TGS 2005: Show Report Wrap-Up

The final word on everything hot at the TGS 2005, with all the stuff that matters! Full feature with pictures.

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Following our initial impressions from this year's unusually exciting Tokyo Game Show, we now take detailed look at the showfloor of Tokyo's Makuhari Messe convention center.

Let's first revisit the Sony booth for a while. Attention at the market leader's stand has been dominated by the presence of the PlayStation 3 section; a large dark, openly accessible and usually, extremely crowded area. Sporting one of the best large HD displays we've ever seen - including the one used back at SCEA's PlayStation 3 E3 conference - the room has really done the job of showing off a series of mind-boggling trailers and, vitally, real-time demonstrations.

Who can get enough PlayStation 3 pics?

Despite a strict and frankly pointless no-filming policy at the entire Sony booth, some ninjas have been able to leave the show with all the goods - so expect seriously high-quality, 60fps video of all-new PS3 trailers for stuff like The Getaway, Genji and WarHawk - along with extreme videos of big-hitters like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident Evil 5 - on this site very shortly.

SCEI combined PS3, PSP and PS2 into its booth quite well

In addition to the real-time Sonic the Hedgehog demonstration by Yuji Naka we mentioned in part one of our report, the real stunner in the "what we're seeing it definitely not pre-rendered" department has been the big show-stopper: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. As you can see in our, ahem, HD screenshot below, the title was fully demonstrated in debug mode in a live demonstration by series creator Hideo Kojima, who manoeuvred the camera around freely to show off the astonishing level of detail and effects possible on PlayStation 3.

People were keen to snap the PS3 hardware

Incidentally, Hideo Kojima announced at the show that he will not personally be working on MGS5, when it begins development after MGS4. But to be honest - YAWN. He said exactly the same thing about MGS3 and MGS4. At least the online-based update to MGS3, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence has been very prominent at the show - if playable only behind closed doors - so it's tough to be too bitchy. And considering Metal Gear Acid 2 for PSP is also playable and looking sexy, Kojima Productions has nonetheless enjoyed as strong a line-up as any other development studio at the show. Konami is also pushing Rumble Roses XX for Xbox 360 - which is a good thing, of course.

The first ever real-time debug screenshot of MGS4. Possibly.

MGS4's HD detail is beyond breathtaking, and notably, everything we've seen in this and other PS3 videos (admittedly they're only really technical demonstrations on unverifiable hardware) runs at an infallible sixty frames per second - a goal which many big first-generation Xbox 360 games is currently struggling to achieve.

PS3's controller was still stressed to be a "concept design"

Exactly what hardware it's running on - and we can only guess it's the latest so-called PS3 dev-kit, designed to mimic PS3 specs - couldn't really be verified on the showfloor. But, whatever the hardware tucked away behind the booth was, there's no doubt this stuff is real-time - something which has obviously been in doubt since the astonishing, much-hyped debut of PS3 footage at E3 2005. There's seemingly nothing pre-rendered about these jaw-dropping visuals whatsoever - and if the final PS3 hardware can pull of the sort of graphics its supposed dev kits are generating right now, then indications point towards PS3 being a clear winner in the next-gen war's "prettiness" department.

Of course, we must still wait to play stuff like PS3 Killzone and MotorStorm (trailers for which are also enjoying E3 re-showings - albeit marginally shortened) with a controller in our hands to be certain.

Kojima does his thing on stage with real-time PS3 demo.

Graphics is not the only factor that will win the battle for consumers between Sony and Microsoft - particularly in Japan where the delicate matter of brand perception and marketing simply must be addressed as a priority. While Robbie Bach's Xbox 360 speeches on Thursday and Friday could have been a bit tighter for Japanese media in a few areas, there is no doubt that Xbox 360's presence on the showfloor has been pretty damn successful.

The PS3 casing is clearly made out of sex

The Xbox 360 booth itself is simply a work of art; the ambience, lighting and bright white-and-green surroundings are as sleek and beautiful as the design of the 360 console itself. Throw in some of the very best booth babes the show has to offer (obviously, more on this in our upcoming girlfriend-risking feature), and you have probably the coolest booth at TGS .

Gotta love the Xbox 360 branding

Game-wise, things are also strong, predictably (but nonetheless bafflingly), the Xbox 360 version of Square's Final Fantasy XI has proved very popular with Japanese crowds, while big-hitters like Kameo: Elements of Power and Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Phantagram's Ninety Nine Nights is also getting due attention; the latter is essentially a prettier Dynasty Warriors where you unleash wave after wave of increasingly powerful physical and magic attacks on crowded battlefields. Body counts hit the 1000-mark pretty quickly. Be sure to check back for our hot upcoming first-hand feature and interview with the creators on this promising game.

Without question, Xbox 360 was the most stylish booth

Despite the overwhelmingly larger crowds gathered at the PS3 booth, Microsoft has created easily the biggest brand presence at the show; Xbox 360 promotional bags could be spotted in the remotest parts of Tokyo over the last three days, and advertising at the show, in subway stations and in magazines if very prominent.

FFXI for Xbox 360 attracted attention

Talking of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the esteemed game creator's Q Entertainment studio also has a fantastic new PSP title on show. In Every Extend Extra, which is being published by Bandai - you control a cursor and set off chains of explosions. It's sort of a simplistic version of Rez. One to watch out for.

Gorgeous booth with plants and girls and stuff

Capcom's booth also enforced a no-filming policy for all media, but unlike many other TGS-exhibiting publishers, at least the company had the common decency to provide high-quality footage the games press (so expect all of it in our upcoming video feature of justice). It's just as well really, because Capcom had some great stuff on show...

