(Impress Gamewatch) Digicube has announced that a recording of the Orchestra Concert for Final Fantasy held by Square and music composer Nobuo Uematsu in Febuary as a tenth title anniversary to the series, will be released in CD format.

Titled "20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY", the Two CD set features all the performances in the Orchestra held on Feburary 20th of 2002. Featuring a variety of selected music from the Final Fantasy series, the compositions are orchestrated by the Tokyo Phil Harmonic. The concert is hosted by Masakazu Morita (Tidus) and Mayuko Aoki (Yuna). Vocalists Eriko Shiratori (FF9- Melodies of Life) and RIKKI (FF10- Suteki da Ne) also make guest appearences.

In addition to the CD music, "20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY" features messages from Nobuo Uematsu and the guests as a bonus, and also includes behind-the-scenes footage in CD-EXTRA format.

"20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY" is scheduled for release in 5/09, priced 3364 Yen. Tracks on the CD goes as follows.

(Impress Gamewatch) Bandai Co.- the toy and portable game console company known widely as the producer of "Tamagocchi", has announced to release "Swan Crystal", a high-grade version of their handheld game console "WonderSwan Color".

Swan Crystal features a 2.8 Inch TFT screen, replacing the 2.5 Inch FSTN screen used in the display of Wonder Swan Color. The monotone speaker is replaced with a 4 channel stereo speaker as well. The new handheld console is 3 grams heavier than the older, weighing at 98 grams. The size of the Swan Crystal is similar to the Wonder Swan Color- (SC- 77.5x127.7x17.5mm, WSC- 74.3x128x17.5mm). The Swan Crystal will still run for 15 consecutive hours on an Alkaline AA battery.

All previous Wonderswan games will run on the Swan Crystal. While there are no titles scheduled to be released for the Swan Crystal only, titles released after July can be enjoyed with better graphics if played on the Swan Crystal.

Bandai's Swan Crystal is scheduled for release on 7/12, priced 7800 Yen. The handheld console body is available at the colors of blue violet and wine red. Bandai aims to sell 500,000 Units of Swan Crystal within the Fiscal year.

Evoga has renewed the Art section in the official site of their upcoming NeoGeo release, "Rage of the Dragons". Its three subsections feature "Wallpapers", "ScreenShots", and "(Sketch) Art".

For the updates, check Evoga's site.
Special thanks to Freeter for the news.

Short Comment- After checking out the zoom-in of characters from the wallpapers, I swear that the official illustration is done by Bunshichirou Ohma... Take a look and figure for yourself. Image1 / Image2 / Image3(Note: Adult Oriented) - "Madman" Henry Moriarty

The official site for Sega's "The House Of The Dead" Movie by Mindfire Entertainment has opened. The site currently features sections featuring the staff and actors of the film, photoshots, and Storyboards.

Unlike the original game which featured special agents, the movie is a horror story featuring teenagers. The introduction storyline from the site goes as follows.

"A band of college students go to a rave on a mysterious island and get more than they bargained for when they find themselves stalked by killer zombies and terrifying creatures intent on feasting on the flesh of the living. With only a few weapons and time running out, they take shelter in an ancient house, inside which they will uncover the secrets of the "House of the Dead."

For images and more details, check the official site.
Special thanks to Juan for the news.

(Gamespot.com, Quoted)
"Nintendo announced today in Japan that it has signed a deal with Namco to cocreate a new Star Fox game for the GameCube that will be released in April 2003 in that territory. Also, a version of the game will be developed for Nintendo's GameCube-based Triforce arcade hardware. No further details regarding the new Star Fox game were released. Namco also announced its remaining software lineup for the GameCube for the next year. A new Mr. Driller game is scheduled for release on the GameCube in Japan at the end of this year, and a Ridge series racing game is tentatively scheduled for release in March 2003. Namco will also release Soul Calibur 2 in January 2003, an installment in the Tales RPG series in July 2003, and an original RPG purported to have a unique battle system in December 2003.

