TGS 2010 - Impressions & Pictures From Day 2

The second and final press day of TGS 2010 is now history. Hordes of fans will now descend on Makuhari Messe for the next two days, turning what were once 20 minute queues into 3 hour tests of endurance.

Here are some of my thoughts from Fridays festivities, with lots more in-depth, game by game impressions to follow over the next few days, including 3rd Birthday, Killzone 3 with Move & 3D, Okamiden, El Shaddai and much more.


KINNECT - Stevie (thedogbarks) and I decided that as soon as the hall doors opened we would make a beeline for the Microsoft stand to try out Kinnect, hoping to beat the lines from yesterday. When we got there, we saw a staff member placing his magnetic numbers onto the sign that informs you of the wait time. We were happy to see "10", but then he added a further "0" to the end. "Bollocks to that" I said and we played 3rd Birthday instead.

ZOMBIES - As has been well documented, zombies seemed to be doing a good job of taking over TGS 2010, and no more so than at the Capcom booth with Dead Rising 2. Seeing only a 10 minute wait, and wanting to play something console based, I decided to give it a go, despite only being a week away from release. The game was fun, but it was the shenanigans inside the darkened booth which made my day. Greeted by a shotgun wielding soldier, 8 of us were told to wait in a small room to watch zombie movie trailers. About 5 minutes in, screams began to emanate from behind an ominous black curtain and our soldier excused himself to go deal with the fracas. Much shouting and screaming later he returned to lead us through the curtain to the darkened demo booth, where we got our hands on the game. Instead of the usual tap on the shoulder to let you know your 15 minutes were up, our room was invaded by marauding but very punctual zombies. In the confusion, I managed to take the wrong exit and ended up in a staff/zombie dressing room! With the help of a soldier I was escorted to safety/the correct exit and left the demo with a massive grin on my face and a Dead Rising 2 fridge magnet!

HIDEO KOJIMA - I managed to bump into Hideo Kojima, quite literally. Walking through one of the main hallways, flicking through my guide looking for the location of the press rooms, I suddenly looked up to see a group of 5 people directly ahead. I just about managed to avoid chest bumping Kojima-san! What a claim to fame.

PSP - On day 2, I found myself struggling to find console based titles that I wanted to play, so I concentrated on the portables instead and discovered some of my favourite games of the show. The 3rd Birthday was extremely dark and impressive, Tactics Ogre is everything a Tactics game should be and Valkyria Chronicles 3 plays and looks the business. It does make you wonder though, if it weren't for the popularity of the PSP in Japan, in contrast to the West, would we be getting PS3 versions of 3rd Birthday and VC3 instead?

TRAILERS - Lots of interesting trailers on show yesterday. I saw the new DMC video for the first time. I knew it was doing the rounds, but I didn't actually realise it was the DMC trailer until the very end. It looks interesting, and as someone who has played the series through but has never been particularly impressed by it, the change of style doesn't bother me. The new Steel Battalion game boasts an impressive, Normady landing-esque trailer and Capcom's Asura's Wrath looks almost as OTT as Yakuza: Of The End, but not quite. At first I wondered if Nagoshi-san was playing a practical joke with the new Yakuza game, seeing how far he could push the limits before someone called him on it. But no, its very real, and good for him because it looks as fun as it does ridiculous. The Last Guardian trailer appeared to be a slight re-hash of the existing one and the Holiday 2011 release date seems so far off. Maybe it will finally be playable at TGS 2011!

FINAL FANTASY VERSUS - Final Fantasy Versus, along with Agito were given the 20 second trailer treatment at the Square-Enix booth. Agito, a PSP game, looks very similar to Crisis Core, which can only be a good thing, but it was Versus that left a lasting impression. It looked beautiful, as do most FF games, but didn't really give much away. We see our lead (presumably) running around what looks like a very open, desert region and milling about a desolate petrol station. Then it cuts to the same character in a night-time, contemporary looking city street fighting a Behemoth. Each stroke of his long blade causes blood to gush from the creature, something we haven't really seen in previous FF titles. We will know more about both titles on 11 January 2011 when Square-Enix are holding a conference on the FFXIII compilation.