M U L T I

- Nintendo of Japan has received two prizes from Digital Contents Grand Prix 2001 in Japan on March 11, the Nintendo 64 title Animal Forest has won the Community Prize, and the GameCube title Luigi Mansion has won the Entertainment Section Game Prize.

H A N D H E L D S

- Square's new subsidiary Game Designer Studios mentioned that they are working on a GameBoy Advance version of Final Fantasy Tactics, the game is scheduled for release in Japan around the Christmas time. Game Designer Studios intends to release 3 to 4 titles for the Nintendo platforms by the end of the 2002 (March 2003). They have also confirmed the development of a new Final Fantasy game title for both GameCube and GameBoy Advance, which allows data synchronization between the two machines.

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- Sony will release Sarugetchu 2 (Ape Escape 2) for PlayStation 2 in Japan this summer, the real sequel to the monkey catching action game. This time the main character is a 10 year old boy named Hikaru, and he will have a trust worthy little monkey friend named Pipochu, who will give him various aids and help in the adventure, such as recovering energy or performing high jumps. There will be 10 times more kinds of monkey in the game this time, such as the rave-dancing monkey, monkey with laser gun and monkey who disguised as the Statue of Liberty.

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- Sony announced a new PlayStation 2 puzzle game called Otostaz, scheduled to release in Japan this May. In this game you have to use ground, water, wood blocks in the puzzle board to create different kinds of buildings. The more builds you create the more scores you will get. For example, a house can be built by placing a wood block in-between water and ground block.

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- Konami will release Japan Professional Baseball 2002 for PlayStation 2 in Japan on March 28, for 6800 yen. This is the sequel of Konami's real time baseball simulation game, featuring motion capture animation, 480 real players and 11 playable baseball stadiums.

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X B O X

- Aquaplus announced a new XBox 3D action RPG called Tenerezza, scheduled to release in Japan this summer. The story is about the adventure of the teenage witch Tenerettsa and the little fairy Lulu. During the quest you can acquire different kinds of magic spells and weapons.

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H A N D H E L D S

- Here are the TRSTS Top 20 Best Selling Videogames for the first week of March:

1. Grand Theft Auto 3 (PS2, Rockstar Games)
2. Super Mario Advance 2 (GBA, Nintendo)
3. State of Emergency (PS2, Rockstar Games)
4. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (GC, Sega)
5. Wreckless: Yakuza (XB, Activision)
6. Jet Set Radio Future (XB, Sega)
7. Sonic Advance (GBA, THQ)
8. Tiger Woods PGA 2002 (PS2, EA Sports)
9. NBA 2K2 (XB, Sega)
10. Final Fantasy X (PS2, Square EA)
11. Max Payne (PS2, Rockstar Games)
12. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC, Nintendo)
13. Halo (XB, Microsoft)
14. All Star Baseball 2003 (PS2, Acclaim)
15. NBA 2K2 (PS2, Sega)
16. All Star Baseball 2003 (XB, Acclaim
17. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2, Konami)
18. Grand Theft Auto 2 (PS1, Rockstar Games)
19. Madden NFL 2002 (PS2, EA Sports)
20. Maximo: Ghost to Glory (PS2, Capcom)

- Square has issued a public statement regarding to the recent announcement of Final Fantasy titles coming to Nintendo platforms. Square mentioned that the development and publishing business for GameCube and GameBoy Advance will be handled by Game Designer Studios, a new subsidiary headed by Akitoshi Kawazu, with a development capital supplied by Nintendo president Yamauchi's Fund-Q. PlayStation 2 will remain as Square's present main platform, and Final Fantasy XI, XII will be coming out as scheduled.