The TGS thread

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 20, 2006, 11:32 am

A lot of interesting stuff going on at TGS. MS had their press briefing this morning and a few interesting tidbits came out of it.

Major Nelson's got the press release on his site.
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006 ... lease.aspx

The part I found most interesting was the HD-DVD/1080p output announcment

Xbox 360 HD DVD Player and 1080p Support

Microsoft announced pricing and availability details for the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player in Japan. The accessory will launch on Nov. 17, 2006, priced at ¥19,800 (estimated retail price), and will come with an Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote.

“Xbox 360 and the HD DVD Player together deliver the most powerful and affordable games and movie system for Japanese consumers,” Moore said. “The freedom to choose their entertainment experiences is extremely important for consumers as they enter the next generation.”

In addition, Microsoft announced that its fall software update, scheduled for release later this year, will allow all Xbox 360 consoles around the world to output game and movie content in 1080p resolution.

A few of the blog sites(Joystiq and Kotaku) posted interviews with the VP of Microsoft Games Studios with additional info.(I really hate posting Blog articles since everything is usually biased and they prove to be bogus quite frequently. However, I figured I may be safe since this was from an interview with a person in the know.)

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/20/tgs-x ... let-point/

Joystiq wrote: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.

I know Winnow like to post a lot of stuff from these events so I figured I'd make this thread all emcompassing. Looking forward to Sony's announcements.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 20, 2006, 12:51 pm

That's great news about 1080p for the 360. I switch displays for my 360 between the 720P projector and 1080P 2405FPW. While I don't think it will make a huge difference, I'm looking forward to trying it out after the fall sowftware update. I think the biggest improvment will be the upscaling, if done well, of DVDs and lower res games.

Need to wait for more info as with 1080P, there are sometimes restictions on how it works and how it will be supported.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 20, 2006, 1:00 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9tMOMRboWs

Someone posted a 8 minute long FMV/Battle sequence from Lost Odyssey from the conference on YouTube. It's a cam of the display but still looks just amazing.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 20, 2006, 1:56 pm

Good news for Japanese considering the 360. The December 360/Blue Dragon bundle sounds nice.

Source: Major Nelson blog

Today at the Tokyo Game Show 2006, Microsoft Corp. delivered information on new and improved entertainment experiences for Japanese gamers, including details of the Xbox 360 library of nearly 110 high-definition games available this holiday season in Japan, which will include the highly anticipated "Blue Dragon" from Microsoft Game Studios [goes on sale December 7 for ¥6,800 in Japan]. Microsoft also paid tribute to NAMCO BANDAI Games and "Pac-Man," announcing that the first "Pac-Man" World Championship will be held in early 2007 using Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade.

Many game titles, including the much-anticipated epic RPG "Blue Dragon," will be playable for the first time in the Microsoft booth at the Tokyo Game Show. Other playable titles include "Lost Odyssey" (Microsoft Game Studios) and "Viva Piñata" (Microsoft Game Studios).

* New bundle will be released on December 7th in Japan: Xbox 360 Core + Blue Dragoon for 29800 yen ($260).

The firm's re-energized efforts will be spear-headed by the release of the Blue Dragon bundle on December 7th which Sensui said was "effectively a better price than Wii". Blue Dragon will be joining 70 Japanese-developed games for the 360 released or in development. The Bundle will be available for a limited time only.

The Xbox 360 Core System [currently only the Pro pack is available in Japan] will be launched in Japan on November 2nd.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 20, 2006, 3:54 pm

Project Sylpheed by Game Arts and Published by SquareEnix

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/ ... X55bsKvDfW

Looking forward to this one. Got much

for Space shooters.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 21, 2006, 10:43 am

Here's a few more vids of gameplay. All XBox 360 stuff still. I'm sure all the PS3 stuff will be coming soon after their Press Brief(Which I believe is on the 22nd.

A lot of JRPG's being shown. Most of the stuff at TGS is really centered around perceived japanese audience tastes. Very little mention of Gears of War or Halo3. Viva Pinata is being mentioned a lot also.

