Posted by: Nik Taylor

Well, here I am in Japan; bleary-eyed and more than a little jetlagged, but very ready for the four days of Tokyo Game Show that lay ahead. Everything kicks off tomorrow morning with the keynote speech from Sony’s top man Kaz Hirai. He’s expected to announce a price drop for the PlayStation 3, plus a new slimmer, lighter…oh, hang on, that already happened, didn’t it? Of course, that was the whisper for Hirai’s speech, before Sony went and scooped itself at Gamescom. Now we’re left wondering just what the Sony boss will have to say in an address with the somewhat yawnsome title of ‘New tactics for 2009’ (and isn’t it a little late to be plotting for what little is left of this year?) But while you probably shouldn’t expect any major announcements in that one (Sony’s already made quite a few for one year, after all), don’t bet against Hirai having kept back one or two little surprises. A street date for Gran Turismo 5, plus some more on those motion controllers would seem to be strong contenders.

After the Sony spot, it’s onto the show proper. I’m going to be legging it around the floor of the Makuhari Messe getting my hands on as many games as possible, as well as posting the latest news to come out of Tokyo. Come back to this blog to keep in touch or, even better, visit our TGS 2009 mini-site. You can also follow me on Twitter. I can guarantee you at least two big announcements coming very soon, which I would love to blog about right now if I weren’t sure to be deported by the PR police for doing so.

As usual with these events, some developers have crashed the party early by holding their own pre-TGS showcases. Perhaps the most notable news came out of EA’s, where the publisher announced it would be releasing a demo of Left 4 Dead 2 on Xbox and PC on October 27. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth from those who say the sequel has come just too soon, dammit.

That’s for starters, but in the meantime, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can get to grips with the Tokyo subway system tomorrow, and also get my head around Japanese menus. Dinner tonight was ‘five types of chicken brochettes’, which sounded ace until I realised it meant that each one of the five used a different part of the bird. At least two of them were unrecognisable to me. Gizzards, perhaps. Still, very tasty, nonetheless.