Update : November 8th, 2002

Latest video games sales in Japan

Here's the latest Dengeki Top 10 list for video games sales during October 28th to November 3rd of 2002. Torneko 3 was easily the best-seller of this week. PS One games are still popular in Japan thanks to Final Fantasy.

1	Torneko no Daibouken 3	Chunsoft		307,400	(NEW)
2	One Piece Battle	Bandai		62,700	(NEW)
3	Final Fantasy	Squaresoft		71,900	(NEW)
4	Final Fantasy II	Squaresoft		66,700	(NEW)
5	Hoshi no Kirby Deluxe	Nintendo		67,500	(280,800)
6	Ultraman Fighting Evolution 2	Banpresto		53,100	(NEW)
7	Final Fantasy I & II Premium Pack	Squaresoft		38,400	(NEW)
8	Tales of World Narikiri Dungeon 2	Namco		28,700	(108,700)
9	Medal of Honnor	EA		18,600	(43,200)
10	Gundam W : The Battle	D3		14,700	(89,600)

Update : November 6th, 2002

Shinobi Movie project

Sega and Mindfire Entertainment are planning to develop an action movie based on the Shinobi video game franchise. The film will have a budget of $40 millions US and is scheduled to be released in the 2004 summer. Mindfire Entertainment is the same company responsible for the House of the Dead movie that will be released next year.

Capcom All-Stars delayed

Capcom has postponed the release date of their arcade fighting game Capcom Fighting All-Stars from December 2002 to spring 2003 in Japan. The game is developped on the PS2 arcade board.



Update : November 4th, 2002

New Date for FLCL Volume 2

Synch-Point Announced that FLCL Volume 2 will be released on February 25th for $29.95 US.

Problem with End of Evangelion DVD

Manga Entertainment have given more info about the problem concerning the DVD of the End of Evangelion. A small batch of 5,000 discs out of 70,000 are defective. For replacement, Manga set up a mail in exchange program. Keith Burgess explained that Manga Entertainment is offering a free Virus vol.1 DVD for all exchanged End of Evangelion defective DVDs. It's their way of compensating their customers for the shipping cost.



Update : October 29th, 2002

Japanese market sliding to 3rd place

According to a recent study, video game sales in Japan have somewhat decreased compared to last year. Also, because of good performing economy, Europe can claim this year to be a more profitable region than Japan. We have to keep in mind that Japan is going through a recession. North America remains the #1 place for most video games sales.



Update : October 24th, 2002

Daytona 3... coming to Xbox?

It appears that the next installment of Daytona, AM2’s acclaimed racing series, will be released exclusively for Xbox. Yu Suzuki’s team is already hard at work on the game, which is currently carrying the name Daytona Live, though the name could change. Sega and Microsoft are working to release the game in mid-2003 to late 2003. Although the game will initially be an Xbox exclusive, a PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions will follow after. The content of Daytona is expected to be a much enhanced version of the previous games, with a load of new tracks, several old favourites and fully customisable cars. Players will be able to design the look of their own cars. More info to come in the following months.

New Final Fantasy X spin-off

Squaresoft has released official information of Final Fantasy X-2 at the Square Meeting 2002 Autumn in Japan. The game is scheduled to be released for the PS2 in Japan in March 2003. The story takes place 2 years after the battle with Sin and continue in the time of Eternal Nagi (eternal calm). The quest begins at the Besaid Island. It is reported that Wakka will be in the game, as he is present in the opening scenes. Yuna will travel with two other female characters throughout the game. Rumor has it that it might be Rikku and Lulu also from Final Fantasy X.




Update : October 17th, 2002

Resident Evil : Nemesis...the Movie!

The movie version of Resident Evil : Nemesis will be coming sooner than you think, which is in 2003. Milla Jovovich will once again play the role of Alice. Eric Mabius will play the role of Nemesis and Paul Anderson will (again) direct the film.

House of the Dead...the Movie!

Sega announced the Xbox version of The House of the Dead III will feature a 14 minutes preview of The House of the Dead Movie.

New official name of Zelda Gamecube

Nintendo of Japan has officially rename The Legend of Zelda for the GameCube to The Legend of Zelda : Winds of Takuto, the game is still scheduled for release in Japan on Friday, December 13th. Let's hope no bad luck will occur.



Update : October 15th, 2002

New development tool for multi-systems

Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Hudson has developed a new multi-platform development tool which shorten the time to convert Renderware Graphics between GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The new tool is said to shorten the conversion time for at least 3 months.

