Eurogamer's Rob Fahey provides a couple new details on some of the online features of the PlayStation 3.

Fahey asks a key question, but unfortunately never gets around to answering it: "Can a company whose online strategy in the last generation was so patchy, and their actual service so weak, really turn things around on the online front in time for the PS3's launch?"

Here's a summary of the write-up, lorry-loads of fluff removed:

• The core OS of the system can be updated by Sony online [we knew this; it's expected in any online system]
• Both PS3 SKUs include a hard drive, critical for downloading content [we also knew this, but it's worth repeating as an advantage of the lower-priced PS3 bundle versus the Xbox 360's lowest-priced system]
• The system stores the profiles of different users within the household. Select a profile and the system logs that profile in, setting system configuration details according to the data stored with that profile. [We knew this.]
• Settings are managed via an interface that looks like the PSP's settings interface. Configure network settings, passwords, and so on. [We knew this.]
• "Fully-functional" web browser that will allow users to access "any site" on the internet. [We knew this.]
• The system tracks the online status of the people on your friends list. Users can send friends text messages (via a PSP-style text messaging system or via USB keyboard), engage in voice and video chat [no voice mail?], and view pop-up notices as friend status changes. The system doesn't allow one to respond to these in-game status pop-ups, so you'll have to exit your game if you want to read the message you just received. [New detail?]
• Account management: there are two types of PlayStation Network account: master accounts are like administrator accounts, while "associated accounts" can be restricted in some unspecified way. [New detail?]
• Global sign-in IDs: like Xbox Live, global IDs make the process of finding and adding friends to your friends list an easier task than, say, punching in an obfuscated alpha-numeric code. [We knew this.]
• PlayStation Store: obtain demos, purchase downloadable PSone and PS2 games, purchase downloadable extras (horse armor FTW), and pay for subscriptions to certain (premium) online games in local currency. Sony avoids getting eaten alive by transaction fees by requiring deposits of cash into a virtual wallet. Once cash is deposited to the wallet, it's spent the same way MS Points are spent. [Does this mean that credit cards are required for online purchases?] Game-specific mini marts will show premium content for a specific game only. [We knew this.]

If you're wondering why us round-eyes ain't gonna see a price break on the Xbox 360 this holiday, Japan might have something to do with it.

See, Microsoft has put together this sweet, Japan-only Blue Dragon bundle that probably ain't gonna do much to enhance the company's bottom line (read: it's likely subsidized), but will (they hope) juice the 360's pitiable sales in that country.

For just ¥29,800 (approximately $252 at the time of this writing), Japanese gamers will walk off with a basic Xbox 360, the Blue Dragon game itself, a limited-edition faceplate (aren't they all?), and five Blue Dragon figurines, according to the fine folks over at Siliconera.

We've inserted images of the goods after the break.

[Update 1: Post comments have been locked as the bulk of comments posted were off-topic.]

A smattering of additional game videos from the Tokyo Game Show, culled together from what you wanted to see added to our best of list.

Videos are embedded after the jump.

Walking along the convention center, we were constantly reminded to look up and gaze at the massive floating ornaments signifying each booth. Square Enix's Chocobo and Slime floats were visible from anywhere on the floor, as were dozens of other air polluters. More pictures after the break.

Though it wasn't playable on the Tokyo Game Show floor -- not even in the booth with other mature-rated games like Riot Act (Crackdown) and Dead Rising -- Microsoft was giving press a tease of Gears of War, their fall lineup's killer app. Alan Willard, a technical designer at Epic Games and a giant scruff of a man with a penchant for terse answers, walked us through a demo level gleefully pointing out areas of interest. For example, the gratuitous splattering of blood and gore that spits onto the screen after the equally gratuitous chainsaw-bayoneting was his handiwork. "I did that," he said proudly. And, if you're curious, it's a particle effect.

Our must-see-Tokyo Game Show list of videos delivers a jab straight to your optic core. This year's standouts are embedded after the jump. Click the links for larger and downloadable versions.

