Congratulations on selecting News Archive Four which is the latest dumping ground for the contaminated waste that we refer to as 'news'. If you're thinking of scrolling down to read the older news that we've featured, I would suggest you pay particular attention to the picture of Honey that took ages to do, and the almost exclusive news that Wipeout 2097 was on its way to the Saturn. Jon's inspired invention of the phrase "Tomb 'em up" was also a particular high point over the last weeks.

Cool starts here: That's what Sonic Team have to say, and this is why:

New news flash: We've found some more great news from Tokyo, but instead of copying it all like we usually do, we'll just refer you over to the Unofficial Gamearts page for the latest Tokyo scoop. No VF3 details though, which is good news for people who have just spent ages writing a VF3 announcement page. Like the one below. Gary:04/04/97

Yu make the call: I know what you're all thinking. You're thinking "It's April, and we still don't know what's happening with Saturn VF3 give us the details UK:Resistance." Well we can't. Nobody knows what the score is with those secretive AM2 people, so we thought we'd give you the chance to make your own announcement on the status of VF3, by filling out another one of our handy vote forms on the tricky VF3 subject. Gary:04/04/97

News Flash: Today should be a BIG day for Saturn owners because over in the land of the rising sun the Tokyo toy show is taking place. Even though I'm writing this in the morning 'Today' has already happened in Japan and the first big announcement to reach us concerns the inimitable blue hedgehog. Yes, Sonic is back. Not only will he have his own brand new game released later this year, a new Sega Ages pack looks likely to appear in June featuring all three previous Sonic titles. More news updates later. Jon:03/04/97

Is my hair okay? We thought some of our readers from foreign parts might like to see a scan from the cover of the edition of EDGE magazine that featured UK:Resistance recently. We also thought that UK readers might like to see it again, just in case anyone missed this very rare issue, and also because we're so pleased to suddenly get this great publicity!
It's just a shame that the photographs they used didn't make myself and Jon look as attractive as we are in the flesh, and I know that Jon would like to apologise for scaring anyone. He was having a bad hair day. Gary:01/04/97

We didn't buy it: Do you remember we promised to regularly give you a list of what's selling in the UK Saturn game chart? Well what we should've said was something more like: "Whenever we remember, or when we can be bothered, or when we've got nothing else to upload, we'll do the bloody chart" Today fortunately fits into all of those categories, so here's the top 10 best selling UK Saturn games:

1. Manx TT
2. Die Hard Trilogy
3. Soviet Strike
4. Tomb Raider
5. Sonic 3D
6. Worldwide soccer '97
7. NiGHTS
8. Die Hard Arcade
9. Virtua Cop 2
10. Dark Saviour

Three cheers for Manx TT not only for going straight into number one, but for also giving a Saturn exclusive game a rare mention in the Console all formats chart, where it's at number six behind such games as Micro Machines V3 and even Mario 64. Gary:29/03/97

Brainstorming: We though we'd inform you of a few changes we're going to make soon, and also beg for your creative input. You see, that Speculate page is (and always has been) a pretty crap idea to be honest, so we'll shortly be replacing it with a continuously updated list of UK release dates. It's also about time we ditched the Nintendo 64 letter thing (better idea, but the joke's worn a bit thin), which will leave us with a 'spare' button.
What should we do with it? We've decided not to do any tips & cheats stuff (too dull and difficult), but we're open to other suggestions. Send us your 'new feature' ideas, and the best idea will be used, and the winner may also be sent a UK:Resistance T-Shirt of their choice. Gary:28/03/97

Saddam: I was sent on an official resistance mission today to my local arcades and was pleased to find Model 3 racer Scud Race had arrived. Yes, I did say Scud Race. Seems like the forecast name change to Super GT didn't happen. Still, it's an excellent game and there was plenty of interest from the other arcade goers. The Model 3 visuals are Very fast and smooth and the detail level of the trackside scenery is amazing. Another notable new release is Wave Runner, Sega's Jet Bike game. It features a moving 'Bike' and for added realism some guy throws water all over you. Not really. Anyway it looked pretty average to me. Jon 27-03-97

Gasp: You've saved up the fifty quid for Fighters Megamix and it's now burning a hole in your pocket as you wait for it's release. Unfortunately Sega are dragging their heels a bit and the release date is now June 5th!. For street dates of Sega's other forthcoming delights, including Scorcher and Bomberman see our updated release schedule.

