Tokyo Game Show 2006: The Kikizo Report

Sony had to deliver, and Microsoft had to push harder. As TGS 2006 comes to a close, Kikizo brings you this report to see who prevailed, with photos and babes aplenty.

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And so on to Xbox 360. We're all familiar with the big issues for Microsoft in the marketplace right now. Generally superb launches in the west under its belt, heading into its second Christmas, with awesome second-generation titles promised. But nobody in Japan cares. This show was arguably just as vital for the Redmond contingent as it was for Kutaragi's clan, because neither player can truly be happy with anything less than market leadership in all three major territories. While TGS itself only gives us an idea of how successful a company's strategy might be, the impression we have for Microsoft coming out of TGS is also a good one.

Last year's Xbox 360 presence at TGS was strong, but not strong enough to sell units. This year, the Japanese arm of Xbox pulled out all the stops. Of course, the big title for the system as far as the Japanese market is concerned is Blue Dragon, which on paper, has all the ingredients to send Japanese gamers into a mass frenzy. It's directed, designed and composed by Japan's favourite videogame, RPG and anime legends, and the massive lines to play the game were an indicator that the formula could well be a hit.

Microsoft pushed the title at its conference earlier in the week on Wednesday, and also held a Blue Dragon-specific press event on the first day of the show at a nearby hotel. Blue Dragon-branded Xbox 360 bags were even more populous in and around the Messe than the luscious PlayStation 3 bags handed out at Sony's booth. The Japanese media is behind the game and even the local train station was Blue Dragon'ed up to the gills. Frankly, if Blue Dragon does not do it for Xbox 360 in Japan, it looks like nothing will. And with a bargain price point for Xbox 360 Core and Blue Dragon for less than around $300, it seems Microsoft will have its most resounding 'yay or nay' from Japan before the year is out. Lost Odyssey, also from Sakaguchi's Mistwalker studio, drew equally huge lines.

Western-flavoured titles like Dead Rising from Capcom and Crackdown from Real Time Worlds, both in the Cero Z (adults only) area, also received a big push and a lot of interest. Vampire's Rain, a new title for Xbox 360, was also on show and lazily described as 'Splinter Cell with vampires'.

Impressively, Microsoft iced its cake with the announcement that all Xbox 360 consoles anywhere in the world will support 1080p output for games and HD-DVD movies, as part of the fall software update, which will be released later this year. The technically impressive feat means there's one less advantage PS3 has over Xbox 360.

It'll be interesting to see how tempted Microsoft is to renege on its promise not to put games on HD-DVD that would require the external player - currently intended for movies only. While this would mean taking the unpopular route to alienating non-accessorised users, the one real technical advantage PS3 currently has over 360 is that games on Blu-Ray not only benefit from higher data capacity, but increased bandwidth read-speed, which will be invaluable for streaming in content far more impressively than the antiquated DVD speed is capable of.

Moving onto the excellent roster of thirdparties, then. With a prime location directly at the main entrance of the show, Sega's booth was undoubtedly a splendid one this year. Shiny sky-blue plastic and rich colours added sparkle to a software line-up that was probably the firm's strongest in recent years. The centrepiece for serious attendees was surely Virtua Fighter 5 for the PS3. A visually flawless conversion of the earth-shattering Lindbergh arcade game, the game benefited from a newly unveiled, delightfully solid arcade stick for PS3, and was enjoyed in a short four-round demo as well as a special versus area with awesome display and sound. Little of the PS3 version's unique modes and features have been unveiled however, and this is what will likely be keeping AM2 busy until the game's Spring 2007 release. Judging by this build and the effort put into VF4's console-specific design, fans are in for an exceptional treat.

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Sonic the Hedgehog's popularity picked up on day two, unsurprisingly, as the show opened its doors to the general public and of course younger gamers en masse. Under the watchful eye of Masahiro Kumono, the game has (mercifully) tuned its control a little since the near-disastrous E3 build, with directional movement now a lot less sensitive. The game is looking quite nice and we're starting to get more of a feel for what the finished game will be like, with some Sonic Adventure 1-style 'town' elements in place, but we'll have to wait until closer to launch to see whether we're in for a letdown. Although PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were both on show, the PS3 version was far more prominent, as Sega (like many publishers) pushed the upcoming Sony machine ahead of the Microsoft box.

Elsewhere at Sega, probably the cutest booth babe of the entire show featured in demonstrations for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz on the Wii, while Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii also made an appearance. Virtua Tennis 3 was the other big next-gen hitter, looking great on both Xbox 360 and PS3 but, as director Mie Kumagai put it to Kikizo, the former boasts better online features and the latter benefits from 1080p graphics - one of only five titles currently using the ludicrously high standard on PS3. Sega is certainly not about to abandon current-gen development either, with a closed-booth for Yakuza 2 stealing some attention.

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