Sega and Atlus have announced their lineup for the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, Japan’s largest games convention. Both companies will apparently be showing off a fair few number of games (though, even combined, they don’t seem to have as many games to show off as Bandai Namco alone does), from a wide variety of series across all genres.

Notably, remember that any game that might get a proper announcement or reveal over TGS itself is not listed here- so if you don’t see Shin Megami Tensei V for Switch listed here, that’s because it hasn’t actually had an announcement yet (and could actually get one over TGS- hopefully!).

There are also some games from companies other than Sega and Atlus listed below- these are third party companies that are simply renting booth space from Sega and Atlus for TGS, for the purposes of showing off their wares. You can check out the full list of games below- TGS, meanwhile, starts later this month.

Sega

• Hokuto Ga Gotoku – Theater Presentation, Trailer, Stage Event,  Photo Spot
• Yakuza Kiwami 2 – Playable, Theater Presentation, Trailer, Stage Event, Merchandise, Photo Spot
• Toaru Majutsu Virtual On – Playable, Trailer, Stage Event,  Photo Spot
• Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Future Tone DX – Playable, Trailer, Merchandise
• Sonic Forces – Theater Presentation, Trailer, Stage Event,  Merchandise
• Phantasy Star Online 2 – Theater Presentation, Trailer, Stage Event,  Merchandise, Photo Sport
• Yakuza Online – Theater Presentation
• Dx2 Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation – Playable, Trailer, Stage Event

Atlus

• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux – Playable, Trailer, Stage Event, Merchandise

Partners

• Middle-earth: Shadow of War – Trailer
• The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game – Stage Event, Trailer
• Star Wars: Battlefront II – Trailer
• FIFA 18 – Trailer
• Need for Speed Payback – Trailer
• The Sims 4 – Trailer
• Coven and Labyrinth of Refrain – Playable, Trailer
• Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Daro ka: Infinite Combate – Playable, Trailer
• Steins;Gate Elite – Playable, Trailer

While Sony’s press event being held on September 13 is primarily for the Japanese market, there are people in the west who’ll probably want to tune in, too- especially given just how much of a fanbase for Japanese games there is on PlayStation systems. The good news is, you’ll totally be able to. Sony announced today that the conference will be available in English on Youtube simultaneously alongside the actual Japanese broadcast. That’s pretty cool of them to do (though let’s hope the stream doesn’t botch the translations this year like it has on occasion before).

The conference is slated to be 70 minutes, which means we should get another tightly paced, excellent showing from Sony (last year’s Sony TGS show is arguably one of the best, best paced gaming keynotes of all time, and I have to hope that Sony will continue with that showing this year, too).

You can catch the stream either from the link above, or by directly watching the video below. It will be broadcast on September 13 at midnight PT/2am CT/3am ET.

What was extremely interesting to me was the system that they were all rallying around. The Japanese market has traditionally always chosen one system (almost always the leading system), and then chosen to rally around it- it was the NES first, then the SNES, then the PlayStation, and then the PlayStation 2. And that was when things began to get murky. As the previous generation started, and the PlayStation 3 floundered, with a disastrous start, but more importantly, an eccentric architecture that was time and resource intensive, all of a sudden, the Japanese market had nowhere to go to- they tried to coalesce on the Xbox 360 for a while, with exclusives like Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, and Dead Rising, but that didn’t work out, the Xbox simply didn’t have the demographic to make these kinds of games work.

They did try with the Wii, which was leading the market with record breaking sales, but the Wii had its own issues- it was limited in terms of its technical scope, limited in terms of the inputs and control options it afforded developers, and the market the Wii courted was entirely the kind of market that was disinterested in high end console games.

In desperation, the Japanese market migrated to the handhelds, the DS first, and later the PSP. And while they thrived and subsisted there, this started a gradual trend towards low end gaming, all of which culminated in, around 2010, an almost complete shift in focus to mobile games.

"The Xbox 360’s dominance last generation also marked the beginning of the decline of the Japanese console market."