Guess: On one of our recent fact-finding missions to the deep jungles of the Sega Japan site we found this strange page which although being completely unreadable, it looks to us like being a 'goodbye' from Sonic Team to their NiGHTS character, and the page just refers the reader over to their Sonic area. (Now would be a good time for you to take a look).
So, depending on what you make of it, we reckon Sonic Team are killing off NiGHTS for good, and gearing up for the rumoured imminent hedgehog revival. But that's just a huge guess of course. Anyone with a 'Japanese friendly' browser and multilingual abilities care to translate? Gary:26/03/97

The Empire strikes back: Following-on from the vicious price cuts by Sony, Sega's rebel forces have finally put together their own official new deal to try and sell a few more Saturns. They're calling it the "Action Pack" and it'll cost you a mere £169 with a couple of great games. I'll let Sega explain it themselves:

"Stunning new price for Saturn with two top games..........To give consumers maximum choice, games in the great-value Action Pack will vary from retailer to retailer........... Dealers will be offering a top-class choice from Sega Rally Championship (£49.99 MRP), Virtua Fighter 2 (£49.99 MRP), Worldwide Soccer 97 (£44.99 MRP) and selected others. Also new game Manx TT (£44.99 MRP) which will be going for a burn up across Europe from the arcades will be available with the Sega Saturn for £169.99 from selected retailers."

So let's recap: A Saturn with VF2 and Sega Rally for only £169.99 and that's the official price quoted by Sega, so expect even better Saturn deals to be had in shady retail outlets. Anyone found not in posession of a Saturn had better have a bloody good excuse. Gary:25/03/97

Satan's return: It's been a while since we last mentioned the Saturn versions of Duke Nukem and Quake so here's the latest, with the usual 'anonymous source' disclaimer in place:
Duke Nukem has now progressed much further, with the latest version featuring some really stunning dynamic lighting effects, and all of this still runs just as smoothly as Saturn Exhumed/Powerslave and is already looking to be a really fantastic conversion.
As for Saturn Quake, it really does exist, and the news is good so far, with eyewitness reports stating that even such an early version appears to run at a similiarly smooth and impressive rate as Duke/Exhumed. Gary:22/03/97

Stop looking in my trolley: Extra special news for cash-starved potential Saturn purchasers today, with the information that UK mail-order firm Special Reserve are selling Saturns for the amazingly low price of £124.99 for the basic 'no game' pack, and for an equally stunning £144.99 you can get a Saturn and a copy of Sega Rally. This offer is only for UK residents though, but it's probably worth moving here for that price. Gary:20/03/97

Readers Digest: With all this talk of 'Black-Belt' that seems to have been sparked by Next-Generation we thought we might take a closer look at the "facts" as quoted by Next-Gen:

"Yet to be established are such issues as technical performance, third party support, price and market-positioning"
"As yet, the number and variety of CPUs is unknown"
"According to sources close to Sega, the design of the Black Belt system is still not complete"
"It would seem also that the deal for the graphics subsystem is not yet written in stone"

So that's pretty comprehensive then.
UK:Resistance has exclusively discovered that the new system will probably utilise some form of 'Joypad' and several developers we've spoken to have confirmed that it will display graphics onto a 'Television'. Gary:19/03/97

5th Dan: Barely a day passes without Next-Generation dishing out some more details of the supposed Saturn follow up, currently code named Black-Belt. Rumours of the system actually being the VF3 upgrade cart look to have been quashed with the news that the system has 16MB general ram and a further 2-8MB ram for sound and textures. Jon 18/03/97

On 2: AM3's Mech 'em up Virtual On is next in line for the Model 3 treatment, expect some tasty graphics and big explosions there. Jon 18/03/97

Stop Thief: Seems like the other Dave Perry (from Shiny entertainment) want's to get his greedy hands on the guys behind Tomb Raider. He's been trying to entice two of the top coders from Core Design over the pond to join his team. Hands off Dave, at least until they finish Tomb Raider 2, which incidentally is leading development on the Saturn. I won't mention all that talk about it using the VF3 upgrade. Jon 17/03/97

