This year’s Tokyo Game Show is coming up quickly, starting next week on October 9 through the 12th, and until now it seemed like a fairly lackluster show since it seemed like the show would be full of titles we’ve already seen and heard about before. Kotaku and 1up revealed the news that Sony would have no less than 14 new titles to announce at TGS, nine of their own games on the PS3 and two more coming from Konami and Irem while there will be three more games announced for the PSP, all presumably from Sony. There’s no word on whether the two non-Sony games are exclusive or not, but that may be the case if they news originated from Sony.

Instead of just posting the news an itself and waiting for the announcements to come, I thought that it would be interesting to speculate on what those 14 new games could be. Hit the jump for the speculation fun!

Konami’s PS3 Game

• Zone of the Enders 3 – Konami’s not likely to make a multiplatform franchise exclusive for the PS3, but this would be a good sign that Kojima’s ready to move on from the Metal Gear Solid series, at least for the time being.
• Castlevania – while the idea for a new 3D game doesn’t entice me, it would be interesting if they go the route of the 2D games for a new downloadable game. Or maybe one of the GBA or DS games could be remastered for release on the PlayStation Network?
• A new game – This seems likely, as well, though I’d also suggest that Kojima Productions is behind a new property, as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the other studios at Konami is behind this game, but Kojima Productions already knows the PS3 tech pretty well by now.

Bottom Line: This is like betting on the field versus Tiger Woods when he’s healthy, but I would not be surprised to hear that this announcement reveals Kojima Production’s next game for the PS3.

Irem’s PS3 Game

• R-Type – If Irem is well-known for one series, it is easily R-Type. If they go that route, or maybe another shooter, it would most likely be a downloadable game.
• Disaster Report 3 – Irem has a few other franchises under their belt, like the cheesy disaster series that they could announce a new installment for next week. Imagine this as Sony’s answer to Earth Defense Force on the Xbox 360.
• Steambot Chronicles 3 – Known as Bumpy Trot in Japan, this could be an interesting game if they expand on the original’s cel-shaded graphics for a Valkyria Chronicles-style look.
• A New Game – This seems like the easiest game to pin down, but Irem could be using that in their favor to make a surprise announcement for something original.

Bottom Line: I’d say the most likely games would be a new R-Type for PSN or another Steambot Chronicles that would take advantage of next-gen power for a beautiful cel-shaded game. Make this a 50/50 split because either option is a likely idea.

