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Alienware: VR rigs will become the new Wii thanks to laptops
Almost exactly seven years ago, Alienware joined the Tokyo Game Show for the first time to launch its redesigned machines since Dell's acquisition. This week, the American company is once again present there to launch the Alienware 17 and 15 laptops for Japan, with one of their main selling points being their VR capability, courtesy of NVIDIA GTX 10-Series graphics. While this won't change the fact that high-end VR rigs are still relatively expensive, global marketing director Joe Olmsted reckons the mobility aspect will be enough to turn VR into the new home party machine that can be shared between friends -- much like what he did with the Nintendo Wii back in the days.
The best of the Tokyo Game Show 2016
The biggest gaming show outside of the US, the Tokyo Game Show has a different atmosphere that's all its own. While it's contracted and shrunk over the last few years, the heat and interest in virtual reality has reinvigorated the show -- regardless of the lack of an official Xbox or Nintendo presence. Sony may have already revealed two new consoles in the last month, but it wanted to remind everyone that it has a virtual reality headset coming out. In short: lots of VR, PlayStation and domestic-centered games, sprinkled with just enough weird.
Surely I just played my final 'Final Fantasy XV' demo
While Final Fantasy XV's decade-long development doesn't beat Duke Nukem's excessive run, it's still a hell of a long time for another part of one of gaming's biggest, longest-running franchises. And it's still not here. However, at the Tokyo Game Show, I got what is possibly the last taster before the main course: a lengthy 30-minute play-through that, barring some brutal initial loading times, felt like a finished game.
'Yakuza 6' adds the thrill of running your own cat cafe
As Sega attempts to tie up the long-running (typically late-to-translation) Yakuza series, its producer has revealed that the sixth iteration will have plenty of ridiculous mini-games and side jobs, offering some mundane distractions from the boot-to-face Japanese gangster brawls that typically make up a large part of the games. While calming a weepy baby is certainly dull IRL, if you're a speedy enough typer (through your DualShock controller) you'll be able to charm webcam girls online -- for those days when the protagonist can't quite make it to his regular hostess club. And that's just for starters.
Apparently, that 'Monster Hunter' movie is still happening
Films based on video games really don't have the best track record. From 1993's Super Mario Bros. to this year's Warcraft, these movies almost always seem to lack whatever it is that resonates with fans of the games they're based on. What's the next potentially disappointing adaptation? Monster Hunter, apparently. Speaking at Tokyo Game Show, Capcom's Ryozo Tsujimoto revealed that a live-action adaptation is currently under development.
Ex-HTC CEO hints at the future of VR headsets
For a man who spent 18 years at HTC turning smartphones from mere business tools into ubiquitous consumer gadgets, Peter Chou knows a thing or two about nurturing new product categories. In fact, he had already started his second chapter at the company by bringing us the Vive virtual reality headset before his quiet departure last August. Today, Chou's mission is extended by way of two chairman roles: one at visual effects studio Digital Domain, where he can "fully and deeply understand" VR content creation, and another at VR game studio Futuretown, where he is also an investor. Content development may seem like a weird match given Chou's prior focus on hardware, but to him it felt like a logical next step. After all, it's now content, not hardware, pushing VR forward.
Playing 'Rez' on PlayStation VR made me fall in love again
I haven't been able to find someone at Engadget who doesn't enjoy Rez. (Although now that I've written that I'm sure I will.) And if anyone does dislike it, they should play it in VR, because they're wrong and they need to be corrected. Yes, Rez Infinite, in high resolution, 60 frames-per-second loveliness, comes to the PS4 with PSVR compatibility and it cranks the already addictively immersive experience up a notch. I played it yesterday, and this is definitely what I'll be playing on my PlayStation VR come October.
'Gravity Rush 2' expands a portable adventure to PS4 scale
The original Gravity Rush was a key launch title for the PlayStation Vita — a (rare) original adventure that wasn't a portable iteration of something that already existed. But when it came to the sequel, Sony's Japan Studios wanted to bring it to home consoles and Gravity Rush 2 was announced alongside a PS4 remaster of the first game. I got to play the latest demo of the sequel here at the Tokyo Game Show, and it looks and feels like a bigger game in nearly every way -- exactly what GR2 needs if it wants to stand out on Sony's main console against stiff competition.
Futuretown's modular platform turns VR into simulator rides
When we last met Futuretown's CEO Johan Yang back in February, his startup appeared to be merely a virtual reality game studio, with its popular title Cloudlands: VR Minigolf currently owning 30 percent of the HTC Vive market share. Today, the company is entering the hardware space by announcing its 5D Totalmotion at the Tokyo Game Show. This aptly-named device is a cylindrical motion feedback machine that can fit any module on top to simulate different types of scenarios, such as riding, standing and seated experiences. To demonstrate these, Futuretown also announced four new VR games: Whiteout: Ski VR, Infinity Rider: Motorcycle VR, Wave Breaker: Surf VR and Stallion Adventures: Horse Riding VR.
MSI says its VR backpack computer is the lightest yet
Remember the virtual reality backpack PC design MSI showed off at Computex just a few months ago? It's already obsolete. MSI has unveiled the finished product, the VR One, and it looks nothing like the prototype you saw in June. There's a good reason for that, though: the official hardware is billed as the world's "lightest and thinnest" VR backpack, weighing a more reasonable 7.9 pounds versus the 10 of before. It won't be quite so noticeable when you're spinning around the room, in other words. And that's not the only improvement -- MSI has taken concerns over performance and battery life to heart.
