Oh My God, So Many Announcements

I very, very briefly toyed with the idea of doing a post predicting just what could have been announced at the Sony Japan Pre-TGS Conference, but I decided on the idea that it was mostly going to be an event where the PS4 release date was going to be announced, see some Yakuza Ishin and Final Fantasy 14 on PS4 and basically be it.  Just the bog-standard Japan version of the "Here's the PS4, look how awesome it is" speech that we've all gotten by now and Japan hadn't, really since they didn't even get a release date just yet.  -Maybe- there'd be a big PS4 game announced.  Maybe.  I certainly didn't expect any big announcements or...really announcements of a sort at all.  As we all know by now, I am terrible at predictions and, as such, there were a ton of fucking announcements made at the conference and I don't even know what to think about half of them.

First up, what we all expected:  the PS4 launch date.  It is...certainly not what we expected, to say the least, as the Playstation 4 will launch in Japan on February 22nd, 2014, months after the NA and EU launch.  Those few months don't even change up the launch list all that much:

• Assassin's Creed 4
• Battlefield 4
• Call of Duty: Ghosts
• Doki-Doki Universe
• Dream Club: Host Girls on Stage
• Driveclub
• Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends
• FIFA 14
• Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn beta
• Hohokum
• Killzone: Shadow Fall
• Knack
• Natural Doctrine
• Puzzle 4 Sudoku
• Tottemo E Mahjong Plus
• Resogun
• Strider
• Watch Dogs
• Yakuza: Restoration

There are some notable exceptions of course - the Final Fantasy 14 Beta is a good thing, especially when you consider that PS3 owners get to play the Beta for free as well as transfer over their characters.  Joystiq may be being dumb here, however (Which has happened before) as the comments there and other places seem to indicate that it's a full-blown upgrade deal.  If you've bought the game for PS3, you won't have to re-buy it on PS4 and will be able to carry over your progress regardless.  With how good and friendly Square has been about FF14: A Realm Reborn (something I had never anticipated on saying), it certainly seems possible that you'll be able to upgrade and carry-over for free.  If nothing else, it simply makes the admittedly already-enticing FF14 all that much better which is also something I never figured on saying and just what the hell has happened in my life?

Yakuza: Restoration and Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends making the PS4 launch cut, however, will make quite a big deal in Japan.  Restoration was previously only figured on for PS3, but now is hitting the PS4 and possibly Vita - again, there's conflicting reports here and I base them on Joystiq just not having good people staying up late to watch the thing.  Either the game is going to be released on the Vita (as DW8:XL and a few other games (especially KOEI ones) or they just made it a point to once again mention Remote Play which is not the same thing at all and is something we already know because if a game is released for the PS4, unless it makes use of the Camera extensively or something, it can be Remote Play'd.  I -get- that it's a selling point, but you don't have to mention it with every game, especially when it leads to confusion like this.  Speaking of KOEI games, however, I have to wonder just what Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends is going to be like, as unless it has the base content of 8, it's....literally not a full game, as XL games are Expansions.  Quite a weird choice if it's going to be as light as previous XL games unless they bring 8 to Vita and PS4 as well.

Strangely enough, at the event where the Japanese PS4 release date was announced, there's a strong case to be made for the theory that the Vita was the big draw.  Vita news began with the announcement of a new, thinner model that follows in the footsteps of the PSP and its revisions.  The Vita-2000 (like the PSP-2000) will eschew the sexy OLED screen for a (hopefully not much less sexy) LCD screen, include 1 gig of onboard storage and come in six different colors for Japan at least.  Pricing doesn't seem to be much cheaper, since it comes in around $200 with conversion rates, but Japan -loves- different color models, and with a different screen, the profit margins on the device likely make it much, much better for Sony as a product.  I'm not sure how to feel about it - the Vita isn't that old to need a redesign and I fucking love the screen on mine, but there might not be that much of a difference.  Regardless, I'm not getting rid of mine anytime soon and, like others, the newly announced 64 gig memory stick will be mine ASAP, meaning that my Vita will be recommended -that much more- heavily by me if you can imagine that.

The Vita also saw a few games announced for it as well, and while it was nothing exactly huge - TGS is right around the corner after all, and I'm still saying you can expect Gravity Rush 2 there - there's still things worth a mention.  Soul Sacrifice Delta was announced as an updated version of Soul Sacrifice that is apparently much more than just an updated version of the game as Japan does sometimes.  It promises "all new elements" (I've heard talks of a straight up 'neutral option' that is neither Sacrificing or Saving a target in terms of your 'humanity' which is interesting enough) and the like that will increase the appeal of the brand overall.  I'd buy the hell out of it.  Alongside that, Phantasy Star Nova was announced as a collaboration between Sega and Tri-Ace in which is seems like Tri-Ace is doing basically all of the developing of the game.  It'll be based on the world of Phantasy Star Online 2, but offer a Single-Player story alongside an online Co-Op Multiplayer mode for up to four people.  Best odds are on Soul Sacrifice Delta being the one of these coming West, but we can hope for both.

