Grandia (video game)
In March 1999, Game Art's Japanese publisher ESP Software showcased a PlayStation version of "Grandia" at that year's Tokyo Game Show expo, along with confirmation that the game would be released in English for the first time in North America by Sony Computer Entertainment America. Working Designs, which had previously worked with Game Arts on bringing their "Lunar" games to the region, had expressed interest in publishing the game, but were ultimately unable to secure the rights. New features for the PlayStation version included support for the system's DualShock analog control sticks and vibration function, as well as compatibility with Sony's Japanese-only PocketStation peripheral, which allows players to download game data on a portable device for use in a special mini-game. Although the company had expressed interest in bringing the game to the PlayStation as early as 1998, technical problems originally prevented the title from being ported to the system. Game Arts was later able to release the game with a slight loss in frame rate and a marginal decrease in video effects the following June. The North American version was originally announced by Sony as a summer release during the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, but was pushed back to the following October. "Grandia" was later released for the PlayStation in Europe in 2000 by Ubisoft.
Phoenix Games
Phoenix Games was a partnership between Dan Bress and Phil Edgren, and was a successor to the company Little Soldier Games, to which Bress and Edgren had both contributed before it was shut down. Ed Konstant of Little Soldier Games wrote a few products for Phoenix Games, including "The Book of Fantasy Miniatures" (1978) and the open-ended deduction game "Elementary Watson" (1978), whose printing was paid for by Gamescience in return for rights to the Little Soldier back catalog. Some transitional books between the companies, such as "The Book of Shamans" (1978) were published under the Little Soldier Games label, which was itself listed as a division of Phoenix Games. Phoenix Games continued on with Little Soldier's general fantasy role-playing game publications, but they also did broader work in the RPG field than Little Soldier had, supplementing their generic fantasy supplements with generic science-fiction supplements. Kerry Lloyd got his first book, a "generic fantasy" adventure called "The Mines of Keridav" (1979), published through Maryland game company Phoenix Games. Phoenix Games disappeared before the sequel, "The Demon Pits of Caeldo", could be published, so Lloyd decided to start his own gaming company, Gamelords. Phoenix Games also published the fantasy role-playing game supplements "The Book of Shamans" by Ed Lipsett and "The Book of Treasure" by Phil Edgren in 1978, and the fantasy adventure "The Lost Abbey of Calthonwey" by R. Norman Carter in 1979. Phoenix Games also published Ed Lipsett's series of science-fiction role-playing game supplements "Spacefarer's Guide to Planets: Sector One" (1978), "" (1979), "Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Monsters" (1979), and "Spacefarer's Guide to Alien Races" (1979). Lipsett's books led to his "Star Quest" (1983) game, Japan's first entirely original RPG.