| DC
Sega Special Editions |
Crystal Clear |
Last year,
around this time, Sega unleashed the Millenium Collection of colorful controllers in pink,
green, blue, and smoke. This year, a similar deal is being peddled with limited edition
strings attached.
Sega release date: December 14, 2000
Dreamcast Color Controller Clear Y2500
Dreamcast Color VMS Clear Y2500
The controller and VMS are both housed in a clear, crystal outer plastic
shell for easy viewing of the contents inside. No smoky fudge to obstruct your line of
sight. As with any limited edition item, allocation is expected to be tight and NCS will
submit our order quantity tonight with no assurance from any of our vendors that we'll
even get 10% of our request. But, we follow the routine, the buyer's game that we play and
see where the dice lands. Pre-orders from our customers are welcome but we will confirm
with you within a few weeks on whether or not we will be able to fill all orders or only
some of them. Sorry for the awkward arrangement on this LE product offering.
Sega will also release a 4M VMU with no LCD screen which contains 800 blocks
of memory. This particular VMU consumes power directly from the DC console and does not
utilize any battery back-up, similar to third party offerings from EMS. The master learns
from it's clones. NCS will not offer this Sega VMU in any significant quantity since EMS'
16M Dreamcast memory card is suitable and offers higher, uncompressed capacity than Sega's
own version at a lower price. |
Previous special controller and VMU offers have only made it onto the
D-Direct on-line ordering system that is run by Sega. Somewhat exclusive but our opinion
is that it caters to the limited distribution market that is available in Japan for all
things Dreamcast niche or chic. As recent software sales on the DC have shown, Japanese
are not overly enamored with Sega's console efforts and as such, niche products have a
very limited audience in any case. It's a built-in gamble but one that can be controlled
since the production quantity is so small. D-Direct exclusive Vampire Chronicle,
for example, has probably sold parallel numbers to export and domestic audiences due to
the ready availability of cheap Vampire JAMMA and PS, SS versions in
Japanese shops. |
| Comical |
Removal |
| Nevermind
SNK's recent addition of Metal Slug X to the Playstation release roster
for December. The company removed it overnight with a new release date TBA. NCS have lost
count as to the number of delays this poor title has suffered at the hands of SNK but
we'll view the next release date with suspicion and yes, with jaundiced eye. |
All pre-orders for MSX are now cancelled. NCS will accept new
pre-orders when and if this title rears it's head once more... perhaps only to flounder
again. |
| Dreamcast
Collection |
Budget |
| Sega has
added Air Force Delta to it's budget-priced line-up of older Dreamcast
software to ship on December 21. Previous inductees have included Virtua Fighter 3tb,
Sonic Adventure, and Godzilla Generations. Upcoming titles include Space Channel 5, King
of Fighters 99 Dream Match and Cool Boarders Burn on December 21. Look for more
lower-priced software re-releases early next year. |
Lower-priced re-releases produce a revenue stream with little to no
effort and only a minimal exposure to risk. That is, as long as the market is not flooded
with budget titles. |
| Spawn
LE |
Scans |
| This
actually arrived over a month ago but we never had the chance to include it on-line or
post it's availability. It's basically the Japanese Spawn game with a special slipcase and
a neato art booklet containing various posings and flamboyant pictures of Spawn from the
past couple of years. A small tribute is written by Todd McFarlane in the back of the
book. Perhaps the definitive version of the game, now that the USA edition of Spawn
arrived this morning. |
|
| Active
Styling Figure Series |
Photo |
| NCS have a
cache of dolls and figures ensconced in the recesses of a looming warehouse that holds the
products and merchandise of years past. Some were dug up recently but much more needs to
be found and dispensed to the public arena. Today, we present Kotobukiya's Active Styling
line of figures which covered all of the popular anime maidens of Japanese culture. We
still have to find those Utena and Ah My Goddess! dolls but in the meantime, we offer Rei
Ayanami and Asuka Langley Active Styling Figures through our on-line store. Both dolls
feature poseable arms and legs for kinetic poses when the occasion calls. Rei and Asuka
also wear the same outfit, blue overalls over a crisp white shirt. Shoes and socks are
standard issue and removable in case the girls need a dip in Barbie's pool. The hair is
molded plastic and the eyes are painted. NCS is unsure of the date that these originally
arrived but it is likely 1998 since that is what some of the packing slips on our
containers read. Each box ships in a windowed box for inspection. Priced at Y5800 or NCS
US$53. Made in Japan. |
|
| Kapital |
Bounce |
| Wow. Our
short died in the water yesterday and wiped out 1/2 of our long SP00S gains in a couple of
hours. Bulls kept chipping away at the losses and we didn't want to fight the tape. We're
out and neither long or short at this point. Today is a mammoth bull run as the cleavers
are knocking shorts out left and right. Afraid of the runaway freight train as expiry
pushes money to equilibrium. There's still a short there but we will wait
until the flows have subsided a bit and disinterest sets in again. Trailing stops are life
jackets... |
Three years in a row, the October scenario
has played itself out in similar fashion. Fund managers get to buy low and sell high in
the first quarter of the following year. If it happens again next year, the pattern will
be recognized by too many... |