Lastly, and most curiously, something called a Playstation Vita TV was announced and if there's anything that I just look at and don't know about, it's this.  What this is, essentially, is a Playstation Vita without the screen or the controls because you plug it into a TV for the screen and you control it with a controller; both Dualshock 3s and 4s will apparently work with it.  It is, for all intents and purposes, a console version of the Playstation Vita, meaning if you don't want to game on the go, simply don't want to play a handheld in your home, or you just want to play Vita games on a big screen TV, this is your go-to device.  You'll be able to put carts and memory sticks in it just like a normal Vita, and the touch-screen inputs can be mirrored with a press of the L3 and/or R3 buttons (the analog sticks when you push them down) of your Dualshock, which is...inelegant, but for minor uses, fairly inoffensive.  Games like Gravity Rush, Uncharted:  Golden Abyss and Zero Escape:  Virtue's Last Reward that make extensive use of all the Vita's features, however, might literally be un-playable on it as there's a compatibility list floating around out there which always means there will be some exceptions.

Still, at ~$99, the Playstation Vita TV is damn enticing for anyone who wants the Vita experience without actually buying a Vita.  Originally, I didn't know -why- you'd want to do this, but the more I think about it, the more that it begins to make a little sense as to why you'd want to buy one even if you -have- a Vita.  For one, the allure of playing Persona 4 Golden, with its lovely colors and silky smooth frames on a rather large TV is enticing admittedly.  Secondly, and perhaps the -real- reason why I'd consider it myself, is that for $99, you basically have a secondary PS4 box thanks to Remote Play.  Have your PS4 set up in the living room, but you want to play inFamous:  Second Son in your bedroom?  Hook up your Vita TV and Remote Play it on your bedroom TV, easy as that.  Combine that with the media capabilities the Vita already has (Youtube, Netflix apps, Video player, some browser-video viewing ability, etc.) and what they might get in the future as a result of more exposure (perhaps Crunchyroll, Hulu Plus, and the likes of other programs that are on the PS3 already?) and it might just be something that kicks the Apple TV, Roku and the Ouya all to the curb in one fell swoop.  Like the Ouya needed any help in doing that.

It makes you wonder what Sony's going to announce at the Tokyo Games Show when -that- is their pre-show conference.  Aside from the obvious bits that I mentioned (Gravity Rush 2), I was literally drawing blanks as to what to think about this conference and TGS both.  I don't really expect them to show up at TGS with nothing else, as that'd be really silly, but, hell, I'm always wrong with this kind of thing.  But when crazy, weird shit like this can happen, it really gives you hope and excitement about what's just around the corner, or at least, it certainly gives me that.  I wonder if it'd be too early to announce Soul Sacrifice 2 with the Delta announcement just made...

that 64 gig stick is going to be ridiculously priced, but it'll be worth it so that I can carry my Final Fantasy and Persona collections around hopefully

Gravity Rush Is Probably (Definitely) Getting a Sequel

So, I believe that I made my feelings about the wonderful Gravity Rush known when I reviewed it and one of the things I touched on was the realization that there was -going- to be another game in the series, at least.  It needs another game in the series, but not in the way that, say, Assassin's Creed 2 -needed- Brotherhood (and apparently Revelations), as Gravity Rush's untidy loose ends are not blatant and are not getting in the way of it being a cohesive, self-contained experience.  Either that, or the ending was so satisfying that it more or less made me stop caring which is accomplishing the same goal anyways.  The point is that there was obviously more of Gravity Rush's story to tell, but it wasn't as if the game made you feel like it was keeping anything back to be shown later, which seems to be a -thing- with games nowadays, in that they purposefully set themselves up to be trilogies or such.  It might just be an argument of semantics or something similar, but impressions and opinions are swayed by far less.

Regardless, it was quite fair to say that there was going to -be- a sequel, so it seemed like a foregone conclusion, but to hear "I'll do my best on the sequel" from the director is welcoming.  It was hot on the heels of the news that the game won Japan's Game of the Year Grand Award which was going on during TGS, so perhaps it was something exclaimed in a moment of pure excitement.  Well-deserved excitement at that.  So perhaps he wasn't supposed to hint at the possibility of a sequel that they are theoretically already making, much less state in such definitive terms "the sequel" as in "the sequel that is happening", but these things happen.  Personally, I'm almost waiting for the moment where he does "I didn't really mean it that way, more like if one happens", but come on we all know it's coming, and we're all very, very excited for it.

