25 November 1999 (平成 11年 11月25日)

GT2 and Crash Racing Update

GT2 has been announced to be released on 11th of next month (December). Still not known if that the save game data can be used in the game to earn the previous 3 licences available in the game play.
Release date for Crash Bandicoot Racing has also been announced, 16th of December, one week after GT2.

Upcoming New Titles

Xi(Sai)Jumbo is targetted to be release this Christmas. More play mode have been added to blown your mind up. Mainly in the Puzzle mode, there is Ghost Dice and Magnet Dice.
Crash Bandicoot Racing is also set to be release this December, date, not known yet.

Next yr, we may expect to see some funny titles, 5 fishing games, 1 in January, 4 in Febuary.
Chaos Break, a shoting game from NAMCO is targetted to arrive on the last week of January, it is a sequel to the arcade smash, Chaos Heat.
Chase The Express, Action Adventure game about the military train, Blue Harvest, developed by NATO was hijacked by the terrorists. The player will take up the role of a agent to resuce the hostages and save the world of a neclear threat.
Bio Hazard Gun Survivor, Action Shooting game. This BH game is GUNCON compitable. All movements like aim, shoot, change weapon, running, duck, turn, will be controlled by the GUNCON! It is also gurenteed for the same type of horror as all 3 BH released. Cross your finger for this to be released in Singapore!!

Changes for this month

Gran Tursimo 2 (GT2) has been delayed again by SCEI to January next year. (Rumored only! Totally not known if any further delays will be installed for this title) (T_T;) やえがし.

Got info on the next Square title to be release on PlayStation and not for PlayStation 2 is Final Fantasy IX (FF9)(仮名). The release of FF9 on the regular PS may be a saving title for SONY's first generation game system, PlayStation, But the software sales may still go, but hardware sales for PS may not be moving at all, since PS2 is backward compatible with PS games. We shall see about that. (^_^;)

The other Square title releasing, but in this year for Christmas, will be Chocobo Collection. It will have total of 3 games on it spanning 3 CDs. The games title are Chocobo Racing, Dice De Chocobo (仮名) and Chocobo Stallion(仮名). Chocobo Racing is the same game release earlier this year where the other 2 are totally new. Dice De Chocobo is a game similar to Monopoly, but you use magical powers to aquire a piece of land. Chocobo Stallion is another racing game similar to normal horse racing came, you will have to race with other Chocobo to get more money, you will also need to feed them, training and so on.

Upcoming new games in October and November.

3 fighting games, Psychic Force 2 and Jojo's Venture will be released in October, Marvel(tm) VS CAPCOM(r) in November
7 RPG games, Dewprism and Arc the lad 3 in October, Alundra 2, Chrono Trigger and Chono Cross in November.
The long awaited GT2 is also rumored to hit in November. In that same month, you may also expect DDR 2ndReMix Append Club Mix Volume 1 as well.

PS2 release date and will show up in TGS!

Next year is the year of PS2.
As announced yesterday, it will be released Marc 4 2000 (平成 12年3月4日). Priced at $39800 Yen. The disk will be in blue and not black this time and it will be a DVD-rom. For more info on PS2, Visit www.scei.co.jp/ps2

No PS2 this year !

As most have read from Japanese Game Magazines, PS2 will not make it this Christmas. No official statements mentioning that it will be delayed yet but what about at E3? PS2 didn't show up as well!!

PS2 may not show up in TGS!

It has been mentioned that there may not be a lineup for PS2 to be showned in the up coming Tokyo Game Show this September. The main reason is that, the final beta is still not ready yet and that it is still too difficult to make the chips as what they may have claimed before.watch for more info on PS2.

Pocketstation is a slave to fashion too !! Here is information on accessories for it!

Pocketstation accessories have been announced. The name was also announced, "Pocket Driver". Set for release on April 29 at a cost of 500 yen.

Selling points
1. If you carry it with your Pocketstation, even if you have a sudden power outage, you'll be able to save your game.
2. If you need to change your Pocketstation's batteries, there is a protective case included that perfectly fits the Pocket Driver.
3. 1 spare Lithium CR2032 battery is included.
4. There is an attached keychain, so it is convenient for carrying.
5. Comes in 5 different colors.
It is being put out by Hori electronics.

Takara's latest game - a boardgame for Playstation "DX Company President Game" has a planned release date!

Takara, a company who has made other boardgames for Playstation in the past, is readying to sell their newest creation by the name of "DX Company President Game". The release date is June 24, and has an expected price of 5800 yen.
Sales points
1. Make money with the world as your stage!
2. Earn tons of money through franchising!
3. Read the business index to find out about your opponents!
4. There are many characters, items, and mini games to help or hinder you along the way!
5. Of course, you can play with up to 4 people with simpler controls and rules!