Namco also has a healthy lineup of Game Boy Advance software in development. It will release Family Tennis Advance, Famista Advance (a baseball game), Mr. Driller Ace, Klonoa of the Wind G2 (based on the Klonoa platformers), an RPG called Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2, an original Klonoa action RPG, a puzzle game, and a port of the SNES version of Tales of Phantasia. All of these titles will be available for Nintendo's handheld by the end of this year in Japan."

For images of The "Tales" title (Gamecube), Mr. Driller (GC & GBA) and the StarFox Ad, check Impress Gamewatch. (Special thanks to Rid Hershel for the link.)

Short Comment- In related news, [ This ] is what the development hardware kit for the GameCube apparently looks like. - "Madman" Henry Moriarty

Japanese game news site Impress Gamewatch, has announced to open a new Weekly News section dedicated to Guilty Gear XX in their site.

Titled "Guilty Gear Watch", the section will be updated every Monday to cover the latest news on Guilty Gear XX, written by former cheif editor of Gamest Magazine, Zenji Ishii. The section will also feature fan art and sub articles, such as locations of arcades with good players and how-to's for beginner players.

"Guilty Gear Watch" is scheduled to open in 5/20. For a sneek peek, check the section.

Special thanks to Rid Hershel for the news.

(Zakzak.co.jp) Internet solutions company Cyber Music Entertainment Co., has announced to create a CG based anime movie, featuring pro-wrestler Antonio Inoki.

Known widely as the pioneer of Japanese Pro-Wrestling who once fought against Professional Boxer Muhammad Ali in an International match, Antonio Inoki is now retired as a living legend and an owner of a wrestling company. The CG anime is a part of the "Inoki Project 2002", plotted by Inoki's office since last year.

The first title "Mr. INOKI" (tentative name) is currently in preparation for a scheduled release in fall. The fighting action movie will center on the "Legends" of Inoki, portraying them in an original CG animation. The CG anime is "Aimed not only for the Japanese market, but worldwide".

"Mr. INOKI" (tentative name) is scheduled for theaters as well as the Internet. Character merchandises based on the CG Inoki are planned for sale as well.

Special thanks to Namae no nai Heya for the news.

Short Comment- LoL, this is supposed to be serious, right? Zakzak isn't the greatest place for the smartest news (they're a sports paper site), and they really pick them up well. - "Madman" Henry Moriarty

Just a short note- [ Shoryuken.com ] has some Japanese CvS2 footages. At least half of these must be from the same arcade where I reported the beta testings of CvS1 and CvS2 from. The matches are interesting, so check them out. If you want to see what the players look like, check out the official results page at West Sportsland Here.

Special thanks to Dragon-Warrior for the news.
- Henry A. Moriarty

I was checking the pages of WWF's official site since I heard of the news that they changed their name to "WWE" (Web announcement Here - thanks to Dorikyasu for the link. Reuters articles Here and Here).

It's pretty amazing to see that WWF was still around (and even doing better than in the 80's), but it's even more astonishing to see "The Immortal Clutz" Hulk Hogan still in action.

On a side note, I found this picture [ Here ] that strikingly resembles the pose of KOF2001's Angel. Huumnnn... Brezza's designers weren't influenced by any chance, were they?
- Henry A. Moriarty

What a weird idea Pepsi came out with. Couldn't they have introduced something better, like Peppermint Pepsi or something?


(Reuters, quoted)
"PURCHASE, New York (Reuters) - Pepsi-Cola has unveiled a bright blue cola, Pepsi Blue, as the soft drink giant adds to its carbonated lineup to perk up sluggish cola sales.
The berry-flavoured cola targeted to teens follows a number of recent carbonated soft drink debuts from Pepsi-Cola. It will also follow the mid-May launch of Vanilla Coke from top competitor Coca-Cola.

Pepsi-Cola North America, a soft drink arm of PepsiCo, said on Tuesday that Pepsi Blue is "a fusion of berry and cola" flavours and will hit store shelves by early August.

'This is a critically important juncture for Pepsi and Coke as they both introdce major cola line extensions,' said John Sicher, editor of industry newsletter Beverage Digest. 'The issue is, will these moves return growth to their huge trademark cola businesses?' "

For the full article, check [ Here ]. Or better yet, check the Blog dedicated to Pepsi Blue [ Here ] -thanks to Daala for the link.
- Henry A. Moriarty