Just days after the New York PlayStation meeting, Sony is ready to kick off the 2016 Tokyo Game Show week with its traditional press conference. Will PlayStation Pro and PlayStation VR help the fortunes of console gaming in the region? Will Sony's Japanese studios and publishing partners have any surprises in store? Will the The Last Guardian show its face following its delay?
To give you some idea what to expect, last year's conference saw the announcements of Gravity Rush 2, a Bloodborne expansion and Umbrella Corps; the reappearance of Nioh; and the naming of PlayStation VR. We wouldn't be surprised to see the likes of Dragon Quest and Persona make an appearance.
Tune it at 8am UK time (9am central European time, midnight Pacific time, 3am Eastern or 4pm in Japan) for the news. You can watch the conference with English interpretation in the streaming video below, and though we won't be at the press conference ourselves this year, we'll be watching and commenting along with you.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Hello! What are your hopes for tomorrow? I'd be pretty happy with a solid hour of Persona 5 gameplay, to be honest.
– Oli Welsh
smallblueslime: Any chance the Nintendo NX will be revealed in Tokyo?
Very little chance, I'm afraid. Nintendo typically don't exhibit at TGS (although it's true they unveiled the Will remote a few days before the show once).
– Oli Welsh
Morning all!
– Oli Welsh
If you've come for Martin's trademark overexcited nipple commentary, I'm sorry to disappoint you. He can't make it today. Probably best for this time in the morning, to be honest.
– Oli Welsh
This is probably going to be a more sober affair anyway. Though, that said, you can't get any more sober than the funereal reveal of PS4 Pro last week.
– Oli Welsh
MrTomFTW: I'll have you know Martin cribbed the nipple thing from me.
Then behave.
– Oli Welsh
We're off with a rap montage!
– Oli Welsh
Gravity Rush 2, Battlefield, Yakuza, COD. Lego Star Wars!
– Oli Welsh
This is already 800 times more exciting than the entire PlayStation Meeting.
– Oli Welsh
Ah, World of Final Fantasy. The game even Final Fantasy megafans think is a bit gauche.
– Oli Welsh
Was that Land of Hope and Glory at the end there?
– Oli Welsh
Atsushi Morita, president of SCEJ is doing the intro, showing off the new PS4 models and the winter line-up.
– Oli Welsh
Aha, the HDR system software update is out today!
– Oli Welsh
Man, to be Japanese right now. Persona 5 out THIS WEEK.
– Oli Welsh
Final Fantasy 15. This game is so important in Japan. PS4 might be a roaring success in the rest of the world but the whole console market is stagnant there, and the hope is FF15 will be the game to kickstart it.
– Oli Welsh
Game director Tabata is here, manhandling a FF15-branded PS4.
– Oli Welsh
We got our PS4 Slim in the office yesterday, by the way. It's actually really nice.
– Oli Welsh
"We want to enliven and activise Japan through Final Fantasy" - there it is.
– Oli Welsh
Sora888: Special edition Slimline but not Pro?
Interesting..
I doubt Pro is going to get a big push in Japan. The console generation isn't really mature enough there.
– Oli Welsh
SaGa Scarlet Grace is out in December on Vita. It looks pretty.
– Oli Welsh
New Vita colours! Japan hasn't given up on the handheld it seems.
– Oli Welsh
I'll have the blue pls.
– Oli Welsh
Somebody shouted GO GO GO, I guess this is Call of Duty.
– Oli Welsh
Is it wrong of me to think this game looks quite cool.
– Oli Welsh
Watch Dogs 2 now. Also looking alright.
– Oli Welsh
Oh dear.
– Oli Welsh
Malek86: The stream stopped and started buffering on the Ubisoft logo, I guess that's only fitting.
Mean.
– Oli Welsh
Stefarno: In Japan the Vita has still sold more than the PS4 has (5.1m vs 3.1m).
Good intel!
– Oli Welsh
This stream's still working, but it's in Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_5k0a0tkLY
– Oli Welsh
We're getting a history lesson of Gundam games right now.
– Oli Welsh
orangpelupa: ill translate on the fly some important bits from JP stream
Our hero!
– Oli Welsh
Gundam Versus!
– Oli Welsh
Kingdom Hearts montage. Aha, it's the brilliantly named HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.
– Oli Welsh
Platinum... this must be Nier?
– Oli Welsh
English stream is back for me.
– Oli Welsh
tomphillipsEG: Page now updated with Japanese stream - hit refresh to replace.
Nice timing, Tom.
– Oli Welsh
Although, there's no evidence of English translation on this stream since it came back, but never mind because EVERYBODY IS GOLF.
– Oli Welsh
Out summer 2017.
– Oli Welsh
Oh my god, EDF.
– Oli Welsh
Never change, EDF.
– Oli Welsh
EDF5 in 2017. How do they make them look so rubbish? It must take actual effort.
– Oli Welsh
Something with Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and dice.
– Oli Welsh
And we're back with the English translation on the English stream.
– Oli Welsh
It's a board game called Fortune Street. It's to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the two series.
– Oli Welsh
Here's someone from Koei Tecmo and he is rocking an amazing jacket and hairstyle combo.
