Weekly Famitsu Vol. 1064 - New Import, Subscriptions

«©NCSX» The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu includes coverage on the following games, products, and events in the Japanese market:

» Space Invaders 30th Anniversary feature.
» Preview for Wii Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.
» New Game Cross Review scores for the week: NDS Another Time Another Leaf (8/6/7/8), NDS A Ressha de Gyoukou DS (9/8/7/8), NDS Mezase! Tsuri Master DS (7/7/7/7), PSP Nanatama: Chronicle of Dungeon Maker (8/8/8/8), and X360 Death Smiles (7/7/7/8).
» Coin-op feature checks out Guitar Freaks V6 Blazing!!!!, DrumMania V6 Blazing!!!!, and a sequel to To Kyu Okoku Gashaaaan.
» Wii Valhalla Knights Eldars Saga preview.
» New information on Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete Blu-Ray.
» Details on two new DSi Ware titles: Hacolife and Nalaku.
» This week's "Pick Up Food" article checks out Japanese restaurants such as Denny's (yep, that Denny's), Jonathan's, and Royal Host.

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete Regular Ed.

«©NCSX» The original DVD version of FFVII Advent Children was released in September 2005 and NCS recalls the wonderment in the room as we watched Cloud and company emote, attack, and act with a realistic semblance of humanity. Square's story telling chops and CG renders had come a long way since the days of... Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Fast forward four years and we're treated to another rendition of the FFVII Advent Children movie but this version's special. It's got roughly 30 minutes of new/re-edited footage and the Blu-Ray video quality is stunning. You can see that every strand of Cloud's shabby chic blonde locks is rendered with both love and adoration by the designers.

FFVII AC Complete is a Japanese product and viewers may watch the movie in its original Japanese language track or toggle to the English language track. Please note that the subtitles are only available in Japanese. The Regular Edition of FFVII AC Complete only includes the Blu-Ray movie and does not include the Final Fantasy XIII demo that was included in the limited edition which arrived last Thursday.

Fantasy Golf Pangya Portable - New Import, In Stock

«©NCSX» Nine golfers and their respective caddies hit the links in the latest version of the popular PangYa golf game which has addicted fans across Korea, Japan, and Europe for a few years now. The colorful golfing simulation reaches the PSP with online play and a bevy of features including:

» Nine courses featuring 162 holes
» 1300 costumes and accessories to customize your character
» Network (Ad hoc) mode allows up to eight gamers to play together
» Three new characters join a cast of familiar-looking golfers
» Original story for the cast of characters which adds drama

Two of the hallmarks of the Pangya (Albatross 18, etc) series has been the easy playability of the golfing and the intuitive controls. The PSP version plays well and feels like the original. Special items may be unlocked and won during the course of the game which are then available in the PangYa Shop. Some items are specific for certain characters and the availability rotates rather frequently which means they won't always be available.

The cast includes Nuri who wears a futuristic Phantasy Star-ish outfit, Hana who looks like she's in a nightgown, a no-nonsense officer named Azer, Cecilia the blonde stewardess, Kooh who has a skull-accessory fetish, and a guy named Max who sorta looks like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy. The other three characters are Arin, Kaz, and Cien - characters are unlocked by playing the game with available characters and performing well. All preorders will ship with a Pangya "NTREEV" PSP overlay and bonus code that's printed on a card to purchase an original costume online.

Kanken DS 3 Deluxe - New Import, In Stock

«©NCSX» The Kanji Kentei (漢字検定 "KanKen") is a Japanese language aptitude test that's administered thrice every year. The test measures a person's proficiency at reading, writing, and recognizing kanji characters of every stripe and stroke. Speaking of which, stroke order when creating kanji is also tested but we've found that intuition and common sense are good foundations for determining how kanji should be written. KanKen DS is a top notch piece of software which gives learners of kanji an interactive way to prepare for the test. The new KanKen DS 3 bumps up the franchise with a new and more comprehensive edition which features over 100,000 questions and an improved kanji dictionary which now includes character meanings and usage. Kanji students of all ages may use the software and ratchet the learning level accordingly to one's level of experience and familiarity.

Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon Sora no Tankentai - New Import, In Stock

«©NCSX» If you're a Poke-Fanatic and get a sense of déjà vu when playing the latest Pokemon Dungeon game, you should. The game is based on Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Yami no Tankentai which was originally released in 2007. The story's the same, the game looks the same, and the scenarios are the same but there's a twist. There's character additions as well as deletions, new scenarios, and some things re-arranged. The game starts with a question & answer session which is really a character generator which determines what Pokemon you start the game with. Apparently, we're Naetoru (Turtwig) material who teams up with Pikachu to explore deep dungeons. The Fushigi no Dungeon game engine governs the exploration of multi-level dungeons where enemies move in time with every single step that the player's team takes.

General Updates

NEWS Processing Gateway Operational The processing gateway that handles payments processing for our shop at www.ncsxshop.com performed a server migration and system maintenance on Sunday morning. They botched it and the gateway was down all day Sunday and down until 9:27AM EST today. As of 9:28AM however, the gateway is working and processing transactions again. Yes, they're a huge company and yes, they're incompetent. They handle transactions processing for thousands of online shops so they're probably getting irate calls, unkind emails, and other pleasantries from thousands of merchants this morning who lost 32 hours worth of orders. Whenever there's an issue with the main shop, we can also accept orders on our second shop which is located at www.shopncsx.com.

BLU Saturday Delivery The shipment that was supposed to be delivered last Friday was delivered by UPS on Saturday. Our FFVII boxes were the only packages in the truck. All remaining preorders and new orders will ship today for the Final Fantasy VII Complete LE Blu-Ray and the Final Fantasy XIII "Cloud Black" PS3 bundle. NCS expects to keep both items in stock for the next month since we have a large surplus on hand now and have inventory being stored in Japan.

360 XBox Live Points Cards Microsoft Points Cards for use on the Japanese Xbox Live network are in stock again and available in both 1400p and 3500p values. Similar to the Playstation Network Cards, Xbox Live Points cards will be fulfilled by email. Customers who order a card will receive an email with a GIF image file attachment which contains the scan of the actual card.

Japanese Import Outlook - Arrivals on Thursday-Friday

NDS	250 Manin no Kanken Premium Zenkyu Zenkanji	IE Inst.
	A Ressha de Gyoukou DS	Artdink
	Last Bullet	Konami
PS2	Little Anchor	D3
PS3	Daikoukai Jidai Online: Cruz del Sur	Koei
PSP	Nanatama: Chronicle of Dungeon Maker	Global A
	Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3	Irem
360	Death Smiles	Cave
Wii	Monster Hunter G	Capcom
	Monster Hunter G Starter Pack	Capcom

USA Release Outlook - Arrivals on Tuesday-Thursday

The game we're most looking forward to this week is I Love Horses. Destineer should have spelled it "Horsez" though.
NDS	I Love Horses	Destineer
PS2	Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2	Koei
PS3	Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2	Koei
360	Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2	Koei
Wii	Excitebots	Nintendo
	Excitebots + Wii Wheel	Nintendo

PC-Engine Thunder Blade HuCARD - Clearance

NCS Sale Offering: April 20, 2009
Original Release in Japan: December 07, 1990
«©NCSX» New and factory sealed Thunder Blade HuCARD for the PC-Engine which is in excellent condition. Sega's conversion of Thunder Blade isn't exactly a 1:1 conversion but it's not too bad. When flying over the buildings in the first stage, every edifice is rickety and the backgrounds are extremely sparse but the game play itself is alright.

Sale Offering: Pricing is set at US$30.90 per copy. If you reside in the USA, you may select USPS Media Mail shipping on our shop which is about $2.50. International customers are encouraged to select USPS First Class Airmail at a cost of approximately US$10 to most destinations. «Photo Gallery»