- December 6, 2001 -

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

- In a recent interview, staffs from the Sega-AM2 team mentioned that the development of the PS2 edition of Virtua Fighter 4 will feature a lot of original elements, such as a new Training Mode, A.I. system. You can also create "custom" characters, who will battle based on your fighting style, and you can bring this character to battle with other people's custom characters. However, the PS2 version will not support VF.NET, there will be no online play modes in this game. Virtua Fighter 4 for PS2 is scheduled for release in Japan on January 31, for 6800 yen. Check out some new PS2 shots here.

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- Hori announced they will release the Virtua Fighter 4 Stick and Beretta M92FS Inox Lightgun for PlayStation 2 in Japan on January 31. The Virtua Fighter 4 Stick is specially designed for Sega's Virtua Fighter 4, but can also be used on other games like Dead or Alive 2, the stick will retail for 3980 yen. The Beretta M92Fs Inox Lightgun is 100% compatible with Namco's GunCon 2, it is designed to imitate the real gun Beretta M92FS, the lightgun will have the same stainless steel outlook and weight, and it will retail for 9800 yen.

- Enterbrain announced Galerians: Ash for PlayStation 2, the sequel to their popular PlayStation psychic 3D adventure game. The game is scheduled to release in Japan in April 2002.

- Bandai has released a new PlayStation action combat game in Japan on December 6 called Digimon Tamers: Evolution, based on the popular anime series. Each Digimon in the game will carry an elemental attribute like Flame, Nature and Water. During the battle, the Digimons can pick up evolution treasure in the stage to warp-evolve into a more powerful form for a limited time. There are 6 battle stages in the game, each with various traps and evolution treasures.

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- Banpresto announced Super Robot Taisen Impact for PlayStation 2, the latest installment of the ever popular robot battle war simulation series. The game features 3D battle system like in the Dreamcast version, and 2D combat animated cartoon like in the PlayStation version. It is possible to turn on and off the animation movies. This time the game will feature characters from 26 anime series, including Gundam, Nadesico, Dangaioh, Ninja Senshi Tobikage, Getta Robot, Dancougar, Zambot 3 and many more.

- Konami announced that their hit PlayStation 2 horror adventure game Silent Hill 2 has been selling at marvelous speed, the game has become the No. 1 game in Europe for two weeks, and over 1.1 million units were sold worldwide.

- Takara has postponed the release date of their PS2 racing game Choro Q High Grade 2 to January 10, 2002. The game will feature over 150 vehicles.

- Square has confirmed that they will release Final Fantasy X - International for PS2 in Japan on January 31, for 7800 yen. A Privilege DVD Video will be available for those who preorder the game.

- Datam Polystar, the long time Sega Saturn / Dreamcast developer has joined PlayStation 2, their first PS2 title is a love adventure game called Roommate: Asami, the latest installment of the Roommate series, featuring a brand new heroine. The game is scheduled for release in Japan on June 2002.

- DigiCube will release a new PlayStation love adventure game in Japan on the Valentine's Day (February 14, 2002), called Chocolate Kiss, for 3800 yen. In the game you play as a 17 years old high school boy, who dates with one of the 9 teenage girls, and your score will depend on the amount of chocolate you received at the Valentine's Day on February 14. There are over 10 different endings available in the game.

- Selen will release 3 new Super-Price PSone titles in Japan on January 24, for 950 yen each. The 3 titles are Reversi, Flower Cards and an action puzzle game called Block & Switch.

- Spike will release WRC World Rally Championship for PS2 in Japan in spring 2002, the game will support the GT Force racing controller.

- Idea Factory will release Generation of Chaos Next: Bonds of Loss for PlayStation 2 in Japan in spring 2002, the 2nd installment of their popular simulation RPG.

- Here are some new screen shots of Sega's PlayStation 2 version of their espionage thriller Headhunter. The game features spy-action and heavy military paraphernalia. (from IGNPS2)

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G A M E C U B E

- Check out some new Jill Valentine screen shots from Capcom's Biohazard (Resident Evil) remake for GameCube. The game is scheduled for release on March 22, 2002.

 
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- Nintendo of Japan will release Animal Forest + for GameCube in Japan on February 22.

H A N D H E L D S

- Nintendo will release the GameBoy Advance action RPG Tomato Adventure in Japan on January 25, for 4800 yen. The story takes place in the Ketchup Kingdom, in this place those who dislike ketchup will be called Doroppasu, and will be force to move to a small village far in the border. The hero of the game is a boy named Demiru, who lives in this village, one day the King Abira kidnapped the hero's girlfriend Pasaran, and he started his adventure to acquire the mysterious weapon Gimmick to battle with the boss Super-Kids in each area and save his girlfriend. There are 4 kinds of Gimmicks in the game: timing, speed, dokidoki and input-commands. When you input the attack commands at the correct timing, the attack power will increase, but the difficulty will also increase when you use more powerful attacks.

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A R C A D E   /   O T H E R S

- Namco has released new screen shots of the Soul Calibur II fighter Xianghua, a 20 year old Chinese girl who uses a Chinese sword as weapon. She travel with Kilik to search for the evil sword Soul Edge, which is supposed to be destroyed 4 years ago.

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- The latest analysis shows that the videogame market in Japan is slowly recovering, the sales of both console hardware and software have been on the rise for 3 consecutive months. During the month of November, the sales of PlayStation hardware (PSone and PS2 combined) has increased by 80% comparing to the same month last period. GameCube has sold about 192,000 units during the month, and the total install base has reached 500,000 units.

- In November, the sales of software has also increased by 26.5% comparing to previous year, the sales of PlayStation software (PSone and PS2 combined) have increased by 63.9%, to 3.25 million units, and the sales of GameCube software has also reached 890,000 units, doubling the figure from October 2001.

- Konami's Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has sold over 465,000 units in the first week of release in Japan, the Japanese version of the game was released on November 29, and it features unedited scenes of the New York City.

- Sun Amusement will release the Neo Geo home cartridge version of The King of Fighters 2001 in Japan early next year, and they have already acquired the license agreement with SNK for KOF2002.

X B O X

- Sega Smilebit announced the release date of their XBox title Jet Set Radio Future, the game will be released on February 22, as a XBox launch title in Japan.

- UK Official XBox Magazine mentioned that Team Ninja, the developer of the Dead or Alive series, is working on their next XBox title, which is a sports game (Tennis or Soccer).

D R E A M C A S T

- Sega will be re-releasing the whole Sakura Taisen series for Dreamcast early next year in new low prices, to prepare for the final Dreamcast hit Sakura Taisen 4. Here is the release info

• Jan 17 - Sakura Taisen Memorial Pack, 3800 yen (bundled with a Memorial Calendar)
• Feb 07 - Sakura Taisen 2 Memorial Pack, 3800 yen (bundled with a Memorial DVD Video)
• Mar 07 - Sakura Taisen 3: Hometown Paris is Burning, 5800 yen (bundled with a Memorial Music Box)
• Late March - Sakura Taisen 4.

- Kid will release a new love adventure game for both Dreamcast and PSone called Milky Season, the game will be released on February 28, for 6800 yen. Due to the condition of the Dreamcast market, the DC version will be in limited production of 10,000 units.