And all that this had needed was the lack of a strong PlayStation console leading the market.

Which is why it was, to return to the point I was making, interesting to see the system that Japanese publishers and developers seem to be rallying around as they attempt to revive the high end gaming market in Japan- that system is the PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 4 is what the Japanese industry is going with, and I find it interesting, because unlike every other instance so far, they have not picked the market leading system- indeed, the PS4’s performance in Japan has been nothing short of pathetic. The 3DS is the market leader there, by a wide margin. The Vita leads the PS4, by a healthy margin. The Wii U even leads the PS4.

But it appears that the Japanese game creators have come to the same conclusion that I have long since held to be true- if they are to survive, they need a PlayStation console at the head of the market.

Raising (and pre-empting) arguments against this is where an interesting dichotomy about the games industry and market comes to light, global trends that reveal just how important PlayStation really is to the overall gaming landscape. It’s not rocket science, really- consider, for instance, Xbox. Why not have the Xbox be market leading? What exactly is wrong with having an Xbox lead the console market? Why is that somehow worse for the industry than having PlayStation lead?

If you have paid attention to my argument so far, you already know the answer- the Xbox as a console, as well as the demographic that it presents to publishers and developers, is positively hostile to the Japanese market. The Xbox does very well in terms of western third party support and consumer acceptance, but it also does only well at western third party support and consumer acceptance. Most Japanese third party publishers and developers, except for some of the ones at the very top making full fledged AAA games that require multiplatform investment for the games to be profitable, will not support the Xbox, simply because the Xbox has been roundly rejected by the Japanese market. For a smaller company like Atlus or Falcom, what use is there in making a version of Persona or Ys for the Xbox One, and waste significant resources, when no one in Japan, which is their primary market anyway, will actually buy the game on the Xbox One?

There is also the all important question of demographics to consider. I really want to stay away from traditional labels and stereotypes when it comes to console audiences, but the Xbox does appeal to a more western audience than anything else. Hearing Xbox owners and players largely dismiss Japanese games or game developers as unworthy of their notice is not exactly uncommon- even if a company like Atlus or even Square Enix were to launch their game on the Xbox One, it would be mostly ignored by the Xbox install base, simply because that install base does not favor Japanese games. Having an Xbox console be the leading standard of development in the game industry, then, will lead to the kind of slow death of the Japanese gaming industry that we saw in the last generation.

"But this is not about just Japan- this piece is titled ‘Why PlayStation Being Dominant May be The Best Thing For The Gaming Industry,’ not ‘Why PlayStation Being Dominant May be The Best Thing For The Japanese Gaming Industry.’This means that the other side of this asymmetry is also something that needs to be addressed. "

But this is not about just Japan- this piece is titled ‘Why PlayStation Being Dominant May be The Best Thing For The Gaming Industry,’ not ‘Why PlayStation Being Dominant May be The Best Thing For The Japanese Gaming Industry.’This means that the other side of this asymmetry is also something that needs to be addressed. 

Imagine, then, a Nintendo console leading the market. And not a Nintendo console like the Wii- let’s imagine something like Nintendo’s glory days, a console with hardware parity, the necessary online infrastructure, a system in other words ripe for support by not only Nintendo themselves, but also third parties. Surely such a console would be far better for the industry than PlayStation would!

But that is also not true, and a large reason for this is how Nintendo conducts its business. Nintendo is a remarkably Japanese company, and the way it conducts its business reflects that. Most of the third party support on Nintendo systems is Japanese- Capcom with Monster Hunter, Atlus with Shin Megami Tensei, Square Enix with Dragon Quest, and so on. This has always held true- in fact, one must remember that consoles were largely thought to be the realm of Japanese developers and publishers (while PC was thought to be the realm of western publishers and developers) for as long as Nintendo led the market, with the NES and SNES- serious western third party support for consoles did not actually become a thing until Sony entered the scene with PlayStation, which was when companies like DMA Design, Pygnosis, and Crystal Dynamics became every bit as important as Squaresoft and Namco.

