- September 7, 2001 -

P L A Y S T A T I O N   /   P L A Y S T A T I O N   2

- Enix announced that the PlayStation version of Dragon Quest IV will be released in Japan in November, for 6800 yen. The PSone remake will feature 3D graphics not found in the original.

- Here are some screen shots of Criterion's new PlayStation 2 racing game Burnout, this game will ship in Europe this November. (From CVG)

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- Namco announced that they will release Mr. Driller-G for PlayStation in Japan on November 22, for 4800 yen. The 3rd installment of their popular arcade puzzle game. The home version of Mr. Driller-G will feature a new 4 player mode not found in the arcade version.

- Sony will release the PlayStation 2 communication game Toro & Holiday in Japan on November 29, for 5800 yen, the game features the highly popular Sony cat Toro, starred in the Platinum PocketStation game Doko Demo Issyo.

- Hudson announced Momotarou Electric Railway X: Chapter of Kyuushuu for PlayStation 2, the latest sequel of their popular party board game, supporting up to 4 players simultaneously. The game is scheduled to release in Japan in December, for 5800 yen.

- After the GameBoy Advance version, Hudson will release the PlayStation version of Momotarou Festival in Japan on September 13, called Momotarou Festival Rokuemon, featuring over 60 kinds of mini games for both single player and multiple players, kind of like Nintendo's Mario Party series.

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- Compile will release the PlayStation shooter Zanac X Zanac in Japan on November 29, for 4980 yen. The new sequel Zanac Neo and the classic shooter Zanac will be included in this title.

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- Bandai will release the latest edition of their horse racing simulation game Dream Classic 2001 Autumn in Japan this November for 5800 yen.

- Melco Inc will release a new PlayStation 2 modem in Japan this month IGM-UB56PS2, unique to this 56K USB Modem is that it attaches to the side of the console and fills up the hollow gap nicely, so it doesn't take up any extra space. Two models of the modem will be released, the IGM-UB56PS2C is the standard version which comes with a USB cable and phone cord, retail for 7800 yen (open price), and IGM-UB56PS2CK is a PS2 Internet Starter Kit, which contain Ergo Soft's EGBrowser, USB cable and phone cord, and it will retail for 10800 yen (open price). The modem is fully compatible with the Conexant's SmartSCM, a standard which Koei, Enix, Square, Namco, Konami and Capcom support. (From Impress Game Watch)

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- Sega of Japan announced that the Japanese version of Rez and Crazy Taxi for PS2 will be released in November, for 5800 yen each.

- Sammy announced the release date of their PS2 weapon fighting game Guilty Gear X Plus, the game is scheduled for release in Japan on November 29, for 6800 yen. A Deluxe version of Guilty Gear X Plus will be released on the same date, for 9800 yen.

- Sega of America announced that they will be porting their latest Sega Sports game NBA 2K2, NFL 2K2, College Basketball 2K2, Tennis 2K2 (Virtua Tennis 2 / Power Smash 2) to both GameCube and PlayStation 2 in spring 2002. (From IGNPS2)

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- Konami will re-release two PlayStation 2 titles under the Konami The Best label, they are Shadow of Memories and Action Film Adventure Goemon, both games will retail for 2800 on November 22.

- Capcom has confirmed that they will be porting the latest arcade gun shooting game Gun Survivor 2: Biohazard Code Veronica to PlayStation 2. The PS2 port is scheduled to release in November, for 6800 yen (standard) and 9800 yen (GunCon II bundle pack). The home version features a new Dungeons Mode, and it will be compatible with Namco's GunCon 2 controller.

- Here are some screen shots of Criterion's PlayStation 2 hover board sports game Airblade, a futuristic version of skateboarding, where you can perform a variety of tricks in the air. Airblade is scheduled for release in November. (From CVG)

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H A N D H E L D S

- Here is a new screen shot of Activision's GameBoy Advance action game Jackie Chan Adventure, which is based on the animated cartoon series, in which Jackie is a government secret agent. The game will due out in spring 2002.

- Nintendo announced that their new handheld system Pokemon Mini will be released in Japan in November, for 4800 yen. The machine can be operated with one AAA battery, for 60 hours continuously. A Pokemon Mini game Pokemon Party will be packaged with the system. Nintendo will release 2 additional games simultaneously: Pokemon Puzzle Collection and Pokemon Animated Cartoon Card, for 1200 yen each. The Pokemon Mini features a built-in shock sensor, some games can be played by simply shaking the machine.

