Tokyo Game Show 2011 Recap

The Tokyo Game Show, obviously hosted in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the two major gaming conventions hosted outside of North America, with the other being Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. As one might expect, the Tokyo Game Show is often awash with Japanese developers and has, in the past, been host to many of the Japanese developers’ game revelations, announcements and declarations.

But with the Japanese gaming industry’s stagnation as of late, Tokyo Game Show has increasingly become home to fewer and fewer announcements, with other conventions, like the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, increasingly revealing those tidbits of news that Japanese developers might have previously saved for TGS.

That said, TGS still is home to a number of noteworthy items so here’s a brief recap of TGS 2011 for those at home.

Games:

• Ni no Kuni, the joint venture from animated studio Studio Ghibli and games developer Level-5, has received an early 2012 release date. And there was much rejoicing.
• Persona: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena, the fighting game based on the popular Persona series, was playable on the floor and there’s even video to prove it.
• Final Fantasy XIII-2 will arrive in America on January 31st, with Japan receiving it first on December 15th. In a not-that-shocking reveal, there will also be a PS3 console bundle associated with it to boot. Also, it’s supposedly a far cry from the Internet-like series of tubes that composed the original.
• Square Enix has announced a remake of Final Fantasy X for both PS3 and the PlayStation Vita. Fans outraged over the lack of a true Final Fantasy VII remake, however, will not be placated even though FFX is definitely a seminal installment in the franchise.
• Grasshopper Manufacture’s Kinect game, previously known as Codename D, was officially revealed as Diabolical Pitch. Gameplay seems to involve pitching and batting baseballs at demons. For those following along, this is par for the course knowing the developer.
• Project Draco, from some of the minds behind Panzer Dragoon, for the Kinect seems to be plugging along swimmingly according to Garnett Lee. He also has some kind things to say about the Kinect version of Steel Battalion.

Tidbits:

• Some big news about the PlayStation Suite making appearances on tablets and the like.
• Lots about the PlayStation Vita, including the Japanese release date of December 17th and the announcement of a veritable stable of games. Giant Bomb provides a rather nice synopsis of these things.
• Newest installment of the Devil May Cry franchise, DmC, keeps trying to convince us that Ninja Theory might know what they’re doing with a new trailer.
• Street Fighter X Tekken continues to be strange and exciting at the same time with a new Pandora Mode set of desperation strikes.
• Rather than announcing anything particularly exciting, Nintendo instead opted to give clips and videos of previously announced products. Mario, Zelda and Kirby all make appearances so it’s not all bad.
• The much-maligned 3DS Slidepad made an appearance at TGS, specifically at the Capcom booth. Though unavailable to play with any games, it was equipped on a few units. As for what purpose, that remains unknown.
• For anyone that might have been worried that Sonic Generations would get an infusion of playable characters beyond Sonic himself, the various extra cast members are set to make appearances but will not be featured as characters.
• Neku, the protagonist from Square Enix’s well-received The World Ends With You, makes a cameo of his own in Kingdom Hearts 3D. As of now, it’s unsure what kind of role he will play if any.
• Head of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada, is all about the possibilities of cloud gaming as evidenced by his keynote.

So, not the most exciting conference in the world, but there’s a little something for every taste probably made an appearance.