Even if Nintendo were to manage third party support, it would mostly be multiplatform versions by publishers or developers making AAA games that need as many versions as possible to ensure profitability- and even then, it is hard to imagine companies like Bethesda or DICE ever actually bothering much with a Nintendo system. Most western game support, including games from smaller developers such as CD Projekt RED, would simply not show up on Nintendo systems- what is the point? Nintendo’s own policies towards third parties notwithstanding, the demographic on Nintendo systems has long since been brought up on a diet of quirky Nintendo and Japanese games. Generally speaking, a Nintendo fan is as dismissive of the average third party western game as an Xbox fan is of a Japanese game. This is not to mention Nintendo’s relative weakness in the western market compared to their position of strength in the Japanese market.

Nintendo, in a lot of ways, has the position of being the equivalent of Xbox in the west (except a fair bit more relevant, thanks to their legacy, and the enduring popularity of their first party franchises and software). If Nintendo ever were to lead the industry, or become the industry standard for AAA development, it is not hard to imagine a lot of western third party support, especially anything below the absolute top publishers such as EA, Activision, Ubisoft, or Warner Bros., retreating to the safety of a proven market like the PC, killing a lot of western console game development in the process.

"No matter how successful a Nintendo console it, it will never stimulate western third party development."

This leaves us with an interesting situation- a strong Xbox is detrimental to Japanese game development on consoles (of course, Japanese game development itself would continue to exist, though it may migrate to platforms like smartphones or handhelds), while a strong Nintendo is detrimental to western game development on consoles (again, western game development itself would continue to exist, but it would probably shift back to PCs, and move off consoles).

The interesting thing about PlayStation, then, is its unique position as a global leader. PlayStation may have some territories it has always been strong in (Europe) and others where it has relatively struggled (North America), but on the whole, it is a brand that has found global acceptance and success unlike either Xbox or Nintendo, whose success has always been more localized- even in Nintendo’s days of absolute monopoly with the NES, they never found footing in Europe, for example, and even when Microsoft ruled the roost with the Xbox 360, they barely made a dent in the Japanese market.

PlayStation, on the other hand, is successful everywhere. This is important, because it means it has a truly global audience- the system’s demographics lend themselves to a developer or publisher from anywhere in the world making a game for a PlayStation, and being assured of an audience. A PlayStation player does not dismiss a Japanese game like an Xbox player, and does not dismiss a western game like a Nintendo player. It’s a unique confluence.

This, in turn, owes itself to PlayStation’s historic strength in courting the development community from across the world. As I already mentioned before, back on the original PlayStation itself, we were seeing not just the continued dominance of Japanese third parties, with games such as Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Resident Evil, and Persona, but also western ones- Medal of Honor, Rainbow Six, WipEout, Crash Bandicoot, Rayman, and more. This continued with the PS2 and PS3 eras, and we can now see it in full blast today with the PS4, where Sony can spend a section of its E3 conference dedicated to The Last Guardian, Shenmue 3, and Final Fantasy VII’s remake, right before moving on to discussing Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted, and Call of Duty, and where they can spend a portion of their TGS conference talking about Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted, and For Honor, before also talking about Gravity Rush, Ni-oh, and Star Ocean 5.

It’s a circular, self reinforcing argument- players of all tastes buy PlayStation because game makers from all over the world make games for PlayStation because players of all taste buy PlayStation because…

"You don’t have to like the PS4 to understand its importance to the gaming market."

The key to understanding this argument here is that gaming is a global hobby- as a video game player, separated from our own personal interests or fanboy allegiances, all of us must hold the ability to objectively recognize that any part of the global gaming market being weakened or deteriorated is a detriment to gaming as a whole. Even if you personally can’t bring yourself to care for Tales of Zestiria or Disgaea 5, you must understand there are a lot of people who do, and a lot of people who make those games, all of whom would be excluded from the industry if their portion of the market were to be sidelined. Similarly, even if you roll your eyes at western titles like Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed, you must realized that a huge portion of the market cares for them, and thousands are involved in making those games- and they would all be out of the industry if their part of the market was sidelined.

