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| Beatmania
Pocket 2 |
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Konami has announced a new version of their handheld Beatmania game to ship on March 25.
The new portable will feature a liquid crystal display and 9 music tracks from Beatmania
2nd and 3rd Mix. Yen price is in line with the current Beatmania handheld at (Y2980).
Pre-orders are welcome. |
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| Tokimeki
Memorial 3 |
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Yesterday, we mentioned that the Tokimeki Memorial 3 would be the final volume in the
series. This is indeed the case as the girls will graduate and move on. Of course, nothing
will stop Konami from publishing additional drama series' featuring the girls as they
progress through life, careers, etc. A Tokimeki Reunion is not out of the question a few
years down the line. The Playstation and the deluxe Saturn version of Tokimeki Memorial 3
will be available on 04/01. |
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| More
Gameboy Color Imports in March |
Four new Gameboy Color cartridges have been added to the March/April line-up. Pre-orders
welcome.
| Pro Mahjong Kiwame
2 |
Athena |
03/12 |
| Traditional
Japanese mahjong game |
| Kato Hifumi Shogi
Kyoshitsu |
Culture |
03/19 |
| Shogi
quiz game |
| Sakata Goro Renju
Nyumon |
Culture |
03/26 |
| Gobang
game and puzzle |
| Top Gear Pocket |
Kemco |
04/23 |
| Racing
game with innovative vibrating cartridge |
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| Sega
Racing Wheels |
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A shipment of Dreamcast Racing Wheels and Sega Rally 2 is currently being held by U.S.
Customs. We have not been told what the problem is but we hope to have the shipment
cleared today and available by Monday. Today, NCS has quantities of Sega Rally 2 available
for sale but we were not expecting a needed shipment to be held, much less delayed. Such
are the pitfalls of the business. A number of customers who ordered SR2 and the wheel were
shipped only SR2 yesterday. We will ship the wheels when they arrive (hopefully on
Monday). Sorry for the inconvenience. |
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| Dreamcast
Keychain Update |
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The much delayed Dreamcast mini-replica keychain is expected to finally start shipping
next week. There is one redeeming factor to account for the tardiness. Unlike previous
"console keychains" such as the Playstation and N64 keychain, the DC replica
will also feature a mini flashing light. Not much but something extra to make up for the
delays. More updates next week. |
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| Playstation
Emulation Lawsuit |
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Connectix, the publisher of the Virtual Game Station emulator, has been sued by Sony. The
short of this tale of emulation and consequent litigation is this: At MacWorld 99
Connectix announced and shipped a Playstation emulator for Macintosh G3 computer models.
The VGS emulator plays a fair number of Playstation games at full speed and glitch free.
NCS notes that some of Capcom's games such as Pocket Fighter and Resident Evil will not
load. On the flipside, the recent Street Fighter Zero 3 works beautifully (with the import
patch). For a while, many Mac mavens assumed that Sony would not proceed with any lawsuit
against Connectix but even lawyers need time to draft the suit, research the merits of the
case and file it in the county clerk's office. It happened yesterday. The lawsuit appears
to hinge on the concept of intellectual property infringement. Harm of goodwill and unfair
compeition are usually associated with such infringement. |
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| Capital
Markets |
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Cautiously initiating long futures positions in the S&P 500 contract this morning. We
use the weakness in the early trading to position ourselves for a run this afternoon.
Earnings that have been reported thus far have not been bad. They're not great but they'll
do to sustain any rallies. Bears who are inclined to short the market have to take into
account the enormous amount of money that continues to flow into US equities. If the
demand for stocks outstrips the supply, high quality issues will continue to rise. It's
difficult to be a pessimist in the face of continued enthusiasm. It's also dangerous to be
negative on the market when the tide is against you. An itchy short may pull the trigger
too early and wind up losing a good chunk of capital. That's not to say that the bears
will not have their day but perhaps it would be prudent to wait until the money flows ease
up a bit. |
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Send e-mail to ncs@escape.com
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