Video Game News

First the Sakura Wars games came to the Dreamcast, now the Dreamcast is coming to Sakura Wars. Sega of Japan has announced a new version of the Dreamcast called “Sakura Taisen Dreamcast for Internet.” The pink Dreamcast console will feature Sakura Wars characters on the lid of the console and will include a pink hand control & VMU and two pieces of Sakura Taisen software, a Sakura Taisen version Dream Passport 3 for accessing the internet through the Dreamcast, and Sakura Taisen & Movie Tron Flower Class Mail, a new e-mail software that will allow Dreamcast internet users to add Sakura Wars images & voice samples to e-mail. The Sakura Taisen Dreamcast will go on sale in December 25800 yen. The Sakura Taisen & Movie Tron Flower Class Mail GD-ROM disc will also go on sale separately, at the same time, and retail for 2800 yen, for Dreamcast internet users who are already on-line.

Phantasy Star Online will premier in Japan on December 21 with a retail cost of 5800 yen. The game will be the first ever console RPG to feature worldwide simultaneous internet compatibility. The Phantasy Star Online server will initially support 20,000 simultaneous users/players. The server limit will be adjusted as necessary after the game’s release. Phantasy Star creators Sonic Team are planning to release at least 50 additional scenarios for players to download over the internet. The game will allow players to play the off-line, to build up levels to match other players in the network. However, to complete the game, it must be played online. A character creation system is also included in the game, which allows players to customize character attributes including face, hair, costume, skin color, proportion, and name.

Capcom USA has announced that the upcoming US Dreamcast versions of Dino Crisis, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis will retail at just $19.99 each. All 3 titles are scheduled for release in the US next month.

Capcom has announced that they may delay the first Biohazard title for the Playstation 2 until 2002 to avoid competition with their Playstation 2 samurai survival/action game Onimusha.

Enix has confirmed that Dragon Quest 7 will be coming to the US for the Playstation some time next year. Beside changing the title for the US version to Dragon Warrior 7, “there will be a number of changes in the foreign version due to some religious differences.”

According to reports from numerous sources, Squaresoft has signed on as a third party developer for the Microsoft X-box console system. While Final Fantasy 10 will be a Playstation 2 exclusive, Final Fantasy 11 will be an internet game released simultaneously worldwide on the Playstation 2, X-box and PC.

Source: Magic Box