You could almost hear the sighs of relief at the Tokyo Games Show (which took place between 22 and 24 September), as Sony broke its self-imposed silence regarding the PlayStation 3, which lasted pretty much from the E3 Show in May. During those many months of silence, the console faced an almost relentless stream of negative stories & speculation.

However, with PS3 launch titles coming together, and the console itself finally going into production, Sony had the confidence to resume the business of talking up its latest slab of hardware, with a (mainly crystal-ball-gazing, as is his wont) keynote address by Sony Computer Entertainment head honcho, Ken Kutaragi.

In addition to the show itself, a select few were invited to a hands-on PS3 showcase event at Sony’s Tokyo HQ, which gave journalists and us, the chance to catch up with Kutaragi-san himself (aka The Father of the PlayStation) and head of Worldwide Studios Phil Harrison.

We thought it would be a useful exercise to pick out the ten most salient points emerging from TGS, so here goes:

1. There will be (at least) 20 PlayStation 3 titles accompanying the Japanese and US launches - according to Kutaragi.

2. The 20GB version of the PlayStation 3 will, after all, have an HDMI-out port, so it will be able to play Blu-ray movies & 1080p games, in all their glory. This makes the cheaper PS3 a much more attractive option, since its hard disk is easily upgradeable? It’s a shame that in all likelihood, we’ll only be getting the 60GB model for the UK / European launch.

3. Harrison would only confirm Genji and Resistance: Fall of Man as definite launch titles, adding: “Obviously, we’re at a slightly fluid time when games are in final QA (Quality Assurance) but not out of final QA, so it would be brave of me to name every single one.”

4. Gran Turismo HD is a real game, and not just a tech-demo as widely speculated. It’ll come in two parts on the same disk: an early peak at what will eventually become GT5, currently entitled GT HD Premium, and the online-enabled GT HD Classic, which is essentially GT4 with knobs-on. Fingers crossed, this will hopefully be a European launch title. Look out for our in-depth look at the game in the near future.

5. A key element of the PS3 will be a seriously flash web browser & photo viewer, that’ll let you open multiple sites & images at once, and flip between them.

6. Harrison hinted broadly that some PS3 games which have a major online component - and which will require you to pay for the download of some objects - will have a lower initial purchase price than current games.

7. It looks like those lucky Japanese will get the PS3 much cheaper than us - the 20GB version will cost 49,980 Yen, about £225; albeit Sony haven’t ‘officially’ announced the price in the UK, yet.

8. PS3 owners will have single-login access to their Storefronts, where they’ll be able to buy content (or download it if it’s free); Sony will sell pre-paid Storefront cards for those who don’t own credit cards, and all transactions will be in local currencies, to avoid any confusion.

9. The main PS3 interface - dubbed the Cross-Media Bar - will be instantly familiar to PSP owners. Only with more options.

10. The following Sony-published PS3 games were playable at TGS, so it can be safely assumed they’ll be available on or around the UK launch: Resistance: Fall of Man, Genji, MotorStorm, Lair, Eye of Judgment, Formula One: Championship Edition, Heavenly Sword, Gran Turismo HD, WarHawk and Ridge Racer 7. We’ll fill you in on likely launch titles from third-party publishers soon.

To say that it took a while would be an understatement, but there, at last, at the Tokyo Games Show were real PS3s, with all their ports, final-specification controllers and so on - that we could actually get our hands on, poke, prod and generally mess around and fiddle with.

An experience which generated a number of observations:

First, there’s the general appearance of the machine. Originally, we weren’t convinced - particularly when (as at E3), they were dummy boxes locked firmly behind glass cases. There’s no doubt that the PlayStation 3 is big. But it’s pretty handsome, with a classy glossy finish that is best described as piano black. And there’s a status symbol built into the front fascia - a chrome strip which the 60GB PS3s have but the 20GB ones don’t. Another noticeable aspect of the machine, once you’ve turned it on but before you’ve inserted a disc, is that it’s very quiet (particularly in comparison with the Xbox 360 which makes a noise like a helicopter). But that does have a downside - the debug machines at TGS ran pretty hot (think erupting volcano).
A flip-up flap on the front of the console hides a multitude of ports - what joy, especially, to see slots for things like Compact Flash & SD cards, as well as Memory Sticks. Although, there’s no XD card slot, which is the format my Olympus camera uses. Still, USB ports are abundant, and all modern cameras, along with the PS3 itself, come with a USB cable, so connection between the two, couldn’t be simpler.

The controllers are, of course, reassuringly familiar in shape, and have thankfully changed in design to what can only be described as the silver shaped banana, which was first unveiled as a ‘concept’ at E3 in 2005. They do differ slightly from their PS2 brethren in certain respects, namely the removal of the rumble hardware making them significantly lighter, and the introduction of motion sensors, which tell the PS3 if it’s (the controller) being moved through any one of six different axis (pitch, yaw roll, x, y & z). Trigger / shoulder buttons are also slightly bigger, making them easier to hit more accurately, and therefore giving the user a much more intuitive feel.

You may have also noticed the red LED’s on the back, which show what channel the controller has been assigned, when hooking up more than one. And with the inclusion of Bluetooth, the PS3 can cope with up to seven wireless controllers in one go, which means the Multi-Tap is at last consigned to the dustbin of history. A large PS button at the centre of the controller is used to access reset & power options, as well as acting as a home button, taking you back to the Cross-Media Bar (the PS3’s system software). You can also choose to turn the PS3 on and off with the PS button, which means that lazier punters needn’t vacate their armchairs.

Other than those points, the most noticeable feature of the PS3 was the neatness of its HDMI connector, which is more akin to a USB cable than the spaghetti-like Component cable, we used to use. There’s no doubt - the PS3 is a sexy piece of kit which shouldn’t lead to protests from style-conscious girlfriends and the like. Just make sure you keep the furniture polish close by, as sticky fingerprints are inevitable on the glossy case.

This is the first of six films from PS3 that they’ve produced to bring to life the tech advances of the new console in a way which might make sense to all. This one’s called ‘Real Time’ and talks up the ‘Real Time Physics’ of the new console through a spot of boxing in deepest south London.

Other films - which’ll include peculiar hoarders, the new craze of ’speed stacking’, an elderly woman’s apartment exploding and extreme BMX’ing - will presumably emerge between now and the PS3’s March launch.