| Final
Fantasy X "Britsu" Ball |
Scan |
| Square
invented a new sort of sport called Blitz
Ball in their latest FF game. Tidus, the hero of Final Fantasy X, plays professional
Blitz Ball on the Zanarkand Abes. Well, at least he did 1000
years ago from the timeline in the FFX game. He hasn't lost
his skills when he finds himself far off in the future of
Spira. The sport of Blitz Ball employs a team of six players
on each team who rush, grapple, and shoot to score. It's similar in most
respects to soccer, except it's played underwater, and players
are allowed to use hands as well as legs to force the ball. The intro
to FFX shows off some heavy Blitz Ball action and the sport supplies a great mini-game
interlude against the scope
of the encompassing adventure. Since Square are the masters of
merchandising, it's only natural that "actual" blitz
balls be brought to market to capture even more yen and
dollars from an adoring public. Packaged in a plastic sheath,
the blitz ball requires an air pump to blow up. Silver dollar
sized plastic bubbles dot the outside of the blitz ball and
grow rigid as you fill the sphere with air. Afterwards, once
the inflation has seen completion, you can bring blitz ball with you to a beach and look somewhat out of
the ordinary with a strange looking ball. Order one, online,
under Toys. |
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FFX Blitz
Ball US$20 |
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| Final
Fantasy Cold Cast Collection |
Photo |
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Square
revisits key scenes from various Final Fantasy games in their
Cold Cast Collection. In stock today are four beautifully
designed scenarios
from Final Fantasy 4 through 7. Each cold cast ships in an
ornate white box with gold Final Fantasy lettering in front. A
sturdy styrofoam shell holds each unit inside the box to
protect against ruin. |
| Final
Fantasy IV |
Mount
Ordeal; Cecil and Kain |
US$45 |
| Final
Fantasy V |
Butz
and Boco in repose |
US$45 |
| Final
Fantasy VI |
The
Opera House |
US$45 |
| Final
Fantasy VII |
Cloud
and Aeris in the Forgotten City |
US$49 |
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Order
one, online, under
Toys. |
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FF7 Cold Cast
US$49 |
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| Final
Fantasy X Theme CD |
Scans |
|
Hironobu Sakaguchi, president of Square USA wanted FFX to
reflect the feel of Okinawa. The prefecture, comprised
of the main Okinawa island, is surrounded by 56 inhabited
islands and roughly 110 uninhabited ones. There's a lot of
water around that scattered land mass. The beaches and
beautiful natural settings of Okinawa are replicated in much
of the landscape found in Final Fantasy X as well as the
clothing styles worn by characters in the game. Visually,
Okinawa inspired the world of FFX but that's not all.
According to composer Nobuo Uematsu, Okinawan singer
Rikki captured the personality of FFX's Yuna perfectly. Rikki
sings "Suteki da ne" (Isn't it beautiful) which
serves as Yuna's theme song in the game, as well as the
overriding song in the entire FFX adventure. The Okinawan
dialect also serves up Tida (Tidus), which means sun and Yuna,
which translates into flower.
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FFX Theme CD US$15 |
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| Final
Fantasy X Beat Shock Edition |
Flyer |
|
It was with reluctance a couple of weeks back when NCS opened
up pre-orders for the Beat Shock Edition of FFX. Although
pre-orders were brisk, we had concerns on
the quality of the amplifier included with the limited edition
of Final Fantasy X. We have a few units of Beat Shock left and
we're asking customers who have purchased one of these puppies
for feedback on the quality of the amplifier. Pricing stands
at US$260
per unit and the package includes a
Dolby 5.1 channel ready amplifier, and a Sound Booklet. With
Dolby 5.1, six channels of sound are digitally recorded: left
& right front, left & right surround, center, and a
subwoofer channel for cinema quality aurals. |
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| Game
Cube Super Monkey Ball |
Poster |
Nintendo has held back information on the Japanese release of
the Game Cube thus far, keeping things securely under a lid.
