WEEKLY STUFF E-ZINE #29 (11-28-98) - Anime! Video Games! Manga! ^_^ Contents ^_^ 1.)A Few Crass Words From Kaneda - The perfect rant: Xoom 2.)The Kimagure Orange Road TV Series Project Status 3.) Pokemon Toy's 'R' Here 4.)Zelda 64 Reactions 5.)Fushigi Yugi Vol.1 & Tamagotchi Video Adventures Reviews 6.)Anime Tidbits 6.)Playstation Game News 7.)PlayStation 2: Frequently Asked Questions 8.)Correction - Sailor Moon: Word Search 9.)Word Search: Tenchi-Muyo! 10.)Mailing List Technical Info ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.) A Few Crass Words From Kaneda - The perfect rant: Xoom Hi there. You might remember that last column I wrote about how Xoom was fudging up my site--I'm proud to say I've ditched them for good, and will never, EVER do business with them again. So some of you might be wondering where my site went. My site is alive, well, and better than ever on Anime-Manga.Net . These guys, I WORSHIP these guys. They gave me 20MB of space with CGI E-Mail form processing and a new e-mail address for NOTHING. I applied with them and became a member. My site's new URL is: http://nerv.anime-manga.net/ And my new e-mail address can be found at the footer of my column. Anyway, I'm wondering how I lived without these guys. They are the exact OPPOSITE of Xoom. All they've asked of me so far is that I put a little banner on my site, and when I e-mail them regarding something, no matter how trivial, get this... Not only did they GRACIOUSLY help me out PERSONALLY, but one A-M.Net guy who e-mailed me went and visited my site, and COMPLIMENTED me on it!. So you can guess, I'm proud to have that banner there! A-M.Net is giving away free site space to webmasters with anime sites. They review the sites themselves, so the site has to be really special to get in. Even the big chief OMEGA couldn't get a site in, and that says a lot (Although I have no idea why they didn't approve him, his sites all pretty much rule ). Good layout, good content, and good reputation are the criteria they judge by, so if you think your site has "the right stuff", I highly suggest signing up. Especially if your site is on one of those BS hosters that send you SPAM advertising Beanie Babies ay their lowest price yet. If you're on Xoom you know exactly what I mean. And yes, I am smearing Xoom, because they are all a bunch of money-grubbing twats who don't give half a fig about you OR your site, just that they get advertising from it. Don't mistreat your site by keeping it on one of these crap hosters, try to get it what it deserves, you've worked on it so hard! P.S. If you are a webmaster and would like me to pay a visit to your site, e-mail me. I'll visit! ^_^ - Steve Diabo (Kaneda) - The Elated Webmaster nerv@anime-manga.net http://nerv.anime-manga.net/ ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.) The Kimagure Orange Road TV Series Project Status Current Status (11/25/98): KOR Part 1 TAPE Box Sets have arrived and are being shipped out over the next couple of days! We expect the LDs to arrive in a couple of weeks; when we know they are "on the boat" we will post an update. Because this project has taken longer than expected, it's clear that we won't be able to get the second half out before the end of the year. Gomen, neh. We are hard at work on the subtitling of the second half right now, of course. When we get a better idea of the time-frame, we'll post an update. Because of the delay, those of you who chose the 4-payment plan (known around the office as the "Make a lot of extra work for Becky" plan) will not be charged the third payment until we are ready to go to studio and master the second half of the set. The final payment for the 2- and 4-payment plan people will not be charged until the second half of the set is mastered, verified and in production. The first box has been to be shipped out. It's going to Lee Hasselbacher in Peoria, IL. This article (with pictures!) and more news can be found at AnimEigo's web site at http://www.animeigo.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.) Pokemon Toy's 'R' Here I stopped in at a local Toys 'R' Us to see if the Pokemon toys had come out yet... and I stumbled onto them in the Action Figures aisle. Indeed, they must just have been put on the shelf this AM- in fact,they were so new to the store that they had to get the SKU list because they hadn't been entered into the scan computer yet . So what's out there? 