With TGS starting in a few days (October 9 for those wondering), I thought I'd take some time to write about what we know will be there and some other things we can expect. The focus at TGS will be on games designed by Japanese developers (or at least it usually is). These will include both games that will be aimed at the Japanese market and the western market. That doesn't mean games by western developers aimed at non-Japanese markets won't appear. Sony and Microsoft are likely to have games like Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2 among others at their respective booths though I wouldn't expect much in the way of new updates on these games. Another thing worth noting is that with the show occurring in October, I wouldn't expect a whole lot of announcements (read: very few) for games coming out this year. But with E3 and GC focusing so much on this year's games, it will be nice to see a bigger focus on 2009.
So, what do we know? Well many publishers have announced their line-ups for the show (thought they may still have some surprises). Square Enix will have a number titles to show some in trailer form only like the three FF XIII titles and Dragon Quest IX, while other games like the Kingdom Hearts DS and PSP games, Star Ocean 4, and The Last Remnant will also be playable. I'm interested to see how From Software's new Xbox 360 game Ninja Blade looks in playable form. I wasn't liking the lead ninja's look in the teaser, but the game's concept looks promising. Sony is set to have a slew of games playable at their booth from Loco Roco 2 and Patapon 2 on PSP to many PS3 big hitters coming this fall. Sony is also going to have some third-party games like Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV playable in their booth too.
Will this be the year that this become's more than a tech demo? Could we see a Final Fantasy VII remake for the PS3? No... just no.
This is just skimming the surface of what we know will be there, but what's always exciting to me about these shows are the surprises. Sony along with their playable list announced they would 14 unannounced titles at the show (and these seem to be referring to playable titles). Three of these will be for the PSP from Sony Computer Entertainment. The other eleven will be for PS3, 1 from Irem Engineering, 1 from Konami, and the other 9 from SCE. The last issue of Famitsu seems to have filled in some these blanks. For one, the Irem PS3 title seems to be Spelunker HD a remake set to release on the PSN. One of the mystery Sony PSP titles is called Diamond and the Sound of a Gunshot. The most interesting tidbit from the magazine came in the form of the new action-RPG from...erm... From Software called Demon's Souls which seems to be one of the SCE PS3 titles. What he rest are is yet to be seen. Could we see a something new from Game Republic (who made Folklore and Genji)? Will they be downloadable games or full releases? What about non-playable games? And most importantly will Team ICO's PS3 game be there? I'm going to say it will. I said back at E3, it would be and I still think it will. As a pretty big fan of both Shadow of the Colossus and ICO, I can't wait to see what they're cooking up for PS3 owners. But hey it's not just Sony who will have surprises. Rumors suggest we may see the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 for the PS3. I'm also really excited to see the new titles that Team Ninja has said they would reveal that I already wrote about on this blog. Marvelous has teased that they have an announcement that involves a big Japanese game creator set for the first day of the show. Some have speculated that it could be former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki or maybe even Final Fantasy XII director Yasumi Matsuno, but these may just be wishful thinking. We'll just have to wait and see.
How does Team ICO plan to top this? I'm not sure, but I'd like to find out.
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