly) gone live. For your downloading pleasure, the following is now available.DOA X2 E3 Trailer (Japan)Project Sylpheed Trailer (Japan)Tenchu Senran TrailerHalf-Life 2 - Episode 2 TrailerTGS Picture PackTenchu Senran Demo (Japan)There are also map packs available for BFMEII, though one of them -- Aragorn's Journey -- is supposed to be free, it's not working correctly right now. Don't download it or you will be charged. The other pack -- Northern Badlands -- is not supposed to be free so, you can grab it for 350 MS Points if you want. Also, as of this writing, the Half-Life 2 - Episode 2 trailer doesn't seem to be up. We're not really sure if this counts as TGS content, but several XBLA games have been updated to take advantage of the Vision camera.360 at the Tokyo Game Show:HD-DVD for $170, $250 Core w/ Blue Dragon1080p for 360!
TGS: HD-DVD for $170, $250 Core w/ Blue Dragon
More 360 news out of Tokyo, Microsoft has announced that the HD-DVD drive for the 360 will launch November 17th at a price of ¥19,800 ($170). This pretty much confirms the oft speculated $200 price when the device ships stateside -- then again, Microsoft is rather fond of giving the Japanese insane price cuts.Speaking of price cuts, Microsoft also announced that they will be releasing a new core system bundle in Japan this holiday. Priced at ¥28,900 (~$250), the new core comes with a copy of Blue Dragon. That's right, for half the price of the low end PS3, the Japanese can get a copy of Hironobu Sakaguchi's latest. Futile or not, Microsoft is going to war in Japan. Stay tuned for more TGS goodness.360 at the Tokyo Game Show:1080p for the 360!
TGS: 1080p for 360! [update 1]
Joystiq has some rather astounding news from the Tokyo Game Show today. A software update later this year -- we would guess the scheduled fall update -- will add full 1080p capability to your Xbox 360. Still no word of an HDMI cable, though. Right now this is only via component or VGA. Still, Microsoft is promising immediate upscaling of all existing games and DVD movies. Huh, it looks like the 360 is capable of "True" high definition after all. The question is: can it play games in 4D? Stay tuned to X360F and Joystiq for more breaking TGS info.Update: Changed confusing image.
The first batch of Xbox Live TGS content [update 1]
As promised, Microsoft has released the first batch of Xbox Live content to correspond with the Tokyo Games Show. The following is available to all Xbox Live users: Half-Life 2: Episode Two trailer Tenchu Senran trailer Two map packs for Battle for Middle Earth II. A TGS picture pack Updates to Spades, Hearts, Backgammon and Bankshot Billards to add Vision support In addition, Japanese Xbox 360 owners (yes, all five of you) will get the following: Tenchu Senran demo Dead or Alive X2 E3 trailer Project Sylpheed trailer A word of caution: there is an error with the new BFMEII content. The first map pack is supposed to be free but is currently charging gamers 350 MS points. Major Nelson promises that the problem will be fixed soon. The second map pack will still cost you 350 MS points (about $4.38).One commenter on Major Nelson's blog, Cayne, summed up our sentiments perfectly: "I still don't get why stuff is only released in some countries. This is 2006 for god's sake. We have the intertube and everybody sees everything. The only thing it accomplishes is pissing everyone off eventually." We're not blaming Microsoft (as Kid Chemical points out, it's not exactly their fault) as much as we are lamenting over silly copyright issues: the Project Sylpheed trailer may be Japan-only right now, but don't be surprised if it winds up on YouTube or GameTrailers in the next day or two for any gamer in any region to view.[Update 1: clarified significance of referencing Cayne's comment.]
