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- XS Characters to Appear in Namco x Capcom!
A few days ago a new game, Namco x Capcom, was announced. It's similar to Kingdom Hearts in the sense that it's a crossover game with worlds from several game series from both companies. Characters to appear in the game:

More information on the game can be found here: http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q1-2005/012605c.html

- Xenosaga Episode II Trading Cards (? not sure about the official title) released. There are 81 cards in total, 1 pack costs 420 yen and 1 box of 15 packs costs 6,300 yen. The cards appear to be similar to those released for episode I, containing artwork from the game and new illustrations.


- Xenosaga Episode II Complete Senario Guide is released in Japan (apparently it is more indepth than the first guide released - episode I's guidebooks were released in a similar manner - according what I could get from the babelfish translation it contains a couple interviews along with more detailed plot information and even things not mentioned in the game, I'm guessing it contains something like the UMN database from episode I - as it was decidedly absent from episode II). The book retails at 1,785 yen.

- Xenosaga Episode II Official Strategy Guide (I believe it's technically called a "senario guide" but I'm not sure) is released in Japan. The book retails at 1,050 yen.

- Xenosaga Pied Piper released for Vodafone (not sure if it's available on other carriers) in Japan. The game is suposed to follow Ziggy's story 100 years ago before his suicide when he was a cop. It is going to be a 3 part game with the third installment scheduled for this fall. The game costs 525 yen and is only available for Japanese cellphones through Vodafone live (I think...not too sure if that's the service name).

- Xenosaga Episode II Movie Soundtrack is released - only music from the cutscenes composed by Yuki Kajiura is on this 2 CD OST. Pre-orders recieved a small XS memory card holder.

- The fourth and final volume of Weekly Xenosaga II is released in Japan, it's contents are, again, similar to all previous editions as well as containing a mouspad with the cover image on it - no sticker sheet, though. (I'm not positive, but I believe if you pre-ordered a set of volumes 1-4 you could get a collectible poster, I only have a babelfish translation to go off of so I can't say for sure).

- Volume 3 of Weekly Xenosaga II is released in Japan, again it has similar contents to the other two volumes in addition to a mouspad with the same image of the cover. Volume 3, however; comes with a sheet of Xenosaga-related stickers.

- Xenosaga II memory card released. It comes with a game holder that keeps episode I & II together in a case.


- Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits Von Gut Und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil) is released in Japan. Pre-orders received a bonus DVD containing approximately 4.5 hours of cutscenes from Episode I (essentially a cut down version of the story) with minor modifications from the originals (Japanese language; US version of the MOMO/Albedo scene with Japanese dialogue and with all the misplaced sound effects removed - there might be other differences but I can't see any glaringly obvious ones) in addition to a brief interveiw with the voice actresses of Shion, KOS-MOS, and MOMO - this interview was also on July's Famitsu Wave dvd. Premium Box versions of the game were also released containing the game, an artbook, two KOS-MOS figures (one sitting/crouching, one standing with interchangable weapons), and a model of KOS-MOS' Tab bike.

Copies of the Premium Box are still available through www.play-asia.com; however due to the limited quantities left the price has been upped conciderably (I've seen them for much less on ebay).

- Asia version of Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits Von Gut Und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil) is released (same as Japan version only that it's meant for distro through out all of Asia).

- Volume 2 of Weekly Xenosaga II is released in Japan, it's contents are similar to that of Volume 1 and it also comes with a mouspad with the cover image on it.

- Volume 1 of Weekly Xenosaga II is released in Japan, it's a 16 page magizine containing information and artwork for Xenosaga II. Volume 1 comes with a mouspad with the cover image on it.

- ??.??.04 - Xenosaga content made available for Imode, EZweb, and Vodafone live (Japan only). It's a montly service costing 315 yen, every month different images of characters, background music and sound effects (for ring tones and alerts?). Details avaliable here: http://www.namco.co.jp/mobile/