Hello all!

Perhaps the biggest news during the past week, was the cancellation of the Sega-Bandai merger. The merger was called off due to significant corporate differences and mindsets of the two companies. Though, a larger reason is that Bandai is now making significant sums of money from the sale of their virtual pet, the Tamagotchi (yes I have one). On Sega's part, for the fiscal 1996 year, pre-tax profits were $111-million US (up 192.7%); while software sales totaled $3.73-billion, up 12.5%. Sega plans to focus on software sales for the rest of the year, having a comfortable user base. Saturn console shipments will also decrease, while in England the price of the Saturn has dropped to an equivalent of about $150 US; perhaps a foreshadowing of a US price drop.

In Japan, Takara released their latest 3d fighter, D-Xhird. While Data East has shipped a conversion of the arcade shooter, Skull Fang. Skull fang is said to be an arcade perfect port, thanks to the Saturn's 2d power. Groove On Fight, which was released last week by Atlus, has been getting positive reviews. The game is another 2d fighter featuring unusual (and humorous) characters. It also uses SNK's RAM cart. In the US, All Star Baseball '97 by Acclaim should be in stores Monday. There are some images from the game in the Snapshots area. On the site, I've updated the release dates to include games expected out from June to August.

That's all this week, bye!

-Greg