TGS: Koei press conference details

[10.12.01] » TGS lineup, future plans discussed.

   Koei held a conference before the Tokyo Game Show to discuss their games, both future and present, as well as to discuss their general business strategy for the near future. Among the new games was Houshin Engi 2 for the PlayStation 2, yet another RPG based in Chinese culture, this time drawing from the historical event of an ancient revolution. New games for Xbox included Crimson Sea and a port of the PC game Nobunaga's Ambition: Chronicles of Chaos. The company also plans to produce games for Nintendo's GameCube and Game Boy Advance, but didn't announce anything in specific.

   Not all of these games will be seeing US release; Koei also revealed their region-specific strategy of releasing games in territories most likely to appreciate them. Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Nobunaga's Ambitions were held up as examples of "Asian" games, while titles such as Gitaroo-Man, Yanya Cabalista, and Kessen 2 were cited as being geared toward American and European audiences. Gitaroo-Man's revised US release date was given as January 2002, with no European release date given.

   Finally, in what appears to be an inability to learn from the mistakes of other companies, Koei revealed their intentions to branch out into sports games, online games, and film and animation.