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DC Street Fighter Third Strike
It's an annual tradition and it would be remiss if it didn't happen
this year. Ever since the days of the Super Famicom, Capcom has released a new Street
Fighter each and every year thereafter in the arcades and on the "it" consoles
of the day. For a while it was the Nintendo SFC and SNES, then the Sega and Sony 32-bit
consoles took over. Now, the Capcom fighting machine debuts on the DC in jet set fashion.
Occasionally, there have been more than one Street Fighter game per year such as the Alpha
lineage or the horrific SF: The Movie game but nevermind. Here then is 2000's incarnation
of Street Fighter, packaged for the Dreamcast and ready for sale on June 29. Pre-orders
are welcome via on-line
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DC, PS, PS2 Round-Up - 2Q
NCS will consolidate and post the complete second quarter import
schedules on Monday. We will also start a new format for the pre-order listings on the
on-line store next week. Dreamcast import listings for June appear to be sparse, with only
13 titles scheduled but we see potential in games such as Shutoku Battle 2
(June 22), Jet Set Radio (June 29), Mr. Driller (June
29), and Record of Lodoss War (June 29) in addition to the new Street
Fighter game. A new Roommate title is also scheduled to make the
transition from the Saturn to the Dreamcast in June. |
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| Imports
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PS2 Step Down Transformer
NCS is recommending that North American customers NOT use
any type of step down transformer with the Playstation 2. The power board inside the PS2
is compliant with a range of voltages, varying within 20 volts and a poor quality or
generic step down transformer may cause more harm than good in this case. We have already
seen a couple of cooked PS2 power boards caused by a step down that customers have sent
back for repairs. A surge suppressor should be used but not a transformer. For our
European customers, we recommend an industrial quality 220V to 110V step down with a
capacity of at least 50 watts. Issues with the electricity in Europe are more spotty due to
the voltage variance and the inability of the PS2 power board to stop damage from power
spikes in an unregulated environment. I.e, the fuse will blow, as it should during stress,
but the fuse does not blow fast enough to prevent damage to the other components of the
power board. However, most damage can be repaired by NCS as the power board uses standard
components that may be replaced with parts that we already use to fix other console and
electronic equipment. After a month of PS2 availability, the voltage issues have been the
only nagging problems that we have encountered, and we think a production of custom
replacement power boards would probably be a good idea, perhaps an auto-switching board
would be helpful. Look for this product from NCS in the near future. |
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