Sony Tokyo Game Show 2016 conference live report
Live from 8am BST.
Updated on
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.
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).
Morning all!
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.
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.
MrTomFTW: I'll have you know Martin cribbed the nipple thing from me.
Then behave.
We're off with a rap montage!
Gravity Rush 2, Battlefield, Yakuza, COD. Lego Star Wars!
This is already 800 times more exciting than the entire PlayStation Meeting.
Ah, World of Final Fantasy. The game even Final Fantasy megafans think is a bit gauche.
Was that Land of Hope and Glory at the end there?
Atsushi Morita, president of SCEJ is doing the intro, showing off the new PS4 models and the winter line-up.
Aha, the HDR system software update is out today!
Man, to be Japanese right now. Persona 5 out THIS WEEK.
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.
Game director Tabata is here, manhandling a FF15-branded PS4.
We got our PS4 Slim in the office yesterday, by the way. It's actually really nice.
"We want to enliven and activise Japan through Final Fantasy" - there it is.
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.
SaGa Scarlet Grace is out in December on Vita. It looks pretty.
New Vita colours! Japan hasn't given up on the handheld it seems.
I'll have the blue pls.
Somebody shouted GO GO GO, I guess this is Call of Duty.
Is it wrong of me to think this game looks quite cool.
Watch Dogs 2 now. Also looking alright.
Oh dear.
Malek86: The stream stopped and started buffering on the Ubisoft logo, I guess that's only fitting.
Mean.
Stefarno: In Japan the Vita has still sold more than the PS4 has (5.1m vs 3.1m).
Good intel!
This stream's still working, but it's in Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_5k0a0tkLY
We're getting a history lesson of Gundam games right now.
orangpelupa: ill translate on the fly some important bits from JP stream
Our hero!
Gundam Versus!
Kingdom Hearts montage. Aha, it's the brilliantly named HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.
Platinum... this must be Nier?
English stream is back for me.
tomphillipsEG: Page now updated with Japanese stream - hit refresh to replace.
Nice timing, Tom.
Although, there's no evidence of English translation on this stream since it came back, but never mind because EVERYBODY IS GOLF.
Out summer 2017.
Oh my god, EDF.
Never change, EDF.
EDF5 in 2017. How do they make them look so rubbish? It must take actual effort.
Something with Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and dice.
And we're back with the English translation on the English stream.
It's a board game called Fortune Street. It's to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the two series.
Here's someone from Koei Tecmo and he is rocking an amazing jacket and hairstyle combo.
Kou Shibusawa, I salute you and your black-on-black zebra stripe tuxedo and your Osmonds hair.
Nioh time. Out February 9th 2017 WORLDWIDE.
10 years in the making. Rather looking forward to that one.
Ninja Gaiden... Musou?
Coming in 2017. Looks like a Hyrule Warriors style crossover effort.
Ah, it's an all-star Koei Tecmo game called Musou Stars.
PSVR now.
MrTomFTW: The problem with Musou games is that they're not very good. At all.
BURN THE HERETIC. Actually I've never played one.
Simple but effective PSVR trailer there.
Now we're in a student girl's bedroom, in VR.
Summer Lesson. I feel awkward.
Next it's a Japan Studio game, with Acquire... What's this?
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.
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.
I'm afraid I've no idea what's happening right now. Something to do with VR, music videos and Biohazard.
The band was L'Arc-en-Ciel - they're making a Biohazard music video that will be filmed in VR.
Lots more 360-degree music videos.
A stressed lady is relaxing in VR beauty spots... using a pop-up smartphone display. It's called Anywhere VR.
Nice idea, but that smartphone mirrored screen is going to be seriously low-res.
There'll be extra preorders available in Japan from 24th September.
Now some streaming services for the Japanese market, including a sports stream.
PlayStation Now coming to Japanese PC users on the 20th September.
This is like an E3 conference from 5 years ago. It's actually making me nostalgic for them.
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.
Here's a new Platinum game! In collaboration with a smartphone game developer, sounds like?
Standard issue JRPG stuff, looks like.
GranBlue Fantasy: Project Re:Link. Coming in 2018.
GranBlue Fantasy is a popular social RPG for smartphones in Japan.
Smartphone gaming virtually killed consoles in Japan, so it's significant to see a big phone property moving to PS4.
KOJ
Here to not tell us anything substantive about Death Stranding, I expect.
Nice eyewear, as ever.
orangpelupa: woa whoa kojima! talk slower! my japanese too shitty. thats too fast
The English stream is back, you know...
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.
Now we're getting a history lesson in action games.
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.
Ooh, they've picked their engine. Wonder what they went for.
Rexter2k: Ok so Kojima is making a grim dark Nobi Nobi Boy?
That would be AMAZING.
More info on the 18th at Tokyo Game Show.
Montage time.
Kids playing Gran Turismo, Dragon Quest Builders. I don't know what's happening but the music tells me it's uplifting.
It's a new festival event held in Japan - first one was in July this year.
The events, called PlayStation Matsuri, are coming to four more cities.
There are some TGS promotions happening on Plus and the PlayStation Store in Japan.
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.
(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.)
Closing out with their big holiday TV ad.
And we're done. Nothing new from From. Boooo.
Best news for us lot was probably Nioh's worldwide date in February, and of course the announcement of EDF5.
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.
Anyway, thanks for joining us this morning! Now: coffee. Catch you later.