1. Pokemon "Battle Figures" There are 8 sets in release, and they appear- as I suspected- to be Hasbro-marketed versions of the Tomy figures, as the figurines are identical in every detail to their Japanese counterparts. The 8 sets are Pikachu/Raichu, Pidgey/Pidgeot, Rattata/Raticate, Sandshrew/Sandslash, Meowth/Gengar (this is a unique packaging of two separately sold Japanese figures), Geodude/Golem, Kakuna/Beedrill, and Eevee/Flareon. Each set comes with a "Pokeball"- and what's VERY interesting is that the clear ball (which can contain the figure) is a reproduction in paint-scheme of the MASTER ball from the anime series. Since nobody in the US has seen a TV episode broadcast with the Master Ball in it, this is further indication that these are "repackaged" Japanese sets. The figures are VERY nice, and come with "pog" like discs that can be used to play a "Battle Disc" game, the rules of which are printed on the back of the display card. Cost? $4.99 per set. 2. Pokemon "Power Bouncers" 8 of them! As you may recall, these are transparent "superballs" with a Pokemon in the middle. Available characters are Poliwhirl, Charizard, Blastoise, Flareon, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, and Mewtwo. Cost? $2.99 each. 3. Electronic Pokemon Figures These are big! When two contacts are touched, they "speak" and may have another feature activate. 3 of them are available. Pikachu "Pika-chu"s and his cheeks light up. Charmander "speaks", and his tail-flame lights up. Meowth just "chatters". (I got Meowth and Pikachu, but haven't tested either one yet ) Cost? $7.99. (These are CHEAP compared to the Japanese versions, which list at 1280-1680 yen each). I only bought 3 sets of the "Battle figures", 2 of the "Power Bouncers" and two of the Electronic Pokemon. I did look all around the store, but did not yet see the Pikachu Plush nor the Pokemon Beanies.A lady behind me in line acted stunned when she saw me with them, told me her son is wild over these Pokemon things, and raced off to the aisle I directed her to. A moment later, she wound up in line behind me with an armful herself . According to a very conversant clerk, Toys 'R' Us has been getting calls asking about the availability of these toys all week, and they keep selling out of the Pokemon GB games and the Pokemon Pikachus. Looks like Pokemon marketing is doing rather well in the USA, thank you very much . Just checked the Pokemon site (www.pokemon.com). According to the Hasbro comments, it appears that the only plush Pokemon figures that will be released before the holidays are those from the KFC promotion. The "Pokemon Bean-Filled Plush" collection and the "Pikachu Plush" are not going to be released until February. ~ Richard E. Rae, 76174,1410 member of CompuServe's Anime/Manga Forum Note: Kentucky Fried Chicken has also started selling their 4 bean bag Pokemon for $4.95 each. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.) Zelda 64 Reactions +++ Big in Japan: Zelda +++ It's the game of the century, and it came out last week in Japan. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time made its debut across Japan early Saturday morning. Eager gamers of all ages began to line up as early as 8 A.M., two hours before official store opening. Major hot spots in Tokyo, Akihabara and Shinjuku were jammed with customers seeking a copy of Zelda. Some stores opened early to accomodate the demand. Most major stores in Akihabara were sold out by mid-day. This caused a bit of panic and disappointment among many people still looking for a copy. LAOX, one of Japan's largest electronics stores, displayed signs informing customers that the store would re-stock the title as soon as Sunday afternoon. Stores are trying to obtain more from suppliers and Nintendo directly. Monday being a national holiday, retailers want to cash in on the extra shoppers. Some retailers we talked to said many people were purchasing an N64 with Zelda. This is good news for Nintendo as it tries to re-establish itself in the Japanese market. In what can only be seen as an intelligent marketing strategy, Nintendo is advertising Banjo Kazooie alongside Zelda. In addition, many stores have playable Banjo Kazooie demos next to the Zelda demos. When we asked