– Oli Welsh
Kou Shibusawa, I salute you and your black-on-black zebra stripe tuxedo and your Osmonds hair.
– Oli Welsh
Nioh time. Out February 9th 2017 WORLDWIDE.
– Oli Welsh
10 years in the making. Rather looking forward to that one.
– Oli Welsh
Ninja Gaiden... Musou?
– Oli Welsh
Coming in 2017. Looks like a Hyrule Warriors style crossover effort.
– Oli Welsh
Ah, it's an all-star Koei Tecmo game called Musou Stars.
– Oli Welsh
PSVR now.
– Oli Welsh
MrTomFTW: The problem with Musou games is that they're not very good. At all.
BURN THE HERETIC. Actually I've never played one.
– Oli Welsh
Simple but effective PSVR trailer there.
– Oli Welsh
Now we're in a student girl's bedroom, in VR.
– Oli Welsh
Summer Lesson. I feel awkward.
– Oli Welsh
Next it's a Japan Studio game, with Acquire... What's this?
– Oli Welsh
Dioramas of little monsters fighting fantasy heroes, with a devilish master leaning over the scene... Don't know what that was but it looked cool, perfect for VR.
– Oli Welsh
orangpelupa: @oli welsh dont worry. Play it. Everybody will be judging you (or just let Aoife or Ian livestream Summer lesson? :p )
Actually an Aoife stream is a brilliant idea. Can you imagine the swearing.
– Oli Welsh
I'm afraid I've no idea what's happening right now. Something to do with VR, music videos and Biohazard.
– Oli Welsh
The band was L'Arc-en-Ciel - they're making a Biohazard music video that will be filmed in VR.
– Oli Welsh
Lots more 360-degree music videos.
– Oli Welsh
A stressed lady is relaxing in VR beauty spots... using a pop-up smartphone display. It's called Anywhere VR.
– Oli Welsh
Nice idea, but that smartphone mirrored screen is going to be seriously low-res.
– Oli Welsh
There'll be extra preorders available in Japan from 24th September.
– Oli Welsh
Now some streaming services for the Japanese market, including a sports stream.
– Oli Welsh
PlayStation Now coming to Japanese PC users on the 20th September.
– Oli Welsh
This is like an E3 conference from 5 years ago. It's actually making me nostalgic for them.
– Oli Welsh
orangpelupa: @mrtomftw and its getting sold out everywhere, real fast. My national retailer was sold out in 10 minutes! yeesh
This is true, it might seem quiet around PSVR but they really don't need to be selling it right now. It will be quite a while before production catches up with demand.
– Oli Welsh
Here's a new Platinum game! In collaboration with a smartphone game developer, sounds like?
– Oli Welsh
Standard issue JRPG stuff, looks like.
– Oli Welsh
GranBlue Fantasy: Project Re:Link. Coming in 2018.
– Oli Welsh
GranBlue Fantasy is a popular social RPG for smartphones in Japan.
– Oli Welsh
Smartphone gaming virtually killed consoles in Japan, so it's significant to see a big phone property moving to PS4.
– Oli Welsh
KOJ
– Oli Welsh
Here to not tell us anything substantive about Death Stranding, I expect.
– Oli Welsh
Nice eyewear, as ever.
– Oli Welsh
orangpelupa: woa whoa kojima! talk slower! my japanese too shitty. thats too fast
The English stream is back, you know...
– Oli Welsh
It's an open world with a degree of freedom, some online elements, the genre is action. I don't think any of this is new.
– Oli Welsh
Now we're getting a history lesson in action games.
– Oli Welsh
He's offering a future in which players are connected by a strand or rope-like element instead of hitting each other with clubs. Okay.
– Oli Welsh
Ooh, they've picked their engine. Wonder what they went for.
– Oli Welsh
Rexter2k: Ok so Kojima is making a grim dark Nobi Nobi Boy?
That would be AMAZING.
– Oli Welsh
More info on the 18th at Tokyo Game Show.
– Oli Welsh
Montage time.
– Oli Welsh
Kids playing Gran Turismo, Dragon Quest Builders. I don't know what's happening but the music tells me it's uplifting.
– Oli Welsh
It's a new festival event held in Japan - first one was in July this year.
– Oli Welsh
The events, called PlayStation Matsuri, are coming to four more cities.
– Oli Welsh
There are some TGS promotions happening on Plus and the PlayStation Store in Japan.
– Oli Welsh
Wrapping up now. Mortia-san is telling us how board games and manga and Dragon Quest taught him what adults didn't. It's all very sweet.
– Oli Welsh
(The Gravity Rush news was that the first game is coming free to PS Plus in Japan ahead of Gravity Rush 2's release over there in December.)
– Oli Welsh
Closing out with their big holiday TV ad.
– Oli Welsh
And we're done. Nothing new from From. Boooo.
– Oli Welsh
Best news for us lot was probably Nioh's worldwide date in February, and of course the announcement of EDF5.
– Oli Welsh
But with PS4 so weak in Japan, it's to be expected that the Japanese industry does all its big announcements at E3 and other Western shows.
– Oli Welsh
Anyway, thanks for joining us this morning! Now: coffee. Catch you later.