Tell us what your favorites were from the show and we'll add 'em to the lineup.

Following our showing of the slightly macabre Viva Piñata, we were shown the far more sedate racing-sim, Forza Motorspot II. The sequel promises more of what made Forza a success, with some notable additions. Chris Lee, the Group Product Manager at Microsoft, walked us through an early build of the game, making sure to point out that it's in an early stage and may exhibit some characteristic wonkiness. Of course, that's why it's being shown behind closed doors instead of being trotted out on the show floor (see: Coded Arms Assault).

While I didn't see any glitches or other anomolies that would have revealed the game's incomplete state, I did note a general lack of grittiness in the cars and environments. Lee said the art design for the series is intentionally clean and crisp but, somehow, it makes the vehicles look plasticine .... at least as long as the car is all in one piece. As in the first game, your car can and will take damage when you hit a wall or another car. In the example he showed us, the bumper fell off and remained on the track, interacting with the world and other cars, exhibiting its own physics.

These photos (snapped on the train to the Tokyo Game Show on Saturday morning) demonstrate the rare skill known as "parenting." (Judging from the antiquated hardware, this also demonstrates another rare life skill known as "frugality.")

In six years of riding the New York City subway to work (and around town), I never saw a scene like this. Add these shots to the stack of evidence that demonstrates that gaming in Japan is both a family and a public affair, free from the stigma that plague the hobby in the United States.

Then again, we never did get a good look at the screen. They could have been paging through super ecchi manga on the thing, for all we know.

Advertising's omnipresence in Tokyo is so complete and thorough that we only take notice when it's missing. Like air, you only notice it when it's gone.

It's therefore notable that most prime Makuhari convention center facades lack advertising of any sort, even though they were clearly designed to support large-format ads. There are a few possibilities that might help explain what's going on:

• Advertising's inneffective: Given limited budget, game companies appear to prefer to pour Yen into their booths, the babes that staff them, the bags the babes hand out, and other tangible improvements to enhance their show presences. Game promoters have other means of driving traffic to (and interest in) their booths and their games.
• Bad placement: Advertising plastered on lofty facades might be worthless if everyone's got his nose buried in a portable game device
• Operational challenges: Perhaps show organizers aren't too skilled at wringing money from companies in attendance (if there's one thing the E3 organizers did well, it's help companies shell out lots of dough).
• Small potatoes: in the grand scheme of things, this show isn't that important. It's just three days out of a 24-7, 365-day effort to woo gamers. That might explain why Nintendo's nowhere to be seen.

The 20? Near the exits of Chiba's Kaihin Makuhari train station, where a crack team of Microsoft marketeers established an outpost during morning rush hour each day of the Tokyo Game Show.

Their mission? Grab virgin mindshare before attendees could be dazzled by competitors' booths full of bleeps, bloops, babes and strobes.

Their weapon? A bag emblazoned with the Blue Dragon name and logo. As far as TGS schwag goes, these bags are like the thing. Attendees just gobble them up. Check my impersonation of a TGS attendee: "Hey! Free bag!"

It's clear that Microsoft's working hard to promote developer Mistwalker's Blue Dragon, but it's hard to believe that any single title will be the silver bullet that the company so badly needs in this market. They're working it, but to what end? We look forward to next week's Xbox 360 sales numbers for the Japan territory.

Sure, the Wii line consumed entire days of weary E3 visitor's schedules, as Nintendo bottlenecked the fawning throngs into a single drip feed. But the open-to-the-public TGS line is on a scale all its own, extending from the entrance of the Makuhari Messe convention cener in Chiba, all the way to the trains from Tokyo that appeared to be delivering eager pilgrims to the event quicker than the event could absorb them into its fold.

This video clocks in at a foot-anchingly long twelve minutes. We don't recommend watching the entire thing ... maybe just jump from part to part. Or use a stopwatch to count down twelve minutes and then check in at the end. If we can assume that our walking speed was about 4mph (the average is three, but we were walking pretty fast), and it took us twelve minutes, the line was roughly 0.8 miles. And growing.

