Hello all!

During the past week, not much relating to the Saturn happened. The one thing that did occur is that the English translation of Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG has been completed. The game is currently scheduled for a March 17th release in the US, and a early April release in Europe. Eight images from the game are in the Snapshots area. One minor Japanese release in the past week was Virtua Cop Special Pack. The game includes VC 1, 2, a House of the Dead Demo, and the Virtua Gun.

New titles expected this week from Japan include the long awaited Burning Rangers from Sonic Team. Another title is the latest in the 'Ages' Series, Power Drift. Both titles are to ship on the 26th. Also shipping on the same day are two shooters. The first one, Battle Garegga is from the same team (Raizing) that brought us Soukygurentai. Like its predecessor, Garegga is an intense vertical scrolling shooter. The game was originally released in the arcades way back in '96. Also up is the 3d-polygon shooter Stellar Assault (aka Shadow Squadron) by Sims. The game is a sequel to a previous 32X game which happened to be one of the few quality titles for the add on. This version adds nicely texture mapped polygons and some fancy explosion effects. Pictures from both games are in the Snapshots area.

Other news included some smaller details on Sega's next console. Mainly they outlined Sega of America's strategy for the release of the system. While the Japanese release is slated for November '98, the US release is currently aiming at April '99. With a European release in September of '99. An April release of a system has a major benefit...and problem. The issue is that during April the gaming industry is in the beginning of Summertime lull in releases. This can be a good time in that there is less competition for the gamer's money. However, looking at the Saturn's May release in '95 a serious problem occurred which hindered the system from the start. However, conditions in '95 were different in that the release was a surprise when retailers and developers were not ready. This time around, Sega plans to have 10-15 titles available at launch and 30-40 titles available in 3-4 months. A $100 million marketing budget has also been secured to promote the system and help 3rd parties with marketing their products for the next console. Some other details are on the site as well. Still no official name for the system, wish they'd at least mention that...as the rumored names are horrid.

I am considering adding a NetLink area in which NetLink users add basic information about themselves so they can match up with other NetLink owners. Information provided would be Name/email address, area code/Location, and NetLink games owned. If you are interested, just let me know if I have enough interest, I will add this area.

That's about all this week, cya!

-Greg