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Sony Tokyo Game Show 2016 conference live report

Live from 8am BST.

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.

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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.

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The events, called PlayStation Matsuri, are coming to four more cities.

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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.

Oli Welsh

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