When we heard PaRappa the Rapper was coming to the PSP, we were elated. When we discovered it would simply be a remake of the original title, we were conflicted. While we adore the original PaRappa, we also wouldn't mind a new installment to the franchise, with lessons learned from the underwhelming PaRappa 2.

The PSP demo shown on the floor is the exact same demo Sony used for the PS One PaRappa the Rapper demo, which is also the first level in the game. For those who don't remember, PaRappa the Rapper is a rhythm game in the vein of Simon Says. Your opponent will bust a few grooves, and by pressing the displayed button combinations in sync with the tempo you can spit your foe's words back in his or her face. The demo has PaRappa up against Chop Chop Master Onion, a karate teacher with an onion for a head.

The graphics have been cleaned up and the audio is a bit crisper than the original, but our lovable rhymester still stutters his words even when we hit the buttons perfectly. None of the new features have been revealed, including the promised multiplayer mode. We recommend dusting off the original game for now, and wait to see if the extra features / multiplayer warrant a new purchase.

Check out the awesome PaRappa sticker they had on the PSP demo units after the break.

Viva Piñata was our first in a series of Microsoft press events being held yesterday during the first day of the open-to-the-public portion of the Tokyo Game Show. Safely huddled away from the unwashed gaming masses filling the Makuhari Messe convention center to within an inch of its legal limitations, I pulled up a chair to be walked through Rare's holiday hopeful by Michael Johnson, a Global Product Manager at Microsoft

Though we're inclined to process their insistence that Viva Piñata offers a depth of play that makes the kiddie-happy "life simulator" appealing to older audiences as self serving (of course they think it will be), there are several elements of the game that strike me as a bit twisted, in a wry, British sort of way. In addition to being able to crack open your piñatas and watch their sugary entrails pour out, the sensitive issue of procreation is handled quite literally through a "romance dance." No Hot Coffee minigame here, just the right tunes and the right moves, and somehow a stork gets the message that he should whip up some offspring to be delivered in egg format -- no icky birthing process necessary!

Most of us know Fuzion Frenzy as that demo Xbox junkies play when they are sick of Halo but are too lazy to change discs. The full game was a fun but ultimately forgettable collection of minigames. Microsoft is giving the IP another go, and we got to check out one of the minigames from Fuzion Frenzy 2; it turns out, from what we played, the sequel is on track to becoming as forgettable as its predecessor.

The demo, also available on Xbox Live, is a 4-on-4 battle for coins. With flame thrower in tow, you move around a frozen arena while melting ice towers and torching your opponents. The potential in the concept far exceeds its execution here. Aiming proved tricky: you must stop before igniting the air and once the flames start your ability to turn diminishes greatly.

Is this demo -- a minigame that Microsoft deemed worthy to represent the rest of the gang -- indicative of another unimpressive collection? It's hard to say right now, as this is only one part of the final product. Based on this demo, however, we wouldn't expect anything great.

At least, that's assuming Namco Bandai is only releasing one RPG set within the mind of a dying composer next year. The official press release reveals a new RPG called Eternal Sonata and describes the inevitably epic story as such: The story of Eternal Sonata begins as a famous composer, on his deathbed, drifts between this life and the next. In his reverie, a happenstance encounter of a young girl who accepts her terrible destiny and a young boy fighting to save her, changes the destiny of the world.

Though piano maestro Chopin (not pronounced chop-in') isn't directly mentioned, it seems safe to assume that Eternal Sonata and Trusty Bell have his final and frighteningly colorful dreams in common. Judging by the TGS trailer, screenshots and IGN's preview, Eternal Sonata features absolutely charming graphics, classy music and a turn-based combat system that seems slightly reminiscent of those found in Xenogears and two thirds of Xenosaga. We certainly look forward to playing the English version next year and facing off against an evil, bio-mechanical Beethoven boss.