Here is a list of games that are going to be playable at the TGS, October 9th to 12th -

• Sengoku BASARA: Battle Heroes
• Shin Sangoku Musou: MULTI RAID
• Musou OROCHI: Maou Sairin
• KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep
• DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY
• Clank & Ratchet: Maru Hi Mission Ignition!
• Sarugetchu Pipo-Saru Senki
• Patapon 2 Donchaka
• BLEACH ~Soul Carnival~
• Mainichi Issho Portable
• Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida or2
• LocoRoco 2
• THE iDOLM@STER SP
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam
• Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2

Standout titles for me are LocoRoco and DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY which I’m looking forward to seeing in more detail. Worryingly there are plenty of titles in the list that appear to be of a Japanese flavour, as opposed to global games that the European and US market are likely to see anywhere other than on the import shelves.

Reuters have news that Nintendo, the biggest competitor to Sony and the PSP, is to launch a new DS that can take photos and play music.

There is no official word on when it will be launched, but it must be seen as a strong move by Nintendo who have been losing out to the PSP in Japan over recent months (global sales of the DS still dominate however.)

No real word on the specs for the new DS, other than it will have the addition of built in ‘advanced’ wi-fi capabilities and the already mentioned camera and music capabilities. Price is expected to be slightly higher than the current model, but with the added features this is hardly surprising.

Whether, like Reuters states, this will put the DS up against the iPod remains to be seen, but I can’t see the two devices really competing for the same consumer market.

As I posted yesterday, Edge printed an article that talked about the decline in PSP software titles this year compared to 2006 and 2007. They have now posted a response to the article from John Koller, the SCEA director of hardware marketing.

Koller acknowledged the reality of the situation. “On the software side we’ve been very open about the fact that there are fewer games this year,” he said, alluding to earlier comments made by Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida. According to Koller, the major reason for 2008’s slow schedule comes down to the nature of the development cycle, relative to slower PSP hardware sales in 2006.

“Decisions made 20-22 months ago from a development cycle perspective are affecting the quantity of titles available today,” Koller explains. “20-22 months ago developers and publishers were looking at the PSP hardware and thinking `It’s not selling as well, maybe it’s time to move our resources elsewhere.’” Koller also mentions that publishers and developments were also measuring the viability of the then very new next generation consoles at the time.

Koller then goes on to talk about the demographics of the PSP, badly targeted games, and the shift from the mid-20’s males that the PSP was orignally marketed at to the parents buying the PSP for their younger children.

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