Tokyo Game Show 2009

One of the earliest hits for the Xbox 360, Lost Planet, is moving closer and closer to the release of its ambitious sequel, Lost Planet 2. Though producer Jun Takeuchi wouldn't budge on a release date more specific than winter at Tokyo Game Show last week, he did tell us about the lessons learned from developing Resident Evil 5's co-op experience.

"I guess the biggest thing that we learned from our experience on Resident Evil 5 in terms of our online co-op was not to confine the player with too many rules, to create a space in which they were able to make their own experiences and make their own type of fun when they're playing through the game. So, certainly, we've tried to do that in Lost Planet 2, to not have too many things that you have to do, so just to give the freedom space to the players and allow them to do what they want to do in the game."

For even more on Lost Planet 2, check out our hands-on co-op preview from TGS.

Welcome to "Morning Hangover" -- an excellent way to start your day with the crew at TheFeed...no matter what you're recovering from. Every morning you'll hear musings from two of TheFeed's editors and have the chance to share your thoughts on what's going on in the gaming world. So buckle up, throw a Pokeball at the new week, and keep reading!

Jake Gaskill: Rockstar Games’ music-making title Beaterator comes out today, and I really hope it gets the attention it deserves. I previewed the “game” a few weeks back, and I was blown away by the sheer amount of technological wizardry Rockstar managed to cram into the PSP title. Beaterator is literally a music studio that fits in your hands. Now, many people might write it off or simply overlook it because it’s primarily a music maker rather than a music simulator (i.e. Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc.), but that would be a huge mistake because the creative potential is just staggering. Mark my words, people will be producing whole albums with Beaterator within a few months, and they will have done it with a portable gaming device. Am I the only one who thinks that’s amazing? I hope not. Our review will be up later today, so be sure to check back then to find out more.

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"One, two, Maxwell's coming for you.
Three, four, better lock your door.
Five, six, grab a DS stylus.
Seven, eight, better stay up late.
Nine, ten, never sleep again."

I don't know what it is about international travel, but the disconcerting mental drift between awake and sleep inspires some incredibly lucid dreams. It happened in Japan, but I can't recall them. Last night, the phenomenon prompted Scribblenauts to invade my mind. The details of what happened are a little sketchy, but the payoff managed to stick in my mind and I felt obligated to share it.

Dream Patrick was experiencing Bill Murray's repetitive cycle in Groundhog Day…except that I was trying to fight off two robbers invading my home. I kept failing to keep them from making it in the door. Suddenly, though, someone told me that if you attach green beans to the attackers (I have no idea why this suddenly turned into a video game, just roll with it), it will slow them down.

...yeah, I don't know, either. Anyway.

The dream's perspective suddenly warps to a DS screen, as I input the phrase "green beans" into a Scribblenauts dictionary, the items appear and I drag the summoned items over the thieves. It might have been 2D. Maybe. Don't hold me to that detail. In any case, what's important: it worked! Their movement was slowed enough to give me time to do…something. I have no idea what happened next.

Hopefully, I saved the day.

Microsoft has rolled out a number of demos showing how Project Natal can work with existing Xbox 360 games -- Burnout Paradise, Beautiful Katamari -- but the company dashed hopes of Project Natal-enabling patches once the hardware is released. Kudo Tsunoda, otherwise known as the man who demo'd Project Natal at E3, told Destructoid this would be difficult.

According to Tsunoda, it's required substantial coding efforts on Microsoft's part to reengineer these games for Project Natal. A simple patch (as patches have size limits) would not likely be enough for games to suddenly start incorporating Project Natal controls. Already released Xbox 360 games with Project Natal support aren't out of the question, but it's more likely those will come in the form of outright re-releases, rather than downloadable updates.

Maybe there won't be a bunch of patches for existing Xbox 360 games, but is there any reason Microsoft and third-party publishers couldn't release some of the better retrofits as downloable demos included with Project Natal or through Xbox Live? You can have that idea for free, Microsoft.

Source

Welcome to "Morning Hangover" -- an excellent way to start your day with the crew at TheFeed...no matter what you're recovering from. Every morning you'll hear musings from two of TheFeed's editors and have the chance to share your thoughts on what's going on in the gaming world. So buckle up, throw a Pokeball at the new week, and keep reading!

