Highlights include:

XENOSAGA I
» Behind the scenes look at the sound engineering, creation, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra musicians as they prepare and eventually play the music as conducted by Steven Lloyd. Sound producer Yasunori Mitsuda provides Japanese commentary to accompany the footage. Length 7:07 minutes.

» A recap of the entire Xenosaga I Story as told by in-game cinemas from the archaeological dig that uncovered the glyph upon which a Zohar emulator was placed to raise the structure from the sea to the first appearance of KOS-MOS where she destroys an entire contingent of Gnosis that are attacking Vector Industry space vessels. The recap continues to detail the search for the original Zohar and the main manipulators behind the scenes. Length: 12:55 minutes.

» Sketches of KOS-MOS and main characters such as Shion and various Vector ships, weaponry, and mechs. In the Xenosaga I section, there are 17 sketches total. The [HISTORY] section contains full color artwork and photographs of the Xenosaga taken from advertising flyers, magazine ads, retail shop placards and P.O.Ps, bonus items that were given away, toys, etc.

XENOSAGA II
» Namco's official Special Trailers Vol. 1-3 that were released in Japan between March and May of 2004 and a fourth unnamed Japanese trailer that are all set to music and feature assorted cinemas and event sequences from the game. The sixth chapter in the Xenosaga II section is a USA trailer.

» The credits scroll from Xenosaga II which lists the original author & supervisor Takahashi Tetsuya first followed by voice actors, music composter, illustrator, production designers, directors, programmers, etc. After a while, the left side of the screen shows snapshots of various Xenosaga events, people waiting on line, the game cover, in-game screenshots, sketches, etc. Length: 5:37 minutes.

» Six sketches of characters and gear from Xenosaga II. The [HISTORY] chapter features full color artwork taken from promotional flyers, magazine ads, the game's DVD insert, an alternative DVD insert, retail POPs, decals, the cover to the European version of the game, etc.

XENOSAGA III
» Promotional trailers set to music.

» Artwork of T-elos, KOS-MOS, characters, locations, mechs, armaments, etc. The [HISTORY] section for X3 is the shortest of the three games with only 3 selections to view.

The MISC menu contains three sections: Xenosaga Freaks, Xenosaga Pied Piper and [History] which contains promotional materials for Xenosaga Freaks. Xenosaga Pied Piper contains cinemas while the Xenosaga Freaks section is comprised of in-game play from the title screen to character selection to interaction sequences. The Xenopittan puzzle game is also shown along with the Xenosaga data gallery.

Update: July 5, 2006
From the Publisher
One year after the events of “Xenosaga Episode II Jenseits von Gut und Bose”. The main character, Shion Uzuki, is shocked to find that the organization that she belongs to, Vector Industry, is actually closely linked to the Gnosis event. Because of that, she leaves her post and joins hands with an anti-U.M.N. underground organization and starts to work on her own to uncover the aims of Vector. But at that moment, she gets wind of news that the KOS-MOS development project is suddenly halted. A mysterious android, T-elos, emerges to replace the halted KOS-MOS project. Behind T-elos hide various mysteries and motives. What is the future of space…and mankind?

Points of Recommendation
More detailed and fine elaborate images. First, in the area of character creation, not only are all the player characters’ looks and costumes painstakingly revamped, some characters may even change costumes as the game progresses. A fine balance is struck in portraying the popular characters in mainly cute lines, and using these characters in serious scenes without anything feeling out of place. Furthermore, the field graphics will befit the futuristic space theme, with futuristic buildings and natural features like caves, forests and waterfalls, bringing more variation to the whole world.

Flavour-concentrated battle system
Just like the predecessor, there are two types of battle systems, “Character Battle” where the characters are used and “Robot Battle” where robots known as E.S. are piloted to face off with other giant opponents. Besides reviving and strengthening eye-catching character special moves (in character battle) to coincide with gamers’ preferences, complicated command input is taken out, allowing beginners to battle smoothly. On the other hand, the grand performances of battling in battle fields like space and giant caves (in robot battle), having been greatly improved, allow the player to fully enjoy the thrilling tastes of battle.

Many friendly elements to make the world more complete
As long as the save data is loaded, the player can view the animated sequences of the events encountered in the progress of the game or rotate in 360 degrees, or m in and out on the 3D models of the characters, mechanics and enemies. Now one can relaxingly recall past adventuring experiences, and with the help of approachable illustrated descriptions, read about the many complex game terms in the database, in order to get a better understanding of this deep Xenosaga world filled with unknowns.

Update: July 5, 2006 at 5:21PM EST
UPS has delivered our shipment of Xenosaga III. All preorders will ship today.

Update: July 5, 2006 at 3:47PM EST
As of the time-stamp above, our shipment of Xenosaga has still not arrived yet. As such, we're fairly certain that UPS won't make a delivery attempt but if anything changes within the next 1/2 hour, we will update accordingly.

Update: July 5, 2006 at 12:05PM EST
The game's in New York City according to tracking details this morning but apparently, it's on a different truck than the one that delivered the rest of today's new arrivals. As long as we receive the shipment before 4:00PM EST today, all preorders for Xenosaga III will ship this afternoon. In a bit of irony, we received the bonus DVD that's included with Xenosaga III and we'll be able to include it 1:1 with every order. Got the bonus... didn't get the game. Thanks, Brown.