| Frightful
Friday freight failures frustrate... |
Toys
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The high whine of winds and the slap of rain outside our
office windows remind us of mother nature's control over the
affairs of men. She's exerting some influence today. All
inbound NCS shipments were delayed overnight and this morning
due to heavy rains in New England. As such, flights were
cancelled and everything is now slated for Monday.
Until then, Thursday's update gets rehashed
below...
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The bombardment of Final Fantasy X products and related
paraphernalia have started filtering their way to game and toy
vendors in Japan. We'll post some of the more promising ones
in an update feature next week.
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| NGP
Super Real Mahjong Premium Collection |
Scans
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Seta reprises the strip mahjong action they're infamous for
and turns out regular anime lasses far removed from any
professional stripping circuit. The action involves attractive
girls culled from Super Real Mahjong P5, P6, and P7. P5's Aya
Fujiwara battles for the sake of her honor...and blouse, Tamami
Kayama makes the cut from P6 (One of the few shocking red
"X18" games released on the Saturn and the only one
where milking a cow was a mini-game) and the Asahina sisters
from P7 bewitch mahjong mavens once more while dressed in
frilly things. Another three "Super Real" dolls round out
the latest calling from Seta. Contrary to expectations, SNK
did not include the set of fan books with this shipment despite
our company pre-orders making the deadline. As such, orders
will only ship with the game itself and we'll update our customers
by e-mail today.
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SRMJ
Premium US$50
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| PS,
PS2 Late |
Bemani
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A bulging shipment of new PS1+2 software goes awry and NCS is
left waiting another day before taking delivery. Ensconced
within the multitude of cartons: PS Beatmania ~ Sound
of Tokyo, Tokimeki Memorial 2 Leaping School Festival, Goemon
Adventurous Daiedo, PS2 Beatmania IIDX 4th Style,
Beatmania Da! Da! Da!, Eternity Master, Kessen 2, Gallop Racer
5, Rescue Helicopter Air Ranger, and Super Galdelic
Hour.
Perhaps the U.S. Customs Service were astounded
by what they saw on the cover and rear of Super Galdelic...
All stock now looks to hit tomorrow morning.
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Three Beatmania games shipping on one day has to mark some
sort of market top on the rhythm phenomenon...
The franchise appears to continue to move with
vigor in Japan but we're curious with how the DDR USA game is
doing stateside after it's release last week sans dancing pad.
We're guessing tepid sales.
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| Upcoming
Release Announcements |
2nd
Quarter
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Konami
announced J-League Winning Eleven 2001 overnight to
ship on June 21 at Y5980. The latest in Konami's legendary
series will descend on the original Playstation.
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Two new Gameboy Advance games were announced: Choro Q
Advance, scheduled for May 25 at Y4800 and EX Monopoly,
due on June 29 at Y4800.
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The Gameboy Color lives on with five new games due in May and
June. DT Lords of Genomes ships on May 25, Famous
Detective ~ The Hazardous Route goes live on June 1, Macdonald
on June 20, Star Ocean Blue ships on June 28, and
Hungry Foreman gets ready for June 29.
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The
full import schedules for April, May will be updated by NCS on
Monday of next week. Consoles covered include the PS, PS2, and
DC while handheld updates are limited to GBC and GBA. The
NGP's upcoming schedule appears bleak and the upcoming WSC
roster defines the word sparse. June's listings will be
updated within the next 2 weeks when schedules are posted by
vendors.
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| Dreamcast
May 2001 Schedule |
Analysis
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An assortment of DC software imports due in May reinforce the
notion that the DC continues to thrive. PSO v2.0 and Crazy
Taxi 2 look to eat the lion's share of May's lunch. Pia v2.5
builds on the "legend" of earlier Pia games.
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| Death
Crimson OX
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Ecole
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05.10
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| Phantasy
Star Online v2.0
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Sega
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05.17
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| Sega
Extreme Sports
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Sega
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05.17
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| Bounty
Hunter Sara
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Capcom
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05.24
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| Comic
Party
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Aqua
Plus
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05.24
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| Comic
Party Limited Edition
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Aqua
Plus
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05.24
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| Net
Versus
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Artmark
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05.24
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| Crazy
Taxi 2
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Sega
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05.31
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| Exodus
Guilty Neo
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Abel
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05.31
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| Pia
~ Welcome to Carrot v2.5
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Kid
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05.31
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Ecole threatens the market with yet another gun shooting game,
which marks the third Death Crimson. Pray that some gameplay
tweaks have been made. PSO v2.0 fixes bugs and features new
levels, new Mag robots, and additional mini-games. Comic Party
fits into the love interaction game mold with groups of girls
to discover and befriend. Crazy Taxi charges into New York and
multiple passengers may now be transported, including hep cats
who step in unison. Exodus Guilty remakes the Playstation
original with improved graphic quality, new CGs, a refined
interactive gaming system, and updated dialogue screens.
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| Biohazard
Suitcase Update |
Rival
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NCS expects to ship the remainder of all Biohazard Suitcase
orders by Friday or Monday of next week. If you have replied
to our mailing earlier in the week, you are guaranteed a unit
and NCS will contact you with a message update once your order
ships. We may have a surplus of 5-6 units but we'll confirm
this quantity next Monday. If you wish to reserve one from
this surplus, feel free to contact NCS
with a message containing the header BHCV Suitcase.
Thanks.
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The only other software product that rivals the cost of the
Biohazard Suitcase, from the past couple of years, was the ZXE-D
package which we originally stocked in 1996. In terms of the
who's cooler factor, we suppose BHCV gets the nod.
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| Some
Import Restock |
Bemaniac
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PS2 Onimusha, Extermination, and Shadow of
Memories, Tales of the Sunrise Heroes were restocked on
Wednesday and Bloody Roar 3, Dead or Alive 2 Harcore
and World Soccer Winning Eleven 3 are due on Monday. PS
Blade Arts, Brightis, the Dance Dance Manner
Cushion, Eithea, and Fire Pro Wrestling G have
rejoined our store listings. DC Dead or Alive 2 Regular
Edition and the ASCII Fighting Sticks (Cap, SNK)
are shipping once again. New Wonderswan Colors available
today: Crystal Orange
and Pearl Pink.
Crystal Blue WSCs are expected within 1-2 weeks along with an
assortment of software.
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Konami's
Para Para Paradise Controller should be restocked by
tomorrow morning and a new store listing will be made for this
item. New orders are welcome to ship on Friday once the stock
arrives. Official DDR controllers from Konami are
slated for restock in 2 weeks whilst the Beatmania IIDX controller
for the Playstation 2 looks good to go within the next 2-3
weeks.
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E-mail
NCS
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