Tokyo Game Show 2003: The Report

Day one of TGS 2003 comes to a close, and the Japanese games industry is upbeat. Full report and photos galore inside.

It's mostly a repeat of this year's E3, but today demonstrated that the Tokyo Game Show is still big, bold and full of copious entertainment value. This year, despite the lack of major surprises, a line-up of games to die for was available at almost any publisher booth - underlining how much more competitive the Japanese games industry becomes every year.

This year's Tokyo Game Show kicked off with strength.

Sony Computer Entertainment, one of the largest exhibitors at the show, were mostly showing titles already seen at E3, including the likes of new Gran Turismo 4 code, which was lapped up by attendees.

"For some reason, Japanese attendees didn't appear to get into EyeToy like westerners have."

GT4 was playable online, in a specially marked "online gaming" section of the booth - even though it was probably a cheap bit of LAN trickery. Given the meticulous attention to detail throughout the rest of the game, it will come as no surprise that the only person likely to notice the latency during online gameplay would be Kazunori-san himself.

EyeToy, which settled comfortably in the number one spot in UK charts for weeks, received its Japanese debut with huge floor space and promotional activity, although the reception seemed lukewarm at best; for some reason Japanese attendees just didn't appear to get into it like westerners have. Not made on our shores? Get lost then!

"SCEI's Siren demonstrated shed loads of potential."

Siren was the only major new title at SCEI, with a closed booth that attracted visitors by pumping smoke through an eerily lit 'SIREN' logo atop the stand. Inside, the game was both playable for the first time and distinctively disturbing, owing much to the myriad cut scenes in which characters look like they're having a bad day to say the least. The build at the show is nothing to write home about, but the Japan-developed title demonstrated shed loads of potential.

Moving along to the next hall where Microsoft and the adjacently positioned Tecmo dominated, and a show of strength was clearly geared towards spicing things up in the Japanese Xbox market.

Robbie Bach and Peter Moore were both in attendance to hold a press conference on stage, hitting home similar messages to their X03 missives last week, about convergence and the digital entertainment lifestyle. The new "It's Good to Play Together" slogan was in full force, but how the domestic market has reacted to it remains to be seen.

"Bach looked decidedly uncomfortable on stage, perhaps feeling the pressure in Japan."

Bach looked decidedly uncomfortable on stage, perhaps feeling the pressure as the top man at Xbox who desperately wanted to impress the Japanese market - while Moore was considerably more slick, with a simplified version of his X03 speech and Japan-specific ramblings - relating to titles such as True Fantasy Live Online which was playable at the stand - for good measure. Throughout their address, they had to aggressively compete with the offensively loud noise from an adjacent stand nobody cared about.

"Microsoft deprIved X03 from NEW footage, saving the best for TGS."

Unsurprisingly a strong push was in evidence behind all Xbox Live titles, most notably on Project Gotham Racing 2, for which a large floor space was afforded, and the best booth babes of the show hired to pull in punters. As the new Japanese city in the game - Yokohama, which you can see in our still-exclusive gameplay videos from last week, was the city most frequently seen in action on the stand.

But some of Microsoft's key products were interchangeable with those on offer at the Tecmo stand, where brand new trailers are being shown for both Dead or Alive Online and Ninja Gaiden.

In a clear strategic move, Microsoft have seen fit to deprive the sexy new footage from last week's X03 folk, and instead bless the Japanese with the goods. But it was worth the ten-day wait, as the new trailers are gorgeous, as you'd expect from Tecmo. Naturally, you'll see them on Kikizo imminently.

Tecmo also had the popular DOA Bach Volleyball bikinis on show, and TGS attendees can even purchase the swimwear at the show's merchandise area. The too-cool-for-school publisher also showcased the first provisional box art for both DOA Online and Ninja Gaiden, along with a sneak preview of the DOA: Code Cronus box - which was basically just the WIP logo on a black background.

"Event staff were forced to manhandle the crowd of onlookers as Sega's booth."

With no Nintendo at the show it's onto the thirdparties, the most popular of which was quite probably Sega, the first publisher encountered at the show's entrance. With a series of stage events throughout the day, crowds at the Sega stand were, as is the norm at TGS, considerably large. TGS event staff were forced to manhandle the crowd of onlookers as Sega representatives such as Oba-san from Overworks presented the latest on Kunoichi, one of the most popular titles at the stand.