Information on Playstation 2 from SCE President Kutaragi 久多良木さん

On March 17th, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment, Kutaragi, posted some interesting information about Playstation 2 on the Bloomberg Forum. "Since we've moved beyond the simple game machine, it will be easy for developers to mix music and graphics to create what they wish. We will be starting a whole new level of entertainment." "If we didn't have the current Playstation, we wouldn't be getting great games like Capcom's 'Bio Hazard'. Not only that, but most exciting of all are the games which we can't even imagine yet. When Playstation 2 is released, we will see all kinds of innovative games hitting the market."
Concerning the release date of the Playstation 2 in Japan, "Games usually require from 1 to 1 1/2 years to create, but current Playstation games only take between 9 and 10 months. Developers can leverage their experience with the existing Playstation to make a smooth transition to Playstation 2. Since we are already distributing development kits, it seems to me a December launch date is quite feasable."

More Info on Metal Gear Solid Integal メダルギアソリッドインテグラル

This time round, it will be a 3 cd game, 2 main game disk and 1 "VR Disk". It is also said to be PocketStation compatable. This is also not the "Director's Cut" or the US "International Version" but "Integral", the complete MGS, in which will also rumored to contain clips from E3 and the recent Tokyo Game Show. (Cool!!-やえがし). This "Remix" version of MGS will have the same option as the US release, thats means, players can choose the difficuilty level. Furthermore, you can switched to a first person view, AKA Doom style, during attack.

In the Making of Next-gneration games for Next-generation PlayStation

The following companies have formally announced their intention to develop for PSX2:
Asmik
Ace Entertainment
Atlas
Artdink
Enix
Capcom
Konami
Square
SME
Namco

Have the intention to come on board PSX2:
Ascii
Imagineer
From Software

Still Considering:
Genki

Moreover, Namco has announced they are making "Tekken" for the next generation Playstation!

Metal Gear... Sequel?

Konami will release a revised version of Metal Gear Solid in Japan this summer, called Metal Gear Solid Integral. This is basically the same game Konami released last year for the PlayStation but with numerous enhancements. Here's what will be new in MGSI:
- English voices replace the original Japanese voice acting
- Selectable subtitles in Japanese or English
- 300 stages in the training mode
- Ability to move or attack from first-person view
- Additional missions after completing the game
- PocketStation compatibility
Metal Gear Solid Integral for the PlayStation will be released on July 1 for 4,900 yen (about US$40) in Japan.

Mass production plans for the next-generation Sony Playstation processor

From the moment the next-generation Playstation was announced to the public, there has been much talk about this new system. It is planned to be on the market before the end of the fiscal year 1999 (March 2000). A new company will be established in April 1999 to handle the production of the main CPU and graphics processors used in the new Playstation. Design of the mass production system is already underway.
SCEI and Toshiba Corporation have worked out the details concerning the new company, which will be established for the production of various semiconductor chips (including the "Emotion Engine" 128 bit CPU) with a 0.18-0.15 micron process. (The companies involved are Toshiba Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment: the percentage stakes in the new company are 51% and 49%, respectively)
The company will be established in April of this year, and the new facility will begin production this fall. Some of the manufacturing equipment to be used was recently introduced in the Toshiba Corporation's Ooita production facility. Planned production for Ooita is around 10,000 units a month. SCEI is providing funding for the manufacturing equipment, and the investment total is expected to be around 50 billion yen. Also, another company with a mass production facility will be set up for the "Graphics Synthesizer" (a processor that helps display the visual data on screen). It was announced that SCE would have 100% investment in this company (the name is yet unknown). The facility will be built on Sony's property in Nagasaki, and will use a new 0.18-micron DRAM fabrication process. Construction of the factory will begin in April 1999, and it is scheduled to be operational in the spring of 2000. (Until then, production will occur at Sony Kokubu). The factory is expected to churn out 10,000 units a month. SCEI will invest over 70 billion yen.
Sony has paid close attention to Sega's recent supply problems. The Dreamcast couldn't meet demand mostly due to NEC's inability to produce enough graphics processors. Sony took special care to make sure the same thing wouldn't happen with the new Playstation. Sony has so far invested 120 billion yen in the two companies it is setting up. The current plans are to produce 2,000,000 next-generation Playstation units per month. SCEI plans to have the system for sale before the end of the 1999 fiscal year (ending March 2000).
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From Saturn to Playstation "Start Ring Odyssey" will be ported to Playstation!

The Sega Saturn game maker "Ray Force, Inc." plans to release the "Start Ring Odyssey" series for the Playstation! This particular title of this series was originally planned to be for Sega Saturn, but they decided to release it for Playstation instead. The first title in the series, "Start Ring Odyssey - Blue Evolution" is planned to go on sale May 27, at a price of 6800 yen. Over 500 monsters will make an appearance. It will feature over 15 minutes of animation.

