- December 11, 2001 -

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

- Enix annnounced that they have shipped one million units of their PSone RPG remake Dragon Quest IV in Japan. The game was released on November 22, over 750,000 units were sold within 2 weeks.

- Bandai announced that they have shipped 650,000 units of their highly anticipated PlayStation 2 action game Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation Vs Zion DX, about 70% of the initial 500,000 units shipment were sold within 3 days. The game was released in Japan on December 6.

- Sony and NTT announced they will begin to provide broadband network services for PlayStation 2 in Japan in April 2002. A special software conference will take place in February 2002, new broadband compatible PS2 software will be announced.

- SCEI (Sony Computer Entertainment) also announced that both NTT-BB and So-Net (Sony Communication Network) will begin to offer broadband internet services to users in a monthly payment basis.

- SCEA announced that they have sold over 317,000 units of PlayStation 2 in the week of November 17, when both Microsoft XBox and Nintendo GameCube was launched in US. At the same week the estimate figure for XBox is 370,000 units and 470,000 for GameCube.

- Nec Interchannel will release Black / Matrix II for PlayStation 2 in Japan this winter, the sequel of their popular tactical simulation RPG. The story is about the battles between white angels and black angels. This time the magic system is removed, a new skills system will be used. All the skills will require Blood Points (BP), you can acquire BPs by defeating opponents in battles. There are Normal Combats and Free Combats, normal combats are battles that you must participate, free combats are battles that can be participated by your choice, you can challenge free combats as often as you like and you can only earn a small amount of experience points from free combats. After each battle, you can freely distribute the experience points to any characters in the team, so you can freely promote your favorite characters.

Additional Images (8)

- Nec Interchannel announced a PlayStation 2 port of their popular PC / Dreamcast love adventure game Kanon, the PS2 port is scheduled for release in Japan on February 8, for 6800 yen.

- Infogrames has released new screens of their PlayStation 2 racing game Test Drive, scheduled to release in US in March 15, 2002. The game is developed by Pitbull Syndicate, featuring race courses from over the world, including San Francisco, London, Monaco and Tokyo. There will be a new Story Mode, with progressive championship, twisting plot and a cast of unusual rivals and supporting characters. The PS2 version will have extra reflection effects not found in the XBox version, while the XBox edition will have bump-mapping, pixel shading effects.

Additional Images (16)

- D3 Publisher announced Simple 1500 Series Vol. 88 The Love Songs Mahjong for PlayStation, scheduled to release in Japan on February 28, for 1500 yen. This game is based on Love Songs, a love adventure game released earlier this year.

- Metroworks announced that Sony's PlayStation 2 adventure game Toro & Holiday is developed using CodeWarrior for PlayStation 2. Metroworks will release CodeWarrior version 3.0 for PS2 on December 21.

- Syscom Entertainment announced Tetsu One de Battle: World Grand Prix for PlayStation 2, the sequel of their train racing game which was first released this summer. This time the game will feature over 80 kinds of new trains, including trains with kabuki, cat and other faces as the train head, as well as "reality" models like special express in Japan and locomotive in Europe. Tetsu One de Battle: World Grand Prix is scheduled to release in Japan on February 21, for 3800 yen.

Additional Images (11)

- Here are some new images of Namco's PS2 fighting game Tekken 4, scheduled to release in March 2002, the home version will have a new mode in which the story for the character develops as you advance the levels. (from Game Watch Impress)

Additional Images

G A M E C U B E

- Bloomberg reported that Square and Nintendo have been exchanging ideas on developing for the Nintendo platforms. At the current state, Square does not have plans to develop for GameCube, due to the different point of views on online games. Nintendo's idea is to connect GameCube, GameBoy Advance and cellular phone together to form a gaming network for small groups of people. Square is aiming to provide online game software on large-scale server that can serve several thousands of people simultaneously. At this point it doesn't seem very likely that Square software will reappear on Nintendo platforms.

H A N D H E L D S

- Square announced the release date of the first title in the Square Masterpieces Series. Romancing Saga for WonderSwan Color will be released on December 20, for 5200 yen. A bonus Square Masterpiece cartridge folder will be given to those who preorder the game in game shops.

A R C A D E   /   O T H E R S

- Koei has revealed their business strategy for the next year. They will continue to focus on PlayStation 2 development to expand their market share: Koei will continue to develop popular titles into series (Shin Sangoku Musou, Kessen, etc), and a new PS2 title by Shibusawa Kou is under development.

- For XBox, Koei's first title Nobunaga's Ambition will be released as a launch title for the system on February 22 in Japan. The XBox online RPG Crimson Sea is still scheduled for a 2003 release. Koei is currently working on one GameCube title, and they are planning to develop another GameCube title for kids next year.

- Paxnet has released the estimated sales figures of the console systems during the Thanksgiving weekend. Nintendo GameCube has sold between 400,000 - 500,000 units, and Microsoft XBox has sold between 550,000 - 600,000 units. Though no exact figure revealed, PlayStation 2 sales has also increased by 50%, and Sega plans to sell out the remaining 270,000 units of Dreamcast by the end of December.

- Namco announced that they are currently cooperating with Enix in developing two PlayOnline titles, which will run on the same server as Square's Final Fantasy XI.