Tokyo Game Show: Hottest in Years

As the first day of TGS 2005 comes to a close, we take a look at the day's events and offer our first impressions of an all-round satisfying show.

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So, Kikizo's team made it out to Japan earlier this week without crashing on a desert island full of monsters - but the good news is that, so far, TGS 2005 has been one hot event.

Without a doubt the centrepiece of the week so far has been this morning's Nintendo super-hyped announcement. Following a keynote presentation by Xbox chief Robbie Bach that focused on Xbox 360's Japanese launch strategy, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata took to the stage in front of an excited, perhaps anxious media gathering, to reveal what we all wanted to see, but didn't necessarily expect...

This morning's keynote presentations built excitement

The controller for Nintendo's next console, Revolution, has been the most closely guarded secret the industry has known in recent years; Nintendo itself was perhaps a little surprised, albeit contented, as it sunk in that not a single leak has taken place in the hours leading to the announcement. When the controller was revealed mid-way through Mr Iwata's speech, there was no rapturous E3-style whooping or applause. This is Japan, after all - things are sensible here, people form a line for trains and stuff. But there was a genuine feeling of intrigue and, undoubtedly, shock among attendees.

Bach stuck to business, but Iwata stole the show

The bold new videogame interface comprises two hand pieces, but can be used with the primary unit - a sophisticated, motion-detecting, TV remote-esque unit. Initially it left us gob smacked, but the video demonstration - which showed off various gameplay concept ideas - picked up pace, and it very quickly became clear how this new interface will work, and why it could be one of the most accessible methods of videogame interaction ever seen. Nintendo wants to significantly broaden the gaming audience, and it explained why it thinks this intuitive, un-intimidating style of control will be able to do just that. Iwata offered, "we face the reality that there are people willing to pick up a game controller, and those who would never touch one. Anyone will pick up a TV remote control, but not necessarily a game controller."

PS3 isn't playable, but still looks stunning

With that out of the way, and a bizarre, collective amalgamation of relief and confusion still lingering, it was time to head into the main show. Having just recently announced the final parts of the 360 puzzle in the last few days, such as dates and prices, we already knew that Microsoft would have a large presence for Xbox 360 inside the show - but how would PlayStation 3 be coming along? That was the question - along with of course, whether or not the show's booth babes could possibly be cuter than last year's.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 booth oozes style

Both answers were positive. The latter shall be proven in our inevitable and gratuitous feature; as for PS3, well, while contrary to speculation nothing was playable on the showfloor whatsoever, what was being shown was quite simply, graphically the most stunning stuff on this or any showfloor in any games event ever. While some of last May's PS3 demos were simply re-shown for all to see, such as Killzone 2 and MotorStorm, new material such as a fresh Vision Gran Turismo trailer and, vitally, the debut trailer for the PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4, looked utterly mind-blowing.

The MGS4 trailer in particular was one of the show's most anticipated highlights - right up there with the Revolution announcement - and did not disappoint when it showed inside Sony's busy PS3 section of its sprawling booth. It's the first videogame footage we've ever seen where the character's every last detail - from facial expression to body animation - looked almost indistinguishable from an actor in a movie. Vision GT, meanwhile, offered easily the best car models and racecourse detail ever seen in the racing genre - period. New trailers for titles announced back at E3, such as WarHawk, also had jaws on the floor. Meanwhile, other publishers such as Koei and Sega (see later) are exhibiting their own PS3-related trailers in the comfort of their own booths.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft is also putting on a tough show. It can be argued that this morning's keynote presentation seemed flawed in a few areas - like for example using a first-person-shooter (even if a unanimously promising one, Gears of War) as its main videogame live demonstration - despite the notorious unpopularity of the genre in Japan. However, the software giant still seems to be hitting the right notes in other areas; a strong Japan-specific line-up (such as Ninety Nine Nights from Tetsuya Mizuguchi - see our massive upcoming interview), and, at the show, an ultra-stylised trendy booth with an abundance of playable titles, is bringing in the attention the product is going to need if it is to be a success in Japan, where the first Xbox performed pitifully. Closed-doors showings of games like Project Gotham Racing 3 (again, see our extensive, upcoming video interview) did not harm the format's morale either, even if only a lucky few (including this site) got to savour the delights.

Naka demonstrated Next-Gen Sonic. Watch out for out stunning hi-res gameplay videos.

Since we're lawfully required to still talk about Sega like it's still a firstparty, it should next be pointed out that the company is enjoying a very strong show. Gone is last year's somewhat unnerving joint Sega-Sammy branding all over the place; instead we have perhaps the most well-timed appearance of long-overdue franchise returns and announcements in years. Where to start?

An updated version of Sega's closed-booth E3 "Future" presentation is taking place, entitled "Sega The Future". The company is showcasing all the arcade trailers that debuted at the recent JAMMA arcade show, such as Virtua Fighter 5, Psy Phi from Yu Suzuki, and After Burner. Likewise, the same Sonic the Hedgehog E3 teaser is being shown, now with the newly announced 15th Anniversary closing tribute. But the biggest surprise (unless you are Kikizo of course, since we already knew) was a playable version of Next-Gen Sonic. Well, only playable to Sonic creator Yuji Naka at least, who performed a real-time demo to showcase the next-gen Sonic game engine, showing off some lovely graphical effects as Sonic did his, um, spikey thing. We guarantee you awesome, hi-res, 60fps video of all this stuff very shortly, by the way.

Meanwhile, the instantly intriguing Shenmue-esque, Yakuza-themed adventure title, Ryu ga Gotoku, has a sizable, closed-off booth all to itself, which is probably cool but we can't say for sure because we didn't check it out just yet. But it goes on; Sega Rally is also back, after a hiatus ever since last year's TGS debut and now relabelled as Sega Rally 2006. Frighteningly suggestive Feel the Magic 2 / Project Rub 2 is also playable, as is the delicious Monkey Ball DS, Sonic DS and the recently announced, apparently not-nearly-as-crap-as-everyone-thought, Sonic Riders.

There is, of course, much more happening at publishers like Konami, Capcom, Tecmo and Namco - but we'll talk about that in part two. Still to come: ultra-sexy, hi-res video coverage of some of the best stuff TGS 2005 has to offer, detailed hands-on previews, a pervy TGS babes feature of justice, and a whole bunch of interview goodness. You know it makes sense. Now if you don't mind, we have an hour's sleep to catch before Day Two starts.

Discuss the Revolution controller here.

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