A R C A D E

- Sega WOW Entertainment is working on a new arcade keyboarding game called Lupid the 3rd the Typing, which based on the classic anime. The game will be in playable form at the AOU show.

- Sega Rosso is working on a new arcade water surfing game called Soul Surfer, in this game you can use a surfboard to perform a variety of tricks and moves in the waves.

- Sega Hitmaker's latest arcade game is a gun shooting game called The Maze of the Kings, the game background is ancient Egypt, in the game you use a magic staff to attack the enemies, instead of using guns.

- Here are some new screen shots of Mega Enterprise / Noise / Sun Amusement's arcade action game Metal Slug 4, the latest installment of SNK's popular side scrolling action game. This time you can transform into a monkey, a chubby guy / woman or a zombie. There are a number of new vehicles in the game, including motorbike, metalcrow, folklift, bradlry, walkmachine and 3-ton truck.

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- New info on Namco / Monolith Soft's PS2 RPG Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille Zur Macht. In this game the Gnosis is the biggest enemy of human race, Gnosis is a type of "creature" that does not belong to this dimension, they have no real form and look like white mist. The Gnosis likes to attack human, no one knows where they are from and why they attack human (sort of like "Sin" in Final Fantasy X). In the battles between the Star Federation and Gnosis, about 10% of all human races were being destroyed by Gnosis. People considers Gnosis as "white horror", because they can appears from anywhere and they can have any side; as small as a bird or as big as a dragon, it is kind of like the phantoms in Final Fantasy the Movie.

Gnosis in the form of white mist

- In Xenosaga Episode 1, the Gnosis has a horrible attack called the "Hill Belt Effect", it can live inside a human body as parasite, once a human is over taken by Gnosis, he/she will become a violent monster and can never been cured. Other than the Hill Belt Effect, the Gnosis can even fuse with other elements, when it fuses with weapon, the weapon becomes a killing machine with will, (This is probably why this episode is called "The Will of Power", "Der Wille zur Macht"). The Star Federation uses a radar system called D.S.S.S which can detect the Gnosis. The Anti Gnosis Weapon System (A.G.W.S.) were build to battle the Gnosis, however, even a powerful machine like A.G.W.S., if it is overtaken by Gnosis, it can also backfire to human.

Gnosis

- Squaresoft announced that Final Fantasy X has sold more than 1 million copies in US.

- Konami announced that they will release a PlayStation version of Captain Tabusa in Japan this spring, called Captain Tabusa: The New Legend, based on the classic soccer tournament anime series. The game will return to its root, as a simulation game; in each tournament you can give commands to team, and each character has his own special attacks.

- Here are some new screen shots of Bandai's PlayStation fighting game From TV Animation: One Piece Grand Battle 2, scheduled to release in Japan on March 20, for 5800 yen. This time the game will feature a large number of new characters, over 40 characters will be in the Story Mode (not all characters are playable), and all the characters will have voice from the cartoon series.

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- RUMOR: Sony is planning to release a new version of PlayStation 2 which includes built-in Ethernet card and Hard Drive, the machine is broadband ready.

H A N D H E L D S

- Capcom will release the GBC/GBA bi-compatible game called Shantae in March, when you plug the game into GameBoy Advance, you will get enhanced color, secret character and additional play modes. Shantae is an original action + dancing game developed by Capcom USA.