I can't speak for what I would like covered in the sequel as that will obviously spoil things, but something I am quite hoping for is a leap of quality in terms of inFamous 1 to 2.  I'm not quite sure how this is possible, as Gravity Rush was pretty fantastic, as was the original inFamous, but inFamous 2's quality leap was so great, so tantalizingly delicious, that I can't help but hold it up as the yardstick for everything else.  It's not fair, I realize, since no series really can hope for that jump, but those that even get close are generally the ones we want to get that close, and the ones that will do anything to climb towards that height.  And we love them for it.  It's just that sort of realization that you get when you play a game like inFamous and you love it like I did - you can't really take any part of it and say "Well, I could do -this- and it would be awesomer" (except the animations.  We....don't speak of the animations.) and yet -somebody- manages to have the frame of mind to be able to do that.  It's amazing, frankly, and I'm glad that people like that exist.

My only real suggestion for improvement with Gravity Rush was basically some improvements to the combat system and some side content.  I am a self-appointed Combat System aficionado, apparently, so Gravity Rush not coming in high on there is no real surprise since most games -don't-.  And it's sort of telling when one of your complaints about a game is that you want -more of it-, which I certainly did.  The challenges were there and then I beat them.  Then I found the Travelers.  And that was it.  So if the Sequel that is almost definitely happening manages to incorporate at least that, then we're all winners.  And I have a feeling that they will do just that and more because the quality was there already and it just needs to be expanded on, really.  Pulled out, made larger and if they take notes from other Sony Studios, which I think everybody does, then all the better.

It does still seem to be a bit premature speaking of the game as a thing that exists, but I'm sure that it will, so I'm going to do just that.  In fact, I expect an announcement of it sometime next year, possibly even at Sony's E3, with a release date somewhere in 2013's third or fourth quarter.  Primo spot would obviously be in the Holidays, but I'm not sure if they'd actually manage to do that, and if so, for all regions.  I'm hoping against a staggered release, but since it's Sony Japan Studios that made Gravity Rush, it certainly would not surprise me.  Whenever it comes out, however, it'll be well worth it, and I eagerly await it, even though there's....quite enough on my plate as it is.  But then again, that's always the case, pretty much, so there's no real change there!

The Rest of Sony's TGS

Quite a few things of import were announced at TGS where Sony is concerned, but for my part, I've only talked about one thing in particular because it is special.  Still, the rest of the news is good as well and it's something that I want to cover, since the bulk of it might be things that I partake in myself, or at the very least, is somewhat cool on its own merits.  While there's no real megaton big news here (TGS is never the place for 'giant' announcements) what is here is substantial in its own right, really, and I would be remiss if I looked towards anything else to talk about tonight since it seems the after-conference stuff has all been more or less sorted out as well.  As in, the stuff that doesn't get spoken of specifically during the conference, but is still out there at TGS and doesn't generally get much mention for whatever reason.  Like Earth Defense Force 3 Portable for Vita that got announced sometime after E3 if I'm remembering correctly.

First up is the above-pictured new PS3 Model which I am taking to calling the "Super Slim" because that's kind of a pretty neat name for it.  Which is appropriate because it's a neat-looking system.  Or, rather, I think it's a downright sexy-looking system, being at least much, much more sexy than the actual PS3 Slim that looks kind of terrible when put next to this or even (especially?) when put next to the original PS3.  But it was all about functionality at that point, and not-so-much form factor, and now that that's all pretty sorted, they can focus on the form factor, which they have certainly done.  There's only so many ways in my own vocabulary that I know of how to convey that the aesthetics of this model are pretty pleasing.  And that is kind of the only real thing to point out with this particular design since, aside from being sexy and lighter/smaller than the Slim, even, it's kind of fundamentally the same from what we know about it.

The main difference, at least from what I can think of, is the actual method with which the discs are loaded into the system.  You might notice that the area on the right of the system top, the ridged area, is higher than that on the left, and that's for the very simple reason of being the disk tray.  From what I can tell, instead of popping up, the tray slides to the side and then slides back.  Whether it's automated or not, I can't tell, nor can I surmise just how good of an idea it is in theory.  It's....different to think of, certainly, as disks have either slid in or were popped into a tray that popped open (PS1/2 era design), so having a sliding opening is something different entirely I think.  Again, I don't know just how practical it is, but it's...unique, and for the form factor of the device, so long as it's not an inherently bad idea, it'll work just fine.  I know that if I'm in the market for a new PS3, I'd probably shoot for one of these rather than the regular Slims.