Kunoichi, which is developed by the newly named Sega Wow and was playable for the first time, demonstrated a much improved package over its predecessor Shinobi, thanks to enhanced and fuller gameplay, souped up cut scene quality and - let's face it - a female ninja who is, quite literally, highly fit. Watch out for our Kunoichi video interview, which we filmed today and will edit together after battling through the three different languages encountered during the proceedings. Don't ask...

Elsewhere on the Sega stand, Astro Boy was unveiled fop the first time on PS2, a game clearly aimed at the domestic market, but with good potential for a western release. It was only shown in video form so we'll just have to see where it goes from here, in the meantime we'll have the videos for you of course.

"Yu Suzuki and his new Digital Rex studio assured us that his projects are progressing well."

Sonic Heroes and Billy Hatcher were obviously playable - but the former offered just two levels we've already seen, and the latter is already out in the States, at our place, and getting the review treatment as we speak. Excitingly, the next wave of Sega Ages titles arrived at the show, most prominently marked by the pristine Model 1 conversion of Virtua Racing for PS2, looking identical to the original and running at sixty frames. We want it now - but don't expect a western release anytime this century.

Unfortunately Yu Suzuki - whose new studio has been officially renamed from the tentative Cinematic Online Games to Digital Rex - was not showcasing any titles at the show, although rumours that he wouldn't bother attending at all were smashed when - basically - we saw him there and said hello. He assured us that his projects are progressing well. We would hope so, after the disappointing no-show of Virtua Fighter Quest - but, in Suzuki-san we trust. Yuji Naka was also around to smile and make sure everyone enjoyed his titles, which were playable at a Japanese show for the first time.

Interestingly, newly-appointed Sega president Hisao Oguchi also conducted a stage presentation, although his availability throughout the rest of the show was null and void. Instead of corporate spiel however, his presentation focussed on Derby Owner's Club, the Hitmaker franchise he pioneered and felt he should introduce during Ms Kumagai's absence.

He did find time for some corporate talk however, again reciting the fact that - we kid you not - Sega is "The Excitement Company." With almost an entire floor to himself at Sega's main office building in Ohta-ku, who can blame him? But it is good to see that Oguchi-san is in good spirit and clowning around as ever, despite his newfound business responsibilities.

Moving on, there was no shortage of quality product anywhere else. Capcom showcased the latest version of Onimusha 3, and perhaps the most anticipated title of the show - Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition - was also on show, although somewhat disappointing, with too few enhancements made to the original to make it a show stopper.

Interestingly, the Sony London Studio developed title The Getaway was also featured in a closed booth at Capcom's stand, manned by two authentically scary suit types. The 'no filming' sign was prominent, as throughout the rest of the Capcom stand, despite there being a million direct feed videos on the Internet since the game's European release last year. Detailed report and tons of Capcom media to follow.

"Kingdom Hearts 2 ups the roster of Disney characters to include the likes of Mickey Mouse."

Namco's growing allegiance to Xbox was strengthened with a playable version of R: Racing Evolution which looks pretty fantastic, and a new trailer for the suitably well-promoted Breakdown. Over at the Konami booth, trailers for Metal Gear Solid 3 and Twin Snakes were recycled from May, although some snippets of new footage were also in evidence. In all honesty though, we need to take a more detailed look at these publishers' offerings tomorrow, to form some kind of meaningful opinion.

Square Enix held a press event in the nearby Manhattan Hotel, to unveil two new titles in the Kingdom Hearts series. Addressing a packed assembly of journalists, the company's executives, along with a Buena Vista representative, presented the global unveiling of Kingdom Hearts 2 for PS2, which ups the roster of Disney characters to include the likes of Mickey Mouse, before showing a promising GBA franchise spin off.

Later in the conference, a trailer for the recently announced Final Fantasy VII side story was also unveiled to a bemused audience, still shaking their heads at the company's instruction to media not to film any of the trailers shown at the two hour session.

So after day one of the show, you can probably tell we've quite enjoyed ourselves - but there's plenty more to come in the way of TGS coverage at Kikizo. Expect the very best selection of video downloads anywhere, along with interviews of justice and media blowouts of the titles you actually care about.

In the meantime, we'll be playing with our Sonic Heroes rubix cube freebie, preparing our booth babe feature to end all booth babe features (the lack of girlie photos here is deliberate) and spending obscene amounts of our bank's generous credit in Akihabara.

Adam Doree
Editorial Director, Kikizo

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Tokyo Game Show 2003: The Report

Day one of TGS 2003 comes to a close, and the Japanese games industry is upbeat. Full report and photos galore inside.