TGS wraps up, PSP plugs in, 2.0 exploit's out.

So the Tokyo Game Show is over for another year. The Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer really knocked everyone's socks off and initially sparked debate over whether it was pre-rendered or actually running in real-time. After the Killzone 3 trailer shown at E3 in May turned out not to be truly real-time, people have become understandably sceptical. Hideo Kojima took the opportunity to nip the rumours in the bud, by demonstrating the MGS4 engine in a live presentation at TGS. He controlled the camera and altered many effects on the PS3 alpha kit as proof that MGS4, while still at least a year from release, is already running in real-time.




Konami also let attendees get hands-on with their new 3D PSP peripheral for Metal Gear Ac!d 2 on the show floor. The "TobidAc!d" is a lightweight add-on (reportedly made of cardboard) that folds around the PSP and produces a convincing 3D effect by splitting the widescreen into smaller displays for each eye. It has now been confirmed that the entire game can be played in 3D and that the title will sport USB connectivity features with MGS3:Subsistence on PS2. Cinematic sequences and photos taken from MGS3:S on PS2 will be viewable in true 3D on the PSP. The "TobidAc!d" was shown in both black and white variations to match the PSP's colours.




Nintendo put many gamers' minds at ease when they announced that an official cradle would be released allowing their radical new Revolution controller to slot into a more traditional Wavebird-style controller, allowing conventional controller input in addition to the new motion-sensing features. While many tech demos were playable, no actual Revolution games were shown.



Microsoft's TGS showing for XBox360 didn't cause much buzz. Racing games Project Gotham Racing 3, Ridge Racer 6 and Test Drive Unlimited were all on show, but failed to inspire and were widely regarded as "more of the same". Dead Or Alive 4 (above) and Gears Of War looked gorgeous, but less than innovative. The first wireless arcade stick for 360 was shown in a DOA4 theme (below).




Capcom had a very strong presence. Dead Rising looks set to be a launch title on 360 and is shaping up to be a dead-ringer for George Romero's Dawn of The Dead, while Resident Evil 5 (below, coming to 360 and PS3) looks stunning, even at this early stage. New additions to the Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe franchises also look promising.




Sega's Sonic Team unveiled a playable next-gen Sonic title (above, for PS3 and 360) that looked great and retained the classic gameplay style of the original Sonic games. A new PSP exclusive version of Namco's brilliantly quirky Katamari Damacy franchise was playable at their booth (below), though the lack of twin analog sticks means the d-pad and face buttons are used for control instead. Namco also staged a tournament for their soon to be released PS2-exclusive fighter, Soul Calibur III, which could be the deepest fighting game yet, featuring an unprecedented amount of extra modes and huge scope for creating and customizing characters.





Okay, enough TGS...moving on:

The first true exploit for the PSP's 2.0 firmware has been found. A method for triggering a buffer overflow and running a simple piece of homebrew code embedded in malformed PNG and TIFF images has been discovered and released. Whether this exploit can be reworked and used to launch more complex homebrew applications remains to be seen. This may finally draw attention away from the long awaited 1.5 downgrader from Yoshihiro, which has proven to be vaporware. It turns out Yoshihiro never had a working 1.52 to 1.50 downgrader and the WAB team accepted a whole lot of PayPal donations under false pretences. The other notable WAB team member, AloneTrio, seems to have kept most of the money. The saga ended with a customary team meltdown and undignified brew-ha-ha of lies, greed, insults and blame-shifting.

Meanwhile, Team Xecuter, famous for their XBox mod chips, are preparing an unofficial PSP AV-out adapter for commercial release. The solderless system, currently dubbed PSP2TV, has two parts: the first is a replacement faceplate with a connector for the second part, which clips onto the back of the PSP when needed (while still allowing the UMD door to open). The back part features standard stereo AV out RCA connections, plus a port to attach a PS2 controller! The aspect ratio is selectable between 16:9 or 4:3 output.