Hi all,

Last week I promised that the newsletter archive would be online by now. However, compiling the archive has been much more time consuming than I thought. All that is left is to do a final check on the files and ensure everything works correctly. I hope to have them online in the next few days...

Sega has released several new games this week in the US. They include: Enemy Zero, Sonic R, and World Wide Soccer '98. E0 has been left untouched by the censors which reflects Sega's fairly liberal policy also evident in Duke Nukem 3D. The basic premise of E0 is that while returning home from a deep space journey, an invisible creature begins killing the members of your crew. As Laura Lewis, its your job to kill the thing before it gets to you. The game heavily relies on audio to help the player through the game while the pre-rendered graphics help pull together a unique and stunning adventure game.

Next is Sonic R. This game has been released in both the US and Europe...I'm not sure if the Japanese version is available yet, as there will be a short delay for translation. Graphically, Sonic R is incredible. The gameplay itself takes a little while getting used to as the steering is fairly touchy. It also takes a bit for one to figure out exactly where to go. But once you get the hang of it, the game is pretty good. For those who must know, there is some pop up as expected, however it is somewhat hidden via a distance fogging technique.

WWS '98 is now out in the US, several weeks after the European version was released. The gameplay is essentially the same as the '97 version however there are several nice additions including player numbers, more accurate details such as skin and hair color. However, the biggest addition is the league play, 60 teams total, and new stadiums. The league play allows one to play out a full season in the UK, Spain or France. Also, the goalie AI is a bit tougher this time around which is a mixed blessing.

Magical School Lunar has also been released. I don't have a lot of info on the game but here's what I've been told (thanks ChaCha): In the game you play an apprentice at the Vale Magic School and are given various assignments in the game which make up several sub quests. The big news is that X-Men vs Street Fighter will be available tomorrow. As you know, this game is the first to use the new 4MB RAM cart. The cart is backwards compatible with older games that use the smaller 1 meg cart. The difference the extra memory makes is very noticeable. No more slowdown and the games play at full speed...its incredible. The game and cart sold together cost a little less than $70 US. Future games supporting the larger cart include Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons Collection and Vampire Saviour.

Perhaps the biggest question is whether or not the 4MB cart will be officially released outside of Japan. Currently there are rumors that Capcom wants to release the card on their own in the US as a Sega approved product. Saturnworld as gone as far as reporting that the carts are making their way into Sega's warehouses in the US. We'll probably find out real soon...well, that's all this week, cya!

-Greg