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Wednesday's News Bits!

Warning, this is unconfirmed news! It looks like Tengai Makyou III: Namida is back on track again. For those who don't know Tengai Makyou, let's have a "little" recap on the subject. Tengai Makyou (also known as Far East of Eden) is one of the most popular RPG series ever, despite being practically unknown in the western world, ranking side by side with Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy in Japanese popularity charts. Red Company's series has born a number of spin-offs, the last one being Tengai Makyou: the Fourth Revelation for the Saturn in 1997, while the last real title in the series was Tengai Makyou II: Manjimaru, in... 1992. Tengai Makyou III: Namida was announced back in 1995 for the PC-FX, and was very highly anticipated, but was cancelled due to the commercial failure of the PC-FX. Since the game was at an advanced stage of development, Red Company had kept hope alive of finishing it for another system someday. Before Sakura Taisen 3 was announced, there were rumors floating around that Red would finish Tengai Makyou III. Rumors now report that recent staff meetings of Hudson, publisher of the game, involved discussions about a release date for Tengai Makyou III: the game, this being a November 2001 release for the Playstation. However, Hudson has some pretty lofty targets to warrant the release of the game; they're aiming to reach sales of 2 million, otherwise it "would not be profitable enough." Even for a blockbuster title like Tengai III, this is quite a hard figure to attain. If the release is confirmed, though, the game will certainly be the subject of quite a bit of discussion over the next few months. In the meantime, you can go check the game's artwork, unveiled 5 years ago, right here!

The Gensou Suikoden series, better known as just Suikoden, is about to get two new installments. Gensou Suikoden III will launch on the Playstation 2 in a yet unknown time frame, while Gensou Suikoden Gaiden Vol.1: Swordsman of Harmonia will be released for the Playstation this Fall. The game will supposedly feature several characters from the previous Suikoden. The "Vol. 1" in the title seems to suggest that this Gaiden ("side story") is the first of a series.

Koei, satisfied with the success of Kessen for the PS2 (sales reached 360 000 copies), has announced two Kessen sequels. Kessen 2 will be released approximately one year after the first game, by March 2001, and Kessen 3 will show up the following year, around March 2002. Koei is hoping to sell 500 000 copies of Kessen 2 and possibly reach a million in sales with Kessen 3.

Grandia II will have, just like its predecessor, a limited edition. Retailing for a price of 7,800 yen, the limited edition will feature a CD with the Grandia II theme song. The regular edition will cost 6,800 yen, both shipping on August 3rd in Japan.

Atlus is developing a new action RPG for the Dreamcast, in the same vein as Maken X. Entitled deSPIRIA, this RPG is to be released sometime this year.

It looks like there's not a single week without some Sakura Taisen news! New information has been released on Sakura Taisen GB. Several limited editions will be released exclusively for sale at the Lawson stores. The first LE will feature a clear pink GBC system, for a price of 12,600 yen, and the second edition will include a strap and pin of the girl of your choice (Sakura, Sumire, Maria, Iris, Kohran, or Kanna), at a retail price of 5,800 yen. Another edition will come with an exclusive T-shirt, for 6800 yen, and lastly, the regular edition will be available for 4800 yen. And, you can also buy the game with Pocket Sakura for 8300 yen! Japan residents, preorders at Lawson start on June 1st.

Source(s):

G-Next
Minazuki

Date Updated:
May 31st, 2000

Time Updated:
10:12 PM


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