The fever pitch surrounding Sega's new 32bit system has just tapped another dimension. Following detailed reports in Edge five and six, we can now reveal that not one, but two consoles will be released by Sega in November this year.

The Saturn project was expected to be a CD-ROM-based system with the possibility of a cartridge port. Not only have Sega decided to include the port, but a second, cartridge-only, machine codenamed 'Jupiter' will also appear. Only in the last few weeks have Sega released details about Saturn to the Japanese press, but at the time of writing, project Jupiter has still not been officially announced. Complete compatibility between the two systems will be possible with the release of a low-cost add-on for Jupiter which will provide the same double-speed CD-ROM drive, MPEG chips and extra RAM. But why have Sega gone for this approach instead of the fully-fledged CD machine? A beefed-up spec could be one reason – Sega are reputed to have increased the polygon rendering abilities of Saturn to try and match the power of Sony’s more powerful PS-X.

A cartridge system allows them to bring out a more affordable machine – ¥30,000 (£185) as opposed to Saturn’s price of ¥50,000 (£310) – while still retaining the same power. Both systems will rely on the same seven-processor architecture, including two ultra-fast Hitachi SH2s plus 24bit digital signal processing.

Rumours of an American launch just before this Christmas have already started circulating in the US, although that will mostly likely depend on the strength of the Genesis market and the quality and number of 32bit games ready for release. Also, Microsoft’s involvement with Saturn’s operating system has delayed the arrival of non-Japanese development kits for another two months.

Still, Sega reckon 40 titles are currently in development in Japan and this month they will be announcing ten games to the Japanese press. Currently, the only officially announced titles are Virtua Fighters, Virtua Soccer, a '3D shooting game', and an 'action game', but conversions of Daytona and the Sonic coin-op are also under way.

The first proper public viewing of Sega's 32bit hardware is likely to be at the Tokyo Toy Show which takes place in June, but check out next month's report from the AOU Show in case Sega decide to spring any surprises. Whatever happens, count on Edge for the most detailed and accurate news on this hot new system...