Nintendo DS Steals the Tokyo Game Show
October 12th 2008 21:08
Signature Tune
From: Wired
With more than 23 million units sold in Japan alone, and an updated version of the hardware called the DSi on the way next month, there isn't a gamemaker at the show that isn't preparing one or more big-budget games for DS. They're betting that the system's broad popularity will equal big returns on titles for hard-core players and casual gamers alike.
"DS is obviously kicking ass in Japan," says Capcom's Hiroyuki Kobayashi, producer of the Resident Evil series of games. Kobayashi says that since many Japanese publishers create games only for Japanese consumers, they are naturally gravitating toward the dominant platform. Nintendo says it has sold one DS for every two Japanese households.
The surging popularity of handheld videogame systems like the DS, Sony's PSP and even the iPhone means an expanding market for gamemakers who can cook up addictive diversions for people killing time in a waiting room or on a train. Like Nintendo's superpopular Wii console, the DS and its portable bretheren appeal first and foremost to casual gamers. But there's plenty of red meat for the hard-core, too.
Tokyo Game Show organizers say about 19 percent of the games on the show floor are for Nintendo's portable system, almost double the figure for 2006. All of Japan's major game publishers have elaborate booths in Tokyo's Makuhari Messe convention center for the show, which lets the public get its hands on demos of upcoming games.
Square Enix is bringing its cult classic role-playing game series Valkyrie Profile to Nintendo DS, causing fans to line up for hours around its booth to play it, although they might be surprised by what they find. "The DS version is very different from the earlier versions -- it's a strategy RPG this time," says James Clark, who writes for a website called RPGFan from his Tokyo apartment. "It's really a bold choice, because it's going to alienate some of the fans, I think. But it definitely has a very deep story."
As the Nintendo DS market becomes stronger, publishers are taking bigger risks and putting more resources into DS development. Level-5, an independent publisher that shot to prominence in Japan with its Professor Layton series of puzzle games, showed a full slate of new brain-twisting titles for DS at its massive show booth in Tokyo. One of the games, Ni no Kuni, is an impressive-looking collaboration with the Oscar-winning animators at Studio Ghibli.
Role-playing games, in particular, are a hot commodity on DS. Square Enix has sold millions of copies of its remakes of classic games in the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, and this year, most gamemakers on the show floor are previewing big RPGs.
The latest entries in the Suikoden and Phantasy Star series are coming exclusively to DS. Other RPGs are built on more quirky concepts: Riz-Zoawd is a retelling of The Wizard of Oz.
Many of these games will be released in early November, alongside the launch of the updated Nintendo DSi. The $185 version of the system will include two built-in cameras and the ability to download games.
Portable gaming in general is experiencing a renaissance in Japan, says Capcom's Kobayashi. "PSP is doing well, and for the first time, I'm working on a PSP title." Square Enix is also showing strong PSP titles in its Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series, although the next home console versions of those games are still far away.
After DS and PSP, the next most prevalent platform at TGS is Wii. The most powerful consoles, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, have the fewest games on the floor.
Software engineer Tom Fulp, whose company Behemoth created the recent Xbox Live game Castle Crashers, said his favorite games on the show floor aren't "super mind-blowing, technology-wise."
Instead, Fulp admires Japanese gamemakers' quirky creativity. "They have more fun with their stuff," he says.
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