| PS2 March Additions |
Updates |
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A number of Playstation 2 titles were appended to the March 2001
schedule overnight. Konami weighs in with four additions: Live
J-League Perfect Striker 3, WTA Tennis Tour, Eternity
Master V, and Beatmania IIDX 4th Style. Other publishers
make the cut including Tecmo with Gallop Racer 5 and Monster
Farm 3, Dazu's Velvet File Plus and Sony's own Rimokokoron,
Pony Point, and Phase Paradox. Idea Factory brings in Rock
Vegas Box which appears to be a racing game based on the American
Flintstones movie titled "Viva Rock Vegas". Ubisoft goes
with a classic Disney character as hero incarnate in Donald Duck
Rescue Revenge. This title will be subtitled "Goin'
Quackers" for the USA market. Bandai rounds
out the overnight PS2 additions with Classic 2001 Spring, a horse racing
simulation.
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NCS' first quarter 2001 Playstation
2 schedule will be updated later today to reflect the new
additions. Any further changes will be posted automatically to
the listings that are currently online. Pre-orders are welcome for any
of the new products announced today. Items will be added to the online
shop over the next couple of days as some dates have not been
finalized yet.
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| PS1
March 2001 Update |
Bemani |
A healthy mix of imports are winding their
way to the Japanese Playstation this March. ASCII leads the way with Let's
Make a Concert and Konami follows that musical act by the grace of
Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix and Beatmania: The Sound of
Tokyo. The Tokimeki girls also make two appearances in March.
First up is Tokimeki Memorial 2 Matching Puzzle trailed a
couple of weeks later by Tokimeki Memorial 2: Leaving School.
The spiky haired ninja also returns to the PS in Goemon Adventurous
Daiedo. Finally, the Konami camp digs deep into the past (1993 is
antediluvian in the videogame market) to locate the Sharp X68000 PC
version of Dracula. Eight levels of Simon Belmont in search of
Dracula await the Akumajou fan.
Super Robot Wars Alpha: Another Story will
undoubtedly enthrall the SRW audience once again. Robots from four
television animation series' join the action and new in-game features
include resistance levels of robots to attacks, alliances, robot
trading, and independent experience point accumulation by your cadres.
A limited edition ships in a crystal clear box and includes a binder,
a memory card case with matching sticker, and a history of Super Robot
Wars fan book. This game will ship on March 29.
Other titles of note that should find hefty
pre-orders are: Genso Suikogaiden Vol. 2: Duel at Crystal Valley
and Emblem Saga, which continues the mega-popular Fire Emblem
series. Dating also garners it's mind share in March with Sentimental
Grafitti 3 and Sister Princess. |
Yes,
the beat forges ahead in 2001 as Konami keeps the music flowing and
the people moving in rhythm. The coin-op performance of Bemani
machines in Japan remain strong, perhaps surprisingly so given the
short shelf life of most games. Even the marquee headliners don't have
the staying power they once had, thanks to mighty home consoles. The
assured sellers such as Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania continue
to rock the world with Europe invaded already and the USA next in the
scopes. DDR hits the American Playstation on January 31 and if the
rest of the world is any indication, it should be a hit among the
masses. Scary thought : Richard Simmons in DDR Dancing to the Oldies...
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| DC
Magazine GD-Rom Revised Date |
Sega Gaga
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The upcoming Dreamcast Magazine with the
Shenmue 2 preview is now dated February 9, 2001 with an arrival date
at NCS of January 28 instead of next Wednesday. The GD-Rom included in
this issue will foster playable previews of: Aero Dancing I, Battle
Beaster, Hundred Swords, and Ultimate Fighting
Championship. Cinema previews are comprised of Eldorado Gate
Vol. 3, Sega Gaga, and Shenmue 2. Pre-orders are
welcome via e-mail
request or online
pre-order. |
Interest
in Sega Gaga is good enough for NCS to submit a pre-order for the
game. We expect Gaga to arrive in March and devotees will finally get
their chance at running the Sega corporation, albeit in virtual
space.
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| Delays |
Love Baraburi
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Playstation Aero Dive and Love
Baraburi Tokyo Barabara Girl were expected today but now seem to
be slated for Friday morning. Nothing else appears to be on schedule
this week as the PS2 title Go to Find It now looks to arrive on
Monday of next week. A smattering of restock should also
arrive by tomorrow if our shipments are cleared in time. We know
package volume is lighter for UPS and Fedex nowadays because we see the trucks when they
unload some of our domestic freight and the trucks are nearly bare
inside. So, the late delivery malaise is puzzling. |
Also known as
Para Para Dance, Love Baraburi tries to digitize the Japanese
nightclub dance craze wherein hand movements and mass mimicry of lead
dancers convert a club into a collective of dancers doing the same
thing at the same time.
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