If you want consoles to continue to thrive, if you want console gaming to truly grow and become a global and inclusive hobby, you need a platform that is global and inclusive as well. No other platform other than the flagship PlayStation is- not Nintendo, not Xbox. You don’t have to like PlayStation to understand this (and I certainly have my fair share of issues with how Sony is handling the PS4), and simply understanding that the PS4 has to lead is not wishing failure upon either Nintendo or Xbox- as last generation showed us, we can have more than one successful console at a time.

The important thing is for the PlayStation to be the market leader, to be the standard for third party development- and as much as many might hate to admit, that and that alone will ensure that console gaming continues to be inclusive, and more importantly, continues to grow rather than face contraction as entire portions of the market cease to be served.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Sony’s console seems to be leading the charge for the resurgence of the Japanese game development industry. At TGS this year, it got a major vote of confidence, as almost every single major publisher in the country pledged game support for the PS4. The result? Over 100 new games were showcased for the system, and as a result of TGS, it has doubled its game count.

The PlayStation Vita also fared well for itself, with 62 games shown, nearly double of the 32 from last year. Nintendo didn’t fare too bad either- the Wii U had 23 games shown for it, while the 3DS had 29. Considering that both systems are at the ends of their lives, with replacements planned for next year under the enigmatic NX banner, that is actually not bad at all.

But as for the PS4, it is now evident that the console will lead to a return of the glory days of the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, back when one system single handedly unified the game development and consumption community worldwide. I can’t wait to see that.

While the Tokyo Games Show doesn’t get as much press as something like E3 or PAX, there are plenty of things to see and learn during the event. One of the most interesting if not mindblowing tidbits we got a look at this year are some planned new looks for the PS4, the PS Vita and the dualshock controllers for Sony’s flagship console. It looks as though the company doesn’t just want to win the console wars based on how well their device is performing technically, they also want to “out pretty” the Microsoft Xbox One.

IGN.com got some good pictures of the rather colorful versions of Sony’s hardware including some PS4s that appear to come in all kinds of different color varieties. The company is apparently taking the same tact with the Vita, which is getting at least a bit of a redesign despite rumors of it’s demise not being all that exaggerated. There was also a pretty decent look at the controllers which got a new look and even had one model that was actually see through.

None of these are expected to have any real bearing on how they perform. The different colored HDD covers would at least allow people to have their PS4s stand out from the crowd. Of course, that would also mean they’d have to be sold outside of Japan. There’s not currently any concrete evidence these different colored pieces of equipment are going to be sold in North America or Europe. Check the pictures below of the new looks.

Sony has finally gone ahead and announced the full lineup of playable games that it will be showcasing at the Tokyo Games Show. It’s a pretty wide and extensive list, with multiple different kinds of games, and even the most jaded western gamer should be able to find something to their liking here.

The crown jewel in this lineup is, of course, the just announced Bloodborne expansion, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, which will in fact be fully playable on the showfloor. Other notable titles to keep an eye on include Dark Souls III and Street Fighter V. The full lineup is:

PS4

• Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
• Street Fighter V
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2016
• Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness
• Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
• Phantasy Star Online 2
• Bloodborne: The Old Hunters
• Destiny: The Taken King
• Gravity Rush Remastered
• Tearaway Unfolded
• The Tomorrow Children
• Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection
• Call of Duty: Black Ops III
• Fat Princess Adventure
• Ratchet & Clank
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven
• Disney Infinity 3.0
• Dark Souls III

PS Vita

• Airship Q
• Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky
• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X
• Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition
• Tokyo Xanadu
• Mobile Suit Gundam EXTREME VS FORCE

PlayStation VR

• Joysound VR
• Kitchen
• Dynasty Warriors 7 VR DEMO
• Aquarion EVOL
• Final Fantasy XIV: VR Duel Against Titan
• Cyber ​​Danganrompa VR
• SEGA feat. HATSUNE MIKU Project: VR Tech DEMO
• RIGS
• The Playroom VR
• Summer Lessons

Stage Events

• Street Fighter V
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2016
• Bloodborne: The Old Hunters
• Destiny: The Taken King
• Gravity Rush Remaster
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
• Gran Turismo 6

The Tokyo Games Show will continue on through this week, so you can expect lots and lots of news about your favorite Japanese games for the next few days. Stay tuned.