PlayStation 2

A writeout convertion found on Sony Japan website on the specifications of the upcoming new system

Final Fantasy VIII Disk 3 bug report

click on this link to get more info on problem as reported on Square Japan website and Asahi Newspaper

Parappa 2

Parappa The Rappa will be a featured guest in "Un Jammer Lammy", Sequel to the original "Parappa The Rappa".

These 2 games are originally stated for an urgent release this March 18. It may seems that SCEI Japan will push this game to June / July Release (Summer in Japan).

Rising Zan

This game will have blood removed and in place, sparks will be given out you any attacks where blood will be.

Pocket Station

2. This PDA was also rumor to surface in Singapore in April.
10 Feb 1999
Final Fantasy VIII Hype (taken from Final Fantasy VIII Fanatics)

Remember: The people in Square Japan can change anything, so the true things can become false, or the false can become true. (Final Hour update as everyone will know what is true and what is not when the game actually arrive tomorrow)

Facts

The new Pocket Station (aka PDA) will be used to breed chocobos.

Technology appears to once again be at a high level.

The main character: Squall Leonhart.

Supporting character: Laguna Loire.

The character designs in the game are less anime-style than FF7, and are more lifelike.

All characters are texture-mapped, providing more detailed graphics in battles.

Tetsuya Nomura, a character designer for FF8, says the theme is of love.

In a first for the FF series, all party characters will be shown when exploring, not just the "front" character.

Squall's weapon, the GunBlade, is a mixture of a gun and a sword and you pull the trigger when you hit the enemy with the GunBlade by pressing R1.

No materia in the game, this time it's Joint Magic.

Rumours yet to be confirmed

A thing called Bahamut will be in FFVIII.

FF8 will take place in a different time and universe than FF7. *I understood why, and maybe*

You can travel through dimensions. *I hope so!*

FF8 is much more dramatic. *probably, that's what Japanese are best in (no offense)*

Cid and RedXIII are characters in FFVIII. *Heh, I wish! Cid maybe because he has been in all FF games in at least one form or another.*

There were 99 magics in FFV, 70 in FFVI, 64 in FFVII. And so there's going to be less than or equaled to 60 types of magics. *I hope not. I hope it has more than 100!*

Leviathan is taking a great role in the game *I guess. There's certainly a lot of pics of Leviathan.*

Laguna weapon is a staff that can be upgraded during the game *cool, i hope it's true!*

Moogles are in Final Fantasy 8.*just like Cid, they have been in a lot of FF games, so I think this is true.

False Rumours

FF8 and FF9 are being developed simultaneously so that FF9 can be released 9/9/99.

The main enemy is, supposedly, an organism from Sephiroth's body.

It is a continue (true sequel) of FF7.

Four people in a party. (I'd love that! Maybe they'll put it on FF9...)

FFVIII takes place on a less advanced world than FFVII. (I don't think so! Japanese people LOVE the future and futuristic places. No offense, once again!)

The game will be release at the same time in the US and Japan.

26 Jan 1999

PlayStation 2 Coming at the end of the year ?

As reportes in January issue of Official US PlayStation Magazine volume 2 issue 4 page 26, Sony and Toshiba will combine their technologies and create a new chip which will be announced at the IEEE Internetional Solid-state Circuits Confrence next month (February 1999). This chip will be made from 2 other chips, Digital Singal Processor (DSP) and a new RISC processor (found on Windows NT Alpha systems) respectivly. This new chipset is believed to be used on the upcoming PlayStation 2, but officials from Sony not made an official statement yet. Overall .... there ARE NO words from Sony Officials that there will every be a PlayStation 2. This 10,500,000 transistor, 250 Mhz DSP will have14 accumlators for floating point calculation to help the rich smooth 3D graphics.
Another rumor suggests that Sony's next machine will be using NURBS, an advance 3D graphics card that will create close to CG-cinema quality gameplay. In additional, DSP will cantain an MPEG 2 Decoder which are used to decode DVD movies. That means is to say, players may actually play on a PlayStation DVD console that play games and DVD at the same time. Furthermore if this is coming to a reality, we can also get to see more material used to create the game as now they can squeeze more date then conventional 650 Mb CD ROM barrier.
Just a reminder that is, all this news are just in fragments and Sony have not made an official statement. so, until we hear other things from the grapvine, we will not update this rumor. ^_^ (やえがし）

24 Jan 1999

Faye Wong will be doing a track in Final Fantasy VIII ?

As reported at a local magazine, Faye will record the Title track for this game where she was paid at a very high price. but how true are all this? Basically the Japanese love her voice so therefore, the possibility is very high. No word from Square Japan to conform the news yet.

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