PS3 Fanboy

Tokyo Game Show is just around the corner. We're expecting some new game announcements -- however, we may have gotten a small sneak peak thanks to an early update of Koei's TGS website. Not only did it show a brand new Dynasty Warriors game for the PS3, it also shows a new MMORPG for both PC and PS3. Both listings for these PS3 games have since been removed, but we'll be keeping a keen eye on Koei at TGS to see if these titles magically reappear.

[Via NeoGAF]

2008 looks to be yet another excellent year for Tokyo Game Show. There's a lot of excitement over the potential surprises at the show. Square Enix has posted its lineup for this year's show, and we're a little saddened to see Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) still not playable. At the very least, we'll be getting some one-on-one time with Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP). Check out the full PlayStation list here:

Playable

• Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)

Trailers-Only

• Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
• Final Fantasy Agito XIII (PSP)
• The 3rd Birthday (PSP)
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (Blu-ray)

We're expecting many of these trailers will be shown behind closed doors. Fear not, though. We'll provide detailed impressions of the trailers live from Tokyo next month.

Phil Harrison... Kaz Hirai... Ken Kutaragi... no, they do not comprise the three heads of the mythical Cerberus, but they do comprise the three heads of a real-life corporation that rivals such mythical beasts: Sony. Game|Life got to interview them all in one night and a couple of interesting tidbits came out. Here they are:

• Phil Harrison believes there's no North American price drop because the $599 is a "magic price point". Basically, it's the price people will buy at that gives Sony the greatest marginal profit (or if manufacturing costs are still more than the price, the lowest marginal loss).
• The Playstation 3 is region free for games, but not movies. So you can grab a PS3 from Japan if you really, really want, but you'll have trouble playing local movies. This is also good news for import junkies, especially among fighting game fanatics (less translation to deal with). Oh, this also includes downloadable games.
  
• Kaz Hirai and Ken Kutaragi both leaned towards "no" as to the inclusion of component cables in the box.

Alone, each point is kind of "meh", but add them together and you've got a bevy of PS3 common knowledge. It's surprising how these more common points are overlooked, so while many may have heard these, there will be some who were wondering about these and, well, now they know.

[FYI: if the link to Game|Life doesn't work, just hit refresh. That worked for me!]

This game looks pretty cool. What should be especially noted in the trailer is the music. It's spooky! This game would make a perfect Halloween 2007 release. But hey, that's random speculation and suggestion (take the suggestion, oh game designers!). This'll probably be the last TGS video we put up and as such, we must ask you, the readers: what game shown at TGS are you most looking forward to? We'd like it if you kept it to PS3 titles and if none interested you, don't worry, then you can relax and see what everyone else is excited about.

What's this blogger psyched about? White Knight Story sounds fantastic... as far as launch titles go? Nothing exactly jumps out, but it doesn't matter, because with the backwards compatibility, I've got PS2 games being released well into next year. Still, Resistance and Riiiiiiidge Racer 7 are enticing... it's a tough call!

We're not even going to bother trying to replicate what our pals at IGN did. They've taken it unto themselves to fully transcribe every game being shown for every system by every company. They boast over 570 games and guess what? The Gamecube and Xbox each have one game! Kind of a pity.

Anyway, IGN does bring up a good point: E3 was probably scaled down because it was afraid of something like this. There are way too many games and way too many consoles being introduced and supported right now. Even when Nintendo doesn't exactly bring its first-party hand to the table at the TGS (it typically refrains from going to TGS), there are still third-party titles to be shown. It's madness! A small piece of this blogger is glad he's not going to TGS because, simply put, there's way, way, way too much to look at. Sensory overload, more or less. Go ahead and check out IGN's list. It's quite large, so we'd recommend skimming through your favorite developers/publishers.