Sony’s TGS conference is almost here, and we already have reason to be hyped for it. But it looks like there may be more coming at the conference than even what we could already have guessed or speculated. Gematsu reports that the official Danganronpa KoubaibuTwitter account is teasing a Danganronpa announcement for tomorrow’s SCEJA Press Conference in Japan.

With SCEJA Press Conference 2015 and Tokyo Game Show 2015 and the Hope’s Peak Academy Koubaibu Gakudai-Ban, there’s a lot happening this week… I wonder why it’s all being piled on at a time like this?” the tweet said.

Even DanganRonpa’s creator, Yoshinori Terasawa, joined in on the fun, saying, “This is being streamed, right? It was starting at 16:00, is that right? Is it bad if I don’t see it? Will I get the feeling that I missed something? (lol).”

I mean, guys, that’s a pretty heavy handed hint that you should definitely watch the show if you are interested in DanganRonpa. Which you really should be, they are probably the best games on the Vita outside of Persona 4 Golden.

With just a few hours left till Sony’s Tokyo Games Show press briefing (the one that will give us game announcements from and for all our favorite Japanese games and content on PlayStation), it’s probably time to start getting ready to watch the show. Go grab a party pack of Cheetos, and some Red Bull and Mountain Dew, and sit back to enjoy the show.

Sony’s TGS show is scheduled for 4pm on September 15, Japan Time- that’s 8am in the UK, 3am ET/2am CT/12:00am PT, and 12.30pm IST.

What’s more, Sony is hinting that the announcements made at the show may not necessarily be just Japan centric either. “While we’ll stress that the briefing is primarily aimed at a Japanese audience and not everything featured is guaranteed to make it to European shores, there will be enough on show to make it worth being a little late for work/school,” said SCEE Blog manager Fred Dutton.

Personally, the conference is automatically a success for me, just as long as I get a Persona 5 release date.

You can catch it live below, once it begins:

There have been a lot of fears that From Software would try to dumb down the formula in Bloodborne, its upcoming title that continues in the tradition of the Souls games, to try and appeal to a larger audience (especially since now the game is an exclusive to the PlayStation 4); well, if these stats about the demo are any indication, then I think we can all safely put that fear to rest, as it appears this game will still be balls tough.

According to DualShockers, BloodBorne’s demo presented people with a very unique challenge- only 20 out of 3,500 people who tried it at PAX Prime could clear it, while only 40 people out of 1,250 who tried it at TGS could clear it.

That’s… well, that shows us two things. a) Any fears about this game being dumbed down are unfounded, and b) seriously, it looks like the Japanese, who have often been accused of going soft and casual in recent years, can still kick our asses when it comes down to it.

You know, Xbox’s presence in Japan may be negligible and sad, but that doesn’t mean that Microsoft can stop pretending like it cares. it must keep up appearances- if only to ensure that Japanese developers will continue supporting the Xbox One with versions of their multiplat games. So, Microsoft and Xbox had a nice showing at TGS. And in this showing was included the gorgeous and breathtaking looking Ori and the Blind Forest.

This game was originally unveiled at E3 for the Xbox One, and it looks as good now as it did back then. Check out the new gameplay footage, which shows off the first level of the game, for yourself and tell us what you think.

Ori and the Blind Forest is due out for the Xbox One by the end of this year; it will also be releasing on the PC. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information of this, and other games coming to the Xbox One.