Read More »

What We Know: Square Enix is bringing the Crystal Chronicles series to the Wii, but in a whole new direction. Crystal Bearers ditches the normal Crystal Chronicles format in favor of a much more action adventure based affair that’s one of the best looking Wii titles to date.

What's New At TGS: Players control Layle using the Wiimote and Nunchuck, and as a Crystal Bearer, Layle has a special magic ability to control and move objects, characters, and enemies by pointing at them with the Wiimote. Not only that, but he can grapple onto ledges and floating bars to traverse platforming sections. In the demo, while Layle and Belle are exploring an underground cavernous dungeon, they become separated, and Layle chases her down. I’m going to assume this demo takes place early on in the game considering the fact that the platforming is fairly basic. Point to an area you want to jump to and press A. Later in the levels, the platforms start to move and float around making navigation more difficult. It also doesn’t help that you control the camera with the D-pad, so if you’re jumping around and then your next desired location is in back of you, you need to stop, move the camera, and then jump slowing down the pace quite a bit.

The combat is also quite simplistic, just grab an object and toss it at incoming enemies. Upon reaching a room populated with a few baddies, all you have to do is nab a nearby boulder and whip it at an approaching enemy. A much more interesting encounter happened when while running down a hallway I set off a trap, which sent a moving skeletal demon platform towards me that had a door in the middle branded with an arrow on it. By locking onto the door it and jerking the Wiimote in the desired direction, the demons would attack, and by latching onto them would cause them to jab the platform. It was actually a pretty neat combat mechanic and I hope Square-Enix has gobs of things like this in the game to keep things fresh.

What We Want To See:  A deeper and richer combat system. Enemies were sparse and combat is a bit too easy, and I hope later on in the game there’s more complex battles. There was an over abundance of running through long halls in this demo, and I’d rather fight a lot more enemies, and keep the action going than just running. Yawn. Square-Enix is demonstrating  a solid presentation for a Wii title, but the combat, camera, and lack of battles needs some attention.
 

As Saturday is an insanely crowded public day at Tokyo Game Show, after shooting a pile of pictures and finishing up a final appointment, I headed back to Tokyo for my last order of TGS business – a visit to Polyphony Digital, the home of Gran Turismo.

Being a huge fan of the series I’ve always wanted to visit the studio, and as you can see by this photo gallery, the place is pretty incredible. We got a lengthy presentation of Gran Turismo 5 from series creator and Polyphony CEO Kazunori Yamauchi, some time with the game (see our hands-on preview of Gran Turismo 5), and a tour of their location. This place is no joke. From having one of the largest server processing rooms (and cools Kazunori’s wine collection), an elevator that lifts cars into the studio, to a hotel for staff to sleep – Polyphony Digital is one of the most interesting studios I’ve ever visited.

Words can barely describe, so make sure you check out our Polyphony Digital Studio Tour photo gallery to see for yourself!
 

What We Know: Gran Turismo 5 has been in development for what seems like an eternity, and eons after its demo version - Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – was released, it seems like Polyphony Digital is finally getting the game together for a March 2010 release in North America, Japan, and Europe.

What’s New At TGS: The new build of Gran Turismo 5 showed off a new course – Tokyo R249 – a track that’s actually built in the same neighborhood as Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. While the physics model seems to have been updated since we played the game at GamesCom, the promised damage modeling doesn’t seem much improved. The gameplay is still solid, and actually, while I usually think racing games are more difficult to play with a wheel, I loved it even more with the wheel when I got my hands on it at Polyphony Digital. Granted, it also helped to play with the wheel inside a slick racing rig, as well.

see our photos from the Polyphony Digital studio tour

However, the big news is that we finally have game details. Gran Turismo 5 will feature 900 cars, 20 locations, 70 variations of tracks, a new physics model, and promised damage that will affect not only the physical appearance of the cars and affect performance, but for race cars, parts will see physical damage, and also get completely torn off the vehicle. Lose a fender or door, and it will lay in the track – damaging other cars that run into it. It’s about time Polyphony!