Sure, sure, this has been reported most everywhere -- why should we miss out on the exciting world of numbers? Here's the breakdown of games by console for the Tokyo Game Show:

• PS3: 18
• PS2: 100 (!)
• PSP: 33
• Wii: 5
• Xbox360: 20
• Nintendo DS: 52
• PC: 127
• Mobile: 125

Sony definitely has the majority of games overall, but takes a close second-place in the next-gen zone. The PS2 library is insane! We left off Gamecube and "classic" Xbox because each only a few games being shown. Want them by genre? Sure!

• 129 Action games
• 76 RPG's
• 49 Simulation games
• 35 Puzzle games
• 33 Adventure games

We're assuming "action" games includes FPS games, since they've got, well, action. And there's always a lot of them.

Here's Namco-Bandai's list of TGS games -- all but Captain Tsubasa will be playable. Take a deep breath and browse on!

• Mobile Suit Gundam Target in Sight (PS3)
• Ridge Racer 7 (PS3)
  
• Tales of Destiny (PS2... is this a remake of the PSX game, or is this Abyss?)
  
• Battle Stadium D.O.N. (PS2)
  
• .hack//G.U. Vol.2 (PS2)
  
• Dragon Ball Z Sparking! NEO (PS2)
  
• Captain Tsubasa (video only) (PS2)
  
• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Phantom Blood (PS2)
  
• Naruto Kinoha Spirits!! (PS2)
  
• Digimon Survivors Another Mission (PS2)
  
• Kamen Rider Kaputo (PS2)
• Gundam Seed Destiny Federation vs. ZAFT II Plus (PS2)
• Tales of Fantasia Full Voice Edition (PSP)
  
• Ridge Racers 2 (PSP)
• Bounty Hounds (PSP)
• Ace Combat X Skies of Deception (PSP)
• Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (PSP)
• Gundam Battle Royal (PSP)
• Gunpei Reverse (PSP)
• Tales of the Tempest (DS)
  
• Corner Shop 2 (DS)
• Gintama (DS)
• Oto wo Tsunagou! Gunpei Reverse (DS)
• Battle Stadium D.O.N. (Gamecube)
• Idol Master (360)
  
• Trusty Bell (360)
• Culdecept Saga (360)
• Gundam Operation Troy (360)

Whew! Information overload! Not to mention... Gundam everywhere! There are a lot of games here and the PS3 and 360 both have at least one high profile title to look forward to. Ridge Racer 7 will be playable and that's awesome. We hope. What do you guys think?

Here's another bulleted list of things you'll be hearing more about by the end of September! Isn't it exciting? Check it out.

• Elebits (Wii)
• Coded Arms Assault (PS3)
• Mahjong Fight Club (PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
• Mahjong Fight Club National Competition Version (PSP)
  
• Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (PSP)
  
• World Soccer Winning Eleven 10 Ubiquitous Evolution (PSP)
• Silent Hill Origins (PSP)
  
• Mahjong Fight Club DS (...DS)
  
• Boktai DS (...DS)
  
• World Soccer Winning Eleven DS (oh, forget it...)
  
• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)
  
• Otogi Juushi Akazukin (DS)
• Survival Kids Lost in Blue 2 (DS)
  

Well, there were some other games for the PS2, arcade, mobile, and PC, but they didn't exactly raise many brows. Nothing for Microsoft's system, either. You can check out the full list at IGN, but the rest isn't much to get you excited about.

Sure, they're two different companies, but why make you read two different pieces on each when we can slap 'em both right here for you? First up is Capcom's TGS playables list:

• Devil May Cry 4 (PS3)
• Lost Planet (360)
• Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (PSP)
• Gyakuten Saiban 4 (AKA Phoenix Wright) (DS)
• Ryusei no Rockman (MegaMan stuff... always with the MegaMan! We want another MegaMan Legends game! Those were the best. MegaMan X, X2, X3, and X4 were good too. Heck, SNES and prior were all golden, excepting X4 of course.)

Ahem. Sorry. MegaMan was one of the first dozen games every played by yours truly, so there's a bit of a loyalty and love for the games. Now then, Koei, how many Dynasty Warriors games will you be showing us?

