News From 05/18/02



PlayOnline to Still Experience Issues, Services to be Free until July
[ PlayOnline | Server Status ]

Following the issues that still continue with their PlayOnline services and Final Fantasy XI since launch, Square President Youichi Wada has released an official statement, stating that PlayOnline will continue to experience difficulties, but service fees will be kept free until the end of June.

The following is a translation of Wada's public note.

While PlayOnline has began its services since 5/16, [we] have not been able to deliver satisfactory services to customers.

[We] will continue to fix the connection problems with all efforts, but for a fundamental solution to the problem, everyone's cooperation under the play environment is necessary.

As a gesture of apology to our inconvenienced customers, the usage fees will be kept free for [customers] under the terms below.



Terms applicable to:
Customers who have applied to PlayOnline between 2002/5/16 - 2002/6/30

Terms of fee:
Usage fees for Final Fantasy XI, additional characters for Final Fantasy XI, and TetraMaster, between 2002/5/16 - 2002/6/30.



Although everyone will continue to experience inconveniences, [we] ask for everyone's understandings and cooperation in order to actualize satisfactory services as soon as possible.

Square Corporation
Representative President, Youichi Wada


(Translation: Henry A. Moriarty)



In related news, Square has also announced that monetary transactions handled by "WebMoney" has been experiencing difficulties in which customers have been charged multiple times for services.

Customers can check their balances at http://www.webmoney.ne.jp/balance.html. If charged erroneously, customers are urged to contact Square's information center with their PlayOnline ID and WebMoney serial number after the 22nd, phone# 03-5496-7117, 11AM-7PM (excluding weekends and national holidays).


Short Comment- So the first few thousand customers get be become free guinea pigs! BTW, Square missed the 9AM deadline for the server fix.

In related news, apparently the FFXI disk doesn't contain much except for the opening movie. So that means a lot of download to play the actual game. - "Madman" Henry Moriarty



Capcom president to become new CESA Chairman
[ JIJI News | Article ]

Tsujimoto (Right)

(JIJI News) The Consumer Entertainment Software Association (CESA) has announced on 5/16 that president of Capcom- Kenzo Tsujimoto, will be taking the new seat as the chairman of the association. The seat was formerly held by Konami president Kagemasa Kozuki for 6 years. Kozuki will still remain as a board of director.

In related news, CESA will also be changing the title of their association to "Computer Entertainment Software Association). The abbreviation of the company will still stay as CESA.

CESA is the association responsible for the annual Tokyo Game Show.
Special thanks to Techside for the News.



Sega gains Exclusive 7 Year contract on All Osaku Tezuka Copyrights
[ Sega | Section ]

Sega has announced on 5/17 of their new contract with Tezuka Productions (headquarters:Tokyo, President: Matsutani Takamasa), which will give the company exclusive rights to using all characters copyrighted by Tezuka productions for the next 7 years in video games, world wide.

Sega will use Tezuka characters in games for numerous hardware such as home consoles, arcade machines and the PC. The first of the projects will begin from a home console game of "Astro Boy" (Tetsuwan Atom), which is scheduled to be expanded by numerous media in its anniversary at April 7th of 2003.

For the official statement, check Sega's site.


"BeatMania THE FINAL" to be released, Currently in Beta Testing
[ Ratix | Section ]

Logo: BeatMania1Mix

Konami's final release of the Beat Mania series, "BeatMania THE FINAL", is currently in beta testing at Tokyo, Japan.

The last of the series is currently confirmed to have 10 new songs, 12 songs ported from other music games by Konami such as Pop'n'Music and Mambo-a-gogo, and 116 old songs from the previous in the Beat Mania series.

For the full list, check the collated beta testing report section under Ratix.


Soul Calibur 2 - Additional Beta testing footages
[ XenGamers | Section ]

Game news site Xengamers, has released footages of Soul Calibur 2 in the latest beta testing in the Sugamo district of Tokyo, Japan. For the two footages, check their site's section.

Short Comment- Not exactly a great footage, but you can see the walls in presence. - "Madman" Henry Moriarty