Gran Turismo 5 will also support many of the modes seen in Prologue including arcade and online modes, a beefed up Gran Turismo TV, as well as the ability to export recorded video to both YouTube and your PSP. Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi says that there will be even more features in the game revealed later, including PlayStation Eye camera support. Sweet!

What We Want To See: The game finally come out! There were rumors that Gran Turismo 5 might make it out before the end of the year, but sadly that won’t be the case as Polyphony confirmed that the game will make it out in March 2010. Better late than never, right? 
 

I just posted Morgan's interview in the story below this one, so now that you're done watching that, here's our two-part Crackdown 2 demo with Mr. Cope. Click the jump for the second part!

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I wanted to fill this post with "WANT WANT WANT" pasted about a hundred times, but the bosses wouldn't go for it. So here's something a little more descriptive: X-Play's Morgan Webb sat down with James Cope from Ruffian Games to talk about Crackdown 2 (WANT WANT WANT). Topics in the interview include the direction they're taking with the sequel, the most important elements they want to keep from the first game, some potentially favorite weapons, and how co-op play is going to work.

It's one of those games that seems like it's been in development forever, but believe it or not, Alan Wake will be here before we know it. As a huge X-Files fan, Remedy's Pacific Northwest mystery is high on my most-anticipated list. Our TGS crew caught up with Remedy's Managing Director Matais Myllyrinne for an update on the game. Elements inspired by Hitchcock? Yes, please.

I spent a good hour taking photographs in a section of Tokyo Game Show called "cosplay alley." There is a specific section of the convention hall dedicated to cosplayers. The varying participants stand next to a wall, pose for shots and when the crowd for them has dried up, they leave and make room for the next set of cosplayers. If you want to be one of the folks snapping shots, though, there are rules to follow, which I was completely unaware of before I showed up. Serious business!

• "Photography or filming near the ailes is prohibited."
• "You must obtain persmission from the subject(s) before taking photographs or filming. Also, all photography and filming must be done with a wall in the background so as to avoid including other people in your shots."
• "You will be asked to stop taking photographs or filming if staff judges it is causing inconvenience to others."

Luckily, I wasn't kicked out. Phew.

Check out our photos from "cosplay alley" at the Tokyo Game Show 2009.

A very good friend at a former place of employment once described what it was like to be in Tokyo during September for TGS: "Hell Hot." Reports back from the team indicated that the weather this week was actually not so bad, but when the Makuhari Messe turned off the air conditioning on the show floor just as the gang was ready to tape this week's episode of Feedback, the definition of "Hell Hot" became a whole lot clearer.

But Billy, Morgan, Patrick and Sterling are seasoned professionals, and after the sweat and tears (mostly sweat), our Tokyo Game Show episode of Feedback is ready for your enjoyment. Let's positive show-watching!

• Did Sony drop the ball on their home turf? Should Microsoft have been a little more aggressive? Should somebody, anybody have announced something exciting?
• Are we impressed with Sony's "Harry Potter Wand" (as Patrick calls it) and its implementation in Resident Evil 5 and LittleBigPlanet?
• Sterling got to see both Okamiden and Ghost Trick during his Capcom visit. I am already re-charging my DS in anticipation.
• Morgan and Patrick got to play Crackdown 2 deathmatch, and I couldn't be more jealous. It's also reassuring that Ruffian Games told Morgan that they "wouldn't ruin it." Nice to know!
• Billy's raving over the new Final Fantasy XIII trailer (that Square still hasn't released publicly), which again generates debate over the group's respective excitement levels.
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker looks completely awesome, which is unsurprising because it's a follow-up to MGS3 (the real best game in the series). Watch our First 15 13 minute video here.
• We're changing the show's theme song to "Auld Lang Syne" apparently.

G4tv.com's Feedback: Looking for your Godzilla since 2009.

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The Assassin's Creed II hype train is gaining speed, and I'm happily shoveling coal in the engine. X-Play's Morgan Webb met up with Ubisoft's Patrice Desilets at TGS for a quick chat about how the game's coming along. And if you missed it, I'm throwing in the new trailer. IT'S TWO-FOR-ONE FRIDAY!

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From Tokyo Game Show 2009, we have this trailer for the newest entry in the Winning Eleven franchise, shot from the screen on the floor of the show. Check out the cool anime-style soccer action in this one. You won't be disappointed.