TGS: XBLA Pac-Man World Championship in '07
Microsoft and Toru Iwatani (he's the creator of Pac-Man) announced plans for a World Championship where the top 10 Xbox Live Arcade ranked Pac-Man players in the world will be flown to New York City to do battle. There'll be cherries and pretzels flying everywhere folks, it won't be pretty. There's not much info yet except that the contest will begin in "early 2007" and will presumably be won by someone with a lot of free time and abnormal reflexes.Initial response: Will players be allowed to use their own controllers? What if the one of the top 10 players was rocking something like this, and the others weren't? It's no secret that the otherwise stellar Xbox 360 gamepad has a serious weakness in the D-pad department. Weak D-pad or not, just make sure Billy Mitchell (pictured) doesn't get his robotic mitts on an Xbox 360 between now and then, or you can kiss your chances of winning goodbye. Perfect. Score.Microsoft's TGS press briefing:XBLA hits Tokyo with Contra and friendsXbox 360 to add 1080p support, PS3 to lose bullet pointHD-DVD add-on hits Japan Nov. 17th for ¥19,800Blue Dragon hits Japan this holiday
TGS: XBLA hits Tokyo with Contra and friends
Tucked in Microsoft's TGS press release announcing 1080p support and Japanese HD-DVD info, was a short bit on Xbox Live Arcade's presence at TGS. They revealed the following list of Konami and Namco Bandai titles: Contra Gyruss (previously unannounced) Dig Dug Track & Field New Rally-X (previously unannounced) Rush'n Attack (previously unannounced) Ms. Pac-Man Yie Ar Kung Fu: a "Japan-exclusive Xbox Live Arcade game" and "one of the very first fighting games" will be released in 2007 Some of these we've known about, others we've seen before (Contra was at Microsoft's E3 event, and, oh yeah, it's also ingrained in our consciousness), but there are some interesting additions, including a Japan-exclusive title. Our question is, why is Konami wasting their time with some of these games when all we want are those classic Konami beat 'em ups? You're sitting on a gold mine Konami! Seriously, you're sitting on it. Get up and let us at it. Microsoft's TGS press briefing:Xbox 360 to add 1080p support, PS3 to lose bullet pointHD-DVD add-on hits Japan Nov. 17th for ¥19,800Blue Dragon hits Japan this holiday
Xbox 360 fall update adds 1080p output, HD DVD add-on hits Japan for $170 US
Even though we expected the Tokyo Game Show to be the coming out party for the Playstation 3, Microsoft just couldn't let them get all the limelight and Engadget has all the details. First, the Xbox 360 HD DVD external drive finally has a pricetag and launch date -- in Japan. ¥19,800 (about $170 US) and November 17 are the magic numbers, now the question is will the US be rounding up to $199 (or £199)? We'll have to wait to find out for sure but with X06 kicking off on the 27th, there's no way we'll be waiting too long. The other big news of the night is that the fall dashboard update will add 1080p output via analog to games and movies. If you have a TV (or projector) that takes 1,920x1,080 input via component or VGA you'll be able to select it in the dashboard and move on. Does this mean HD DVDs will play in full 1080p via component? AACS would seem to answer a big no to that question, but until more details are released we can't say for sure. Future games will have the option to render natively at 1080p (DigDug HD?) while current games will be upscaled. Looks like Sony isn't the only one supporting "the true definition of HD".Update:Word from Microsoft's press conference in Japan pegs the price at ¥20,790 ($180~ US) and a launch on November 22. This conflicts with previous info straight from Microsoft so we'll keep waiting to get all this straightened out and some local info.
TGS: HD-DVD add-on hits Japan Nov. 22nd for 19,800 [update 1]
At Microsoft's pre-TGS press briefing today, they announced the Japanese release date and price for the HD-DVD add-on. The movie-playback peripheral will be released concurrently with the North American release of the PlayStation 3 on November 22nd, will have an estimated retail price of ¥19,800 (about $170), and will come with the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote. Coupled with a ¥29,800 (about $250) Japanese Core system, which also comes with a copy of Blue Dragon, Microsoft is hoping to seriously undercut the PlayStation 3, coming in well under its lowest priced model. They did not discuss release dates or prices for other markets, instead choosing to isolate their focus on Japan. With X06 just a couple days after Tokyo, it seems likely we'll hear more about worldwide plans for this product there.Speaking about the release of the external drive, Microsoft Game Studios' Shane Kim told us, in no uncertain terms, that they have "no plans to incorporate an HD-DVD drive inside the Xbox 360." This, of course, despite incessant rumors to the contrary.Microsoft's TGS press briefing:Xbox 360 to add 1080p support, PS3 to lose bullet pointBlue Dragon hits Japan this holiday[Update: Corrected release date from November 17th to 22nd.]
TGS: Blue Dragon hits Japan this holiday
Microsoft's expects their arrangement with legendary game designer, and father of the massively popular Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi to earn them a considerable amount of sales in Japan. Sakaguchi's new studio, Mistwalker, is working on two RPGs exclusively for the Xbox 360: Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Microsoft announced today that Blue Dragon will lead the console's Japanese push this holiday, along with over 110 other games. Microsoft was unable to confirm what percentage of those titles are digitally distributed Xbox Live Arcade games versus retail DVD-based games, though the North American numbers are about 110 DVD-based, 50 XBLA.As a sign of the strategic importance of the title, they'll begin bundling Blue Dragon with the recently revealed Core version of the console, creating an intoxicatingly affordable package. Like the HD-DVD announcement, there is no release date for regions outside Japan. Blue Dragon will be playable for the first time at TGS, so we'll be sure to get our hands all over it. Microsoft's TGS press briefing:HD-DVD add-on hits Japan Nov. 17th for ¥19,800Xbox 360 to add 1080p support, PS3 to lose bullet point
TGS: Xbox 360 to add 1080p support, PS3 to lose bullet point
