PlayStation TGS: new Bloodborne, Kingdom Hearts, PS4 price cut, Resi Evil, and more
Sony has gone big at Tokyo Game Show: read on for new info on Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, King of Fighters 14, Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps, Dragon Quest 2, Nioh, PlayStation VR and everything else you might have missed.
Sony kicked off Tokyo Game Show a few days early with its traditional pre-show briefing.
In past years this presentation has been a bit hit and miss - sometimes it's packed to the gills with content, and sometimes it's all about new Vita models with anime skins that will release for six minutes at one retailer in Tokyo.
Well, this year VG247 is on site, seated in the front row of the audience and prepared to report fully no matter what the heck happens. Price drop? New announces? Backwards compatibility? (Ha ha: no.) Whatever it is, we're here. Enjoy our ramblings below, and tune in via the video archive above.
16:00 JST
Good lord we're starting on time? This is practically unprecedented in the west. Japanese games events are great. Anyway, we're watching a suitably bombastic montage.
SCE Japan Asia president Atsushi Morita is on stage to welcome us and start things off with the news that new colour variations for Vita will launch on September 17. Called it.
As for PS4, Morita commented on the console's busy release schedule over the past 12 months, and highlighted Japanese titles in particular.
16:05
SCEE Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida is here to talk about SCE Studio Japan titles, beginning with the first expansion for Bloodborne. Here's the trailer showing new bosses, enemies and weapons, including a bow.
Called The Old Hunters, the expansion launches November 24 in Japan, with western dating still to be confirmed. A retail repackage with both core game and expansion launches in Japan on December 3.
16:10
The next title up was a new Everybody's Golf (or Hot Shots Golf or Minna no Golf, depending on your territory). I sort of tuned out because I was thinking about Bloodborne, but then Sony showed a new trailer for the PS4 version of Vita classic Gravity Daze (or Gravity Rush depending on region) and I woke up. It looks even more beautiful than before?? Amazing. It launches on December 10 in Japan and Sony is taking pre-orders for a special edition with a figure.
But wait, there's more: a brand new Gravity Daze game is in the works, too. Gravity Daze 2 launches in 2016.
Yoshida finished his presentation with a montage of recent and upcoming PS4 games - Uncharted 4, The Last Guardian, Tearaway Unfolded, Everybody's Golf, Horizon: Zero Dawn.
16:17
Steve Miller from Ubisoft is here? Okay. Oh, he's got a new For Honor trailer showing off the samurai faction.
It's a good day for Ubisoft trailers - here's a new one for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, teasing the Jack the Ripper content, which will be included in the season pass.
16:21
The Sega logo? Oh gosh its Toshihiro Nagoshi, head of Yakuza Studio. Yakuza is ten years old and Sega has big plans for its birthday.
A previously announced, Yakuza Kiwami is a remake of the classic PS2 title. Nagoshi said his team wasn't happy with the original's quality due to hardware limitations of the time. It's not just got better graphics and a more user-friendly interface; it has new scenarios that didn't fit in the first time. It hits PS3 and PS4 on January 21 2016 in Japan, and we got a new trailer.
To follow up, Nagoshi announced Yakuza 6 for PS4 in northern autumn 2016. A demo will be included with Yakuza Kiwami. Given Sega's track record on this we can probably expect these to come west either never or in 2048.
16:27
On to other third-parties now. King of Fighters 14 made a very brief trailer appearance with a 2016 window. Just Cause 3 got a trailer spot. Phantasy Star Online 2 PS4 got a trailer confirming a 2016 launch. Star Wars: Battlefront got a trailer and nobody in the room screamed WHOOOOO like they do in the west.
16:29
Bandai Namco's Hirotake Watanabe is on stage now, with two titles to show, starting with One Piece: Burning Blood. A very exciting trailer was shown and Watanabe said the game realistically models fire and ice. The second new title is a Gundam: Extreme Vs Force for Vita. I started thinking about dinner mostly, but I saw it has 2v2 multiplayer. Watanabe said it's not a straight port of the arcade title.
16:34
Oh it’s my bae Koei Tecmo. The first bit of news is that Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 launches in Japan on December 10. I personally cannot get excited about this, as 12 wasn't localised. In things we are more likely to care about, Toukiden 2 is coming in 2016. It has an open world that is described as realistic and dynamic.
Now here's something keen - gameplay footage from a new title. There's a samurai running about in the dark during a storm, and a big monster, and also the samurai can summon a fish spirit lady?? Now a rock has come to life. And there's a sexy monster lady. Oh my gosh, it's Nioh, which has been vapour ware for like ten years, and is coming to PS4 in 2016.