Update: Thanks to the efforts of another generous reader, we've saved some more cash, and also obtained a review of Die Hard Trilogy into the bargain. With the money I've saved, I calculate that I can now afford an extra 26 pints of Guiness to help celebrate St.Patrick's Day. Dougal:17/03/97

Exclusive pictures: It's not very often that we use the word 'exclusive' here at UK:Resistance, probably because, well, we never actually have any exclusive stuff. But that's all set to change today, as a certain high-profile reader who simply must remain anonymous, has just sent us a load of image designs from the forthcoming Saturn conversion of Sega Touring Car Championship
Apparently, due to legal copyright clearance problems, the developers are not allowed to use the real-life sponsor names in the Saturn conversion, (permission was only given for use in an arcade game), so the cars will now be sponsored by a select few Japanese and European Web sites. Feel free to view Jon's exclusively obtained and fantastic STCC image but be warned, it's a rather large 65k jpg. Gary:16/03/97

Update: Thanks to the intervention of a sympathetic reader, we now amazingly have a review of the long, long, long, long awaited game Amok (translated from the ancient original Hebrew scrolls) and also Capcom's latest Bean 'em up Super Puzzle Fighter 2 X gets reviewed by our guest-star reviewer.

Fly on the wall: We thought our regular readers might like to see just how much effort goes into the production of UK:Resistance:

Jon: Hey Gary, did you read the latest rumours about a new Sega console on Next-Generation?
Gary: Yeah I did, sounds like a bit more than the usual mis-guided speculation to me.
Jon: Agreed. Do you think we should mention it on our news page, just to show our readers that we're 'on the ball' and pretend we knew the details ages ago?
Gary: No. I'm sure that all our readers have already heard about Project Black-belt and the fact that it is alledged to use the PowerVR chip set, and a 64-bit CPU, along with an operating system from Microsoft to allow far easier coding and more compatibility.
Jon: There's no point in mentioning the fact that Sega are supposed to be working on software for it then.
Gary: And Christmas '98 seems like ages to have to wait.
Jon: So we wont bother mentioning it then?
Gary: No.

Let me go: Minor UK release date news, Torrico and Mass Destruction for March 27th. Saturn Bomberman, Sky Target, Formula Karts, Three Dirty Dwarves, Mr Bones, Bug Too, Pandemonium, Scorcher and Fighters Megamix all confirmed but not as yet scheduled. Jon 13/03/97

I forgot my kit: You may well know that this friday, the top race game Manx TT is being released in the UK, and we can now reveal that we will be exclusively NOT reviewing it. Oh yes, instead of being one of the small number of sites to review the game when it comes out, we thought we would stick with the majority, and exclusively NOT review Manx TT. But we have got excuses:

Jon's excuse for not buying Manx TT: Wasn't keen on the arcade original.
Gary's excuse for not buying Manx TT: Financial crisis.

So there you go. Feel free to join us in exclusively NOT reviewing Manx TT wherever you are in the world, it really is that easy, you can NOT review any games you like! I'm not reviewing the game at this very moment! Next week we will be exclusively NOT reviewing loads of other games as well. Gary:11/03/97

Railgun: Stunning news for us shoot 'em up fans has surfaced, with a rumour that a sequel to one of the finest playing, looking, and sounding Megadrive games ever, Thunderforce 4, is being planned for the Saturn. Let's hope they don't 'go all 3D' on us, and stick to the stunning 2D action that should make Saturn Thunderforce 5 the best game ever. Am I getting over-excited? Gary:10/03/97

The Norwegian jury: Do you remember our reader survey we put up a while ago? Did you fill it in? If you did, you may like to read the survey results to find out exactly which word is the funniest, along with other even less interesting facts. Gary:09/03/97

Update: More sites have been added to our links map with the official opening of the first section of the Orbital Express. Gary:09/03/97

DOA: You don't want any slightly dodgy old 3DO games for your Saturn, so you don't want to know that Return Fire is nearing completion. Nor do you want to know that it's not even looking very good. Jon:08/03/97

Duality: There's been a lot of 'is it, isn't it' speculation regarding the release of Resident Evil for the Saturn. Well, the good news is that it RE1 is making it's Japanese release in August. Even better though, is the news that the sequel is due for simultaneous release with the Playstation version around Christmas time! Hurrah. Jon:05/03/97

