Kb-smoker
10-25-2005, 04:45 AM
Not too much new stuff...
In conjunction with the Tokyo International Film Festival this week, Sony set up a display area in Akihabara to show off their latest PS2 and PSP games, as well as offer the Japanese public their first glimpse at the PS3. Or rather, that's what the official press led the public to believe. While the current-gen games were present, the PS3 was sadly relegated to a theatre which showed a half-hour spool of trailers from E3 and TGS. Indeed, the entire Sony event, which is slated to last for the rest of the week in Akihabara, was pretty much exactly like their TGS presence, only in a much smaller area and without an admission fee.
In the hallway leading up to the theatre, Sony set up numerous kiosks featuring upcoming release titles. Crowds were gathered around Soul Calibur III and Metal Gear Solid 4, as expected, but upcoming release Ikusagami (a Dynasty Warriors meets undead demons style game) also had quite a number of onlookers. Other games shown included Suikoden 5, Code Age Commanders, Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerebrus, Ratchet and Clank, and various others seen at TGS this year for PS2. The PSP featured My My Katamari, Loco Roco (which this reporter would like to unbiasedly say is freaking fantastic), Talk Man, and Metal Gear Ac!d 2. All PS2 games were set up with two playable systems and a third running the demo above. Being a Sony event, the TVs were all gorgeous Wegas, which made the games look miles ahead of what they did at TGS. However, testing a number of the games revealed that they were still the same TGS demos. There was also a PSP spot available there, auto-upgrading all PSPs around to firmware 2.5.
Around the corner from this hallway was the room Sony was using as a theatre to show off the PS3 trailers. After the Playstation logo showed up, the movie started with a long Gran Turismo 5 trailer. This led into a tiny Warhawk clip, fading into a clip from Genji 2. Following this was another long clip for Motorstorm, which looked very cool on that large screen. Sucessive short clips followed--Getaway, Killzone, Lair, and Formula 1. Once the Formula 1 trailer faded, a really cool Sonic trailer popped up, showing off the hedgehog's new moves in anticipation of his 15th anniversary. This was followed by a disappointing trailer for Konami's Pawapuro baseball series. From here, the reel picked up and didn't let off till the end, with Resident Evil, Armored Core 4, Tekken (E3 Trailer), a new Dynasty Warriors, and Mobile Suit Gundam. The set ended with Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 tech demo from E3, and the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer from TGS. The lights went on, and everybody filed out silently, with nary a word from Sony or anybody about what we just saw.
The only truly noteworthy thing to take from this event is that Sony showed the Final Fantasy 7 demo--one would think that they would not bring a mere tech demo this late in the game if an actual release wasn't intended. Nor would they put it in one of the marquee spots at the end of the trailer reel along with their killer app-MGS4. But this is all idle speculation on the part of this reporter. For those of you who happen to be in Tokyo area, the Akiba Enta Matsuri is all week long, and is a great opportunity to try out some upcoming games without long queues or enforced time limits.
Hopefully Sony will start to show off the actual hardware soon, as Headmaster Kutaragi has a speech on Thursday. Stay tuned to 1up for the latest.
Link (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3144984)
Sony is a sponsor at the Akihabara Entertainment Festival, an event being held in Tokyo's electronics capital over the next two weeks in cooperation with the annual Tokyo International Film Festival. This, of course, means a big PlayStation presence at the show, with Sony bringing out everything from Ratchet to the PS3.
The main area of Sony's presence is in the Akihabara Convention Center space, on the second floor of the new Akihabara Dai Building. Sony has brought out many of TGS's biggest games, allowing players to sample Suikoden V (see our hands-on at IGNPS2), Metal Gear Solid Subsistence, Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerberus and more. PSP is there as well, with the PlayStation Spot download terminal allowing PSP owners to download games like Metal Gear Acid 2, Rockman Rockman and LocoRoco. Sony also brought along PSP kiosks for those without the required hardware.
Located in the back of the Convention Center is a hall which on Sunday afternoon housed talk sessions with the creative forces behind such games as Shadow of the Colossus and Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner. While these events weren't too crowded, the numbers picked up considerably in the afternoon when Sony began a series of PlayStation 3 airings. For the Festival, Sony has assembled its entire set of PS3 trailers from its Tokyo Game Show PS3 theater, including the long version of Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Final Fantasy VII technical demonstration clip.
The difference between the TGS showing and this one is in the experience. Whereas the TGS showing took place in an open environment, exposed to the deafening sounds of a game convention, the Akihabara showing is being held in a closed off hall. Attendees are able to experience the trailers with proper sound -- and we can assure you that the MGS4 trailer sounds just as nice as it looks. Sadly, we were asked to not film, so those wanting to experience these trailers will have to come to Tokyo (or wait for the Japanese release of Subsistence, which includes the MGS4 clip).
Outside the convention center, Sony has made its presence felt throughout Akihabara. Retailers throughout the area are showcasing demos of upcoming games like Subsistence, as well as various PSP titles. Sony has made a limited edition Shadow of the Colossus calendar and poster set available for early purchase exclusively at Akihabara retailers. IGN spotted Piposarus and Ratchet touring the streets of Akihabara's main strip, which is closed off to traffic on the weekend, a site that was topped only by the PSP mini bus on its maiden voyage.