Blue Dragon
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/6148

Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream (I had only heard the title of this in the past but this vid is making me reconsider the game.)
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/6238

Lost Planet (This vid shows one of the ridable mechs turning into a snowmobile. Is this targetted to Japanese audiences or Canadian?)
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/6163

Trias · Post by **Trias** » September 21, 2006, 3:35 pm

Lost Odyssey looks amazing.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 21, 2006, 4:42 pm

Finally! PS3 content!

Here's a couple of shakey cam MGS4 videos from the show floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q45ZFZzg ... er&search=

http://www.gameklip.com/v/1531/

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 22, 2006, 7:33 am

So Sony's press thing happened while most of us were snoozing.

I've read through a few articles and the word that I found in common in most was uneventful. It's really surprising since everyone was hoping that Sony would try to knock one out of the ark with this event.

The only real relevant piece of new news is that now, BOTH PS3KU's will have an HDMI port. I guess that gamer backlash is a good thing.

They're also cutting the price on the lower priced unit by 70$ in Japan.

Here's a few vids from the show floor.

Devil May Cry 4
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6178

Ninja Gaiden Sigma (It's essentially looks like the Ninja Gaiden for the XBox with but new graphics, a LOT of new stuff and the ability to play tight the female character too)

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6178

Coded Assault -This demo is a mess. I have no idea what Konami was thking bringing this to the show. Pressure from Sony perhaps?

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6178

More a bit later on.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 23, 2006, 9:33 am

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/22/more- ... -from-tgs/
Bunch of vids compiled on one page by Joystiq.

A lot of interesting stuff here. White Knight for the PS3 looks especially nice with a vid loaded with Gameplay.

Afrika shows some beautiful FVM but not a thing about what the game is about.

Some nice Heavenly Sword footage. someo f it seems to be gameplay but I can't say for sure.
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6372

Motorstorm Gameplay clip.
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6200

15 minute Bioshock presentation with the game's designer.
I hadn't bothered to read or look at anything about Bioshock post-E3. I'm thoroughly impressed.
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6353

BTW - I hate gamevideos.com but they seem to get everything up real fast.

Kwonryu DragonFist · September 23, 2006, 10:10 am

Any good fightinggames? (unarmed combat preferred)

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 23, 2006, 11:33 am

Here's some Virtua Fighter 5(PS3)
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6113

It's abut the only thing I could find on fighting games out of TGS with a quick search. Sorry bud.

Kwonryu DragonFist · September 23, 2006, 2:48 pm

Thanks Animalor!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 23, 2006, 7:13 pm

This isn't the type of thing that Sony wants on the internet.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ridge-racer-7/ ... 202609.php

The PS3 they used in this display apparently needed a bit of help cooling off.

I'm sure this isn't representative of that will happen come Nov. The conditions there are way harsher than most living rooms.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 23, 2006, 9:10 pm

I'm not impressed with any game footage I've seen for Wii games but the 360 and PS3 have some good looking games.

Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon look like winners in the FFX gamestyle category.

I never heard of Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream bt that also looks like a nice FFX style game with excellent graphics.

Sylpheed from Square Enix has the classic japanese style look but I only saw like 10 seconds of real game action out of that 3-4 minute clip and those few seconds didn't look very appealing. Too cluttered.

Lost Planet's demo was fun.

On the PS3 side of things, White Knight and MotorStorm look like they're going to be fun to play. Afrika looks amazing although I'm not sure what you do in the game yet. Just saw amazing graphics so far.

Bioshock looks great for all three platforms (PC, 360, PS3).

Wii seems to be the least interesting of the three platforms to me, especially after seeing that sword game and the two kids flailing around with the controlers.

With

Blue Dragon
Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream
Lost Odyssey
Sylpheed (although I don't care for it)
Lost Planet (not really japanese style)

The 360 has it's foot in the door for quality Japanese games.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 23, 2006, 9:23 pm

Nintendo themselves didn't bother to show up for TGS. All the Wii games here are 3rd party.

