A R C A D E   /   M U L T I

- Here are some screen shots of the upcoming Resident Evil movie by Sony Pictures, the movie will be in theaters on March 15.

Additional Images and Movie Trailers

- Sammy announced that they will begin a Guilty Gear XX location test in Tokyo between March 1 - 3.

- Sega has released additional details on the GameCube compatible arcade board Triforce. The new arcade board is capable to connect with almost any media format provided by the developer, such as Sega's GD-ROM unit, Nintendo's proprietary drive, and even the traditional ROM chips. The Triforce arcade board will feature 48MB of 1T-SRAM, doubling the amount of memory in GameCube. Although it may create difficulties for developers to port arcade titles to home console, but it give developers more freedom in designing the games.

- Arika will be bringing a new sequel of Namco's classic action game The Tower of Druaga to arcade and PlayStation sometimes this year. The game will have network support, allowing multiple players to enjoy the game over the Internet. In addition, Arika has confirmed that they are developing the sequel to their sea adventure game Everblue, EverBlue II is scheduled for release sometimes this summer.

- Hiroshi Yamauchi (74), the president of Nintendo, is planning to retire after the stockholder's meeting in Japan this June. After that Nintendo will be operating under a new president and a number of executive officers.

X B O X

- It was clarified that Microsoft has sold 123,334 units of XBox for the first weekend of the launch in Japan (Feb 22 - 24). As of February 24, the average game shops across Japan has sold about 50% of the stocks. Here are the sales of some of the XBox launch titles:

• Dead or Alive 3 - 73,604 units
• Genma Onimusha - 19,600 units
• Project Gotham Racing - 15,925 units
• Jet Set Radio Future - 9,800 units
• Double S.T.E.A.L. - 8575 units
• Nezumi Kuzu: Have a Mice Day - 8575 units
• Air Force Delta II - 7350 units

- Here is a comparison chart of the console launches in Japan.

• Microsoft XBox - 123,334
• Nintendo GameCube - 175,000
• Sony PlayStation 2 - 680,000 units
• Sega Dreamcast - 120,000 units
• Sega Saturn - 107,000 units
• Sony PlayStation - 101,000 units
• (* No data for Nintendo 64 launch)

- Microsoft announced the details of the European launch of XBox. Microsoft will release 20 titles at launch on March 14, including:

March 14

Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding Batman: Vengeance Blood Wake Dark Summit Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 Dead or Alive 3 Fuzion Frenzy Halo Jet Set Radio Future Mad Dash Racing Max Payne NBA Live 2002 NHL 2002 NHL Hitz 2002 Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey Project Gotham Racing Rallisport Challenge Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 TransWorld Surf Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions

March 18

Arctic Thunder Deadly Skies ESPN International Winter Sports F1 2002 Genma Onimusha The Simpsons Road Rage

Q1 2002

Blood Omen 2 Championship Manager Season

Q2 2002

NBA Inside Drive Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open Shrek Star Wars: Obi Wan FIFA 2002 World Cup International Superstar Soccer 2 Moto GP Spider-Man: The Movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

P L A Y S T A T I O N   2

- Square has announced the official release date of Final Fantasy XI for PlayStation 2, the game will be released on May 16, for 7800 yen. The package will contain two DVD-ROMs, one is the PlayOnline disc, and the other one is Final Fantasy XI. The subscription fee to PlayOnline + Final Fantasy XI is 1280 yen. In addition, the monthly charge for the card game Tetra Master is 100 yen, Tetra Master is included in the PlayOnline disc.

- Capcom announced that they have shipped 2 million units of Devil May Cry worldwide for PlayStation 2, the total shipment for the game has reached 2,060,000 units, the breakdowns are: 650,000 in Japan, 720,000 in North America, and 690,000 in Europe. This makes Devil May Cry as Capcom's second PlayStation 2 title to break 2 million units, with the first being Onimusha.

Here are the total shipments of some other Capcom action adventure games

• Devil May Cry (2001) - 2,060,000
• Onimusha (2001) - 2,010,000
• Dino Crisis (1999) - 2,400,000
• Biohazard 3 (1999) - 3,500,000
• Biohazard 2 (1998) - 4,950,000
• Biohazard (1996) - 2,750,000

- Here are some new screen shots Spike's PlayStation 2 motorcycle racing game RS - Riding Spirit, scheduled to release in Japan this spring, for 6800 yen. The game features over 200 playable motorcycles from various makers, including Kawasaki, Yamaha Motor and Honda. In addition, the game also includes the several latest models in 2002. It is possible to earn money from the races and remodel your motorcycle, each motorcycle has 25 replacable parts, such as tire, engine and mufflers.

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- Sony announced that they will be lowering the manufacture cost for the PS2 DVD-ROM, the new cost for a single side single layer DVD-ROM (4.7 GB) will reduced from 300 yen to 200 yen; a single side double layer DVD-ROM (8.5 GB) will be reduced from 350 yen to 300 yen. It is believed that more and more developers will be shifting from CD-ROM to DVD-ROM.

- Taito has postponed the release date of their PS2 airplane simulation game Jet de Go! 2 in Japan by two weeks, from March 14 to March 28.

- Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that they have begun to release PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits titles in North America. A game must be released in the market for 9 months and sold over 400,000 before it can apply for the Greatest Hits label. Once approved, the game retail price can drop to $24.99 US. The first titles in the Greatest Hits series include ATV Offroad Fury, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec, Twisted Metal Black and Dark Cloud.

Here are some screen shots of Codemaster's PS2 racing game Pro Race Driver, the latest installment of the popular TOCA series (known as TOCA Race Driver in Europe). The game features real cars, real times, real tracks, real drivers and real time damage to car models. There are 42 playable touring and sportscars in the game. (From IGNPS2)

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- Here are some new screen shots of Infogrames' PS2 action game Superman: Shadow of Apokolips, the game is based on the Superman TV animated series, featuring cel-shaded graphics. The game feature over 15 levels, 60 cutscenes and it is said to have around 15 hours of gameplay. Superman can use many of his famous attacks, including Heat Vision, X-ray sight, Super breath, flight, Super speed and so on. Superman: Shadow of Apokilips is scheduled for release in US this fall. (From IGNPS2)

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