Microsoft kicked off the Tokyo Game Show in relative style, reinforcing their desire to break into the Japanese market through key partnerships with some of the industry's most well-known entities as well as games, games, games.

Kinect actually saw a solid representation at the event, with a handful of hardcore titles announced from key studios to ensure core gamers retain interest in their controller-free gaming experience.

Managing Director of Microsoft in Japan, Takashi Sensui, came out and revealed we'd be seeing 10 new games in development for Xbox 360, Xbox Live and Kinect and wasted no time showing just how far they'd come by introducing Metal Gear Solid: Rising producer, Shigenobu Matsuyama, and director, Mineshi Kimura, out to show off the game's sword-slicing tech in real-time.

Cutting through a host of bowling pins, Matsuyama, explained that the game's engine allows for slicing at any angle, and that objects and physics would react dynamically to that. He also cut up watermelons and then played with two drones from MGS 4 who helped him out by juggling various objects and offering typical MGS-style humour to the presentation. Unfortunately all we saw was a tech-demo, with no real indication on how the game would play, and seeing that these guys were actually taking time to line up most of their demo cuts, I'm not sure how it's going to translate into fast-paced, thick action. It looks visually stunning though.



Concept art for Project Draco. Dragons have never looked so cool
Phil Spencer came out next and offered up a bunch of hyperbole, like telling the crowd that Halo: Reach sold more than US$200 million in its first day and is currently the highest grossing entertainment launch for 2010. He also mentioned that the Xbox 360 in North America enjoyed its third month in a row as the number one console, which he likened to the new design.

But it was all about games. Spencer talked passionately about inviting Japanese partners in to help them realise greater success in the country, and then revealed five exclusive partnerships and games.

• Spike, who are a well-known and respected Japanese developer of wrestling titles, are making Fire-Pro Wrestling for the Xbox 360 that will offer your Avatars as the game's main characters in cheesy (but cute) rasslin' attire. Could be fun.
• Treasure, best known for the Ikaruga series, are bringing a beefed up version of Radiant Silvergun to Xbox Live, and it looked mighty impressive. These guys are the king of top-down shooters, so I'll be all over this.
• Nanon-Sha, who were behind such classic games as Vib Ribbon and Parappa the Rapper, are making a game for Kinect called Haunt, which we're told is essentially a horror game. The trailer barely revealed anything though, so we'll have to wait and see.
• Grounding Inc, the company set up by the legendary Yukio Futatsagi (Phantom Dust, Panzer Dragoon) will also be working on a Kinect game, this time combining the desire to fly and ride giant beasts. Project Draco will but you on the back of giant dragons soaring through the air, which could actually be really cool if handled correctly.
• Finally, Suda 51 came out to reveal that Grasshopper Manufacture are working on a Kinect game also, that won't have guns or swords or any weapons like that. Codename D is what it's currently called and the trailer showed a creepy amusement park with what looked to be enemies wearing equally creepy animal masks. The main character, wearing a baseball cap, had a baseball in his hand which he turned into flame and then everyone exploded. In my notes while in the keynote I wrote "WTF?" and that stands. But it's Suda 51, so I have faith.

Suda 51 was not the guy we thought he'd be, he was nice, pleasant and presentable, but his imagination is pretty messed up
Sensui came back out and talked a little about Kinect's launch in Japan, then introduced Child of Eden from Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who half revealed some new stages for the game. But we're seeing this in greater depth in the coming days, so stay tuned for much more. Just know that if you love Rez or Lumines, you're going love this.

Time for two more reveals, the first of which is another Kinect title from SEGA. Rise of Nightmares is a horror game that *looked* like it could be House of the Dead reignited, but then maybe not. The trailer was pretty creepy and messed up though, so I have high hopes that SEGA can put something cool together, I just hope it has more depth than the aforementioned.

And finally the big reveal, again for Kinect, is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armour, from From Software and Capcom. The trailer (which you can view right here) didn't show too much and ends with a teasing entry into the cockpit of a giant mech, but the last Steel Battalion was awesome, and this seems like a good fit for Kinect, so we definitely have our fingers crossed this turns out awesome.

That was it, show over, but we have plenty more to come so stay tuned!



Inside the cockpit of one of Steel Battalion's mechs. This game has a lot of potential