Industry analysts and third-party publishers alike seem to be in agreement that Sony Computer Entertainment will enact a price cut for the PlayStation 3, if not debut a new slimmer model, sometime this fall. One high-profile venue that Sony could use to make those announcements sprung to the fore. The Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association has announced that SCE CEO Kazuo Hirai will deliver the 2009 Tokyo Game Show keynote address.

　　Kaz Hirai Hirai's keynote address currently bears the portentous title "New Strategy for 2009," though no other details on what his talk will entail were revealed. The Sony executive will give his presentation on September 24 at 10:30 a.m. Tokyo time, or 6:30 p.m. the previous evening California time.

　　TGS 2009 organizers noted that Hirai's presentation amounts to only one half of this year's keynote address. The second component, which follows immediately after Hirai's presentation, will be a roundtable discussion titled "Perspectives and Strategies of the Top Manufacturers in the Global Age." Participants slated to appear on the panel currently include Square Enix president and TGS 2008 keynote speaker Yoichi Wada, Sony president of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida, and Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto.

　　As in past years, TGS 2009 is a four-day event taking place at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo, Japan. This year's event will run from September 24-27, with the first two days devoted to business professionals and the back half open to the public. TGS 2008 was the largest yet for the Japanese trade show, drawing some 194,000 attendees--nearly five times as many as last month's non-public Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. GameSpot will be on hand in Tokyo to deliver news from the event as it happens.