Japanese gamers about their feelings towards Zelda and Nintendo, the results were divided. On the one hand, players were extactic about the prospects of Zelda. On the other, players were skeptical about Nintendo's future with the N64. "We Japanese need a constant stream of good titles. Waiting for one game every four years is not desirable," one gamer told us. Some people even went so far as to say they were unimpressed with the initial Dreamcast offering and are more interested in what Sony is going to offer for the next incarnation of Playstation. Regardless, this is Zelda's time in Japan. Courtesy Next Generation Online --- SYSOP*Joe Talladira, 104074,3641 of Video Gaming Central +++ Zelda renews faith in the big "N" +++ Zelda, arguably the most wildly anticipated game yet for N64, was finally released on Saturday, November 21 in Japan. In the morning, over 150 eager gamers lined up in front of Yodobashi Camera Game, a large electronic retail store in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Most of the crowd were males, ages ranging from early teens to late 20s, but our GR correspondent could witness some female buyers. A man in the front told us that he had waited since 1:00 in the morning. The shop usually opens at 9:30 a.m., but on this day, it pushed one hour ahead. According to a sales person at this one particular store, about 7,000 copies of Zelda were sold by noon, along with more than 1,000 N64s, which is 100 times its normal sales. Courtesy Gamer's Republic --- SYSOP*Joe Talladira, 104074,3641 of Video Gaming Central +++ Zelda in Japan +++ TOKYO - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released last Saturday in Japan. We explored the streets of Tokyo and gauged Japanese gamers' reaction at the retail shops. In Shinjuku, one of the busiest districts in Tokyo, the shops we visited had no copies of Zelda at noon - all the copies had sold out within two hours of the store's opening. In Akihabara, the city where you can buy virtually any sort of video game ever released in this world, most of the shops had run out of copies by noon too. Laox Game Kan still had some, but customers wanting to buy the game appeared one after another. We also went to the shop called Messe Sanoh (you can see a picture inside the shop in latest issue of EGM). The shop actually sold the game in front of the store for more exposure and less confusion. According to the floor manager, Mr. Teruki Tsuchiya, they got 400 copies of Zelda. They were all sold out before 2:00pm. A large number of people bought the game and a Rumble Pak and in some cases an N64 console too. We also noticed that the people who bought Zelda were relatively older. Although we also heard that there are some leftovers from the initial shipment at retailers located in other parts of country, the latest Zelda will definitely revitalize the N64 market in Japan. We'll see a few more big Nintendo games by the end of the year, like Banjo-Kazooie, Pikachu Genki Dechu, Mario Party, and F1 World Grand Prix. And Nintendo will release Smash Brothers and Ogre Battle 3 early next year. They have several Game Boy titles as well. If this strong lineup doesn't attract N64 owners to buy, the N64 won't exist in the Japanese market much longer. By Yutaka Ohbuchi, videogames.com --- SYSOP*Ken Gagne, 75162,3001 of Video Gaming Central ------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.) Fushigi Yugi Vol.1 & Tamagotchi Video Adventures Reviews ++++++++Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play Vol.1 (ep 1-4)+++++++++ Now, I am one of those notorious Pioneer Dub lovers, so I bought the Dub. The English VA's are overall excellent in their expressions of the roles. Though, Miaka Yuki (the main character) has a VA who must be taking lessons from Sailor Moon, her voice just doesn't fit the character at the beginning. But, she soon gets the hang of the role and is quite excellent towards the end. Overall, for some one who has only read Chapter 1 and 2 of the manga in Animerica: Extra, I found the anime to have a style all its own and diverges in some good and bad ways (not enough depth between the Tokyo characters). I also liked how Pioneer finally decided to keep all the episodes whole as they did with their laserdisc (ie: Tenchi Universe and The Wanderers had the opening and endings cut so they