Sony’s Nine PS3 Games

• Team Ico’s Next Game – Phil Harrison’s replacement, Shuhei Yoshida, has been hyping up this game enough that Sony would be stupid to not finally announce this game.
• Gran Turismo 5 – I’m not exactly sure if Gran Turismo 5 has been formally announced just yet since their first next-gen GT games were GT HD and GT5 Prologue, so a formal announcement of the game as coming next year would be a nice way to get the next official installment to the series back into the minds of the public.
• Ape Escape 4 – The Ape Escape series has been taking detours since the third title in the series the past few years with several PSP side quests, so a return to their platforming roots would be a good idea right now. This could be a PSN since the series’ appeal as a full retail product has probably dropped considerably over the years and Sony would always love to have another big PSN exclusive.
• New PS Eye Game – We could always use more PS Eye games and with the EyePet game that was announced at Leipzig a few months ago, we could use another one, maybe something more action-oriented to take advantage of the what the PS Eye is capable of.
• Hot Shots X – Since we’ve had our fill of Hot Shots Golf this year with a new PSP and PS3 entry within months of each other, it’s time for Clap Hanz to follow up on Hot Shots Tennis with a new cute sports game for the PS3. Maybe they’ll go after the Wii Sports crowd with a series of Hot Shots games (tennis, bowling, baseball, basketball, etc) to try to make the game a great value. This could be a downloadable game in the making if they were to go for one sport, maybe make this a junior series of smaller downloadable games?
• PaRappa the Rapper 3 – We’ve been waiting long enough for the next PaRappa game and with NanaOn-Sha finishing up their Wii game, it would be the perfect time to jump back onto the PS3. I think this would definitely have to be downloadable for a series that has traditionally been really short, but would fit well with games like Everyday Shooter and PixelJunk Eden fitting that music-enhanced games.
• Siren 2 – They’ve got the engine and the game itself got good reviews, so a second Siren game for download would be a no-brainer, though an announcement this soon after the first may be the lone detractor to this possibility.
• LocoRoco/Patapon HD – The sequels to the popular unique PSP games are nearly out and will be playable at TGS, so how about announcing more crazy 2D fun for the PS3, whether it’s a sequel or not. Just don’t tease us with a Cocoreccho that plays nothing like the original games.
• RPG Time – With series like Wild Arms, Legend of Dragoon, Popolocrois, Arc the Lad, Alundra, and Legaia under their belts, there’s no reason that one or more of these shouldn’t be given a chance to shine on the PS3, as Sony’s leaned heavily on American and European titles so far this generation.
• Dark Cloud 3 – I separated this from the rest because Level 5 is finishing up White Knight Chronicles for a December release in Japan, so we could certainly see an announcement that the long-rumored third game in the Dark Cloud series is on the way.
• A New Game Republic Game – The guys behind Genji, Folklore and Dark Mist would probably not have balked at the chance for a fourth PS3 game, though it probably won’t be a follow up to Folklore or Genji since those games weren’t really big enough to get sequels.
• PixelJunk Dungeons – Secretly one of the best series on the PS3 will be returning for another game, with Dungeons being the only PixelJunk Game that Q-Games has mentioned at all, which was all the way back at the beginning of the year when it got a mention alongside PixelJunk Eden. Expect this to be a dungeon crawler done in the simple, addictive style that Q-Games has practically patented.
• The Western Titles – Being that this is the Tokyo Game Show, we’re unlikely to see much in the way of Western announcements, but one or two might not kill the bunch. Heavenly Sword, 2, Uncharted 2, Ratchet & Clank Future 2, and others could see an announcement, but Sony would probably hold off for another show in the US or Europe to let the cat out of the bag on these games.
• Jet Moto HD – With all of the PS1 games in the PlayStation Store and Wipeout HD getting huge reception, why not put the Sony Liverpool team on another classic Sony racing franchise to add some style and beauty to a series that has been dead for an entire generation now. This may not happen at TGS, but who wouldn’t like to see the Wipeout guys put their talents to good use for another PSN exclusive that could do well for them in reviving this series.
• New Games – Sony’s done a good job this generation with new IP’s (MotorStorm, Resistance, Uncharted, Folklore, and plenty of their PSN games) and with those new IP seeing sequels now, Sony could use some fresh, new games to show that they’ve got more in the pipeline, so expect some new IPs to make a big splash in both the retail and PSN channels.

Bottom Line: With nine games to announce, there’s a big chance to get a few right and be fulfilled by that small amount of success. Siren 2, Team ICO’s game, and the new PixelJunk game are the most likely to happen with GT5, Game Republic’s game, and something from Clap Hanz being maybe a 60% chance of happening, then throw in new IPs and downloadable games to fill the rest of their announcements.

Sony’s Three PSP Games

• Exisitng IPs – It’s a bit harder to guess where Sony will go on the PSP since they’ve sequel many of their biggest PSP games, so new games from IPs that have yet to be seen on the PSP.
• New IPs – I can’t see much in the way of sequels to existing PSP games since most of them have already received the sequel treatment (Wipeout, Ratchet & Clank, Hot Shots, Patapon, LocoRoco, Syphon Filter), so I’d expect to see some new games from Sony to be announced.

Bottom Line: This is the biggest toss up and since Sony’s 2009 lineup is pretty weak outside of Resistance Retribution, so they need a few new games to spice things up and show that PSP owners still have reasons to keep playing their PSP. New IP are pretty likely, though maybe Sony will throw us a curveball and announce Gran Turismo for PSP again and try to mean it this time. We’d prefer to hear news of the PS Store becoming a native application on the PSP over any games really, as that would make it so much easier to get content onto the PSP.

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About This Author: Chris Selogy

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