And I thought the news and announcements were pretty much over for the month. Not true. Sony just had a Playstation Premiere event in Tokyo and we’ve got more stuff to be excited about.

[Update] Guess what? I can read Japanese, and there’s a live blog on the things going down in Tokyo here.

1. Last week, creator of Metal Gear, Hideo Kojima said that in the interests of time, he would only be showing a trailer for the new MGS4 at E3. But, he did invite us to see a live demo of the game in Tokyo on the 17th, which is today. So while we wait for impressions of that from…
2. No Katamari for PS3. Sad, but PS3 owners are getting a brand new game from the man who brought us Katamari Damacy called Nobi Nobi Boy, which roughly translated is “Extend Extend Boy.” From the few screen shots out over at IGN, it seems like this might be like Snake (not of the Solid or Liquid variety). Hopefully we’ll see more soon.
3. Locoroco is coming to PS3, officially, under the name: Buu Buu Cocoreccho! Locoroco. The report on it from IGN is kinda vague, saying it’s 95% complete, but “It’s Locoroco, but it’s not — a peculiar extra chapter.” There’s also mention of it playing itself when you’re not playing it(?) I don’t know, but since it’s almost done, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
4. GT5:Prologue is looking really nice. The most recently trailer from today’s event shows some… stuff. Okay, I’m not a car nut, but I do recognize that the graphics are on par with the pre-rendered intro from GT4. Plus, the number of cars in a race is at least 12 and the Volkswagon GTI is in the game. GT5:Prologue is set to hit the PS Store in October. VW in da house!
5. [UPDATE] The number of cars in a race is 16. When the game starts, instead of going to a title screen, it loads up a “My Page” which lets you change users and access the Garage functions. This is to facilitate quick access to online play. For clarification, the Prologue is coming out at the end of October, and the game will show up at the Motor Show (again, not a car nut, so I don’t know which show they’re talking about).
6. [UDPATE] White Knight Story from Level 5, which missed E3, was shown. Unique features of this game include the main character’s ability to transforming into a giant, white knight in shining armor, and while in this mode, you still have the ability to control the other members of your party, who are now tiny in comparison. Another thing shown off is the character customization feature, which appears to be quite robust. Level 5 plans to have the game playable at Tokyo Game Show this year in September.
7. [UPDATE] Namco Bandai Games showed off four of their upcoming PS3 games: Tekken 6, which will arrive in arcades, in Japan, in November, and within a year of that on PS3; Time Crisis 4, arriving this year; and Soul Calibur 4, arriving in 2008. While nothing from Nobi Nobi Boy was shown, they did demonstrate the PS3’s ability to simulate a pudding type substances behavior in real time. More to come, as they say.From the Bandai side of the company, “Ninja, fighting, and robot anime games are in development.”
8. [UPDATE] Sega announced a new game, on stage wearing traditional Japanes-looking garments. It’s called Valkyrie of the Battlefield and it’s set in 1935 on the European stage of WWII. Not much was reported where I’m reading, but the game apparently has a very water color painted visual style and is being developed by the people who made Sakura Wars. Sega also has two other games in development, but since they’re not ready to be shown yet, they ask us to look for them at TGS this year. The costumes they’re wearing are a hint as to what one of the games will be about.
9. [UPDATE] Impressions on MGS4 later, but for now, there will be online play, similar to that of MGS3: Subsistence. MGS: Portable Ops will also be getting an expansion pack with new characters and a new single player mission, though the focus is online play. More as it comes, but the pack is scheduled to be released with the PSP Slim & Lite on September 20th.
10. [UPDATE] New Dynasty Warriors. 6.
11. [UPDATE] Square Enix hopes to add the upcoming The Last Remenant, running on Unreal Engine 3, to their staple of RPGs. And while there’s nothing new on FFXIII or Versus right now, they will be showing new footage at TGS and are aiming to show it in playable form in 2008. Guess they’re still a ways off. A Crisis Core : FFVII Special Edition of the new PSP will be released a week before the launch of the new PSP in Japan, with only 77,777 to be made. It’s come packaged with the game of course. September 9th. Woot!
12. They leave us with “To Be Continued at TGS”

So, what do you want? It’s going to be a good year.