Murray: "..And there goes a-nother Play-station title to-the Saturn." Yes, you can stop writing all those letters to the magazines now. One of our top level informers has revealed that the 'Playstation to Saturn' trend is set to continue with the news that all of Psygnosis's top titles are planned for conversion this year. That includes the hugely popular (and over hyped) F1 and alsoDestruction Derby 2. Best of all though, work on wipEout 2097 is already underway and it should be out for Christmas. Is that good or what! Back to you Murray Jon:04/03/97

Response: Sega have told us 'That only time will tell' if they are to introduce a lower price point for the Saturn, which means, er, they haven't decided yet. Anyway, they reckon their Sega Rally and WWS97 pack is 'Better value for money' at £199. Jon:03/03/97

Mighty Morphin Sega Power: The next issue of Sega Power magazine will be the last in it's present form. On April 30th it will be relaunched with a much needed redesign and a multi-game cover cd, which will be a monthly item. Jon:03/03/97

Plutonium: All round good guys Lobotomy are doing the Duke Nukem 3D conversion, why not have a look at how they're getting on with these lovely screenshots from Game Informer:

It's War!: The Price war has begun. On the launch day of the Nintendo 64, Sony have taken out full page newspaper ads stating the new price of £130 for the Playstation to begin on March 24th. Sega have been rather more subtle, choosing to use tiny ads in the corner of different pages using their 'only on Saturn' campaign, with shots from Sega Rally, Vcop 2 and Manx TT. Surely though, a price cut is to follow. Hmm, can I claim two nil to me in the 1997 Predictions!? Jon 01/03/97

Guest presenter: "Hello, my name's Honey, and you may well recognise me from some of Sega's great fighting games! The UK:Resistance people have asked me to present this week's UK Saturn chart news, so here we go then!

10. At number ten, a re-entry for the old classic Theme Park!!
9. Wow! In the chart since September, Sonic Team with NiGHTS
8. This game sports some great graphics he he he!! It's Athlete Kings!!
7. Another new entry for those tough Sega guys with Die Hard Arcade!!
6. Ooooh!! Big guns!! Men in uniforms!! It's Virtua Cop 2!!
5. Bigger guns!! More men in uniforms!! Command & Conquer
4. Still alive and kicking he he he!! It's Worldwide Soccer '97
3. My best friend Lara still in the chart with Tomb Raider!!
2. Everybody loves him, it's Sonic 3D!!
1. There's a new entry at number one!! It's out, it's Dark Saviour!!

"How exciting! I can't believe that Dark Saviour has gone into number one, especially as those UK people don't usually like RPG's, and I would've thought Die Hard Arcade would've sold better than it did! He he he!! How exciting! See you soon, Honey:27/02/97

AWOL: Troubled developer Scavenger are rumoured to have 'disappeared' after the delays that surrounded their much anticipated titles AMOK and Scorcher led to publisher GT Interactive taking legal action against them, oh dear. Jon:26/02/97

Cups overfloweth: Following the appearance of the Spice Girls on TV this evening, UK:Resistance will not be updated for the forseeable future, due to bleary eyes and various Repetitive Strain Injuries. Gary:25/02/97

Dear Nintendo: With the official UK release of the Nintendo 64 only a few days away, we thought it would be nice to give you the chance to have your say on the N64. We've put together this letter for you all to sign, and we will then forward all replies to Nintendo's UK distributor, telling them what to do with their console. Gary:24/02/97

Cor!: Three cheers for Saturn lovers Core-Design for being the first team to implement proper transparancies in a Saturn game! The title in question being their forthcoming 'Tomb-em up' (© UK:R 1997) Ninja. This game is far from being a puzzle solving adventure though, it's more of a full on action fest featuring a detail level greater than that of Tomb Raider. Don't expect to see it until around September though. Now...I think that makes it one nil to me in the 1997 predictions! Jon:24/02/97

Yu What! : Despite what you may have read elsewhere, the forthcoming Yu Suzuki press conference has not been set for March 1st. Infact nobody outside AM2 knows when it will be and of course they're too scared too ask for fear of upsetting the deity himself. Jon 24/02/97

Well that's another news archive created then. I'm not too sure exactly why we feel the need to save all this rubbish, and I often wonder if anyone ever bothers to read the archives, but if you are reading this right now, please mail me just to let me know that the effort has been worthwhile. Alternatively, ignore everything, and hope we go away.