Sangokushi Taisen DS

Rotate the Nintendo DS 90° counterclockwise so that it's held like a book and command armies in theaters of war. Originally released in Japanese arcades in early 2005, Sega's Sangokushi Taisen DS is an action-packed strategy game that pits generals and their forces against opposing contingents. The coin-op game featured a unique control scheme where actual cards were used to move armies around the battlefield and marshal them against enemy forces and castles. The Nintendo DS game mimics the card manipulating action by using the stylus to point and drag army cards on the touch screen to command soldiers into battle. Archers that are positioned alongside a cavalry may launch arrows at approaching enemy soldiers to soften them up before the cavalry moves in for the kill. «NCS Game Notes»

Enchant Arm

It's been a millennia since The Golem War when the population of the world was brought to its collective knees. After much death and destruction, the golems switched off mysteriously and stopped their swath of carnage. Peace ensued and the remnants of humanity buried the golems and secreted the knowledge of creating war golems away from normal mortal ken. Years pass, the sons of man swell their ranks to fighting strength once again, and golems are still being used albeit for manual labor and mundane tasks.
In Yokohama City, students attend an institution that teaches the art of Enchant - a magic technique which allows the caster to create golems of various forms and abilities and imbue objects with magical properties. The lead in the game is Atsuma who has the power of removing enchantments from objects. One day, his power accidentally releases a buried golem named the Ice Queen from her deep slumber... «Official Press Release»

The IdolM@ster Limited Edition

All preorders for the limited edition of IdolM@ster will ship today. Please note that the game package is very large but luckily we had cardboard boxes that we normally use for shipping Playstation 3 consoles on hand. The limited edition includes the following bonus items along with the game DVD itself:

1) Xbox 360 faceplate with a green, pink, and purple design.
2) Visual Music DVD (approximate length of 90 minutes).
3) Eleven idol figures dressed in matching pink outfits that may be mounted on a blue stage which features an "IdolM@ster" marquee above the stage.
4) An art booklet which contains idol portraits and interviews with the voice actresses featured in the game. B4 Size, 20 pages.

We're well aware of the brouhaha concerning the difficulty in stocking this particular item but our Japanese suppliers didn't encounter any problems this time around. It seems that as long as we submitted our preorders on time and paid our 35% deposits, ample stock was reserved for us. We're sold out to preorders today. Update: 4:35PM EST The restock batch expected next week is also now SOLD OUT.

Tobal 2 Legendary Hits

Square's first fighting game was a little number called Tobal No. 1 that was released in 1996. We still have a few hundred copies in stock... which bear witness to the folly of NCS' bulk purchasing agreements a decade ago. Square second fighting game was aptly named Tobal 2 which sees its first re-release this week in the form of a "Legendary Hits" reissue. While we wouldn't deem either Tobal game as legendary, they are somewhat enjoyable. Our main niggle with Tobal 2 is the difficulty of the game and what we consider to be sloppy programming. Other than that, it's okay. In addition to the 3D fighting action, Tobal 2 features a Quest Mode where a hero runs around a dungeon, a castle, a cave, a mine, and even a spaceship while battling enemies that are encountered.

Melty Blood Pretty Collection

Japanese manufacturer Alter releases trading figures based on the maiden warriors of the MeltyBlood fighting game. The seven gals featured in the set are:

Hisui Fujyou
Tohno Akiha
Ciel
Arcueid Brunestud
Len
Sion Eltnam Atlasia
Kohaku Fujyou

Each figure measures 4cm or 1.57" tall and the preorder solicitation mentions that three color variants for each figure are possible in each randomly packaged box. NCS supplies the figures in factory sealed boxes of 10 figures at US$39.50 per box.

General Updates

Aquapict Again The highly desired jellyfish aquarium was restocked today and all backorders will ship this afternoon. Sadly, we don't have available stock for new orders but we may be able to restock additional quantities again in 1-2 weeks. Thanks.

Portable GPS Receiver A partial shipment of the PSP GPS Receiver arrived today but the remainder will arrive on Monday. We'll be able to fill all backorders by Monday afternoon.

Japanese Wii Any backorders for the Wii console will ship today. We're sold out again as of this morning but restock will arrive by Thursday of next week.