Monday, September 25, 2006

Touch Pen Lite Black

Japanese manufacturer UGame borrows a stylus design from Moritoy and releases their own telescoping touch pen which extends like a old school television antenna. Each retail package contains two touch pens and a strap which may be used to tether the Touch Pen Lite to the user's finger or to a belt loop.

The stylus stretches from its compact length of 9cm (3.54") to an elongated 12cm (4.72") and features a metal barrel for durability. The stylus point and the end of the pen are made of plastic however. A longer stylus allows for less "cramped" game input where you're free to doodle on the NDS screen from a few more inches away than the standard DS stylus.


Economical Shipping Option
If the Touch Pen Lite is ordered by itself, we will ship with the lowest cost method which is first class mail within the United States. The shipping cost will be US$1.84 for an order total of $8.34. If you reside outside of the USA, we will also ship with the lowest cost method.

Super Mario Bros Touch Pen Knock

The recently merged Takara and Tomy conglomerate taps into the Nintendo DS stylus market with a pair of banana colored New Super Mario Bros touch pens that click. Similar in dimension to the Rakuna Touch Pen from Hori, the Touch Pen Knock is sized like an actual ballpoint pen for users who have big and beefy hands.
A clicker on the top of the pen may be plunged to eject the tip of the stylus from the plastic housing that it calls home. Once you're done playing your daily session of Brain Age or Sudoku, plunge the clicker again to recede the tip of the stylus back into the barrel. Like a turtle.

Unfortunately, there's no mounting bracket to attach the pen to a hole on the NDS or NDS Lite but then again, a pen this big is almost as lengthy as the NDS hardware. There is a little clip on the side of the pen however to attach it to your shirt pocket. Failing that, the pen may be slipped into a man-purse or tucked between one's right ear and noggin.

Economical Shipping Option
If the New Super Mario Bros. Touch Pen Knock is ordered by itself, NCS will ship with the lowest cost method which is first class mail within the United States. The shipping cost will be US$1.84 for an order total of $11.84.

Kingdom Hearts 2 Play Arts

Square Enix releases a set of non-scale PVC figures based on the characters of Kingdom Hearts II. The characters are:

» Kairi with a handbag and three extra hands
» Sora with Keyblade
» Roxas with Keyblade and an aqua-colored ice popsicle
» Axel with a pair of chakram and an extra pair of hands

The figures measure between 17cm and 22 cm with Axel towering over the others. Each figure features over 20 points of articulation and may be posed in various postures and stances.

Super Black Jack Rio Figure

Desired by pachislot playing salarymen throughout Japan, Rio is a pink or orange-haired, long-legged, full bodied matron of pachinko/pachislot parlors. Licensed to death into various merchandise such as cellphone straps and life-size inflatable "pillows," Rio has experienced full saturation in the franchising space.

To saturate the market a little more, manufacturer Toys Planning releases a PVC rendition of Rio as a leather-clad blackjack dealer. Rio measures 26cm or 10.23" tall from heels to orange-tinted hair. To accentuate her figure, Rio raises her arms over her head and clasps hands. A plastic model of a deck of cards accompanies Rio and is packed inside the retail container with her. All preorders ship today and new orders are welcome. This item is also known as Wa-fu-doh Gan-gu Ten Rio.

Chocobo Magical Book Plush

Whenever Chocobo's out in the wild, the feathered beast generally runs, pecks, and squawks up a storm. Add one more activity to Chocobo's to-do list: reading.

With Square Enix's new Chocobo plush, the big bird apparently enjoys reading from a magic book of spells. Measuring 18cm tall, Chocobo kicks out its legs and uses them as a book holder to prop up the thick tome. By using its wingtips, Chocobo flips through the pages of the volume to find the spell that it needs to cast... Preorders are welcome to ship in mid-late November 2006 at US$23 per plush.

Virtual On Marz: Fei-Yen Model Kit

Masculine Virtuaroids populate the ranks of Virtual On and its sequels. The male-laden theme continued in PS2 Virtual On Marz but one fighter has always stood out from the rest - Fei-Yen. Fem-bot. Decked out in frilly armor and fitted with pink fronds atop her helm, Fei-Yen looks the part of a fainting lassie until one realizes that she weighs a few tons and would decimate a city block in the space of a few minutes. Regardless of her power however, she still sports a pair of red shoes and is naturally pretty in pink.

Hasegawa starts preorders for a Fei-Yen kit which features ABS and PVC pieces to assemble together and paint in order to create the mighty Virtuaroid. The figure is set to 1/100 scale and based on the detail of the promotional image from Hassy, appears to be an arduous task to construct and complete. Pricing is set at JPY3000 or US$29 from NCS and preorders are welcome to ship in mid-late November 2006.

Voltron Diecast Figure

In the early 80s, Voltron was the $#!T. Gullible kids rushed home every day to nosh on toaster pizza and watch five component lions mesh together to form a massive robot which struck down foes with a massive sword. Phrases such as "Activate interlock" and "Form blazing sword" became mantras. Or something like that.

Over two decades after the Voltron heyday, Yamato announces a limited edition diecast Voltron figure priced at JPY398,000 or approximately US$365 from NCS. The robot is fully posable and includes a "blazing" sword which may be clenched betwixt the maw of a hand-lion. Details were sparse as of last night with regards to Voltron's dimensions and scale but we'll add more information once we receive further details. Preorders are welcome today to ship in mid-late November 2006.

Tokyo Game Show 2006

What NCS learned from this weekend's Tokyo Game Show:

» The PS3 launches in Japan on November 11 . We're likely going to import the 20gig model. Pricing from distributors is still up in the air but we're anticipating a 1.25X multiplier on the retail price of JPY49,980. The USA version of the PS3 with 20gig HDD ships on November 17 at US$499. All iterations of the PS3 will include an HDMI port.

» Pink and Silver Japanese PSPs are scheduled to ship sometime in the fourth quarter. Preorders will be opened soon.

» Kojima's stock market trading game for the Nintendo DS will use historical price data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. No word yet on whether traders will be able to write covered calls on positions that are underwater or purchase TOPIX 150 puts to protect a net long portfolio.

» D3 Publisher proved that Oanechan Bara cosplay is possible.

Sale of the Day

After a two year hiatus, NCS resumes our scrap heap scramble sales from early 2004 this week. MOTD will resume next week.

The slimmer Saturn pads were impossible to find in new condition for the past year or so... until NCS found them in Japan. Today's inventory of original USA Saturn controllers were exported to a vendor in Tokyo sometime in the late 90s. Nearly 10 years later, NCS imports them back into the USA for our sales. Perhaps it's an indication of how the trade winds blow in our business.

The inventory is new but note that the cardboard boxes are somewhat aged and may feature surface features such as dimples, slight creases, and some weathering. The controllers inside are however fresh, new, and free of cosmetic defects in their respective plastic baggies. Their cords are still wound and wrapped from the factory in that special way. Pricing is set at US$40.50 shipped with USPS Priority Mail anywhere in the contiguous United States in a sturdy cardboard box with adequate packaging material inside.

Please note that our shop does not process transactions in real time and orders will be charged US$40.50 only. Please disregard the shipping quotation on the order form. Thank you.