Hi again,

Thanks to the workload of the past two days, I've had no choice but to send the update this evening instead. I apologize, and I will continue to try to have the newsletter sent on Mondays, but if one doesn't appear then, expect one the following day.

A minor correction with last week's update...I had stated that there were only two titles left for the Saturn, those both being sims. However, I forgot about Capcom's Street Fighter Zero 3 which is still in the works out there. Capcom has been mum about the title, but it appears to be the last one that will hit.

During the past week I've been fiddling with the Release Dates list for the Dreamcast a bit. Changes thus so far are a changing of the dating system to a more universal year/month/day format for all regions, versus the prior method of using localized dates. Of course, some dates have been shifted around and also some additions were made including Success' Panorama Cotton 2. It's listed for release sometime in November.

Some more titles have been also appearing on the European release lists. Two games new to the list are from Rage Games, the company responsible for Incoming. The first is Expendable which will also be released on the PC and PSX. The game will also be released in June 24th in Japan. So far I've only seen images from the PC version and they are quite impressive. The DC version has no reason to be any less impressive if not better. Gameplay? As I read the official description I can only think of past efforts such as Doom from id software. Here's how Rage puts things:

"You play a space marine who is dropped in to a series of unfamiliar alien worlds to fight for the survival of your race with a huge arsenal of apocalyptic weapons at your disposal. The ability of the game engine to freely mix outdoor and indoor environments (such as tunnels, underground bases, ruined cities etc.) creates a beautiful world for the player to explore and destroy!"

House of the Dead 2. An awesome port that is essentially the same as the arcade version. Well, it seems that due to some calibration problems SoJ has announced that for those who've purchased HotD2 with the gun can get an exchange for a gun that works properly. This strikes me as strange, as reviewers cited the gun, though unconventional, to be quite accurate.

For a long time, import Dreamcast prices have remained fairly stable. Recently, they've dropped again as some importers are now selling the console as low as $250US More commonly, one can expect to see prices around $325US for a Japanese DC and $285 for the Asian version. These price drops are very recent, and not all importers have lowered their prices. Tronix has lowered prices and TheRage matched them while NCS has yet to lower their pricing, but looking from past records, they'll eventually price a bit lower than the other two.

Over in the news area last week, I posted an article with a bunch of little news bits that came about. This includes info that Yuzo Koshiro will be working on the soundtrack to Shenmue. Sega is indefinitely extending free Dreamcast network services in Japan. Five-hundred limited edition _black_ Dreamcasts will be on sale in Japan in the not so distant future...these units are expected to cost around ¥10 000 ($83US) more than the normal model. Also, French developer No Cliche (formerly Adeline), is working on two Dreamcast titles. There is pretty much no information on both titles other than the most basic genre info. The first is under the working name "Gutherman." All I can say is that it's some sort of mission based driving title. The second "Agartha" has even less info, only that it is a horror adventure game.

That's all for this week, until next time, see ya!

-Greg