- October 10-13, 2001 -

A R C A D E   /   O T H E R S

- The Dengeki Console Ranking Top 50 Chart is updated. Koei's hit PS2 action game Shin Sangoku Musou 2 (Dynasty Warriors 3) is still selling like hotcakes in Japan, the total sales have reached 482,000+ copies this week. Namco's Time Crisis II, From Software's King's Field IV and Bandai's Digimon Tamers Battle Spirit took the 2nd to 4th place in the chart respectively.

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

- Konami announced Rave: Groove Adventure for PlayStation, a new action RPG based on the popular Japanese manga Rave. This game will feature 2D overhead view, colourful graphics and support up to 3 players simultaneously.  From the screen shots, the game system is similar to Square's Seiken Densetsu series, in which you play as two original characters: Angela and Eason, you will meet and teamup with the Rave characters Elie, Musica and Puru. There is a new game system called RPD, in which you can give different commands to your partner during battles, and they will change their attack and defense pattern in real time.

- Sega Smilebit announced that they are brining the two popular Dreamcast titles Eternal Arcadia (Skies of Arcadia in US) and Hundred Swords to PlayStation 2.

- Koei announced that they have shipped 500,000 copies of their PlayStation 2 action game Shin Sangoku Musou 2 (Dynasty Warriors 3) in Japan.

X B O X

- Sega announced that they are bringing Shenmue II and Phantasy Star Online to XBOX.

- Sega announced that they are developing a new XBox compatible arcade board, this new board will be separated from Sega's own line of Naomi boards, which means both Naomi and XBox compatible arcade systems will co-exist, and Sega will continue to develop for the Naomi systems, including the future Naomi 3 board. Sega also hinted on a possible arcade update to the classic racing series Outrun.

- Other than Sega GT 2002, Sega announced that they will be releasing Sega GT 2002 Append Disc and Sega GT 2002 Online for XBox, after the initial release of Sega GT 2002.

G A M E C U B E

- Rave (tentative name) will be Konami's first GameCube title, a 3D action game featuring the best graphics from the 3 versions (GC, PS2, GBA). The GameCube version will support up to 4 players simultaneously.

H A N D H E L D S

- Konami is bringing a new fighting to GameBoy Advance called Rave: Blazing Flame, based on the popular manga series Rave. The game will base on the chapter of Sodom in the manga, featuring over 10 playable characters. There are 3 play modes: Story, Survivor Mode and Versus Mode. Rave: Blazing Flame is scheduled for release in Japan on December 20.

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- Bandai has revealed some more new WonderSwan Color titles:

Final Lap Special (Namco, Racing, November 15) - a new edition of Namco's classic F1 racing game, featuring over 30 new circuits.

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From TV Animation: One Piece Treasure Wars (Bandai, January 3, 2002) - a new board game featuring characters from the popular anime series One Piece. The rule of the game is similar to Monopoly.

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Dice de Chocobo (Square, Board Game)
A monopoly type board game ported over from Square's PlayStation Millennium series. The WonderSwan Color version will have 4 players support and new magic gem element not found in the PS version.

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Digimon Tamers: Battle Network (Bandai, December 2001) - a new Digimon RPG with network support.

Super Robot Taisen Compact for WonderSwan Color (Bandai, SRPG, December 13)
A remake of the original Super Robot Taisen for the black & white WonderSwan, featuring a revised storyline, additional stages and character not found in the original.

Marie & Ellie's Two Ateliers (E3 Staff, RPG, October 25)
A new edition of Gust's popular RPG series, this time it combines both Atelier Marie and Atelier Ellie together as a single game.

D R E A M C A S T

- Sega of America has canceled the release of the US version of Shenmue II for Dreamcast, now the game will be hitting XBOX, and Microsoft will be publishing the title stateside.

- SNK has canceled the release of SNK Best Buy: Last Blade 2 Final Edition for Dreamcast.