Last week, an interesting pre-order popped up on vendor
listings, that of the GC version of Monkey Ball. Publisher
Sega marks the listed price at Y6800 and begins shipping the
game on September 14. So, Super Monkey Ball's
a Japanese Game Cube launch game and the first confirmed one
at that. NCS expects to
receive pricing details on the GC console and accessories over the next
couple of days and pre-orders will open officially at that
time.
The American release of the Game Cube is
currently listed for November 5, which gives importers a 2
month lead on stateside retail. It's a slim and risky gamble
(read: the JPN Nintendo 64 launch was a total disaster for the
company) but we'll give it a
go, as we always do. Customers who have contacted NCS
previously will receive an e-mail update once pricing is
confirmed. |
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| Mascot
Figure Collection 1 |
Styles |
It's
popular and raging. At least among the population of Japanese
high school girls. Dubbed Mascot Figures, each vinyl
schoolgirl measures 8 cm tall and wears an actual high school
uniform. In Japan, girls hand a mascot figure to their guys as
a token. Currently, there are six styles but the manufacturer
expects to expand the mascot collection to cover every
Japanese high school uniform found in Japan. Thankfully, high
schools occasionally mimic each other's uniforms which will
limit the selection (and confusion) for this product. Each
mascot figure ships in a fuchsia box (seen to the right) and
includes a stand and a chain to link it to your key ring,
belt, or carrying bag.
NCS offers this tidbit for informational purposes
only. We have no plans to stock this product due to to what we
would call "tough sell" in the American
market.
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Japanese schoolgirl outfits
invariably consist of a thigh-high skirt, black shoes, white
socks and a sensibly matching top. No Namie-tanned ko-gals
here... at least not yet. |
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| Playstation
2 Schedule Updates |
PS2 HDD |
|
The first
wave of lower-priced PS2 re-releases are slated for September
27 and the following Konami titles see re-deployment: |
| Product |
Yen Retail |
NCS Retail |
| 7 Blades |
Y2800 |
US$33 |
| Ring of
Red |
Y2800 |
US$33 |
| Silent
Scope |
Y2800 |
US$33 |
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Two hardware products are also in the pipeline for Sept.
release: |
| USB
Modem |
ASCII |
Y7980 |
| Ace
Combat 4 Flight Stick |
Sony |
Y5980 |
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The PS2 external and
internal hard drive units are due in the next week or so.
Japanese suppliers were short-shipped last week and we're now
waiting for our allocation to be parceled out and shipped.
Customers on our reservation queue will be
contacted once the hard drives are delivered. Pricing for the
external version remains at US$185 and
the internal version at US$170. No new
orders are being accepted at this time. |
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| Weekly
Import Outlook |
Restock |
|
Four Dreamcast imports are due on Thursday including Fate
of Heart, Fragrance Tale, Pachinko King, and
Secret Memorial Summer. Gameboy Advance owners get Mobile
Pro Baseball, Star Komi, and Zero Tours.
Playstation 1 adherents get some with Construction Machine
Simulator, Gallop Racer 2000 (Best), Get Backers,
Take Certification (Best), and Sangokushi VI (Best).
The Playstation 2 ends the month peddling Angelique Trois
Limited Version, Everybody's Golf 3, Growlanser
2 Limited Edition, and Missing Blue. Everything
looks to arrive on Thursday. New toys this week are limited to
a Cowboy Bebop resin figure based on this summer's
Bebop movie. |
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PSO v2.0 restock
should arrive next Tuesday-Wednesday and the Samba de Amigo
plushes are slated for tomorrow morning. The gaggle of Parappa
the Rapper plushes are expected this week and outstanding
orders will be processed upon delivery. Assorted other
software titles are due and we'll update the online store once
they arrive. |
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| C-Bot
Daily Journal... Day Fourteen |
July
24, 2001
We might put C-Bot up for adoption, which beats
shoving it into NCS warehousing, where it won't be seen again
for another decade. Liz and I are busy, irresponsible,
uncaring, and generally horrible "parents". An ad in
the Village Voice would probably get a lot of
feedback...
To be continued....
Order your own, online
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