Japan Gaming Guide

A mini PlayStation is on the way with 20 classic games included.

Following in the footsteps of the many recent retro consoles, a new mini PlayStation is coming. The PlayStation Classic will include Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Ridge Racer Type 4, Wild Arms and Tekken III as well as several unannounced games.

Final Fantasy VII needs no introduction. The Tekken and Ridge Racer games are the final entries of those iconic series on the console and will no doubt appeal to most players.

Jumping Flash is an unusual 3D platformer and one of those early titles we had our eye on back in the day but will jump at the chance to try this time around.

Lastly, Wild Arms is a Western themed RPG which again, we’ve not played but would enjoy checking out.

The rest of the games have yet to be confirmed but are expected to vary between regions. Whether gamers will be able to add games from other regions as with the mini NES and SNES remains to be seen.

The new version of the system is 45% smaller than the original. Two classic controllers are included.

The Japanese launch price will be Y9980. Elsewhere the system will be around $100 or 100 Euros. You’ll be able to buy it on the 3rd of December. Best get writing to Santa now.

The upcoming Gran Turismo Sport is going to feature a VR mode allowing you to immerse yourself in the driving experience like never before. This feature will allow you to look around the tracks at your leisure, though it will likely be limited to part of the game only.

Anyone wanting to try this feature out had best head along to the Tokyo Auto Salon. The event is running from this Friday 13th – Sunday 15th and will feature a booth showing off the game. Visitors willing to queue will get the chance to try out the game in solo or multiplayer mode.

Sounds like a good chance for petrol heads to get an early look at how Gran Turismo shapes up in VR.

Links:
Tokyo Auto Salon 2017

Buy Gran Turismo Sport at Play Asia

The PS4 has finally launched in Japan, and has shifted a respectable 322,083 units. That’s a lot more than the PS3 managed over its opening weekend, though less than the PS2, according to Eurogamer. We reckon Sony will be happy with that, given the declining importance of the console market in Japan. It will be interesting to see what happens as more software is released over the coming year.

Want to know what toys Japanese kinds are going to be playing with this year? Then the World Hobby Fair is your place to go. Put on by toy and game businesses, the show gives kids the chance to play with all the newest stuff and gives the companies lots of feedback about what’s hot or not.

This year was dominated by Pokemon, Gundam, and Inazuma Eleven, with all three licenses being spread over a wide variety of merchandise and crossovers. Nintendo and Sony both had a substantial presence, setting up large booths and lots of demos and tournaments. Battling toys were getting a lot of attention, it seems kids want anything that lets them pit one toy against another in a brawl. Professional Yo-yo…ers?..ists? were drawing crowds teaching tricks and hosting shows. Girl-focused games like Pretty Rhythm, Tamagotchi, and Cooking Mama were bringing in lots of players too.

Our picks for the best of the show? The Taiko no Tatsujin game being demoed inside a giant snow globe, the very unusual pairing of feudal Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga with Pokemon, and the Sony shrine featuring Playstation characters and selling good-luck charms.

Here are the pictures, scroll over for a description.

Great news for expats and importers – Vita has been confirmed as region free by Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida. Vita follows the precedent set by PS3 and PSP which are both region free for games (though not movies or online content). Vita is due for release on December 17th in Japan.

[Read, via Edge]

Developer Dimps must have mislaid their speed boots. Sonic isn’t usually slow to arrive, but the forthcoming continuation of his 2D adventures has been pushed back to late 2010.

We can’t wait to get our hands on the new game, which will concentrate on Sonic alone and get back to the classic gameplay we know and love. The extra playable characters, that some regard as responsible for the decline of the series, have been dropped for this new episode.

Bayonetta hype is starting to build as the game nears its autumn release. Designer Hideki Kamiya has a history that includes Okami and Devil May Cry, so our hopes are very high for this.

Kamiya-san has promised to “blow the doors off the action genre”. The eponymous heroine is a shape shifting witch who backs up her magic attacks with a cornucopia of firearms and heavy weapons. As with Devil May Cry skilled players will be able to rack up the damage with spectacular combos and special moves. Fallen enemies drop halos that can be exchanged for bigger and better weapons.

Bayonetta launches in Japan on October 29th for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, price Y7980. North American and European release is expected to follow in January.

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Shin Sangoku Musou Multi Raid, or Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce has been out for a few weeks in Japan, but will debut in the US later this month. It’s based on Dynasty Warriors 6, and looks rather good.

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Final Fantasy VII has just been released on the Japanese PSN, and is available for 1500 yen. Naturally the game is Japanese only. If you do speak Japanese then it’s pretty much a must buy. First released almost twelve years ago on the original Playstation, FF7 brought the JRPG into the mainstream and remains one of the great epics in the gaming canon.

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The life of the humble shepherd must have got a lot better with the advent of handheld gaming. Those lonely days on the mountains would go a lot quicker with the help of a DS or PSP. We reckon the superior battery life of the DS would make it the shepherd’s system of choice – but it looks like Sony is trying to redress the balance with the release of Hitsuji Mura Portable (Sheep Town Portable) for the PSP.

The animal-crossing alike game casts you as a duck who, so far as we can tell, has something of a penchant for the bottle.

Have a look at the game’s official site, and see if you can work out what exactly is going on.

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