Under the new leadership of Fatal Frame alumni Jin Hasegawa, Tecmo's Itagaki-less Team Ninja is poised to unveil its latest titles at Tokyo Game Show, IGN reports. Newly appointed Tecmo president Yasuhara Kakihara began a press conference in Tokyo today with an announcement that the studio has three new action games aimed at a "worldwide audience" prepped for TGS, which gets underway on October 9.

Tecmo has also firmed up its US release schedule for the rest of 2008, which includes the M.I.A. Wii title, Rygar: The Battle of Argus, listed for December. The remainder of the publisher's '08 slate includes: Robocalypse (DS, 10/28), SPRay (Wii, 10/28), and Tecmo Bowl Kickoff (DS, November).

Although missing in action from this week's E3, Alan Wake will roll out of bed and board a plane to Japan for this year's Tokyo Game Show. According to an MSN Games "'WOW' Be a face in the game" contest, the winner will be given a trip to Finland to be scanned into the computer, then "jet off to Tokyo to [TGS] to be on the scene and on the screen!"

In the midst of GDC comes word from Japan that this year's Tokyo Game Show has been dated. Get ready for October 9 to 12 at the usual home of Makuhari Messe in Chiba City.

Organizers have already announced this year's theme: "Ready for GAME Time!" (sic). As opposed to every other year when they were just practicing for game time. Seriously, we're having a hard time grasping at this one. Previous themes include "Link up, Reach out, To the World" (2007) and "New Excitement. New Sensations. A New Generation" (2006).

Tokyo Game Show organizer CESA has announced that the annual trade show will be held October 9-12 this year, several weeks later than its typical September arrival. TGS 2008 will be hosted in the show's usual spot, the Makuhari Messe convention center, and, like last year, the first two days will be closed to the public. With E3 retaining an invite-only policy, expect TGS to continue to be the world's largest games event, with Leipzig Game Convention a close second.

[Via Gamasutra]

One of the greatest pieces of advice ever imparted by a space-faring amphibian comes directly from the Rebel Alliance's lovable but frequently surprised Admiral Ackbar. Whenever questioned about what exactly Japan's official Square Enix store is and what it represents, we feel compelled to swivel dramatically in our chairs, face the camera and blurt out, "It's a trap!"

And it's a sneaky one too. Don't march into the modest Shinjuku building expecting alarms to sound and a metal trellis to drop behind you, as the incredibly polite and professional cashiers aren't the least bit interested in capturing your body (that happens in another part of Tokyo, we hear). No, these people are silently clawing at the contents of your wallet -- and you'll find that very often the "people" are nothing more than androgynous CG citizens. If the life-sized Sephiroth trapped beneath the glass floor is pondering anything, it's the unusual business of selling real things from a fake place.

Here you'll find merchandise mined from a plethora of planets in the Square Enix universe, with every cellphone strap, shirt, figurine, lighter and necklace accounted for. If your favorite Squalls and Clouds and Soras have worn or wielded it, it's probably in a display case here with an exorbitant price tag to keep it company. Oh, and there are spoons -- yet another item meant to stir up your strange emotional attachment to places and characters that are, in reality, nothing more than reams of code and purveyors of profit.

You'll never catch us falling for it.