| Two
upcoming Dreamcast imports have been delayed due to lack of pre-orders. Ring Age
has been pushed from Sept. 21 to an unknown date this year and Napple Tale
moves from Sept. 28 to Oct. 19. Depending on interest from Japanese and global import
buyers, these dates may change once again if pre-orders don't match up to order
requirements. |
Fickle markets exist in any business. Disinterest reigns
when there is a glut of product and certain products just don't have the panache to
generate demand from buyers. |
| Kirby
rocks the Gameboy Color this Friday when Nintendo's new Koro Koro Kirby arrives. Using a
motion sensitive cartridge, the game moves Kirby in the direction that the player tilts
the Gameboy. Shake it to the right and Kirby will roll right, point it towards your
stomach and Kirby moves towards you. Guide the famous marshmallow in collecting stars
through various levels. Koro Koro is priced at US$49 and pre-orders are
welcome. |
The Gameboy continues to innovate with interesting features in it's
carts. The rumble feature of Top Gear Pocket and Pokemon Pinball gave handhelds a big
console kind of buzz. |
Konami will re-release the DJ Station Pro in early September. We had originally expected
this deluxe version of the Beatmania controller in August but it has been re-scheduled.
The DJ Station can be considered the "professional" Beatmania controller with
buttons that light up (AA batteries are included with the box), a high quality turntable,
headphone plug and volume controls for left and right audio.
The turntable can accomodate a quick scratch when you're required to
knock out a scratch. For example, while tapping the buttons corresponding to the falling
bars on screen, a scratch bar will inevitably start falling. While your fingers are busy
on the buttons, you can hit the turntable for a quick back and forth scratch to meet the
bar and then return to the buttons. When the scratch bars start falling in heavy order,
the DJ Station Pro allows DJs to scratch continuosly with short, quick beats. This is not
as easy with the ASCII version of the Beatmania deck since the ASCII version is not as
sensitive and responsive to rapid fire scratching. Pre-orders are welcome, previous
pre-orders have been kept on record and NCS will contact you with updates when the product
is available. |
Playstation fans have a stable of Beatmania games to choose from.
The original player was Beatmania 2nd Mix, now available in a Best Series release, which
was followed by Beatmania 3rd, Gottamix, 4th Mix, 5th Mix, Best Hits, and the popular
version that features music from J-Pop band Dreams Come True. With a world of music and
potential DJs to fuel the rhythm, the Beatmania license may very well linger for the next
couple of years as a popular diversion for gamers. |
