TGS 2012: Round-up
Tokyo Game Show is as good as finished for another year.
The press are heading home, with only two public days remaining - a weekend best avoided unless you enjoy beefy odours and queuing in a sauna. Much like
every other TGS of this generation, this year’s show didn't set the world
alight, but there was just about enough to keep us entertained for 48 hours.
Sony kicked things off in style with a pre-show press
conference, where they failed to even acknowledge the existence of The Last
Guardian or announce any new games of note. Instead, they gave us a slimmed
down version of the PS3 at a similar price to the current model, a redesign that
looks a bit too much like a 90s PC case and will do fuck all to disrupt the
winter of Wii U. We will also be getting two brand new colours for the Vita:
red and blue. Rumours persist that the Last Guardian team are now the New Vita
Colour department, and that it only took them eighteen months to come up with
those colours.
Between new shades of Vita and hardware weight loss, Sony
found time to show off a couple of games, the most promising of which was Soul
Sacrifice for the Vita. It comes from Keiji Inafune, who was also busy revealing
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and it would appear that Sony is putting their full
weight behind it. Impressions from the show floor were favourable, pegging it
as a Monster Hunter/Dark Souls hybrid that is a co-op experience at heart. Sony
did announce a handful of other titles that will be of little interest outside
of Japan, including God Eater 2, karaoke, mega robots and big-titted ninja
girls.
Konami had a lengthy new trailer for Metal Gear Rising:
Revengeance, which revealed new characters and plot details. This definitely
aint Metal Gear but it looks fun, at least in that Vanquish, lots of flash but
little substance kind of way. MGS Social
Ops for smart phones is a tap-based card game – piss off – and there didn’t
seem to be anything new on Ground Zeroes. In other MGS news, Hideo Kojima was
sporting a fabulously sparkly Fox Hound t-shirt which worked wonders for his
fashion status, but did bugger all for his cammo index.
As expected, Yakuza 5 was the major draw at SEGA’s booth.
A demo and extended trailer offered yet more insight into Kazuma Kiryu and
friends’ latest adventures, this time spread across five different Japanese cities.
It looked like a prettier and bigger version of the games that I have come to adore,
with a brilliant trailer that featured brick shithouse Saejima fighting a bear,
as you do. Even more exciting was confirmation that both Virtua Fighter 2 and
Taiko no Tatsujin will be fully playable as games within the game – I bloody
love Yakuza!
Monster Hunter 4 had its first, full trailer which revealed
an autumnal palette and confirmed online play. Professor Layton vs. Ace
Attorney and Ace Attorney 5 gave the Monster Hunter fans a reason to remain at the
Capcom booth once they had finished their sixth session with the MonHun demo,
and EX Troopers was likened to Mega man Legends by more than one member of the
press – I have no idea if that is a compliment or not. There was a spot of confusion when Capcom
announced Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, which eventually turned out to be a sizeable
expansion and not the full-blown sequel that is sure to eventually follow.
Namco Bandai’s collaboration with SEGA and Capcom,
Project X Zone, looks delightfully Japanese; it is a tactical role playing game
that’s heavy on action, but one that I can’t envision escaping Japan. Final Fantasy XIV, Okami HD and Puppeteer all
received brand new trailers, and in an attempt to hijack the show that they
refuse to attend, Nintendo revealed the 3DS XXXXL Circle Pad Pro. Unsurprisingly,
it just looks like a massive version of the original frankenstick.
By all accounts, this was another low-key Tokyo Game Show.
Major publishers were once again reducing
their show floor presence - Square-Enix had zero on-site, playable demos – as mobile
games continued to steal the spotlight. This year's show reminded me how much more
interesting TGS is when experienced in the flesh, and not viewed from afar. When in attendance, you are afforded
the opportunity to seek out the games that interest you and are in a much better
position to appreciate the buzz and sense of occasion that accompanies an event
that is still attracting record crowds, despite its dwindling influence.
After a showing that barely registered with the Western
press, the Japanese industry will most likely spend the next twelve months
deflecting questions about its faltering health. Fingers crossed that it’ll
fare a little better next time around, and that I won’t be
covering it from 6000 miles away.
Did anything catch your eye at TGS 2012?
I don't know why, but I didn't pay much mind to TGS this year. I have been a little out of the gaming loop lately. I was a bit intrigued by that Ninja Gaiden spin-off type thing, but Spark Unlimited's track record doesn't do a lot for me. We shall see with that one.
ReplyDeleteTGS really flew under the radar this year, but that isn't surprising considering the lack of big announcements or new games. Experiencing it from afar, I could see how much of a non-event it has become in the West, which is a shame. Cheers
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