Personally I'm not buying any consoles this fall. Saving up for an HDTV when the prices supposedly freefall next year. I'll avoid the 360 HD-DVD(unless it starts being required by come games) and stick with plain vanilla DVD for the time being. Not interested in buying a player(even if it is a lower cost addon) and getting stuck with a doorstop.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 23, 2006, 9:49 pm

Animalor wrote:Nintendo themselves didn't bother to show up for TGS. All the Wii games here are 3rd party.

Personally I'm not buying any consoles this fall. Saving up for an HDTV when the prices supposedly freefall next year. I'll avoid the 360 HD-DVD(unless it starts being required by come games) and stick with plain vanilla DVD for the time being. Not interested in buying a player(even if it is a lower cost addon) and getting stuck with a doorstop.

With the upcoming 360 software upgrade, the most useful addition will be that regular DVDs will be upconverted to 1080P. Should make most older stuff look better.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » September 24, 2006, 2:37 am

For me, the moral of this TGS has pretty much locked me down on not being interested in buying any of these consoles any time soon.

Sony's "Please Subscribe To Our $600 Public Beta" PS3
vs
Microsoft's "We're actually doing well if you ignore the fact that we launched A FUCKING YEAR AGO" XBOX 360
vs
Nintendo's "Wank Wank Revolution" Wii

Wake me when the special olympics are over. Now would actually be a great time for a new revival of PC gaming, but that's kinda stuck in the mud too.

Midgen · Post by **Midgen** » September 24, 2006, 5:08 am

1080p will be for the VGA Interface only.

No biggie for me, as I don't have a 1080p display, and won't for a while.

And as far as the fuss over HDMI, I don't get it. I don't have my audio and video going to the same place. My audio goes to the amp, and video goes to the display. I'd much rather see DVI/Digital audio (Coax or Toslink).

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 27, 2006, 11:41 am

Keeping it in the same thread.

X06 - The XBox only conference is starting up in Spain today or tomorrow(I believe) and they put up a demo of Sonic the Hedgehog for 360 on the Marketplace last night.

It's a lightweight demo coming in at something like 300 MB's and looks absolutly beautiful.

I played it about 5 minutes this morning and had fun.

The jury is still out on the controls(mostly cause I didn't really get a chance to get a hang of em) but the feeling of speed is still definitely there.

The classic sounds really help the experience as well =).

vn_Tanc · Post by **vn_Tanc** » September 27, 2006, 12:25 pm

Animalor wrote:Nintendo themselves didn't bother to show up for TGS. All the Wii games here are 3rd party.

Personally I'm not buying any consoles this fall. Saving up for an HDTV when the prices supposedly freefall next year. I'll avoid the 360 HD-DVD(unless it starts being required by come games) and stick with plain vanilla DVD for the time being. Not interested in buying a player(even if it is a lower cost addon) and getting stuck with a doorstop.

Nintendo have a tradition of not showing at TGS.

I'm probably going to buy a 360 and a Wii around xmas time. Then some time in the future I'll buy an HDTV. Then later still I'll buy a dual format HD/standard DVD player cos I'm fucked if I'm replacing 400 movies again. And anyway I don't have HD eyes.

Post by **Sylvus** » September 27, 2006, 12:44 pm

So, I've visited this thread like 15 times or so, and I still don't know what TGS is.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 27, 2006, 12:48 pm

It's the Tokyo Game Show. Like the E3 of old except it's open to the general public instead of just people in the game industry.

Post by **Sylvus** » September 27, 2006, 12:49 pm

Aha! Gracias (or whatever is Japanese for thank you. but i'm pretty sure it's "gracias")

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 27, 2006, 2:07 pm

Presser is going on in Barcelona atm.

