Microsoft TGS 2010 Conference Finished
Microsoft has delivered its Tokyo Game Show 2010 press conference.
The event was a double-header between Xbox Japan boss Takashi Sensui and Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer.
Microsoft's focus was on Xbox 360-exclusive and Kinect-exclusive partnerships with the icons of Japanese game development. Cue on-stage appearance from Grasshopper's Suda51 to reveal codename D for Kinect, the unveiling of Steel Battalion for Kinect, Treasure's Radiant Silvergun and a Kinect game called Haunt from Masaya Matsuura.
Short and to the point, then, for a change.
Read on for our full live text coverage of the Microsoft Tokyo Game Conference 2010. Earliest entries are presented first.
Alternatively, we've bunched our news coverage from the event for a bite-sized catch-up. We've even poked some screenshots in for you to look at.
Our live coverage has now ended. Here's what you missed: Updating...
Hello and welcome to the Tokyo Game Show keynote 2010! And thanks for staying up!
This year's keynote is being delivered by Phil Spencer out of Microsoft.
He's here, along with Don Mattress and Kudo Tsunoda.
Also spotted: Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who's sat a few rows from the front. Doesn't look like he's in a position to leap up and do a Child of Eden demo any time soon.
Sat next to me is Friend of Eurogamer John Teti. What aspect of Phil Spencer's keynote speech are you most excited about, John?
"I guess his shirt. It's a pink and blue number. I don't really know if he can pull it off on stage. I don't think he can."
"I would have gone with a gingham, but that's me."
The keynote is pretty packed, although there wasn't a queue to get in. Spencer ain't no Gaga. Or even Ueda.
Speaking of which, there's a Last Guardian presentation later today. We'll be there, so look out for a preview very soon.
There was only time for a cursory glance around the show floor before the keynote this morning. Highlights: a big Monster Hunter inflatable and some sort of crazy bright red geodesic dome over the D3 booth.
John Teti has one of those fancy iPad computers and a bluetooth headset. I have my creaky old Samsung laptop. No Angry Birds during this keynote speech for me.
Hang on, my mistake, the bloke in the check shirt isn't Phil Spencer - it's Aaron Greenberg.
That is definitely Mizuguchi though. And it's definitely Kudo. He is the only person in this room wearing shades.
Lights down and we're off. A flashy montage of the TGS logo, cartoon robot mascot and all that nonsense.
Mild clapping.
A nice lady is saying things in Japanese. A bloke is repeating them in my ear via the translation headset.
A man called Mr Sensui is on stage now. He's a big deal at Microsoft Japan. General manager, to be precise.
He's spaffing on about how Microsoft wants to introduce Japanese creators to the world, and Xbox to Japanese gamers. How's that last one working out for you, Mr Sensui?
He's talking about the 2008 keynote. Come on, let's get FUTURE!
Now he's going on about last year's Creators Panel. Remember it well. Sort of.
Today, he's going to talk about future successes Microsoft can strive for and introduce what kind of efforts are being made with game creators.
He's going to introduce 10 titles currently in development. Let's hope there are some new ones in there, eh?
"These titles will define the future of Xbox 360 and Kinect."
"I think the translator's just making stuff up," says John in my other ear.
Ah good, a trailer. Konami Digital Entertainment.
Presented by Kojima Productions. Is this the MGS trailer shown at E3 again?
Definitely looks familiar. Rusty fans spin round high in the wall of a warehouse. The floor is littered with bullets.
Yep, it's the same foortage - Raiden rips out the spine of the robot guy and chops him in half.
Metal Gear Solid Rising, indeed.
No clapping. Show us something new, eh boss?
Ah. Clapping now, as the producer of Rising, Shigenobu Matsuyama, takes to the stage.
Today he's bringing us a surprise! Chocolate as well?
"I'm sure you remember the scene where Raiden cut the watermelon. I would like to show you that watermelon and a few other things. Using the actual machine, we would like to show you the cutting." This is like a QVC advert for the Cut n Chop
Creative director Mr Kimura is going to do the actual chopping.
On screen, we see Raiden in front of a table, on which a set of bowling pins is sat.
The concept of free cutting exists in Rising. In this tech demo, we can see how you freely cut objects from different angles.
Raiden slices up the bowling pins. Now he's having a go at the watermelon. Right in half. This is amazing.
"The physics are going to get even better with the watermelon. There's a real-time computation taking place."
