Forum boards across the globe were lit with early rumors of a strong PlayStation 3 presence at the Tokyo International Digital Conference held this week in Japan. The truth, which to be honest, nobody wanted to admit, was that Sony itself never promised to have a strong PS3 related presence at the show. The only hint that was made official through internet reports was for a PS3 Theatre, showing videos of upcoming PS3 games that were already displayed at E3 and TGS this year. Much like the videos that worldwide gamers have already spent hundreds of hours watching on their PC's in hard to see resolutions to figure out if it's realtime or not.
So what was the catch for Tokyo conference attendees wanting to see some PS3 love? Well, for one, they got to see it in a private booth with full audio facility intact and a vivid Wega screen to salivate their eyes with. Something in total contrast to the noise filled halls of both E3 and TGS. Secondly, everything ever shown for PlayStation 3 at E3 and TGS was joined together to create one big montage of eye-widening graphics onslaught for the hype machine to start rolling in Sony's favor.
Gran Turismo, Tekken, Warhawk, Final Fantasy 7 tech demo, Liar, Motorstorm, Genji, Sonic the Hedgehog, Armored Core 4, the notorious Killzone video, Biohazard 5(Resident Evil 5 in North America), the infamous and unedited 9 minute Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer from Tokyo games show and many more. Even when all of this jaw-droppingly gorgeous stuff was running on the screen, the audience seemed – how to put it nicely – a bit saturated with it all. Apparently, most of these videos were already shown at Tokyo Games Show, so basically not their fault for sensing Deja Vu.
Was it a disappointment? Far from it! Sony's intention with these videos was to gain those potential customers who are still lurking on the fence about what game system to choose. With the showcase of PS3 theatre at TIDC, it seemed to have convinced a portion of that crowd. But we think a lot of consumers are still waiting for the final news on the next-gen PlayStation hardware specifications and how it will look and compete with Xbox360's Live enabled console. It is rumored that Sony is keeping all its guns for a special PlayStation event happening in January next year.
We'll bring you more news about the details on the PlayStation 3 hardware once they're disclosed. Stay tuned.