Opened with a trailer of Banjoe Kazooie for the 360 (No mention of exclusivity however since Rare is a 2nd party dev, this may be the case)

Re-hash of market stats and somesuch. *booring*

Sensible Soccer (?) And Doom(Available and downloadable tonight) coming to XBLA

Gears of War thing similar to what they did at E3. Multiplayer apparently will feature dropin/dropout functionality.

Bunch of mashed together trailers of games we've heard about before.

Some Viva Pinata now. This thing is turning out to be a carbon copy of the E3 presentation..

New Blue Dragon media. Looks to be mostly FMV. Very pretty.

Project Gotham Racing 4 teaser vid. Nothing real interesting.

Sweet! Live public demo of Assasin's Creed going on from the producer and designer. Gezus. If you thought Prince of Persia was impressive, just wait till this get on the net.

Bioshock Trailer - That was a whole nother level of disturbing. Very cool.

Lost Oddyssey vid now. Same stuff that was out of Japan and that's posted above.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent demo. Nother shooter...

Moore's pimping HD-DVD add-on plug. Nov 22nd(I believe) and 199$ US and comes with the XBox Universal Remote and for a limited time, the HD-DVD version of King Kong.

Peter Jackson comes on and talks about a new form of entertainment that combines stories and games in new ways. Apparently signed an agreement with MSGame Studios to develop a new title with the Halo IP (non-movie related or Halo 3+ related)

And they close the show with the Halo RTS trailer "Halo Wars"

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 27, 2006, 5:51 pm

For those websensed from accessing Xbox Scene, here's the blow by blow expanding on what Animalor wrote above:

Highlight are:

* Doom is coming to Xbox Live Arcade tonight!

* Also coming to Live Arcade is Codemasters' "Sensible World of Soccer"

* HD-DVD will be released in N-America, UK, France and Germany mid. November for 199.99EUR, 129.99GBP, 199.00USD. Other countries will follow later. It'll come with the universal remote and Peter Jackson's King Kong (in HD-DVD of course)

* GTA IV will have extra episodes exclusive for Xbox 360.

* Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon coming in 2007 in N-America and Europe.

* BioShock and Splinter Cell Double Agent exclusive for Xbox 360 and Games for Windows.

* New Banjo-Kazooie (Rare) and Project Gotham Racing 4 unveiled - both exclusively for Xbox 360.

* Cryptic Studios, Marvel and Microsoft Game Studios will work together on a new MMO game: Marvel Universe Online.

* MS Game Studios will be working with Peter Jackson on a new style of entertainment. Some sort of crossover between movies and games - movies where you can interact. They'll start this off in the Halo universe.

* First trailer of "Halo Wars" by Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires). It'll be a real-time strategy game based on the legendary "Halo" universe.

Live Blogcasting of event:

* Chris Lewis on stage

* Xbox 360 sales account for 60% of home console revenue in Europe.

* More and more countries get Xbox 360. Soon (before xmas): South Africa, Slovakia, Czech rep., Hungary and Poland.

* 57 million marketplace downloads so far, 1500 pieces of downloadable content.

* 10 million downloads of Xbox Live Arcade.

* Sensible World of Soccer by Codemasters in 1994 is coming to Live Arcade! ... another soccer game coming to Xbox 360.

* Doom coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade! ... Will be available tonight for download of Xbox Live Arcade!

The game includes the original four-episode, single-player game, four-player split screen (cooperative and deathmatch) and four-player cooperative and deathmatch over Xbox Live.

* Peter Moore in stage now.

* "The power of a console is equal parts software, hardware and services". "360 will deliver on all three points".

* Moore repeats 1080p support will be native.

* 160 Hi-Def games on the 360 by xmas. Lots of genres, something for everybody.

* 'Cliffy B' comes talk about 'Gears of Wars' now ... He shows a new (long) demo of the game. Demo will be playable for the press at the X06 event tonight.

* Moore back on stage

* Gears of Wars coming Nov 17th in Europe and Nov 12th in USA. Moore: "That's 5 days after the US launch, not 5 months" ... some Sony bashing

* Last week launch in India. First official console launch ever for India. Microsoft launched in 32 countries in less than a year.

