Power Stone Portable

From the publisher
Power Stone is an outrageous beat-'em-up style game where players go head to head against an opponent in best of three round match ups. Arcade mode allows a single character to put their skills to the test against a lineup of computer controlled opponents. Unlimited continues are available and successfully defeating all enemies will unlock a variety of bonus features in the "Power Stone Collection" including weapons, characters, galleries, additional modes and more. In Versus mode, two players pick their character of choice and battle it out. The PSP system edition includes an improved user interface which features a new, easy to see health meter as well as a radar to represent the location of the power stones more intuitively. As an added bonus, the four additional characters from Power Stone 2 have been made available for Power Stone, bringing the total to 15 playable characters.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness - Reissue

Atlus' USA reproduction of Disgaea is now in stock and all preorders are shipping today. The game packaging looks exactly like the original release and there's no obtrusive "Greatest Hits" or other markings to designate the game as the second printing. Tracking numbers will be updated after 6PM EST today and are normally activated after 8PM EST.

Borne from the fiery loins of the devil, the main character of Makai Senki Disgaea is literally a lil' devil. When old Beezlebub croaks, the path of ascension is unclear and Satan's spawn Laharl must prove himself by taking on all rivals and pretenders to the throne.

Designed similarly to games such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, and Hoshigami, characters battle in 3-D isometric tactical theaters. Conventional weaponry as well as magical spells may be used in the course of war and two comrades watch your back - a wispy devil girl named Etna (complete with forked tail) and a demon penguin named Plinian (aka Prinny) join your party at the outset of the game. Additional soldiers and fighters may be created with Nippon Ichi's Free Character Creation System.

Wii Japanese Console Update

Japanese distributors received their shipments and deliveries of the Wii console overnight. However, it was a non-event because no games were delivered with the consoles. At the very least, our vendors were able to stare at the Wii boxes for 3.80 seconds before tedium set in. The launch games are being delivered tonight in Japan and NCS will arrange to have the first batches of shipments sent. Based on overnight shipping times from Japan to the USA, NCS expects to process and ship all re-confirmed preorders on Friday (November 30).

Similar to the USA situation, supplies of Wii accessories in Japan are dismal and our vendors have not received any extra nunchuks or the component video cables yet. We'll continue to check for available stock but please note that supplies may not be available until the second week of December. We'll monitor the official launch in Japan over the weekend and post a full update on Monday.

Import Misroute, General Updates

Import, Interrupted
A largish shipment of new Japanese import software that was scheduled to arrive this morning appears to have been misrouted. It's been a year since something like this has happened so we're not too disappointed but it is inconvenient since there's another large shipment scheduled to arrive tomorrow. If the misroute is re-routed properly later today, we'll update our website but as of this morning, we expect every new Japanese import to arrive on Thursday morning.

Aquapict Delayed
The highly desired Aquapict product from Bandai has been delayed from November 30 to January 25, 2007. Apparently, the jellyfish aren't ready for primetime yet. NCS will keep all preorders on file and an email update has been sent to customers to notify everyone of the delay.

Mizuho Kazami 1/7 PVC Figure

Please teacher, cover yourself up before the students get even more distracted and restless than they already are. Mizuho Kazami is a red-headed alien creature (note to self: alien girls always have pink or red hair) who arrives on Earth to learn and to teach. Under the guise of a high school teacher, Mizuho's surveillance of the planet is going swimmingly until her cover is blown by one of her students. To keep her secret from getting out, Mizuho does the logical thing and marries her pupil...

Good Smile Company releases a 1/7 scale Mizuho Kazami figure where the buxom educator lounges on a chair in a lime green bikini. She holds a drink in her right hand while her right leg is hiked up on the seat in dainty fashion. Good Smile could have sculpted a lewdly positioned leg but they went with dainty and tasteful. Kazami measures 170mm or 6.69" tall and is made of PVC plastic which seemingly glows with Mizuho's inner effervescence. Or something like that.

