T3 Top Ten: Games of TGS

It's the last great games show of the year; these are the games you'll be begging for in the next twelve months and beyond.

The last games show of the season has kicked off in Tokyo and it is usually the staging ground for the most exciting announcements ahead of the Xmas rush. So far, Microsoft appears to be stealing the show - hardly surprising thanks to the fact Japanese gamers have finally noticed the Xbox 360 is available and have started buying up the consoles in their thousands.

There's no shortage of titles on display, including fresh footage of already announced games and grand unveilings of even newer ones. Here are ten hand-picked highlights of the show so far.

Halo 3: Recon - Master Chief's back! Oh wait, no he isn't. But Halo's back, sporting a whole new campaign surrounding the events of Halo 3. You'll play as the member of the elite ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) who specialise in being first into nasty places. However, you're not safely tucked away in Spartan armour, so you'll be sneaking about the battlefield instead of charging in and ripping Covenant balls off. You can find a trailer here. Due out in autumn, 2009.

Resident Evil 5 - There's been a lot of hype about Resi 5. Some scandal too, but mainly hype. The game is shuffling ponderously towards a full release and the latest trailer reveals that Wesker will be back to evil tricks, looking decidedly more bad ass than ever before, and it explains a little more about how Umbrella connects the events of Resi 4 to the new game and the original titles. Look out for this in early summer, 2009.

Prince of Persia - The Prince has done the rounds a few times, but the latest outing marks a radical change in art style and direction. The illustrative cel-shaded look is gorgeous, as you can see from the fresh batch of screens. The Prince will also have a new female side-kick who we're hoping is a polite way of saying 'Coop Mode', although the developer has made any commitments. So, errr, what use is she then? Expected later this year, but don't be surprised at a delay or two.

Bayonetta - Sega has the Devil May Cry director on board to create an action packed title for Xbox 360 and PS3. At the moment, it looks exactly like Devil May Cry except that the foppish youth of DMC has been replaced with a bespectacled librarian chick. And that's no bad thing either. Release date is still to be announced, but we'd expect it sometime next year. Check it out here.

Resistance: Retribution - This one first showed up at E3, and it's receiving a fuller airing at TGS. While the idea of taking Resistance to the PSP is appealing, the newly announced Resistance 2 - Resistance: Retribution connectivity has us very excited. This will let you use a Sixaxis controller to play the game. That'll make it easier of course, so activating 'Infected mode' will change the gameplay to better suit your controls. Due out in spring, 2009.

Patapon 2 - Pata Pata Pata Pon; Patapon is back with a dramatically enhanced gameplay features. There's four-player multiplayer, the ability to create your own Patapon creature and several different mini-games. The multiplayer sees players cooperating to direct their units through keeping accurate rhytms. It only requires one person to own a copy of the game too, so hopefully this underappreciated series will find its way into the hearts of new players. Patapon 2 is

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle - The quirky Wii sandbox game is coming back for a second run. Little is known about the game except that it probably won't differ too significantly from the original. Of course, the Wii's enhanced Motion Plus controls wouldn't go amiss where the beam katana is involved. Check out the first trailer here.

Tekken 6 - It wouldn't be TGS without a decent beat-em-up somewhere on display. Tekken 6 will be the first Tekken game on the 360 and features all the usual incremental upgrades in graphics and characters. The console version will sport two new characters, Alisa Boskonovich and Lars Alexanderson. It's due out in autumn, 2009.

Halo Wars - Recon isn't the only Halo franchise Microsoft has on show. Halo Wars, the RTS spin off is also getting an airing. The game is set 20 years before the events of the other Halo games, but despite this, the infamous Flood will be making an appearance. We'll be interested to see how that one ties in with Combat Evolved. The campaign is expected to last up to 12 hours. The game is expected to launch next year.

Bastard!! Online - We don't have the first clue what this game is about, but we'd buy pretty much any game entitled 'Bastard!!'. Odds are that it's some kind of turn-based RPG. And the fact that it's online presumably means there's some kind off MMO aspect to it. The online world has more than its fair share of bastards, so the title's pretty apt. We'd even go as far as to say that Utter Prick!! Online would get a decent airing too. There's a video here.