Sega's Virtua Cop 3

Sega of Japan has started testing Virtua Cop 3 in arcades in Ikebukuro, Japan. The game is developed on the Chihiro (Xbox) arcade board and the game features a foot pedal to dodge enemy attacks like in Namco's Time Crisis.

Latest video games sales in Japan

Here's the latest Dengeki Top 10 list for video games sales during September 30th to October 6th of 2002. This week, Nintendo came up big with the 3 best sellers, proving once again that Nintendo is a successful software maker.

1	StarFox Adventures	Nintendo		40,909	(166,895)
2	Super Mario Advance 3 : Yoshi's Island	Nintendo		29,328	(171,829)
3	Legend of Stafi	Nintendo		22,200	(134,618)
4	Shin Sangoku Musou 2 Mushoden	Koei		21,974	(646,780)
5	Drive Drive	Bandai		15,747	(NEW)
6	Sanji Digiworld SP	Yamasa		13,536	(46,234)
7	Energy Air Force	Taito		13,526	(46,366)
8	.Hack Vol. 2	Bandai		11,406	(160,342)
9	Culdcept 2nd Expansion	Sega		9,520	(44,681)
10	Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2	Sega		8,633	(98,767)

Update : October 11th, 2002

Star Ocean III, not coming this year

Enix has postponed the release date of their major holiday release, Star Ocean III : Till the End of Time for the PlayStation 2. The game was scheduled for November 28th but now it's expected to come out in March 2003. No specific reason was given for the delay.

WB anime TV ratings

Warner Bros. reported that Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon are the most popular cartoons on their network. In fact they're the most watched TV shows for young kids. By the way, the 4th Pokemon Movie is coming out today in theaters across North America.

Click here for the official website.

Otomo Katsuhiro's old project back on track

Akira's creator, Otomo Katsuhiro, is working to finish his old project movie, Steam Boy. The release date is scheduled for the Autumn of 2003. The project started in 1995, then came financial problems to put the movie on hold. Overall, the movie's cost will be 2 billion yen (~16 million US), used 180,000 cels and took eight years to produce.



Update : October 9th, 2002

Sony, way ahead of the competition

According to Bloomberg, for the period of April 2nd to September 29th, PlayStation 2 holds 82% of the Japanese console market. Nintendo's GameCube holds 14% and Microsoft's Xbox tries hard with only 4% of the market. Here are some total sales figures :

	(1,620,000)
	(303,800)
	(110,000)
	(89,000)

I's making its way to animation

The popular I's manga, from Masakazu Katsura, which ended last year in Japan, will soon be adapted in animation. It will be done by Studio Arms (Kite) and will be a direct to video. For now, only one volume is scheduled. It should be out in December for 2500 yen (~$21 US).




Update : October 6th, 2002

Sega's Phantasy Star Online for the Xbox

Sonic Team opened a new website dedicated to the upcoming Xbox version of Phantasy Star Online. The site doesn't tell much for now but it shows the release date (January 16th, 2003), which is the same day Xbox live opens in Japan.

Click here for the link.

15 most influential video games series in Japan

Japanese gaming magazines recently made a survey to find out what was the most influential video game series in Japan. Final Fantasy took the 1st place with almost 3 times more votes than the 2nd place.

1. Final Fantasy (Squaresoft) 2. Dragon Quest (Enix) 3. Biohazard (Capcom) 4. Super Mario (Nintendo) 5. Phantasy Star (Sega) 6. Shin Megami Tensei (Atlus) 7. Street Fighter (Capcom) 8. Sangoku Musou (Koei) 9. Genso Suikoden (Konami) 10. Metal Gear (Konami) 11. Zelda (Nintendo) 12. Virtua Fighter (Sega) 13. Tactics Ogre (Quest) 14. Xenogears (Squaresoft) 15. Super Robot Taisen (Banpresto)

Update : October 3rd, 2002

Better video quality for Nintendo's Gamecube

Factor 5 and DivX Networks announced they have developed a DivX Tool for GameCube, which will enable developers to use DVD quality, yet highly compressed video movies for GameCube. Keep in mind that this new technique is only to help full motion video cut scenes to look better.

You're under arrest Live Action TV

The manga You're under arrest has again made a new leap, it will be adapted as a Live action TV series. The manga was created by Kosuke Fujishima who is also well-known for his Oh My Goddess! series. The story behind You're under arrest is an action-comedy about two female police officers (Miyuki Kobayakawa and Natsumi Tsujimoto) with complete opposite personalities that are teamed up to fight crime in Tokyo. You're under arrest will begin broadcast on TV Asahi, October 17th, at 9:00 P.M.






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