* Region Titles for US (Madden), Europe (FIFA, ...), Japan (Trusty Bell) and India.

* Now showing trailers of several upcoming games for the 360: Forza 2, Lost Planet, Lego star wars 2, Gears of War, FIFA 07, Crossfire, The Darkness, Viva Pinata, Alan Wake, Battlestations Midway, Fable 2, FEAR, Fusion Frenzy 2, Splinter Cell Double Agent, NBA 2k7, Halo 3, Tony Hawk's Project 8, Kane and Lynch, Tiger Woods, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2, WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2, Crackdown, Mass Effect, Pro Evolution Soccer 6, Need for Speed Carbon, Stranglehold, Virtua Tennis 3, Rainbow Six Vegas, Sonic, Team Fortress 2, Shrek the Third.

* Taking a closer look to Viva Pinata now ... trailer running.

* Taking a closer look to Blue Dragon. 2h30 waitline at TGS to playtest it.
Coming in Europe and N-America in 2007. Trailer running ...
Title will allow them to break-through in Japan.

* Micorosoft Game Studios is working on new franchises (Mass Effect and Alan Wake)

* Expect to hear something new from Bungie about Halo3 before the end of the year.

* For the first time ever: Project Gotham Racing 4 Trailer!

* GTAIV confirmed for oct 16th 2007 in USA, oct 17th 2007 in Europe. Rockstar will release 2 epic episodes on Xbox Live within months of the game release. 1 Episode = "hours of entirely new gameplay".
Each episode will be exclusive for Xbox 360!

* Jade Raymond shows a long gameplay demo of Assassin's Creed.

* Moore back on stage. Talking about BioShock now. It'll be exclusive for Xbox 360 and games for windows! Video trailer running.

* Moore talking about Lost Odyssey now ("the surprise of TGS"). It's coming to Europe and N-America too (no release date given tho). First time they show Lost Odyssey outside Japan (footage same as at TGS). Playable at X06.

* Capcom's Xbox 360 exclusive Lost Planet will be playable at X06.

* Splinter Cell Double Agent - showing never seen before footage. Game will be exclusive on Xbox 360 and Games for Windows!

* Forza2 ... best car simulator ever coming next year: 300 cars on disc (sony Gran Turismo HD bash!), running at 60FPS, best physics simulator
Early demo playable at X06.

* HD-DVD ... "We give you the choice". 150 titles will be available by end of year

Device will be out Mid November 2006.

Release first in N-America, UK, France and Germany - rest will follow later in 2007.

Price will be: 199.99EUR, 129.99GBP, 199.00USD

We will come (for a limited time) with the Universal Remote and a HD-DVD version of Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Up to 1080p native resolution!

* 'Games for Windows' will get new branding (retail packages, presentation, ...) this fall in N-America, next year in Europe. Some trailers of upcoming 'Games for Windows' now.

* Live Anywhere starting early next year with the release of Shadow Run.

* Cryptic Studios, Marvel and Microsoft Game Studios will work together on a new MMO game: Marvel Universe Online.

* Partnership between Microsoft Game Studios and Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, King Kong). Crowd goes crazy when he comes up on stage.
He will be working on "filmic games" (he calls it a new form of entertainment). He'll be doing 'something' with Halo ... but it won't be Halo3 or Halo4, it'll be a new Halo series.

* Chris Lewis back on stage: "Xbox 360 leading the way in the new generation"

* 1 last thing before they say goodnight ... trailer by Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires).

Halo look ... it's "Halo Wars" (?!)

That's all we get ... no date or extra info. There's a bit of info on xbox.com however. It'll be a real-time strategy game based on the legendary "Halo" universe. "Halo Wars" places the player in command of human UNSC armies as they deploy for mankind's first deadly encounter with the enemy Covenant forces.

The complete press conference and

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 28, 2006, 7:29 am

Here's the Assassin's Creed demo I mentionned yesterday.

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6509