• Fatal Inertia (PS3)
• Bladestorm (PS3)
• Ni-Oh (PS3)
• Mahjong Taikai IV (PS3)
• Samurai Warriors Wave (Wii)
• Samurai Warriors 2 Empires (PS2)
• Sangokushi 11 (PS2)
• G1 Jockey 4 2006 (PS2)
• Harukanaru Toki no Naka De (PS2)
  
• Dynasty Warriors Mahjong (PSP)
  
• Dynasty Warriors Mahjong (DS)
  
• Pocket Scenario Series Harukanaru Toki no Naka De (DS)
• Nobunaga's Ambition (PS2 and Windows)

Okay, so there's more emphasis on Samurai Warriors now, but still. What think you, gentlemen and ladies? Does Koei and Capcom have a good lineup? The PS3 titles seem very tempting, and dare we say, Lost Planet does too? It does.

Over at IGN, they've released the lineup of games by Square-Enix to be shown at the Tokyo Game Show. While we won't try to correct some of the Japanese translation, we think they muffed up on one of the Roman Numerals for a game. We'll display the list below.

Playable games

• Chocobo no Mahou Ehon (DS)
• Dragon Quest Monsters (Mobile)
• Dragon Quest Monsters Joker (DS)
• Dragon Quest: Fushigi na Dungeon (Mobile)
• Final Fantasy III (DS)
• Final Fantasy XI (PS2, Xbox360)
• Front Mission 2089 (Mobile) -- darn, if only it were a new console title...
• Pokemate (Mobile)
• Project Sylpheed (Xbox 360)
• Seiken Densetsu IV (PS2) aka Dawn of Mana
• Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (Mobile)

Non-playable, video only

• Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
• Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA)
• Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA)
• Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP) -- this was written as VIII on IGN. A small error, but if anyone is a crazy FFVII fan (there are many... too many) they'd shake their heads in shame.

Lots of games, none all too earth-shattering. Aside from Dawn of Mana and the videos, not much appears to be worthwhile. If only there would appear a Vagrant Story sequel. Please, Squeenix! Anything spark interest among you? Let us know.

This is all over the net, so it might as well be here too. It's not a complete list, but there are quite a few playable games coming to the Tokyo Game Show for the PS3. Some are expected, some are pretty surprising. Of the 27 playable titles, those of note include:

• Devil May Cry 4 (been long enough...)
• Heavenly Sword
• LAIR
• Genji
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Armored Core 4
• Blade Storm: Hundred Years War
• Mahjong Taikai
• Coded Arms: Assault
• Fatal Inertia
• The Eye of Judgment
• Warhawk
• Gran Turismo
• Formula One World Championship
• Everybody's Golf 5
• Motorstorm
• Mobile Suit Gundam
• Ridge Racer 7

This is great news! Oh, those lucky people that get to play these games early! Of this list, which would you most want to wait in line to play? Give a top three, top five, whatever. September 22, come on already!

Ken Kutaragi, the big man at Sony, will be delivering a keynote address at the TGS entitled "Next Generation Entertainment Made By The PS3". In a sort of debate, without the actual arguing, Square-Enix head honcho Yoichi Wada will deliver a type of counter-speech entitled "The Game Industry's Potential and Problems". While being able to sit in on these speeches would be awesome, they're being given the day before the TGS opens for the public. Oh well.

What could Krazy Kaptain Ken Kutaragi (not to be confused with the non-kaptained Krazy Kaz and his silly mouth) show the press? Last year Nintendo unveiled their Wiimote. That's a tough act to follow. Showing game previews is all well and good, but, isn't that what the actual TGS is for? Perhaps there's something else we overlooked about the PS3 that will be explained, (memory card saves, please! Well... some people have a lot of memory cards with a lot of data... some people.) or we could just forget about last year's big deal and let Kutaragi roll on his own. This show might just showcase some of the more coveted titles coming out for not only the PS3, but every next-gen system. Better late than never.