Just a couple of updates, the Japanese versions of Summon Night Twin Age and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 are now being sold with big discounts.

Collectors, here your chance:

• Summon Night Twin Age ~ USD 19.90 (click here for details)
• Final Fantasy Tactics A2 ~ USD 29.90 (click here for details)

Almost all my stuff, my books, my games (all 47 Nintendo DS titles I own), and collectibles are downstairs packed in big brown boxes. My room is half empty after my workstation and bookshelf were disassembled and  wrapped in  plastic. Why you ask. Well, I’m moving to my new house, and into a bigger room, tomorrow!

I’ll still be popping by the old house once in a while, mainly to clean it and more importantly to use the Internet connection pending the availability of a phone line in the new house.

What else I have not packed? There’s the electronic organ and the PS2 (the Dreamcast on the other hand, is in the other house) as well as the PC.

But enough talk for now, time to play some games. But before I go, did you know that Metroid Prime Pinball is going for really cheap at Play-Asia? Only USD 14.90 and it comes with a Rumble Pak. Click here for details

I noticed that the White Game Cube Controller sells for USD 10 cheaper compared to the traditional purple-coloured controller. Even without the USD 10 discount, I would prefer white though, it looks more aesthetically pleasing.

White or black, those are the colours for me when it comes to controllers. Head over to Play-Asia to grab your very own White Game Cube Controller. Click here for more details.

Lots of Nintendo DS games and accessories going on discount at Play-Asia, which got me thinking that there might be a site-wide sale coming up soon. Anyways, what’s for sale? Plenty.

Lets start with games going for USD 14.90 (click on the titles for further details).

• Picross DS (Jap)
• Thrillville: Off the Rails
• Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys
• Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars

Most of the games are selling at the sweet spot of just under USD 25, USD 24.90 to be exact. They are:

• Orcs & Elves
• Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of Ancient Arts
• Lost in Blue 3
• Transformers: Autobots
• Transformers: Decepticons
• John Deere Harvest in the Heartland

And the rest:

• Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles – Ring of Fates (USD 36.90)
  
• Mario Hoops 3-on-3 ~ USD 27.90
• Zekkyo Senshi Sakebrain [Club Nintendo Edition] ~ USD 29.90
• Deep Aquarium ~ USD 29.90

God of War: Chains of Olympus and Halo 3 (Korean version with English subtitles) are going for cheap at Play-Asia at USD 32.90 and USD 19.90 respectively.

Also going for cheap is a couple of Famicom Mini Series Titles, Zelda and Star Soldier, both going for USD 9.90 each.

Click on the game titles for further details, or head over to Play-Asia’s bargain bin section for more bargains.

I’ve been waiting for this for some time, and now Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers is available for a bargain bin price of USD 19.90, way cheaper compared to its original price of USD 64.90.

According to this site, the game is a collectible card game not unlike Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon but uses an RFID reader to read actual cards! Here’s the description taken off the Booster Pack product page on Play-Asia:

This pack contains the cards for Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers Booster. It is an action game where you battle with other players by the cards you acquired. Call upon the beast battlers by placing the cards onto the magic reader attached to your DS. Decks in this second series can be strengthened by combining and recombining your cards, plus there are new cards to choose from and will make your battles more intense than ever.

Scan a card from this second series at a specific place and launch an extra story. In this new story, new cards can be used with the computer. Train yourself with the fierce monsters in these games. Aside from strong cards like Gao, the last installment include three other types of monster cards. This time, however, there are six of them! Build up your deck and swap cards with friends.

You can store up energy in the cards and launch powerful attacks – Cards related to how monsters acquire and achieve their energy are produced for this second installment. This concept goes far beyond the earlier versions that used a game of paper scissors rock to produce results.

More characters are turned into cards. Characters that exist only within the game made their appearances as cards, so test their strengths!

I’ve already got one card-reading game in my collection (Love and Berry) and I wouldn’t mind an additional one. Interested? Click here for further details. Juushinden booster packs are also available here.

Just so anyone tries to refute the idea that Japanese video game covers are nicer than that of their American counterparts, here’s one more cover to put the argument to rest:

Yup. That’s the cover of the Japanese release of Final Fantasy III, with an astounding piece of artwork from Yoshitaka Amano. Now, compare this with the US release below, whereby the artist only plays a bit part in an otherwise plain white cover:

The good news for collectors is that the Japanese version, which normally sells at exorbitant prices outside of Japan is now available at a bargain price of USD 24.90, at where else but Play-Asia. (click here for details)

I’ve already got a copy of the English version of Final Fantasy III, which I got for dirt cheap so I’m still mulling over buying this.

This would be the cheapest Japanese import title for the Nintendo DS that I’ve ever come across. Ecolis is going on sale for just USD 4.99 at Play-Asia. It was previously going for USD 48.90.

A RTS game that aims to increase environmental awareness, it does pack a rather large feature set for the price. It comes with WFC connectivity among other things. Even if I can’t play the game due to the language (since it’s a Japanese title), I’ll be adding this game to my collection of Japanese Nintendo DS games.

My copy of Ecolis will probably be arriving next week, having chose the slower free shipping option from Play-Asia. Interested? Click here for further details.