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A couple years before Core Design debuted its seminal Tomb Raider series, the UK studio put out Soulstar, a mostly forgotten Star Fox-esque shoot'em up with a 3D perspective for the Sega CD. Players piloted a spacecraft that transformed into three different vehicles: a Strike Craft, Turbo Copter, and Strike Walker.

Core Design planned two ports for the game, one for the Jaguar CD and an enhanced Soulstar X edition for the 32X, both of which were cancelled. The 32X update was slated to include multiplayer support, updated graphics, and a faster experience. Though Soulstar X was only previewed in promotional videos and magazines years ago, someone recently stumbled on a prototype and auctioned it off to collectors.

Just when I'd given up hope that I'd never get to play this game that I never even heard of until last week, Spanish Sega community Sega Saturno -- which has been instrumental in releasing other lost prototypes for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Virtua Hamster, and X-Men: Mind Games -- has obtained the prototype build and released the game to the public for others to try out.

You can download the prototype and see scanned pages from old magazine previews (revealing Soulstar X's high-end rendering technology to create photo-realistic enemies!) at Sega Saturno. I've also included a video preview from this goofy Virtua Fighter 32X promotional clip (skip to 05:45) below:

[Via Unseen 64]

SegaSaturno, the same Spanish Sega community behind the release of fabled Sega Genesis 32X prototype game Virtua Hamster (which unfortunately turned out much less fun than its concept art suggested), has dumped and posted the ROM for another long sought-after 32X prototype -- X-Men: Mind Games.

Shown off by Scavenger, Inc. and Sega at E3 1995, the game was eventually cancelled, likely due to the 32X's unpopularity. According to the eBay seller who auctioned off the sample/prototype that SegaSaturno purchased, the companies only made a few carts to bring to trade shows, and most of them were destroyed. The auction ended at £510.00 ($850.55) two weeks ago.

The released ROM shows off some impressive 3D graphics and great music, but the game is far from complete, and in this Alpha state, it doesn't look very fun. You can download the prototype from Hidden Palace (It will only work on original hardware, and not in an emulator), and watch a couple videos from it below:

[Via Sega-16]

Join Sophia, an adventure-seeker and perfume extraordinaire from the 1940's in Passport to Perfume as she travels the world to find the illusive scent of Marie Antoinette's own fragrance. Mix, match, and create new scents all while managing your own shop in this new time management title brought to you by PlayFirst and Mean Hamster Software.

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" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

The Virtusphere is a 10 foot hollow sphere that serves as a "locomotion simulation" platform. Pair it with a head-mounted display and a 3D environment, and users can walk or even run around freely in different virtual worlds -- a first-person shooter map, architecture/construction sites, famous locations, museums, and more.

VBS.tv (Vice Broadcasting System), which put together the entertaining documentary about Twin Galaxies's Walter Day, published this informative piece interviewing the company behind the Virtusphere and demonstrating its Holodeck-esque experience.

One great thing about the sphere is that when you're tired of its virtual applications, you can push it off its platform, jump in, and pretend you're in that American Gladiators event.

If you're looking for Lord of the Rings, keep searching. Bilbo is the name of a hamster that enters the restaurant biz. While restaurant themes reign in time management, the recipe of Bilbo - The Four Corners of the World adds a soupcon of Cooking Mama, a dash of Diner Dash and cup of originality.

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