In short, another bit of great marketing by Sony, although Microsoft wasn't about to stay quiet. Here's what we saw on our way to Akihabara train station:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/661/661023/ps3-in-tokyo-20051024040232224-000.jpg
Link (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/661/661023p1.html)
In conjunction with the Tokyo International Film Festival this week, Sony set up a display area in Akihabara to show off their latest PS2 and PSP games, as well as offer the Japanese public their first glimpse at the PS3. Or rather, that's what the official press led the public to believe. While the current-gen games were present, the PS3 was sadly relegated to a theatre which showed a half-hour spool of trailers from E3 and TGS. Indeed, the entire Sony event, which is slated to last for the rest of the week in Akihabara, was pretty much exactly like their TGS presence, only in a much smaller area and without an admission fee.
In the hallway leading up to the theatre, Sony set up numerous kiosks featuring upcoming release titles. Crowds were gathered around Soul Calibur III and Metal Gear Solid 4, as expected, but upcoming release Ikusagami (a Dynasty Warriors meets undead demons style game) also had quite a number of onlookers. Other games shown included Suikoden 5, Code Age Commanders, Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerebrus, Ratchet and Clank, and various others seen at TGS this year for PS2. The PSP featured My My Katamari, Loco Roco (which this reporter would like to unbiasedly say is freaking fantastic), Talk Man, and Metal Gear Ac!d 2. All PS2 games were set up with two playable systems and a third running the demo above. Being a Sony event, the TVs were all gorgeous Wegas, which made the games look miles ahead of what they did at TGS. However, testing a number of the games revealed that they were still the same TGS demos. There was also a PSP spot available there, auto-upgrading all PSPs around to firmware 2.5.
Around the corner from this hallway was the room Sony was using as a theatre to show off the PS3 trailers. After the Playstation logo showed up, the movie started with a long Gran Turismo 5 trailer. This led into a tiny Warhawk clip, fading into a clip from Genji 2. Following this was another long clip for Motorstorm, which looked very cool on that large screen. Sucessive short clips followed--Getaway, Killzone, Lair, and Formula 1. Once the Formula 1 trailer faded, a really cool Sonic trailer popped up, showing off the hedgehog's new moves in anticipation of his 15th anniversary. This was followed by a disappointing trailer for Konami's Pawapuro baseball series. From here, the reel picked up and didn't let off till the end, with Resident Evil, Armored Core 4, Tekken (E3 Trailer), a new Dynasty Warriors, and Mobile Suit Gundam. The set ended with Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 tech demo from E3, and the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer from TGS. The lights went on, and everybody filed out silently, with nary a word from Sony or anybody about what we just saw.
The only truly noteworthy thing to take from this event is that Sony showed the Final Fantasy 7 demo--one would think that they would not bring a mere tech demo this late in the game if an actual release wasn't intended. Nor would they put it in one of the marquee spots at the end of the trailer reel along with their killer app-MGS4. But this is all idle speculation on the part of this reporter. For those of you who happen to be in Tokyo area, the Akiba Enta Matsuri is all week long, and is a great opportunity to try out some upcoming games without long queues or enforced time limits.
Hopefully Sony will start to show off the actual hardware soon, as Headmaster Kutaragi has a speech on Thursday. Stay tuned to 1up for the latest.
Link (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3144984)
Sony is a sponsor at the Akihabara Entertainment Festival, an event being held in Tokyo's electronics capital over the next two weeks in cooperation with the annual Tokyo International Film Festival. This, of course, means a big PlayStation presence at the show, with Sony bringing out everything from Ratchet to the PS3.
The main area of Sony's presence is in the Akihabara Convention Center space, on the second floor of the new Akihabara Dai Building. Sony has brought out many of TGS's biggest games, allowing players to sample Suikoden V (see our hands-on at IGNPS2), Metal Gear Solid Subsistence, Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerberus and more. PSP is there as well, with the PlayStation Spot download terminal allowing PSP owners to download games like Metal Gear Acid 2, Rockman Rockman and LocoRoco. Sony also brought along PSP kiosks for those without the required hardware.
Located in the back of the Convention Center is a hall which on Sunday afternoon housed talk sessions with the creative forces behind such games as Shadow of the Colossus and Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner. While these events weren't too crowded, the numbers picked up considerably in the afternoon when Sony began a series of PlayStation 3 airings. For the Festival, Sony has assembled its entire set of PS3 trailers from its Tokyo Game Show PS3 theater, including the long version of Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Final Fantasy VII technical demonstration clip.
The difference between the TGS showing and this one is in the experience. Whereas the TGS showing took place in an open environment, exposed to the deafening sounds of a game convention, the Akihabara showing is being held in a closed off hall. Attendees are able to experience the trailers with proper sound -- and we can assure you that the MGS4 trailer sounds just as nice as it looks. Sadly, we were asked to not film, so those wanting to experience these trailers will have to come to Tokyo (or wait for the Japanese release of Subsistence, which includes the MGS4 clip).
Outside the convention center, Sony has made its presence felt throughout Akihabara. Retailers throughout the area are showcasing demos of upcoming games like Subsistence, as well as various PSP titles. Sony has made a limited edition Shadow of the Colossus calendar and poster set available for early purchase exclusively at Akihabara retailers. IGN spotted Piposarus and Ratchet touring the streets of Akihabara's main strip, which is closed off to traffic on the weekend, a site that was topped only by the PSP mini bus on its maiden voyage.
In short, another bit of great marketing by Sony, although Microsoft wasn't about to stay quiet. Here's what we saw on our way to Akihabara train station:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/661/661023/ps3-in-tokyo-20051024040232224-000.jpg
Link (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/661/661023p1.html)