Speaking of reveals, there were some note-worthy ones aside from Muramasa:  The Demon Blade getting a Vita port.  The important things are not necessarily all the game reveals, however, as Soul Sacrifice revealed a new launch window of Spring 2013 that I honestly thought it had anyway, so I wasn't too disappointed by it.  Of course, the launch window is purely Japan-only as, even though it's confirmed that it's going to launch in North America, the specifics with that are more up in the air than the Japanese launch, clearly.  The game seems like it's shaping up rather nicely which is good, since it is definitely going to be a game that everybody wants you to be hyped up for.  For my part, I don't generally get into Monster Hunter type games (Including Monster Hunter), but with Ragnarok Odyssey on the horizon in my pre-order cache, I will see if that type of game does fit with me when it's not as...er....'heavy' as Monster Hunter itself.

Also revealed were a few offerings from Namco Bandai and Tecmo KOEI, throwing some new and old the Vita's way.  Namco Bandai's offerings include God Eater 2 which will be a PSP/Vita release in Japan (likely just a Vita release in everywhere else) and a Gundam game that apparently has an embargo on it because it is a rather new approach.  From what I could tell via the Joystiq liveblog, the Gundam game is based around the actual Gundam Models themselves, rather than 'actual' Gundams, and there was a lot of explosions and such.  When I say Gundam Models, I mean the type that you can assemble, so I really have no idea what to anticipate in terms of story and design around that.  Still, it's interesting nonetheless and the fact that I can't get information for it is a bit intriguing since it suggests that it will be a very new attempt, instead of a rehash or a version of a Gundam game already out there.  Maybe.

Tecmo KOEI's offerings also incorporate a little new and old as 'Toukiden' seems to be a pretty good merger of that in itself.  Billed as a new thing, Toukiden doesn't really have any screenshots floating around there, but it's going to be a good old hack-and-slash title with fantasy elements that takes place in a Feudal Japan setting.  A fictional one, of course, because the trailer (forgive the quality) features the female protagonist(? or just one of the characters perhaps) slicing up a rather gigantic spider that I'm...just going out on a limb here and suggesting isn't historically accurate.  You know, just a hunch here.  Seeing as Omega Force (the Dynasty/Samurai Warriors crew) knows how to make some action-packed trailers, I'm not going to take it as an indication of how the game is played aside from the idea that there will be slicing and possibly giant spiders, but for what it's worth, I think they have a pretty good grip on the whole hack-and-slash thing so this one's on my radar.

Tecmo KOEI also announced that Ninja Gaiden 2, like Ninja Gaiden Sigma before it, will be getting ported to the Vita as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus.  There's literally nothing else said about it and being as I didn't play the Vita port of Sigma, I don't know what to expect.  Buuuuut, while we're on the subject of Ninja Gaiden, there was a little something else revealed at TGS.  Remember Yaiba?  The game that promised Ninjas, Zombies and giant mechs?  Well...it's still promising that, but under its new title - Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z.  It's kind of brilliant, actually, in that the main character, Yaiba, is all three of the promised things in one.  As a Ninja, he was killed by Ryu Hayabusa and then brought back to something resembling life with the assistance of some cybernetic implants which he hopes will help him get vengeance on everybody's favorite Ninja.  Like an entire arm and half a head have been replaced.  So Yaiba is literally a Cyber-Zombie Ninja.  That....is probably the coolest goddamn thing I have typed all night.

There's no way I can top that, so I'm not even going to try.  I will mention that Playstation Plus is coming to the Vita in November, featuring its own(?) Instant Game Collection, the usual fare from PS Plus, and an additional (read:  Separate from PS3) Gig of Online Storage which will be real nice for folks running out of Memory stick room.  Or cards with which to place bubbles upon.  Also coming to Vita is Playstation Mobile when it launches on October 3rd.  Neither of those are as awesome as a Cyber-Zombie Ninja (even though I am partial to PS Plus and just resubbed for a year), so I will not stay on them for any longer than this.  Because come on.  I just have to say it one more time as I close out this post, just to get it out of my system and make sure it ends on a high note.

Cyber.  Zombie.  Ninja.

Bonus Post - Muramasa: The Demon Blade Coming to Vita

Pssssst.  Hey, Chance.  Chance.  Guess what got announced at TGS!  Muramasa: The Demon Blade for Vita.  Coming out March 28th, 2013 (In Japan).  Allllll shiny-like.  With new content!  (Because that's just the rule.)  When there's more details, I will edit them in here, but that's about it and I really just wanted to put this up -before- you heard it through the grapevine as you do.