- Bandai will release the WonderSwan Color adventure RPG game Inu-Yasha: Kagome's Sengoku-Jidai Journal in Japan on October 18, for 4500 yen; Marie & Ellie's Two Person Atelier will be released on October 18 as well, for 4800 yen.

- Sega / WOW Entertainment announced that the release date of Columns Crown for GBA will be pushed back to December in Japan.

- Hudson is working on the GameBoy Advance version of Bomberman, called Bomberman Max 2. Similar to the first game, the game will be divided into Bomberman Version and Max Version. In the Bomberman version you will control Bomberman, and in the Max version you will control Max. each version will have 100 stages, and you can choose to advance the level in multiple paths. In the Story Mode, you can acquire different Charaboms - animals that you can ride on and help you to advance the levels. There are over 10 kinds of Charaboms in the game, you can even use them to battle with a friend over the link cable.

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- Namco will release the GBA version of Tekken in Japan on December 21, for 5300 yen. Namco will also release the Japanese version of Namco Museum for GBA in Japan on December 7, for 3800 yen.

- Koei will release the GameBoy Advance version of their popular historic war simulation game Romance of Three Kingdoms in Japan on November 30, for 6800 yen.

G A M E C U B E

- Here are the latest screen shots of Hudson's GameCube action game Bomberman Generation.

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- EA Square announced that the GameCube version of FIFA 2002: Road to FIFA World Cup will be released in Japan on November 16, for 6800 yen.

A R C A D E   /   O T H E R S

- The Dengeki Console Ranking Top 50 Chart is updated, Konami's Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 8 for PS2 landed first in the chart this week with 167,000+ copies sold, Capcom's Devil May Cry dropped back to second, sold 88,000+ copies, and Sony's Parappa the Rappa 2 told the third place, with 47,000+ copies sold.

- TDK Mediactive announced they have acquired the Mercedes-Benz license, and they will be developing racing game titles featuring the Mercedes-Benz vehicles, for next generation platforms in 2002.

- Here is a list of confirmed game titles to be exhibited at Tokyo Game Show 2001 Fall.

Enix
Dragon Quest IV (PS, RPG)
Snap Kids (GBA, RPG)
Deep Fantasia (PC, Online RPG)

Capcom
Onimusha 2 (PS2, Action Adventure)
Maximo (PS2, Action Adventure)
Battle Network Rockman EXE 2 (GBA, Action RPG)
Rockman X6 (PS, Action)
Hitsusi no Kimochi (GBA, Action)

Namco
Moto GP2 (PS2, Racing)
Time Crisis 2 (PS2, Gun Shooting)
Vampire Night (PS2, Gun Shooting)
Xenosaga Episode 1 (PS2, RPG)
Tekken Advance (GBA)

Hudson
Robopon 2 Ring Version (GBA, RPG)
Robopon 2 Cross Version (GBA, RPG)
Momotarou Festival Rokuemon Ishikawa Gate (PS, Party)
Blender Bros. (GBA, Action)

Taito
Monster Traveler (GBA, RPG)

Sunsoft
Kids Station: Mischievous Mon (PS, Kids)
Kids Station: Bahba Papa (PS, Kids)

- ASCII24 has conducted a survey to Sony, Nintendo and Sega, regarding to the delayed launch of Microsoft XBox in Japan. Here are what they commented:

Sony - PlayStation 2 will receive an overwhelming amount of quality software by the end of the year, and the delay of XBox will enable Sony to capture an even larger market share than before. However, Sony said they are still supporting PS One, and they expect PlayStation 2 to stay in the market as long as PS One. If developers begin to dissatisfy with the performance of the PS2 hardware, they will begin to examine the next generation machine (PS3)

Nintendo - no comments

Sega - Microsoft needs to think about the American and European market together as a whole.

X B O X

- Toys R' US and its partner Amazon.Com announced that their $499 presale XBox bundles have sold out completely within 30 minutes. The next XBox pre-sale program will begin on September 11.

D R E A M C A S T

- Planetweb has released the version 3.0 of the Planetweb internet browser for Dreamcast, which can be purchased online at the Planetweb website.. The new version will have instant messaging and broadband connection support, just like Sega's own Dream Passport browser.

- Sega of America announced that they have created two new divisions to their San Francisco headquarters, they are the Sports and Entertainment divisions, which will be headed by the former Namco staff Mike Fischer. The new divisions will focus on developing multiplatform game titles in various genres.

- Sega of America mentioned that the US version of Shenmue II will not have English dialogs, instead the dialogs will remain in Japanese, with English subtitles.