only appear once). So now you get to see the episodes as they were meant to be. ^_^ Also we get the nice extras that the Japanese videos get, Yep, we get the opening played again without the text overlay (but subtitles in Japanese are added). Also 2 normal sized cards come with the Dubbed version (no big picture to put together). I can't wait to see the next volume!!! Note: FY is a 52 episode TV series with several OAVs. ++++++++Tamagtochi Video Adventures++++++++++ Though it isn't the Japanese movie, it is a very funny and entertaining movie for all ages starring all of the Tamagotchi Series 1 and Series 2 characters as they go to Earth to get a object that best represents Earth as a whole. What follows is a very funny series of adventures that shed some light on the characters that you probably haven't ever heard before. And Bill is priceless... "Now Museum, Now You Don't" is a must see. As for the Music Video? Well the song is very cute and has a nice tune. And it is set to footage from the movie that played before it. Now the only bad thing about the tape is the 'Drawing' part. *CRING* It had a hand puppet......... and an artist drawing a few Tamagotchi. And I almost died when they decided to draw the ah... little Series one guy who looks like a sperm. Well, the artist corrects everyone's view by saying it is a 'snake with a Three and a Zero for a head'. Overall ignoring the drawing part. The video is a must see, and for $13.99 of less it is a great buy. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.) Playstation Game News Fantastic Four for Final Fantasy VIII Four new Guardian Force characters are introduced this week. Square has revealed an additional four Guardian Force characters that will appear in Final Fantasy VIII. Joining the already-revealed Leviathan and Ifris, these creatures can be called upon during battle to unleash devastating attacks. Firstly comes the not-very-scary-sounding Alexander, who is however able to revive fallen comrades and has a good knowledge of medicines. The oddly-named Ketswarkwartle (er, he's a big bird, kind of like an elongated dove) is capable of a thunderstorm attack, showering lightning over enemies and possesses strong magical powers, so is best summoned by characters for magic strikes. Shiva has the disconcerting ability to tell you when you will die (very handy), has protective powers, and can inflict a sort of cold snap onto enemies, freezing them. Her HP and GF is low, but her abilities are strong. The freezing magic is especially effective and she grows stronger as the game progresses. Lastly, comes Kochocobo who has no special abilities, but can wield the Chocofire a technique producing nice big fiery explosions. Kochocobo appears when you use the Gizaru vegetable. We'll have more on Final Fantasy VIII as it's announced. Courtesy PSM Online --- Robert Boyd [STAFF], 71064,376 of Video Gaming Central +++ Chrono Trigger 2 in the Works +++ GameSpot News learned from industry sources close to Square that a sequel to its Super Famicom/Super Nintendo RPG, Chrono Trigger, is in the works. While it is still in the early stages, sources tell GameSpot News that the company is now in the process of deciding whether the game will land on the PlayStation or go directly to PlayStation 2. No word yet on a potential release date at this point. This could be Sega's worst nightmare, as a Square-supported PlayStation 2 is likely to win favor in Japan, where Final Fantasy VII gave Sony's machine the upper hand in the next-generation system race. We have also learned that Final Fantasy IX, rumored to be launched on 9/9/99 (makes sense, doesn't it?), is already well into production. videogames.com --- SYSOP*Ken Gagne, 75162,3001 of Video Gaming Central ------------------------------------------------------------------ 7.) PlayStation 2: Frequently Asked Questions PlayStation's next incarnation is an enigmatic beast as well it should be. While Sony has acknowledged that the hardware exists, it has yet to make a formal announcement concerning a name, release date, price, or technical capabilities. As such, we're left with a whole lot speculation and an equally large number of questions. Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we've received. Much of them are based upon rumor and speculation, but that's really all there will be until Sony makes some form of formal announcement concerning the machine. When it does, you can count on us to relay the details. Will PlayStation 2 be able to play standard PlayStation games? Rumors that the machine will indeed be backward compatible (i.e. able to play standard PlayStation software) have circulating on the Internet for months. Our view is that, if the machine is powerful enough, emulation of the original PlayStation hardware may be possible. It would be smart move for Sony (creating an instant software base), but no formal announcement concerning this possibility has been made. Will the PlayStation 2 offer more visual power than Sega's Dreamcast? New information from various sources suggests that the hardware will have only a marginal performance advantage over Sega Dreamcast in the number of polygons it can display simultaneously. However, the same information suggests that the console will utilize NURB (Non Uniform Rationalized B-Spline) polygons, of which fewer are required in order to generate curved surfaces and rounded objects in real-time. In effect, this would leave more polygons to increase facial detail, object detail, and other aspects of game environments, resulting in visuals that are effectively more elaborate than those Dreamcast can generate. At this point it's all rumor, so we'll wait for an official announcement before delving any further into this possibility. What games will come out for PlayStation 2? No one knows just yet. Several Ubi Soft titles are believed to appear, such as D-Jump, and Rayman 3 and 4. Recent rumors suggest that Square currently has development hardware, and that Chrono Trigger 2 will appear on the console. Will the PlayStation 2 use DVD? New reports indicate that the system's custom chipset will offer support for MPEG-2 DVD video decompression, so the possibility is highly likely. What is the console's real name? Sony hasn't officially announced its next console yet, so it's just a bit unrealistic to expect a proper production name to be making the rounds just yet. As it stands, the system is referred to exclusively as "PlayStation 2" within the industry. Rumors have suggested that the machine is referred to as "T-Rex" internally at Sony, but we suggest taking them with a very large grain of salt. Recently, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe registered two domain names which could indicate the official, final name for the console: playstation2.com and playstation2000.com. If we absolutely had to pick a name for the system based on those currently making the rounds, we'd go with PlayStation 2000. It just sounds right. Will the PlayStation 2 be difficult to program for? From what is known, the new platform will sport the same ease of development as the original, but is unlikely to be as easy to develop for as Dreamcast's Microsoft Windows CE environment. In other words: don't worry about it becoming another Saturn. In Sony collaborating with any other companies on the development of PlayStation 2? Yes. Electronics trade publication EE Time has reported that Toshiba and LSI Logic will contribute silicon to the new platform. Toshiba is believed to be developing two processors, both with internal 128-bit busses, one of which is a DSP with custom multimedia instructions and DVD playback capability. The other is a MIPS architecture-based RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) CPU. Both run at 250MHz. LSI is said to be developing custom ASICs, as it did for the original PlayStation, speculated to handle audio and 3D rendering functions. Toshiba and Sony plan to make a joint announcement concerning their collaboration in February. When will the system be released? If the name "PlayStation 2000" is indeed real, and the hardware isn't revealed until next spring, it's only logical to assume that the machine will appear in Japan by the end of 1999 (and likely North America sometime during the year 2000). Courtesy PSM Online --- Robert Boyd [STAFF], 71064,376 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 8.) Correction - Sailor Moon: Word Search Last weeks Sailor Moon word search had 2 errors the word JADEITE was miss spelled, and the word LOCKET was unfindable. These misstakes have been corrected and are reprinted this week for accuracy. Please accept my apologies. *+*+*+* DIRECTIONS: For proper viewing of Word Search on all computers. Please COPY & PASTE this section to 'Windows Notepad' for proper proportions. Or select this "Omega's Word Search" area and change the font to 'Courier New'. The puzzle should now be a square. *+*+*+* Sailor Moon V R O L I A S P I M A D A N D R E W O D O E T H E O T Q O N E G E C I T S U J I M W M G X D I U R E N Y T E K C O L S A A O U R F Z M E X A M M O O N P R R N M L P B A I O E E M E R A L D E Y E F E O A M E N L I M N E V D N L I Z N S U P N C S V D E S A B M I O O P C E A U N H D H I I P S I S E I L Y A M C H A N X R Z I R D A M T T R N D D I A A R T E M I S T P E V O E E Y A N N M A P S P V Q T O E N N I E B R L N A L A N N D K O C E I D O I E G A D E N A K R O M O L L Y J H P O Z I M E L V I N D O O M T R E E A C S M X N K F R I E N M A R S L O C K D T O P X C R O F S D R E N E I R A D C E O N L I T A R L I O A R U C Q U T B H I G O W M X Y E F L A C C L O D B N U R T A R H I R E T I P U J U P M N E I N O E M H C N E T A G E M O R A I A U O N L E A C R O P S E R E N A Y C C W S P Y I F T ~~~ WORDS TO FIND ~~~ Sailor Moon .... Serena Mercury ........ Amy Mars ........... Raye Jupiter ........ Lita Venus .......... Mina Tuxedo Mask .... Darien Luna ........... Artemis Rene ........... Andrew Molly .......... Melvin Grandpa ........ Bunny Jadeite ........ Nephrite Zoisite ........ Malachite Queen Beryl .... Doom Tree Alan ........... Ann Rubeus ......... Diamond Emerald ........ Wicked Lady Locket ......... Sailor V Love ........... Justice DiC ............ MixxZine Moon Prism Power Created by Adam "OMEGA" Arnold Next Week: Tenchi-Muyo! ------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.) Word Search: Tenchi-Muyo! *+*+*+* DIRECTIONS: For proper viewing of Word Search on all computers. Please COPY & PASTE this section to 'Windows Notepad' for proper proportions. Or select this "Omega's Word Search" area and change the font to 'Courier New'. The puzzle should now be a square. *+*+*+* Tenchi-Muyo! N N O O M E S R E V I N U R O L I A S O E M O T N A H P E V E O N U S T A N A M V K A S I M E I X I P A C I T R A T S M A D L E Z I L P R O C W A I L T S E U Q E S P A E O V E M Y S A C H I K A N X Z H I I D R Y O O H K I S O R Y A L C R D P S I H O T A G A K V H E N U S D H O Y M R I A C M S P A C E U M O S S H I N O O H E V E C I L O P Y X A L A G L O A S C I C T E N C H I M U Y O H I H C U G H D N O V T I S R A A Z M M N E T N A I O I S E N O Y I K R X U O A I H S O H I M V A R M A M S A U D H M S A I E B E D P E S S A M L X A J O A X A K N V U L B U R A V O Q Z R C M A Y U K A F E Y F O A I M P C H R I Y S M T M I A E S U S Y E P I O N E E R P O Y Y V E O R A K E Y A A N A B K N I P A K Z V X T O K I M I R N A E V I T A R E P O N R E F N I O O T A S O D R A Z A H L E X I K H O N E K H ~~~ WORDS TO FIND ~~~ Tenchi-Muyo ....... Tenchi Ryoko .............. Ayeka Sasami ........... Mihoshi Washu ............. Kiyone Heaven ............. Earth Space ........... Universe TV .................. Shin OVA ................. Love Zero ............ Dr. Clay Pioneer ........... Achika Kain ............ Nobuyuki Operative A ....... Kagato Pretty Sammy ....... Chisa Pixie Misa .......... Mass Tokimi ......... D3 (DIII) Startica .......... Mayuka Masaki ............ Yuzuha Manatsu No eve ... Inferno Ryo-Ohki ........ Ken-Ohki Nagi ............... Jurai Galaxy Police ...... Yosho Created by Adam "OMEGA" Arnold Next Week: Oh My Goddess! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 10.) Mailing List Technical Info ~ Back Issues can be found at Omega's Vanishing Point: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ablarnold/wsemain.html ~ You can set which Version(s) of WSE you wish to receive. A.) Anime/Video Games (weekly), B.) Sci-Fi/Comic Books (monthly), C.) BOTH Versions of WSE, or D.) Unsubscribe completely. ~ To subscribe a friend send e-mail to ablarnold@csi.com, with the subject of _Subscribe WSE_ . ~ To unsubscribe send an unsub e-mail to ablarnold@csi.com, with the subject of _Unsubscribe WSE_ . Anyone wanna be a beta-tester of web pages? Or maybe write for WSE? If interested contact me at ablarnold@csi.com and we'll tell you what it involves. ^_^ Adam “OMEGA” Arnold ablarnold@csi.com ; ICQ #7737442 http://welcome.to/vanishing.point/ Omega's Vanishing Point - One Year Anniversary: GOING ON NOW!!!