E3 - GRAFX-16

Out of nowhere Konami have announced their own take on the mini-console fad, a hand-portable, plug-and-play reconfiguration of NEC Home Entertainment's PC Engine. Just to spite (well, rinse) collectors, there's a different shell for each region with Europe scoring the CoreGrafx configuration, an update that junked the 80s system's RF output for composite. Japan gets the classic white console while America receives the TurboGrafx-16, a handsome, dayglo accented brick that looks like background detailing in a Cyberpunk anime.

It'll be interesting to see how the included games are curated for each individual region - Japan is off to a strong start with Dracula X taking pride of place on their exclusive list. For their Mega Drive Mini, Sega put together radically different selections for each region. Europe and America get a smattering of classics and best-sellers while Japan, where the system was not what you'd call successful, are being gifted a boutique selection, emphasising the kind of rarer carts you'd see clogging up an eBay collector's wish list. Given how the PC Engine failed to catch fire in Europe (outside of France at least), hopefully Konami follows suit, hand-selecting some millionaire gaming for the region.