16:40
Square Enix has four games to talk about today. The first one up is World of Final Fantasy - the one with the tiny little characters from all over the series. Lightning made an appearance, and so did the Warrior of Light. It's coming to Vita and PS4 in 2016.
Square Enix and tri-ace logo: we know what's next. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is still happening. Yep. Good to know. I'm still mad about how Square Enix trolled us on that so I'm finished discussing it - watch for the trailer soon.
The third title off the ranks was SaGa Scarlet Grace, which is coming in 2016 and has been in the works since 2014. It's coming to Vita, and is described as a brand new SaGa series, whatever that means.
Finally we took a look at a new Kingdom Hearts: HD 2.8 Final Prologue. I'm not kidding. This is a thing. It includes Dream Drop Distance (Kingdom Hearts 1.8) as well as two brand new chapters.
16:48
For some reason we saw a Bloodborne clip and a slide about the Dark Souls 3 release before heading into a Hatsune Miku trailer. I estimate our Hatsune Miku traction at minus seven ice ages, so let's proceed right on to a new Square Enix Vita RPG called, uh, I ... ki ... ni... oh, they moved on while I was working it out. Let's hope it's in the one sheet we'll get afterwards. (Update: It's Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna - the RPG formerly known as Project Setsuna. Here's the trailer.)
16:50
Oh good, Capcom's here, and brought the Resident Evil series producer to talk about the series's 20th anniversary next year. To create excitement, Capcom has created a new logo for the anniversary event.
The next game in the series is called Biohazard Umbrella Corps. It's a competitive shooter. Every western journalist sighed heavily. Watch the trailer here. You know, I'm within tackling distance of the executives responsible for this.
16:53
Decided not to get thrown into jail for shouting MAKE A GOOD RESIDENT EVIL GAME at a man until he cried. Spike Chunsoft turned up next to show off Exist-Archive: The Other side of the Sky, which launches in December in Japan, on PS4 and Vita.
Spike Chunsoft had a second presentation to make, bringing Kazutaka Kodaka on stage to announce Danganronpa 3. It's coming to PS4 and Vita and I didn't understand a gosh darned thing else, which probably means it's gonna be great. More information is coming soon but no promises were made as to when. "It's gonna be something that you'd never imagine," Kodaka said.
17:00
Oh hey, it's Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii. He reiterated that Dragon Quest Heroes 2 is a thing. Its in the works for PS4 and Vita and will support up to four players.
But Horii had an announcement, too - a crafting and building game called Dragon Quest Builders. The Japanese industry has discovered Minecraft! Square Enix is calling it a "block building RPG". The goal is to retake the world from an evil dragon lord, and Horii is working with the development team to ensure it's an authentic Dragon Quest setting. I just spat out a mouthful of my free Sony water: it's coming out on January 28.
17:05
My butt's gone totally numb. Sony showed us a montage of indie games including Octodad, Fez, Olli Olli and other timely hits. Airship Q got its own showcase. There'll be a PS Plus trial, and Sony is backing it hugely with a transmedia blowout and a licensed theme song.
For some reason we segued into a pre-recorded message from Treyarch about Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. Mark Lamia is very enthusiastic about the new Sony love-in deal, and thanked Japanese players for their support during the recent beta. Then there was a trailer. Nobody shouted WHOOOOOOO. I really enjoy Japanese games events.
17:10
Cats, Sony is releasing HDD bay covers for PS4 so you can play dress ups with your console. This is not a drill. Console dress ups. They'll only be available in Sony stores.
Sony Japan is also releasing limited gold, silver, steel black and crystal variant Dual Shock 4 controllers. The Gold and Silver variants are coming west. Japanese gamers can also finally get hold of the official wireless headset in December.
The PlayStation Now beta kicks off tomorrow in Japan. Nobody is very excited. Morita literally said that he's been asked to act more excited about this announcement.
17:15
It's Morpheus time, by which I mean montage time. Sony's really doing its best here but it's very hard to explain VR in any way besides jamming a headset on and pressing the "explosions" button.
Here's something new though - project Morpheus has been officially titled PlayStation VR. Well! Sony's gonna tour the headset around Japan from the end of September.
17:18
Well, it's time: Morita announced a PS4 price drop. As of October 1 it'll cost ¥34,980. Stay tuned for a regional update; if history repeats we'll get a press release shortly.
17:21
We're closing out with the latest Japanese TV commercial for PS4. In the fine traditions of Sony advertising it totally fails to mention or show the console or games of any kind for the majority of its length. That's why we love you, Sony.
Well, we're done! I need to go back to my hotel and carefully rub life back into my legs.