P L A Y S T A T I O N   2

- Sega will release the PlayStation 2 simulation game Roommania #203 in Japan on July 25, for 5800 yen.

- Here are some new screen shots of Namco's PlayStation 2 gun shooter Ninja Assault, the game is scheduled for a fall release. (from IGNPS2)

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- Sega / Red Entertainment will release the PlayStation 2 action game GunGrave in Japan on July 18, for 6800 yen. A limited edition of GunGrave will be released at the same time, which features a collection of illustration artwork for their other action shooter Trigun Maximum.

- Square has released new details on their PS2 soccer game World Fantasista, scheduled for release in Japan on June 6, for 6800 yen. The game features real professional players from different countries, including Hiroshi Nanami, Patrick Mboma and Jose Luis Chilavert; in addition, there will be 36 real Japanese players, world soccer teams from 35 countries, and the ability to create your own team.

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- Bandai announced the PlayStation 2 Mobile Suit Gundam series has sold over 2 million units. The first PS2 Gundam title Mobile Suit Gundam has sold over 500,000 units in December 2000, the second game Mobile Suit Gundam 0079: Zeonic Front has sold 280,000 units in September 2001, Federation Vs Zion DX has sold over 900,000 units in December 2001, and the latest game Mobile Suit Gundam: Giren's Ambition has shipped 400,000 units, with 300,000 units already sold. Bandai is planning to release Gundam Online for PC sometimes this year.

- Nekkei reported that Sony has begin the development of the next generation game system PlayStation 3, the PS3 will support broadband Internet connect (cable, ADSL and Optical fiber) right at the beginning, it will also have the MPU as the key semiconductor, a new micro processor unit co-developed by Toshiba, Sony and IBM, it is expected the new processor to be 200 times more efficient than the current processors for videogame machine and computer, as the data are pre-processed by the central server on the network and sent back to the MPU, the MPU can generate the animation and music on the user machine while data is being transferred from the network. As a result, the new machine will have no limit on the memory capacity or processing power. Sony is expected to release first details of the system in 2005.

- Konami will release Pop n' Music 6 for PlayStation in Japan on June 27, for 5800 yen.

X B O X

- Here are some new screens of Sega's Xbox racing game Sega GT 2002.

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- Sega announced the Xbox version of Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller will feature a compilation of elements from Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2. This game will include the stages and characters from Crazy Taxi; the different kinds of customers in Crazy Taxi 2, and an enhanced version of the mini games in Crazy Taxi 2. You can once again play as the 4 classic characters Axel, B.D. Joe, Gena and Gus. Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller is scheduled for release in Japan on July 25, for 6800 yen.

- Nekkei news reported that the price of the Microsoft XBox has greatly dropped in the used market. Used Xbox consoles begin to stack up in game shops in early March, the sale price of a used Xbox has being falling from 32,800 yen in late February to 29,000 yen in March, and 25,000 yen in April. The price drop is more than 20% of the retail price at 34,800 yen; while the sale price of a used PlayStation 2 remain steady for about 26,000 yen.

H A N D H E L D

- Konami will release the GameBoy Advance action game Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance in Japan on June 6, for 4800 yen.

- RUMOR: Bandai will be releasing a new model of WonderSwan Color in Japan in July called WonderSwan Crystal, which features a high quality TFT LCD screen, which completely eliminated the refresh rate problem in the original version. The WonderSwan Crystal will be retail for 7800 yen. The retail price of the original WonderSwan Color will reduce to 4800 yen on June 1.

- Megatron will release a WonderSwan Color SRPG called Gransta Chronicle in Japan on June 13, for 5200 yen. The game takes place in a medieval kingdom Karegorum, which was ruled by a sorcerer, who defeated and sealed the demon in the sea of steel. 200 years after, the entire Karegorum kingdom has suddenly in one night, and a large amount of monsters appear near the sea of steel, chaos has returned to the world. In the game you can capture a monster and train it as your companion, you can even give it a name and equip it with armor.

- Bandai will release a new card battle / adventure game called X Card of Fate for WonderSwan Color in Japan in the end of June, for 4980 yen. The game is based on the popular anime X by Clamp. In this game you can play as one of the 14 playable characters, there are over 250 kinds of card available.

G A M E C U B E

- Sega will release the GameCube beach volleyball game Beach Spiker in Japan on July 19, for 6800 yen. The GC version will have an original country team not found in the arcade version, you can also use the team edit function to create a custom team.

- Reuters reported that Nintendo will be making announcement of the online service strategy for GameCube at E3 on May 21.

- Namco and Nintendo are currently jointly developing a new Star Fox title for GameCube and arcade. The title is a 3D shooting game like the original Star Fox, the arcade version will run on the TriForce arcade system. Namco is expected to make an official announcement on May 8.

A R C A D E   /   M U L T I

- Reuters reported that both Microsoft and Sony will announce a price drop for their system at E3 on May 20. Microsoft and Sony are expected to reduce the price of Xbox and PlayStation 2from $299 US to $199 US. Microsoft hopes to drive the sales of Xbox in US, Xbox has sold between 300,000 - 400,000 units during January - March of this year. Furthermore, Nintendo is very likely to reduce the price of the GameCube to around $149 US, after the price drop for the other two systems are announced; Sony may also reduce the price of PSone from $99 to $79.