[OT]More PokeMon, DigiMon & other Anime/Game news
miko
Nintendo will be shipping 3 million copies of Pokemon Gold & Silver in Japan on
Nov. 21, 1999. they are aiming to sell a total of 8 million copies of the
Gameboy color title.
In the upcoming Pocket Monsters Gold & Silver the player starts the game with
the 3 new Pokemon. The first is an anteater fire type Pokemon; the second is a
water Pokemon which looks like an alligator, it uses its strong teeth and tail
to attack; and the third one is a grass Pokemon with a large piece of leaf over
its head. Both games will run in real time, there will be a built-in clock /
timer in the cartridge, certain Pokemons will only appear in a certain time
zone, and some special Pokemon League competition or events will only take place
in certain days. Pocket Monster Gold & Silver are out in Japan on Nov. 21, for
3800 yen.
Nintendo will also be showing a prototype of the 128 bit Dolphin in Aug. 2000.
Full details of the system will be announced at the same time.
DIGIMON:
Bandai plans to release Digimon World, a card battler/RPG for PSX in Japan this
Dec. The game will be in full 3D. During the quest you have to search for the
Digimon cards, and during the battles, you can summon the different digital
monsters to battle for you. They also plan to release DigiMon RPG for PSX in US,
due to the increasing popularity of the Anime. Since the game is still under
development in Japan, don't expect to see the US version of the game until
sometime in late 2000.
BANDAI:
Bandai has announced that they are bringing the Japanese DC shooter Gundam Side
Story: 0079 to US by the end of the year.
VAMPIRE HUNTER D:
The new movie based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's third Vampire Hunter D novel
'Yousatsuko(Demon Deathchase)' will be released in the domestic theaters before
its Japanese release. The movie is currently complete in the pre-release stage.
The English-language dialogue has been recorded, but the sound effects and music
have not been added yet. The movie may see its theatrical release as soon as
Spring 2000. Dubbed and subtitled versions of the film will be released by Urban
Vision.
SLAYERS:
The well-known anime series Slayers has been picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel.
The series is planned to be marketed for older children. "Slayers is
kid-friendly, but the story is more complex than children's animation, so we
call it 10 and up" says C.B. Cebulski, the editor-in-chief of Central Park
Media, the domestic distributors of the Slayers series. The question that arises
is if the show is going to appear on TV, will it be redubbed or edited to remove
certain comments such as the ones about the protagonist sorceress Lina Inverse's
figure, and temporary loss of power in an early episode. [miko's opinion
probably]
PRINCESS MONONOKE:
At Canadian National Comic book Expo McFarlane Toys, who have made action
figures of everything from the Beatles to Ozzy Osbourne to Austin Powers(and of
course Spawn), revealed that they will be releasing action figures based on
Princess Mononoke. The figures are already in production and may make it to
stores as early as November. Given the quality of past lines of McFarlane toys,
these will probably be some that no fans will want to be without.
NADIA:
There is a chance that a deal may be in the works to have studio Gainax's
Fushigi No Umi No Nadia (Secret Of Blue Water) (which has been licensed by ADV)
broadcast on U.S. television in some capacity. Recent fan inquiries have
revealed that the ADV has put the Nadia project on temporary hold. More
specifically, they've reportedly been presented with some offers, including
television broadcast and are currently pursuing these.
A-LI-CE:
Gaga Communications will present their second project, A-LI-CE as an entry in
the Tokyo International Fantastic Movie Festival this month. The story is about
a girl, Alice, who wanders through a nightmarish future, defeating monsters and
and solving mysteries in attempt to alter a bleak destiny. Seiyuu of Alice is
Kaori Shimizu (Lain), A-li-ce's character animation was aided using motion
capture data of Kaori-san's actual movements, posture and gestures.
FOX FAMILY:
The Fox Family Channel will have a new bock on Sunday called "Anime Invasion".
Sunday, October 3rd it ran at 11:00 am, and included Digimon and Monster
Rancher. Sunday the 10th it will starting at 7:00 am and include Digiomon,
Monster Rancher and Mega Man.