Character named Kogekko pops up on the table.
"In Rising, we have decided this character will be appearing." Hence he's in the tech demo today, presenting Raiden with a watermelon then spinning it like a basketball.
Raiden slices it to bits. Now Kogekko is juggling bowling pins - "It's quite difficult to cut them without missing."
Even the bloke who made the game can't do it. Wait, he's got one. And another.
Now there are two Kogekkos, one holding the other above him.
"This is going to be a white blade cut." The bloke tries to cut the Kogekko on top but fails. With a second try, he manages it.
"You can see that MGS Rising is being developed according to schedule and the team is working hard to be able to announce the launch, so we request your continued support." We request a release date, sir.
Mr Sensui is back on stage now. "We were worried about whether the bowling pins could be cut or not." Thank GOODNESS.
Come on Mr Sensui, you know you're just the warm-up act. Where's Phil Spencer?
Here he is! Not in a check shirt but a plain white one with a black suit. Open-necked and no tie, relaxed yet smart.
Phil's speech is in English, phew. He's banging on about how we all used to go down the arcades yes IN THE SEVENTIES WHERE IS THE FUTURE.
Shout out to Miyamoto, Iwatani, Suzuki. Spencer is giving "massive props" to these talented Japanese artists. Paraphrasing.
Sakaguchi, Mizuguchi getting namechecked now. "They have helped define the Xbox 360 generation."
Worldwide sales of Japanese games have doubled since the last generation on Xbox - from $1 billion to $2.1 billion.
Five of the top six best third-party arcade games are from Japan - Marvel vs. Capcom, Bombernman Live, Street Fighter II, to name but three.
"The question is, how do we write the next story?" What, not how do we convince Japan the Xbox is good?
You can tick "building momentum" off your keynote buzz words bingo card.
"Please indulge my moment of pride as I share that Halo Reach generated $200 million in one day sales." That's more than any entertainment launch in 2010.
Halo Reach has suprapssed the all-time Halo 3 record for simultaneous Live users.
Zune now! Zuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuune!
Now Spencer's pointing out the Xbox 360 is the best-selling console in the US for the third month in a row. How about in Japan, Phil?
Number one across Europe. What about Japan, Phil?
"We know that Japanese artists make games the world wants to play." Yes we do. Why are you telling us.
"Today I'm pleased to announce five new creative partnerships with Japanese developers to create games exclusively for Xbox 360."
Exciting! "Our first partner is Spike, best known for its work on a long-running series of wrestling games here in Japan."
Spike came to Microsoft with an idea based on one of its established brands. Teaser trailer now.
A Live Avatar is racing down a tunnel. He bursts into flames then sports a wrestling outfit - it's Fire-Pro Wrestling, coming 2011.
"This will become a highly entertaining new way for our 25 million Xbox Live users to enjoy their avatars... Thanks, Spike."
The second deal is with Treasure, which is "laser-focused" BINGO on the games it wants to make.
Another trailer. July 14, 2520 - "The day the world ended." A satellite crashes to Earth. Coming exclusively to Live in 2011, downloadable replays, local and online multiplayer, top-down shooting...
Radiant Silvergun. Booooom.
The first whoops of the morning for that one. "With titles like Gunstar Heroes and Ikaruga under its belt, Treasure deserves its reputation..." and they're especially excited as Radiant Silvergun never came out in the US.
Phil's relieved he "never has to search the Akihabara game shops for a copy of Radiant Silvergun" any more. "How many copies does he need?" says John.
Kinect is on the screen now. Phil seems confident it's going to be a big hit in Japan. Unlike... Never mind.
"We asked Japanese creators to bring us their most creative ideas." As opposed to their most boring ones, presumably.
Phil Spencer needs a nickname. How about Marksand?
He's namechecking Matsuura now, the man behind Vib Ribbon and PaRappa - turns out he's working on a Kinect project.
A video of Masaya Matsuura now. He's sorry he can't be here today, but he's going to make some announcements via video.
He was "shocked and impressed" when he first saw Kinect, or Natal as it was known back in the day.
So he's going to show us a little bit of his Kinect project. "What we are trying to create is a horror game."
It's very fun and innovative, but also all about horror. It's called Haunt.
A teaser trailer - first-person perspective, we're wandering round a haunted house, all suits of armour, dodgy shadows and moving oil paintings.
There's a kerfuffle and our torch falls to the floor to reveal the word HAUNT shadowed on the wall. The end.
