This year’s Tokyo Game Show kicks off on Thursday 20th September. After the downsizing of E3, it could become the biggest gaming event of the year, not least because it’s open to the public. Major developers and the platform holders are scheduled to be there in full swing, so here we present our expectation and predictions of the event. Let’s hope it’s a good ‘un!
Justin Pinter, Journalist & PR:
I think Sony will have a great year this time around at the Tokyo Game Show. Many games will be playable and we will hear many new announcements. Here are my predictions for TGS:
– Star Ocean 4 will be shown and announced as a PS3 exclusive.
– Team ICO will be announcing that they are working on two PS3 titles, and showing one of them as Shadow of the Colossus 2.
– Dual Shock 3 will be revealed at TGS and they will announce the new 40GB PS3 SKU as well as a GT 5 Prologue bundle.
– Final Fantasy VII will be revealed for PS3. This is a long shot, but we’ll never stop hoping that it will come true.
– New Kingdom Hearts will be announced and shown.
– Digi-guys will blow the lid off of Wardevil showing all new trailers and unveil the storyline and more.
Eric Blattberg, Journalist:
– One of Capcom’s big announcements will be the confirmation of Dead Rising 2 for both PS3 and 360.
– TouchSense (Dual Shock 3) unveiled with support from GT5 Prologue.
– We’ll see another pre-rendered Final Fantasy XIII trailer, while a realtime demonstration will be shown behind closed doors.
Sarad Jackson, Journalist:
– Sony will announce a price drop of the PS3 which could help the it out this coming holiday season when it battles against the Wii (and, to a lesser extent, the Xbox 360).
– With all of the buzz surrounding the Final Fantasy franchise as of late, expect Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII to steal the show if they make an appearance.
– Expect a new PS3 IP to be announced that will possibly be a flagship AAA game in 2008 or even 2009.
Dusty Stokes, Journalist & Database Manager:
– Sony drops the price of the PS3 down again. They’ll possibly add a new BD movie as a promotion. The lower-priced system will hit before Christmas with the Dual Shock 3 and GT 5 Prologue preloaded on the HDD.
– More talk on Home, PSN and new features that they will be adding in the near future, including DVR capabilities.
– Final Fantasy will be a big showing, but Square will be focusing on The Last Remnant and FFXI’s newest expansion.
– The BDA will announce an extension to the 5 free Blu-ray movies promotion, and offer a new selection.
Bhavin Shah, Deputy Editor & Journalist:
I really have very few predictions about TGS this year. I expect Sony to show off most, if not all, the Fall titles, plus a bit more on Home and LittleBigPlanet. Oh and another lengthy, but impressive, GT5 Prologue gameplay video.
As usual, there are rumours of a "Dual Shock 3" announcement. Personally, I don’t think it will happen just yet, simply because they need to keep focused on telling us how many good games are coming and why we should buy the PS3. Announcing Dual Shock 3 just before Christmas may dent their Holiday sales if it doesn’t come out before the end of 2007.
There will probably be somes changes or additions to the SKUs available in Japan and the rest of Asia, given that it’s already happened in North America (and effectively happened in Europe too, since the units here never included the Emotion Engine).
All in all, a massive showcase of all the top titles in development, along with a few little announcements to keep us happy. The PSP Slim & Lite (or PSP 2000) will be on display too.