Disgaea USA reproduction DELAY

Atlus has announced a delay for the USA reproduction of Disgaea which was originally scheduled to ship this week. Please note that the new ship date is now early December 2006. Apologies to everyone who submitted preorders in the past couple of weeks but we have no control over the production schedule and changes from Atlus. Thanks for your attention.

Catch the Dots: Solomon's Key

Way before Tecmo dazzled gamers with Dead or Alive, the company stymied them with Solomon's Key. Originally released in 1986, a hero named Dana roams through 50 levels while finding keys to unlock each subsequent level. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Solomon's Key, Tomy has announced a pair of Catch the Dots toys which feature Solomon in one and the Fairy in the other. Each kit contains a single pegboard which measures 7.5cm tall and roughly 100 pegs to create the main characters as well as variants and objects from the game. Preorders ship in Feb 2007.

Jump Ultimate Stars

A promotional flyer for Jump Ultimate Stars has started going out to distributors in Japan. We received a ream of them yesterday. NCS has scanned a flyer which may be viewed here.

Some facts about Jump Ultimate Stars
» Over 300 characters from 40 Shonen Jump manga series, which is 13 more series than Jump Super Stars.
» New A.I. data system and Wi-Fi functionality.
» Even more tactical maneuvers and moves for every fighter
» Jump Super Stars has sold over 500,000 copies since it was released in August 2005.

Early preorders for Jump Ultimate Stars will include a bonus wrist strap which is tethered to a thumb-pointer. Functionality-wise, the thumb-pointer may be used as a sort of stylized stylus in lieu of an actual touch pen.
NCS started preorders last month and all reservations will ship on November 21, 2006. Pricing remains at US$45.90.

Evangelion Mini Display Figure Series 2

Rei Ayanami, Misato Katsuragi, and Akagi Ritsuko are the star attractions in Sega's upcoming Evangelion Miniature Display Figure set which also includes two Evangelion warriors. All of the figures are mounted on mechanical pedestals which may be linked up to each other. Once the five pedestals are side by side and contiguous, rotating one will rotate them all. Each Evangelion figure measures 5.5cm or 2.16" tall and preorders are welcome to ship in mid-late February 2007. NCS plans on collecting all five figures together and selling them in complete sets for US$25.

Wild Arms Vth Vanguard Pinky Street Figures

The PS2 Wild Arms Vth Vanguard game ships on December 14, 2006 and Vance Project involves themselves by announcing a set of Pinky Street figures based on the lead heroines from the game.

On the left, Rebecca Streisand sports a pair of ruddy pigtails tied together with yellow ribbons and wears a pink/white ensemble. Rebecca has what we have come to know as "crazy eyes" which are generally signs of insanity. On the right, Avalil Van Freul keeps her wheat-colored locks in place with a hair-braid and dresses up in a fancy schmancy green-blue-yellow outfit with matching boots. She hefts a sword in her right hand and peers at the world with a pair of sedate eyes. Less crazy. The two figures are bundled together in the Wild Arms Vth Vanguard Pinky Street set which is scheduled to ship in mid-late December 2006. Preorders are welcome.

Japanese Import Schedule Updates

NDS	Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon	Square
	Dragon Quest Monsters Joker	Square
	SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS	SNK
PS2	Armored Core Premium Box	From Soft
	Okami - The Best	Capcom
	Seiken Densetsu 4	Square
	Street Fighter III 3rd Strike - The Best	Capcom
	Vampire Darkstalkers Collection - The Best	Capcom
PSP	Metal Slug Complete	SNK
	Parappa the Rapper	SCEI
	Tales of The World Radiant Mythology	Bandai

Japanese Wii Preorders Open

Distributors in Japan started their preorder campaigns for the Wii overnight. Pricing is set at JPY25,000 or US$295 from NCS. Since the USA launch is 2 weeks earlier, pricing for Japanese consoles is not expected to change despite expected shortages stateside. A lot of USA Wii consoles are also going to be exported next month. Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii follows a region lock-out model and USA games will not play on Japanese Wiis and vice versa. If previous Nintendo consoles are any gauge, the modification scheme should be a simple jumper toggle. We'll begin offering mod services as soon as we figure out the methodology.

Wii Sports is not bundled with the Japanese Wii and is sold separately. Note also that an AC adapter and AV cables are included with the Wii.

Japanese Wii Software Schedule

Sixteen Japanese Wii releases are scheduled for the launch with another eight titles expected before the end of the year. Software prices are within the range of JPY4800 to JPY6800 which is similar to the retail scheme established for the Gamecube and Playstation. Please note that Japanese Wii software is not playable on USA Wii consoles. A simple modification should be possible however and we'll post up details once we have info.
12/02	Caduceus Z: 2-tsu no Chou Shittou	Atlus
	Elebits	Konami
	Ennichi no Tatsujin	Namco
	Hajimete no Wii: Your First Step To Wii	Nintendo
	Kororinpa	Hudson
	Machikuru Domino	Red
	Necro-Nesia	Spike
	Odoru Made in Wario	Nintendo
	Red Steel	Ubisoft
	SD Gundam: Scud Hammers	Bandai
	Swing Golf Pangya	Tecmo
	Super Monkey Ball: Uki Uki Party	Sega
	Tamagotchi no Pika Pika Daito-ryo-!	Bandai
	Wii Sports	Nintendo
	Wing Island	Hudson
	Zelda no Densetsu: Twilight Princess	Nintendo
12/14	Bleach Wii: Shiraha Kirameki Rinbukyoku	Sega
	Pokemon Battle Revolution	Nintendo
	Rabbits Party	Ubisoft
12/21	Furu Furu Park	Taito
	Mahjong Taikai Wii	Koei
	Monster 4X4 World Circuit	Ubisoft
	Need for Speed Carbon	EA
12/28	Sengoku Musou Wave	Koei