Spencer is back on stage now, going on about "the magic of Kinect" again. He sees Haunt as "just the start of a long and rewarding relationship" with Matsuura.
The next partnership is with Grounding Inc. They're doing Project Draco, which has its roots in a mythology near and dear to Futatsugi's heart.
Yukio Futatsugi is on the stage now. "After seeing Kinect, we wanted to create games for Kinect."
"What I want to do most in my games is to fly. Not with my joystick. But imagine if you could ride a gigantic creature, hold the reins, point at an enemy to attack - that's how you could ride in the sky and fight."
Concept art is on the screen: a pilot-type bloke standing next to giant dinosaur/bird type creatures. All looks a bit The Last Catweaseleagle.
A trailer now: red dragons fly through canyons, ridden by chaps in masks and flying suits.
One of the dragons gets gold light in its mouth. The end. That's Project Draco, then.
Project Draco will "take flight" next year. Phil "can't wait".
Who's next? Whoever it is, he's here...
"Please welcome Suda51 of Grasshopper Manufacture."
He's wearing gold shoes. GOLD SHOES.
It's hard to concentrate on what he's saying. I am blinded by his shoes.
"I wanted to work with Microsoft for many years. It took a long time though. It was a very long dating period. But we got along well with them, we both like David Bowie. Now we can make an announcement of marriage." What?
Microsoft asked him to make games for Kinect, for the hardcore, which were punky, but also suitable for casuals.
"We cannot talk about the details of our game, but we can give you some hints."
No guns or swords, "but this is a very core action game."
The game is being made for hardcore gamers around the world. Trailer now.
Black and white images of someone running, accompanied by a rawking guitar soundtrack.
A bloke in a baseball cap stands in some sort of spooky fairground.
People wearing American football hats and tiger masks and rabbit heads appear, then explode in a ball of flame. "Codename D, coming 2011."
"Looks phenomenal," says Spencer.
Five creators, five games, five visions - "This is why we've embarked on the Japanese initiative."
"We at MGS are fully committed to identifying the best talent here in Japan."
Aha you can tick off "define the new era of entertainment". Phil's off. Sensui's back on.
He's going on about how marvellous it all is.
Prof. Kawashima's Body and Brain Exercises for Kinect is on screen now.
It was announced last week that it would be a launch title for Kinect in Japan.
It will be released in North America and Europe "early next year".
Next up, announced at E3 this year, Child of Eden. New images of it are about to be shown.
It's trailer time again. Footage of Mizuguchi plaing in those white gloves.
New level: "Beauty". Lots of CGI flowers being blown up.
You can also control swirly jellyfish type things.
Child of Eden - "Coming 2011"
Aha, Mizuguchi is coming on stage after all. Shoes are not gold.
"Child of Eden - this is what I have been pursuing, a convergence of games and music."
The stage called Beauty features flowers, wind, sky, light, natural stuff basically.
"Eden, which was infected by a virus, is to be purified. It is a shooting game but it is to purify the world, to make it happier and turn it into a world filled with hope, together with music, to experience the chemical reactions. For us, it is a very challenging title."
When Mizuguchi first saw Kinect, he was reminded of a conductor. He thought about being able to use your whole body to control images.
Sensui again. "Child of Eden is clearly a game like no other." Has he not played Rez?
Now: Rise of Nightmare, exclusively for Kinect, from SEGA.
"Wake up... to a new wave of horror." Screaming. Flashes of zombies, people being hacked up, man strapped to a bed.
Does look quite unpleasant.
The nightmare begins in 2011.
One more title is being shown today. It's coming back to Xbox with "Kinect enablement". Trailer.
Manhattan 2082. Torpedoes crash around ships. The camera pans back and we see hundreds of ships headed for New York.
Troops shout at each other as they race around the decks.
Now they're running off the ships, Omaha Beach-style.
Giant armoured vehicles stalk across the shore fireing at them.
"Get off the beach," shouts someone. It's Capcom's Steel Battalion.
And it'll be playable with Kinect. Somehow.
Keiji Inafune is taking to the stage now. He's wearing a US army jacket. "Probably you remember this title - it's coming back." His phone is going off. "Oh, sorry..."
Anyway, on with the show. "A new interpretation of Steel Battalion is born."
The idea is the world as it would be if computers disappeared. "No more production of computer chips - that would change our life completely."