Capcom's included Okami and Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

Of course, Resident Evil 5 has been the focal point of Capcom's next-gen line-up (which has been best demonstrated in a dedicated Next-Gen theatre booth on the company's stand), but Devil May Cry 4 was also shown, and looks gorgeous. But perhaps the real, playable next-gen beauty of Capcom's line-up was Dead Rising for Xbox 360, which intriguingly, some have gone as far to describing as the playable game of the show. The zombie-themed action game looks great and offers some inventive gameplay ideas and features in a previously exhausted genre. See our upcoming hands-on preview for more details.

Lei-Fang attracts attention to 360, as do subway station ads

Elsewhere at the Capcom booth, the highly anticipated and truly original Okami, which offers a mythical wolf in a magical and vibrant world, is getting the attention it deserves, and Monster Hunter 2 makes its debut. Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams offers more classic action with new characters; the demo at the show doesn't really provide to many new features, but still seems well done.

Tecmo's booth, while adorned with beautiful game artwork of characters like Kokoro - the love-at-first-sight newcomer to Dead or Alive 4 - is pretty disappointing. DOA producer Mr Itagaki reportedly took the decision to not have the title playable at TGS, because the gameplay is still being tweaked before the game's launch.

There wasn't much that was new at Tecmo's booth

This was perhaps a little bit short-sighted, and also surprising that Microsoft didn't somehow veto the decision; DOA has always boasted good gameplay but what Xbox 360 really needed at this show was graphically beautiful, playable titles - something DOA4 could certainly offer - and which would have gone down very well with Japanese attendees regardless of gameplay fine-tuning. Farcically, DOA4 was playable at a separate, press-only event this week - so why the red-tape? As if anyone cares about fighting tweaks during their five-minute playtime - they just to see the graphics of justice, and we all know it.

Unfortunately there wasn't even a new DOA4 trailer to be seen. Nothing else was really shown or revealed in terms of Tecmo's upcoming big-hitters, although Ninja Gaiden Black for Xbox is knocking around and guaranteed to be a fantastic - if somewhat rehashed - current-generation action game. A pity then, that only about six or seven Xbox-owning Japanese Xbox owners will be likely to pick the title up.

Capcom's Dead Rising for Xbox 360 shows much potential

Back at the Sony booth, PS2 and PSP titles were enjoying a strong show (which in the case of PSP is just as well, since the current software range for the format in Japan is a little questionable). Firstly though, the pant-wettingly good Shadow of the Colossus enjoyed attention with a much stronger build than was playable back at E3, highlighted by a much-improved framerate. Meanwhile, Rogue Galaxy for PS2 comes from the creators of the acclaimed Dark Cloud RPG titles, and was pretty prominent at the PS2 booth. The game's announcement last month came as a welcome surprise, and we'll be bringing you detailed impressions shortly.

Rogue Galaxy from the creators of Dark Cloud debuted

Elsewhere at the PS2 booth, Siren 2 - the sequel to a pretty underrated horror game from SCEI, also makes its playable debut. Sony kindly handed out playable demos of the game, so we'll have more on that shortly. Next, SCEI's Loco Roco for PSP is a fantastically simple game, in which you basically control a blob and traverse ever more challenging and colourful landscapes. Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerebus from Square is a third-person shooter set in the world of FFVII - it's pretty much a good example of milking done badly; the lack of experience with controls of this sort comes to the fore.

Part two's token Sonic photo. We like Sonic Rush for DS.
Our upcoming next-gen Sonic videos will blow you away

At the Namco booth - or more specifically the Namco Bandai booth, since the two companies recently merged and now showcase their line-ups together in a cute kind of new relationship way - Ridge Racer 6 made its playable debut. The Xbox 360 game looks pretty good; as with all Xbox 360 games the HD-resolution still remains (for now) a bit of an exciting novelty, and the constant 60fps framerate is more than the current 30fps closed-doors build of Project Gotham Racing 3 is managing, but it would be impossible to argue that RR6 is anywhere near approaching spectacular. Having said that, last year's PSP instalment to the series was simply a joy in gameplay terms, so this outing could just as well be a very strong launch title.

Koei's Dynasty Warriors got a next-gen trailer

Also at Namco, Frame City Killer for Xbox 360 got an OK new trailer, Soul Calibur III for PlayStation 2 looks very sweet indeed in its near-final and playable form, and Moto GP 4 seemed to be another worthwhile sequel. The welcome addition of the PSP outing of Katamari Damacy, My My Katamari Damacy, marks the series' PSP debut with everything that made the PS2 games a hit - only with kludged controls to make up for the lack of a second analog stick.

So, throw an announcement for the Nintendo Revolution controller into the mix - not to mention all the other stuff we talked about in part one, such as Sega's line-up of honour - and it has been a fantastic TGS all around. The next generation is now tangible - more so than at the announcement-driven E3 back in May - and by the time next year's major game events happen, all three major next-gen formats will be prominent and playable, while current-gen material finally begins to take a backseat.

TGS 2005 has been the latest (and perhaps final) warning shot in the epic, upcoming next generation videogames era - and with the stage now fully set, things can only get more exciting as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo launch the new systems with more aggression, determination and investment than ever before. Naturally, we're pumped.

See you next year, and all that.

Don't forget, we still have more to come: how about the very best (and yes, we have checked to make sure) hi-quality video coverage of some of TGS 2005's finest stuff, that laughs in the face of dweeb-enforcing, utterly pointless no-camera signs, plus detailed hands-on previews, our super-sexy TGS booth babes feature, and a whole bunch of interview goodness. For the first time in ages, the industry has had a really good TGS - and we have some great goodies for you still to come - we can fly home happy now. Let's hope we make it back to Kikizo HQ without crashing on a desert island full of monsters.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

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