Major Japanese newspaper Nikkei Journal and Reuters have reported software developer Square to return to developing for Nintendo since 6 years, through a new Square subsidiary "Game Designers Studio".

With this pact, Nintendo aims to broaden sales of their game machines to higher aged audiences. Square will also continue to produce for the Sony Playtation2 as well.

[ Full News ... ]

Japanese Kingdom Hearts fan site "Luna World" has released a scan of the latest issue of Jump magazine by Shueisha publishing, featuring the scenes and cast of "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

The scan features Jack Skellengtion who plots to brighten up Haloween by using the Heartless, Dr.Finkelstein who is creating a "Heart" by Jack's request, Oogie Boogie Shadow who is trying to take advantage of the Heartless, and the rest of the cast- Sally, Zero, Lock, Shock and Barrel. Sora, Goofie and Donald will also be appearing in Haloween outfits as well.

Kingdom Hearts is scheduled for release in 3/28, priced 6800 Yen. For the scan, check the site.

Capcom has opened the official site of "Gun Survivor 3 - Dino Crisis" for the Playstation 2. While only a brief announcement of the game is presented in the site, the index features offical artwork of the game by ex-SNK artist Shinkirou, now an employee under Capcom.

"Gun Survivor 3 - Dino Crisis" is scheduled for release in June for the Playstation 2, price undetermined.

Special thanks to Mosquiton and n Rid Hershel for the News.

(Gamespot.com, Quoted)

"GS: Was the game always in development on the System 246?
HY: Yes.

GS: The GameCube-compatible arcade board Triforce was recently announced. Would you have considered developing the game on that board if it had been available earlier?

HY: I think it would have been possible, but when we started developing the game a year and two months ago, we had already experimented with and studied the System 246 hardware. Since the Triforce was just announced and is still being studied, I think that's a difficult question to answer."

For the full article, check Gamespot.com.

Japanese videgame news site Impress Gamewatch, has released higher resolution screenshots of Namco's upcoming 3D fighter sequel, Soul Calibur 2, similarly distributed by Gamespot Japan yesterday.

In addition, Gamewatch also details the game system, and the new "motion blend" system which will allow characters to hold fighting positions and also attack while running.

For the screen shots, check the site's section.

Short Comment- I've had no time to write up details on the article due to the lack of time, thought. I may do so a bit roughly later as a short comment or bulletin post. - "Madman" H. Moriarty

Capcom has updated the official section dedicated to their upcoming GameCube remake release of Biohazard 1. The updated sections are "Our Focus", "Other Characters", "Creatures", and "Wesker's Report II".

BioHazard for the GameCube is scheduled for release in 3/22, priced 6800 Yen. The package includes 2 disks and a Memory Card 59. For the updates, check the site's section.

This is a pretty amazing story in a way: Magic mushrooms, which have the same effects as illegal drugs, were actually legal to obtain in Japan until just about 2 days ago. It's illegal in most other countries.

While the law stated that "purchasing magic mushrooms for the sake of viewing pleasure" was legal, nobody really followed that minor rule, so it seems that the ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) finally decided to take action, and define the fungus as illegal under law [ Link: Nikkei Article ]. Kind of scary, considering that they were sold out in the streets by normal vendors just until a few days back.

Come to think, I hope that's not how Shigeru Miyamoto got his idea on Super Mario Bros.'s power-up item. There *were* poisonous mushrooms in the JP version of SMB2, actually. -H. Moriarty