The Tokyo Game Show kicks off next week in Japan. We won’t be there (hopefully next year), but it’ll be a pretty big show for us regardless. Want to know why? We’ll tell you!
Fabula Nova Crystallis
Final Fantasy XIII is out and done with. It’s been played inside out (although the linearity makes that pretty easy to do) and tossed aside. Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Agito XIII are where all the cool kids are now and we’ll finally get to see some actual gameplay footage of both during the show. Apparently, Versus XIII‘s footage will make us “shake“, and if its promises are that extreme, it’s definitely something we’ve got to see. Both Fabula Nova Crystallis titles will receive some short gameplay footage under the series banner. Be sure to whip those cell phones out, Final Fantasy fans.
Nomura’s New Game
We don’t know what it is. You don’t know what it is. Square Enix sure as hell knows what it is, though, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII director and designer Tetsuya Nomura is behind it all. Nomura’s done his job at teasing it, now it’s time for a proper reveal. We can only hope for a new HD RPG, but we’ll look into whatever Nomura announces regardless just because we think he’s awesome.
At the time of writing, Nomura’s new game was not yet leaked by Jump. However, as it turns out, it’s none other than Dissidia: Final Fantasy sequel Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy. Both Lightning and Kain are confirmed as playable characters. The game will be playable on the show floor.
Disgaea 4 Comes Out of Hiding
When NIS America announced Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel for North America, they also took the stage to officially announce Disgaea 4. Unfortunately, an announcement of its development was all we heard from them. The company promised that more details are to arrive at the Tokyo Game Show. Wonder what the fourth iteration looks like? We do, too.
Bumpy Trot 2 Makes A Return
Take this one with a pinch of salt, but after announcing the game at TGS 2006 and then hiding in the shadows, Irem’s bringing Bumpy Trot 2 back into the light. If our source is correct, the game’s been completely reworked on a new engine and is being suited up to better match PlayStation 3‘s visual quality. Since Steambot Chronicles 1 (its localized name) was released in North America on PS2, we can only hope the sequel will reach our shores, as well.
EA’s “Several” Unannounced Games
Electronic Arts is holding an event on the eve of the Tokyo Game Show’s start where they plan to announce “several” new games. It’s already been confirmed that they’re going to announce Suda 51, Shinji Mikami, and Akira Yamaoka’s collaboration title. That alone would be enough for me. Excitement level: 100 percent.
Ni No Kuni Gameplay
We love RPGs. Level-5 makes RPGs, which means we probably love Level-5. And that we do! Level-5 is bringing Ni No Kuni, their latest creation in collaboration with famed animation studio Studio Ghibli, to the Tokyo Game Show. Both the PlayStation 3 and DS versions of the game will be playable. While we’ve seen gameplay of the DS version in the past, we’ve yet to see any proper gameplay out of the PlayStation 3 version – besides the brief seconds of it we saw in its debut trailer. We’re hoping some off-screen gameplay recordings make their way to our monitors.
Level-5’s new game
If you didn’t quite catch it in the previous bit of hype, we love Level-5. They’re announcing a new game at the show on Wednesday, September 15. Only bad bit is that there won’t be any early Famitsu leaks as Wednesday morning for them is Tuesday night for us, which is usually when Famitsu leaks. That means we’re likely to hear about it at the same time Famitsu drops its weekly bombs.
Kojima’s PS3 Exclusive
Another grain of salt here. A couple of days after E3’s end, a rumor stating that Kojima is readying the announcement of a new PlayStation 3 title for the Tokyo Game Show surfaced and certainly sparked interests. Apparently, it’s a “massive PS3 exclusive that will own the show”. Metal Gear Solid 4 producer Kenichiro Imaizumi did say that this was “just a rumor“, but we won’t really get any solid confirmation until the show actually occurs.
Valkyria Chronicles 3 Announcement
Sega‘s gotten up a teaser site for a brand new title ready to be announced on September 16. There’s no doubt about it (watch us be wrong), it’s Valkyria Chronicles 3, which we’re hoping makes the jump back to console rather than stay on handheld. Consider us psyched.
Kamurocho’s Destruction
Yakuza‘s back again. After releasing Yakuza 4 in Japan this March, Sega’s planning the reveal of the next Yakuza at the Tokyo Game Show. We already know Goro Majima, Shun Akiyama, Kiryu Kazuma, and Ryuji Goda will be playable. We also know that some sort of earthquake has hit a now-in-ruins Kamurocho. Now everything will fall into place as Yakuza‘s next PlayStation 3 title is unveiled and detailed at the show.
The Last Guardian’s Back
We haven’t heard a peep out of Team Ico’s The Last Guardian since it was announced at E3 2009 and we’re still waiting. Luckily, studio head Fumito Ueda has teased the game’s appearance at the show. We’re hoping to at least get a new trailer. At most, gameplay. The studio’s created nothing but gold so far with PS2’s Ico and Shadow of the Colossus so we obviously have pretty high expectations for their latest work.
Update: Looks like it’s confirmed for the show!
El Shaddai Goes Playable
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, Ignition Entertainment’s new in-house developed game from Japan, will finally go playable come the Tokyo Game Show. It looks gorgeous, to put it simply. We had a chance to interview the team back at E3 and are expecting a lot of good things out of it. It’s coming from director and character designer Sawaki Takeyasu, who’s past works include Okami and Devil May Cry.
Press Conferences
We love them so. Microsoft’s already announced theirs for September 16. Sony’s yet to announce theirs but they’ll have one if past Tokyo Game Shows are a factor. Hopefully we’ll hear about some new titles, system features, or even hardware on both ends. I remember hearing a rumor about the PSP2 at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. Think Sony will announce it? Only next week will tell!
Possible RPG Announcements
If you recall, during the road building up to the Tokyo Game Show, it was discovered that a few well known developers are working on some pretty big high-definition role-playing games. These game’s could possibly be revealed during the Tokyo Game Show, so we’ll list them all as potential announcements.
- Feelplus Inc., known for Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, are working on a “large scale” RPG for Xbox 360.
- Media Vision, developers of Wild Arms and the more recent Chaos Rings for iPhone, is working on “massive” PlayStation 3 RPG.
- Marvelous Entertainment, publishers of No More Heroes in Japan, has an unannounced PlayStation 3 game in development. It’s possible that it be an RPG, but even if it’s not, it’s probably still something we’d like to check out.
- Imageepoch, developers of Arc Rise Fantasia, are working on a new PlayStation 3 project. The company is also known for the Luminous Arc franchise as well as Capcom‘s upcoming PSP RPG, The Last Ranker.
Other Possible Game Announcements
- Satoshi Sakai recently teased a new Phantasy Star Online project for the series’ tenth anniversary separate to the PSP’s Phantasy Star Portable Infinity 2. Perhaps we’ll see its announcement at the Tokyo Game Show?
- Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has recently showed SCE Benelux exec Dave Epke a “crazy” new title. He’s doesn’t know if it’ll be revealed at the Tokyo Game Show, though. There’s always the possibility.
- Square Enix is working hand-in-hand with an American development team on a major new project. Could we see its announcement at the Tokyo Game Show?
- Sega has said that they’ll be announcing two major new games to release in 2011 and 2012 this year. With it being September already, hopefully we could expect to hear about at least one of those during the Tokyo Game Show. Although, it may be Valkyria Chronicles 3, which was already mentioned above.
- Keiji Inafune recently teased the announcement of an “oft-requested” Mega Man title during Mega Man Universe‘s Comic-Con panel. Probably the most often requested game in the series is Mega Man Legends 3. Could we see its announcement at the show?