CHRONO CROSS:
Chrono Cross will feature a new battle command called Erumento (Elemental),
allowing you to use magic, items and techniques together during battles. A
fatigue factor is present, affecting the character's battle power, if you
continuously using element attacks in the battle, they may not be able to attack
due to fatigue and have to rest for a few rounds to regain strength. There are
over 40 characters that will be able join your team, they include: Korcha,
Jyakoto, Slash, Pierre, Miki, Tumalu. Villains include: Karsh, Marcella,
Tukuvomi, Lutramia and Gvaoarun.
FINAL FANTASY:
Final Fantasy Anthology for PSX is expected out in the U.S. Oct. 14th, the disc
will include FFV (previously not released in the U.S.) and FFVI. Square has
added sketches, stills, full-motion animation, and other extras. The Anthology
includes a collector's CD, with soundtrack out takes from both games as well as
the the added art work.
According to sales figures, Final Fantasy VIII has been the #1 best selling
title for the past 3 weeks, first week sales accounted for 25% of total PS
titles sold.
SEGA:
Sega Zone has reported a special trick has been discovered to allow Japanese
Dreamcasts to play US DC games, provided that you have a copy of the demo disc
from the Nov. 99 Issue of Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine. This swap trick has
been confirmed to work with NFL 2000, it should work with any single disc game.
Here is the procedure:
Load up the demo disc
Return to the Dreamcast main menu
Select Play, when the blue Sega screen pops up, as soon as it fades to white,
open the Dreamcast CD cover, the disc should stop spinning and the screen will
remain in white.
Replace the demo disc with any US game disc, and it will now load properly on
a Japanese Dreamcast system.
Sega of Japan has officially delayed the release of Shen Mue Chapter 1: Yokosuka
for DC from Oct. 28 to sometime in the spring of 2000. The reason for delay are
some complex programming adjustments and a debugging process. Sega also
mentioned that the next 4 chapters of Shen Mue (2-5) could be released in a
single package next year.
CAPCOM:
Capcom has pushed back the release date of Biohazard Code: Veronica from this
winter to sometime into the year 2000. To make up for the delay they will be
releasing Biohazard 2 for Dreamcast in Japan this Dec. for 4800 yen. The DC
version will feature high resolution and enhanced graphics, and a new Extreme
Battle mode is added to the game. The hidden play modes included in the PSX and
PC versions such as The 4th Survivor and The Tofu Survivor will be taken out. A
playable demo of Biohazard Code: Veronica will be included in the package.
In a recent interview with Capcom's Mr. Okamoto (creator of Biohazard),
Okamoto-sensei stated that in his experience, the PSX 2's 3D performance is
approximately 15 times the power of Dreamcast, currently they are only using 1 /
15 of the power in the demos of Onimusha shown at the Tokyo Game Show. It will
require time to master the performance of PS2, as development progresses we will
eventually see the true power of the machine.
Capcom has sold over 1 million copies of BioHazard 3 for the first week of
release in Japan.
FUNIMATION:
According to Toriyama.org, Funimation will be releasing DVD versions of the new
DBZ tapes (season 3 & UP) that will include the dubbed version and a subtitle
version. Word on the subtitled version is it will be a new translation and not
just the dialogue from the dub. No firm release date yet but should be several
months. Also stated in the article is that Funimation will also try to bring
over the rest of the Dragon Ball Z movies.
MATRIX meets METAL GEAR SOLID:
Hideo Kojima, director of the Konami PlayStation game Metal Gear Solid and the
Wachowski brothers, directors of the anime inspired sci-fi movie the Matrix,
revealed in a recent interview with Famitsu magazine that they were mutual fans
of each others works. The Wachowski brothers, big video game fans, and Kojima
exchanged letters for some time before meeting in person for the first time
during the interview. Sorry folks, it's not what you have been thinking. It
would be a great project if Hideo Kojima were to work on The Matrix video game,
but we'll have to wait and see what his real next project is. Stay tuned.
All above news was courtesy of AnimeNation News.