Before the game used that huge controller - now it has evolved, with the help of Kinect.
"This is for core gamers. That's the only thing we can do at Capcom. And we should do it thoroughly."
Kinect has plenty of potential, not just for Capcom but "many game creators" to create games for core gamers. This will uplift the games industry, especially in Japan, reckons Inafune.
Sensui is back on stage. He's banging on about innovative experiences and new entertainment eras. AGAIN.
"Original experiences", "creative creators", "vision", "innovation" - BINGO BINGO BINGO BINGO.
He's going on and on and on and on and on and on about supporting Japanese creators. You'd think he goes round their houses, washes their pants and puts up shelves for them.
The end! Sensui's walking away. At last.
Comments (51)
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It's terribly disappointing though to find that the huge controller sitting in my loft is going to remain there though; seems like I'm going to have to buy another stupidly expensive controller to play the next Steel Battalion.
Oh, for the love of God, change the bloody record.
And if anything is more likely to get a load of cheap wii ports, it's Move. In fact, it IS getting wii ports.
Both Move and Kinect have their flaws, from an ideological point of view if nothing else, but they also have potential. Move is easier to "understand" on a face-value comparison, but TGS has finally shown that MS are also firmly supporting core game development for Kinect. The future for Kinect will be hybrid control schemes, and in that it can only add to the experience.
Based on what, exactly? We don't know enough about them to judge.
Ergo, pure assumption. Ergo, you're "point" has no credibility.
DAN
Do I hate MS; At moment YES!...Crackdown 2 is overpriced DLC, ALan Wake is average at best, Splinter Cell Convection is a short single player (5 hrs) and not a AAA title in any way... MS has just sold Halo Reach with hype and bull,t houigh fact is, it's just Halo 3 with sharper graphics. Now MS are trying with more bull and lies to sell us Kinect by sayinghow core gamers will love it!!!!... MS, PS3 is beating you AAA games left-right and center, not simple revamps like Halo Reach, CD2 or games that are not even considered AAA such as Fable II, Splinter Cell, Crackdown 2. Now with price for Gold going up, I am losing a lot of interest in anything MS does.
What was interesting about that key note is MS seem to be pinning some hopes on Kinect maybe breaking Japan for them. On that they may just be right given the types of games that look to dominate the Japanese charts these days. I can well see Kinect increasing their market share in Japan.
I am a very early adopter of most things (hell even 3D) but Kinect has still failed to bring anything along which is "must have" - although CoE looks close... but one game is not enough. Move was an easier decision... keyboard/mouse controls for your lounge for MAG/Resi 5/etc, Tumble and Echochrome. These make the lower investment worthwhile.
Those teasers sounded interesting but I want to see how they work. I want to buy Kinect... but please MS give me a good reason to do so!
Whereas with Kinnect... it's going to be 'just another mech game' possibly with awkward controls.
Midly interested in the concept for the new Panzer Dragoon thingie... although when he spoke of pretending to hold the reins I tought "couldn't I pretend to hold the reins, and still hold the controller in my hand for added gaming prowess?". Then I remembered Lair. Oh.
And by now they must know that the core 360 gamer that plays COD / Halo / ME / Crackdown / Forza or any other popular game is not too happy about rthe focus on Kinect.
Either MS acknowledge and are working hard on Controller @ Kinect cool DEEP games
OR they dont care and want lots of 13 year olds to be dancing...
SDF on defcon one...lolz
Steel Battalion OMG
Absolutely - don't get me wrong I hope there is a way new and old control methods can be merged - I just think the technology to make the interaction work has to be spot on. Replicating the accuracy and finesse of a traditional controller is crucial for me.
I was just about to post the same thing about Irongiant, but you beat me to it.
pre-order complete
(btw could you please enable this for 360 and give me a way of plugging the controler in!!!!!!!!)
Lair but with Kinetic? zzzz
And three cheers for Steel Batallion. Can't. F*cking. Wait.
Give it up will you! your posts are constantly the same old MS hating BS !
Havent you got anything better to do?
Get this MS Halo Reach - is Halo 3, Crackdown 2 is a DLC game priced full, Alan Wake is shit - games AAA is what the 360 needs, not bull.
Looking forward to playing it again...
What a GREAT idea.
Just like Lair!
Nike Air Force 1's no less. Charles Barkley special editions.
What a GREAT idea.
The whole thing is a horror show if you ask me. Right guys?!?! ... guys? anyone?