At their pre-TGS press briefing in Tokyo today, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will support 1080p content through a software upgrade. The "p" stands for parity.Microsoft's announcement -- which effectively parries Sony's bold claims regarding the merits of 1080p high definition content or, as Sony calls it, True HD -- is their latest move seeking to blunt the impact of the oncoming Sony PS3 hype-train. With the True HD cat de-clawed, Microsoft's mantra of choice will appear even more appealing. It's another bullet point taken out of the next-gen console war equation.Joystiq spoke briefly with Shane Kim, General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios, about their announcements in Tokyo today. First off, Kim clarified that, while the software patch would upscale all content to resolutions as high as 1080p, Microsoft themselves had no plans to produce gaming content taking advantage of this ability. He was similarly convinced that very few other developers would see the value in producing 1080p games, with the singular exception of Sony's first-party studios, eager to validate the value of the capability.Similar to the way the Xbox 360 upscales original Xbox games from 480p to 720p/1080i, you'll be able to enjoy your existing Xbox 360 games at the new resolution. As if you needed more proof that Microsoft's adoption of high definition HD-DVD is little more than a strategic move to limit Blu-ray's potential sphere of influence, Microsoft's 1080p software upgrade will also remove some of the value of their upcoming HD-DVD add-on by upscaling your existing DVD movies to HD resolutions, including 1080p. So, Microsoft just announced that the Xbox 360 will play your existing DVDs back in high-definition -- in addition to being able to play back legitimate HD-DVD content if you're interested -- and they're gonna do it in 1080p. In the bullet point war, Sony better hope that extra Blu-ray disc space is worth it; they'll have a chance to prove it at TGS this week.Microsoft's TGS press briefing:HD-DVD add-on hits Japan Nov. 17th for ¥19,800Blue Dragon hits Japan this holiday
Tokyo Game Show and X06 footage on Xbox Live Marketplace starting tomorrow
Microsoft had a pretty good response (1.5 million individuals downloading 5 million pieces of content over several days certainly qualifies as pretty good) to their Bring Home E3 event on Xbox Live, allowing Xbox 360 owners to download large amounts of trailers, demos and high definition video direct from the show floor, so for the next nine days they'll be doing it all over again. With the Tokyo Game Show and their X06 event in Spain coming in the next few days, they plan on making over 100 pieces of content available including HD video from the show. Since our passes to the shows appear to have been lost in the mail, we're definitely feeling this. Add in the ability to queue up 5 downloads at a time added in the Spring dashboard update and it's even easier to get everything posted for the next nine days. Make sure that you do because some of it will disappear forever after September 29th. We're still playing the Lost Planet demo from E3, as good as reading about all the HD gaming coming our way is, we'll take actually experiencing it at home any day.[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
TGS vids coming to Xbox Live Marketplace [update 1]
Picture this: it's TGS and our WiFi is going down in the middle of the keynote and our only hope is the short wave radio... Tune in, Tokyo! Tune in, Tokyo!* Fret not, Xbox 360 owners. This week, you'll be able to download game demos and "exclusive" high-def video filmed on location at the Tokyo Games Show and at Microsoft's X06 show in Barcelona, Spain. Act fast, though, the content poofs at the stroke of midnight, September 29th (PDT). During E3, 1.5 million individuals downloaded 5 million pieces of content comprising 600 TB of data from Xbox Live. It'll be tough -- if not impossible -- for Tokyo Game Show to match those numbers. Know this: radio silence on the numbers front means that they didn't. *(Points to the first reader to name the movie and the original line.) [Update 1: fixed horrendous error about content timing, added full press release after the page break.]
TGS and X06, live from your living room
We reported a few weeks ago that Microsoft was planning on bringing TGS and X06 home this year, much the same way they did for E3. Microsoft has now made it official, launching this page detailing what 360 users can expect. If you had a 360 during E3, you know the drill. Expect lots of game demos, trailers, content downloads (Alan Wake theme? F*ck yeah!), and behind the scenes videos. Coverage is set to begin September 20th -- That's Wednesday for those of you keeping score -- and will run through September 29th. We can't wait. It's things like this that make us glad we're 360 fanboys. Check out the press release -- including some of the hot ticket games -- after the break.
Okay, okay, THIS is the official TGS game list
We're not even going to bother trying to replicate what our pals at IGN did. They've taken it unto themselves to fully transcribe every game being shown for every system by every company. They boast over 570 games and guess what? The Gamecube and Xbox each have one game! Kind of a pity. Anyway, IGN does bring up a good point: E3 was probably scaled down because it was afraid of something like this. There are way too many games and way too many consoles being introduced and supported right now. Even when Nintendo doesn't exactly bring its first-party hand to the table at the TGS (it typically refrains from going to TGS), there are still third-party titles to be shown. It's madness! A small piece of this blogger is glad he's not going to TGS because, simply put, there's way, way, way too much to look at. Sensory overload, more or less. Go ahead and check out IGN's list. It's quite large, so we'd recommend skimming through your favorite developers/publishers.
Tokyo Game Show -- game totals by console
Sure, sure, this has been reported most everywhere -- why should we miss out on the exciting world of numbers? Here's the breakdown of games by console for the Tokyo Game Show: PS3: 18 PS2: 100 (!) PSP: 33 Wii: 5 Xbox360: 20 Nintendo DS: 52 PC: 127 Mobile: 125 Sony definitely has the majority of games overall, but takes a close second-place in the next-gen zone. The PS2 library is insane! We left off Gamecube and "classic" Xbox because each only a few games being shown. Want them by genre? Sure! 129 Action games 76 RPG's 49 Simulation games 35 Puzzle games 33 Adventure games We're assuming "action" games includes FPS games, since they've got, well, action. And there's always a lot of them.
