Konami have announced that they will release a staggering five PlayStation2 titles when the system debuts in Japan on March 4, 2000. They are Jikkyou World Soccer 2000, Drum Mania, Gradius III & IV Resurrection, Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2000 and Mahjong Yaroze 2. What the hell is a 'Jikkyou' anyway?

Taito will unleash Densha de Go! Commuting on arcade punters next year. Here's hoping that you'll actually get to be one of the commuters. Wouldn't that be great? You could sit around, reading the newspaper and making subtle rude gestures to the foxy redhead sitting opposite you. For about half an hour.

Final Fantasy IX delayed? Say it's not so! Unfortunately it's true - Square have pushed back the release of Final Fantasy IX for PlayStation until "sometime after March 2000". It's alleged that one reason for the postponement is that Square don't want to go head-to-head with Enix's Dragon Quest VII, which is scheduled for a February release in Japan. Enix must be mightily relieved.

Namco will release two new Dreamcast titles next year, with the first arriving around March. What could they be? Surely not versions of Ridge Racer or Tekken - that wouldn't please Sony at all. Pretty unlikely in reality. Please God, let one of them be Soul Calibur 2!

What do you get for the gamer who has it all? How about some transparent rechargeable batteries for their WonderSwan? What a great idea! They would go really well with one of those fancy transparent handhelds. Fortunately, a Japanese company has thought of this already and will release the batteries in four different colours - blue, red, black and green. Each set will cost around £10 when they're released in Japan on December 16.

Fans of crazy game titles need look no further than Hudson this week, after they announced their new RPG for the N64. Robot Poncott 64 ~ Caramel of the Seven Seas is scheduled for a December 24 Japanese release. It's madness!