The full name for this product is: Onegai Teacher: Mizuho Kazami 1/7 PVC Figure. Pricing is set at US$68 and all orders will ship today.

New Super Mario Bros Solar-Powered Toad

The sun provides the energy for the process of photosynthesis which ultimately provides the food supply for much of the planet's inhabitants. But we're not interested in that. No, all we care about is making sure the sun hits the solar panel on the Mr. Toad toy to make it rock to and fro. Mr. Toad measures 12cm or 4.72" tall from the base to the top of the mushroom cap. Preorders ship in April 2007.

Super Mario Bros Hat

Have you ever looked at Mario or Luigi and muttered to yourself, "Man, what I wouldn't give to dress up like a comical plumber" or "Mario is dating way above his station. I aspire to be like Mario."

When breaking down Mario's apparel into pieces, there are four primary components as follows:

1) The dumpy hat
2) The cornpone overalls
3) Brown shoes
4) Mickey Mouse gloves

To help Mario aspirants, Banpresto gives cosplayers one of the four Mario defining pieces of clothing - the dumpy hat in Mario red or Luigi green.

The Mario Hat measures 35cm or 13.77" across which makes it oversized and exaggerated. When wearing it on the street, tilt it rakishly to the side and draw stares as well as quizzical glares. The kind where the person's face looks dumb and dumbfounded at the same time. Pricing is set at US$29 per hat and preorders are scheduled to ship in mid-late April 2007.

Masterpiece MP-05 Megatron

Japanese suppliers have started preorders for Takara's Masterpiece MP-05 Megatron in the past couple of days. Retail pricing is set at JPY10,000 or US$105 from NCS. A couple of Japanese toy distributors added the following stipulation to their preorder solicitation:

As you know, there is a Law for the toy gun in USA. Due to the Toy / Imitation Gun Laws, it is illegal for any business or individual to import the MP-05 Megatron because it does not have a blaze orange safety tip on the end of the barrel.

We will modified the Megatron. We will glued a orange tip to the exterior surface of the barrel, covering the circumference of the barrel from the muzzle end for a depth of at least 6 millimeters according to the Toy / Imitation Gun Law.

Since different suppliers sent the same exact text, we're guessing they got it from a single source. Other than the Namco Guncons we imported a few years ago, NCS hasn't dealt with toy guns in any other capacity so we looked up the "Imitation Weapon Safety Act" which states the following:

Certain Replica, Toy and Imitation Guns Restricted.
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer to sell, possess either concealed or unconcealed, use, attempt to use or give away, any replica, toy or imitation gun which substantially duplicates or can reasonably be perceived to be an actual gun, including, but not limited to, toy guns that have been altered to look like actual guns, unless:

(a) (i) the entire exterior surface of such replica, toy or imitation gun is colored white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink or bright purple, either singly or as the predominant color in combination with other colors in any pattern;
or
(ii) such replica, toy or imitation gun is constructed entirely of transparent or translucent materials which permits unmistakable observation of the replica, imitation or toy gun's complete contents; and

(b) the barrel of such replica, toy or imitation gun -- other than the barrel of any such replica, toy or imitation gun that is a water gun -- is closed with the same material of which the replica, toy or imitation gun is made for a distance of not less than one-half inch from the front end of said barrel;

Due to the law, NCS will only import the vendor modified version of the Masterpiece MP-05 Megatron. It's unclear if the glue they're using will create a super-strong bond with the gun but we're guessing they'll be using the Japanese equivalent of Elmer's and not Super Glue. The vendor modifications will also potentially leave unsightly fingerprints, smudges, and smears on the toy. Sadly, with the current U.S. law in place, there isn't a workaround unless Takara takes the initiative and manufactures the toy with the orange safety tip already on the production mold which is still a possibility.
Preorders are welcome to ship in mid-late March 2007.