Microsoft's TGS Keynote talks Kinect, their "Japanese initiative"

Microsoft’s Phil Spencer and Takashi Sensui started their Tokyo Game Show keynote, talking up their new partnerships with Japanese game studios.

There was plenty of melon slicing with a MGS: Rising, Halo: Reach scored $200m its first day and then they revealed Japanese-made Xbox 360 games.

Xbox Japan general manager Takashi Sensui first talked about past TGS events and then kept focus on Japanese game developers, which is something Microsoft is very keen to play up. ”Today we would like to talk about what future successes we can strive for,” said Sensui-san. 10 titles were promised to be shown made by Japanese studios.

It was then that Metal Gear Solid: Rising came on to steal away the spotlight and stayed with the whole slicing mechanic we get to use. “The physics are going to get even better with the watermelon. There’s a real-time computation taking place. It’s quite difficult to cut them without missing,” said producer Shigenobu Matsuyama.

Kinect was not used in the MGS: Rising demo. ”You can see that Metal Gear Solid Rising is being developed according to schedule and the team is working hard to be able to announce the launch, so we request your continued support,” he added, giving no release date.

Phil Spencer then came back to say Japanese developers had help rake in over $2.1bn in revenue to date for the Xbox 360, double that of the original Xbox console. 5 of the top 6 XBLA titles were also created by Japanese talent.

Naturally Halo: Reach had to get a nod and so it was revealed it managed to slurp down $200m in sales revenue is first day released, which was this week on Tuesday. ”That’s more than any game, movie or entertainment launch in 2010,” he said.

Xbox 360 dominates Europe and enjoys its third consecutive month of being the top selling hardware in the US. Now he started moving toward games. ”We know that Japanese artists make games the world wants to play,” said Spencer.

“Today I’m pleased to announce five new creative partnerships with Japanese developers to create games exclusively for Xbox 360.”

Avatar Fire Pro Wrestling

A fighting game with XBL Avatars in a ring, in collaboration with Spike TV. No retail date.

Radiant Silver Gun HD

A partnership with Treasure unveiled as an XBLA exclusive with 2-player local and Internet support, and you can download and share replays of the game. Original Arcade and Saturn game modes will be available and it’s coming in 2011.

Haunt

Masaya Matsuura appeared via a video link were he revealed his Kinect project, noting he was ”shocked and impressed” when he first saw the technology. His new game is ”very fun and innovative, but also all about horror” said Matsuura-san. A trailer showed from a first-person view showed someone exploring a haunted house. It’s out 2011.

Project Draco

Grounding Inc is Microsoft’s friend on this one and looks to be about flying dragons. ”What I want to do most in my games is to fly. Not with my joystick. But imagine if you could ride a gigantic creature, hold the reins, point at an enemy to attack – that’s how you could ride in the sky and fight,” said director Yukio Futatsugi. It uses Kinect and is out 2011.

Codename D

From Grasshopper’s Suda51 comes something billed as ‘hardcore, punky and casual’. ”We cannot talk about the details of our game, but we can give you some hints. We will not be using guns or swords, but this is a very core action game,” said Suda-san. A trailer showed a carnival scene with insane folks in animal masks. It’s Kinect and 2011 bound.

Phil Spencer came back on at this point. “We at Microsoft Game Studios are fully committed to identifying the best talent here in Japan,” he said. “Five creators, five games, five visions . This is why we’ve embarked on the Japanese initiative.”

Namco Bandai’s Professor Kawashima’s Body and Brain Exercises is coming out ”early next year” in the US and Europe for Kinect. A new Child of Eden trailer got shown off as well. Using Kinect with it makes you feel like a conductor said Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

Sega announced their Kinect title Rise of Nightmares, and appears to be a hardcore horror title featuring numerous terrors. It’s also coming out next year. It had zombies, people dismembered, someone tied up and lots of other creepy image flashes in the trailer.

Last shown was Capcom’s Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor featuring New York City circa 2082 being invaded by a massive fleet. ”Probably you remember this title – it’s coming back. A new interpretation of Steel Battalion is born. No more production of computer chips – that would change our life completely,” said Keiji Inafune. ”Even with Kinect, we are creating games for core gamers. That’s the only thing we can do at Capcom. And we should do it thoroughly.”