First Look at 3D Streets of Rage 2 Gameplay

Recently SEGA and M2 announced that they would be continuing their incredible range of 3D remakes for the Nintendo 3DS. In the next wave of titles comes three of the most beloved SEGA Megadrive/Genesis titles; 3D Streets of Rage 2, 3D Sonic 2 and 3D Gunstar Heroes.

Today SEGA uploaded the first look at 2D Streets of Rage 2 or as it was known in Japan ‘Bare Knuckle 2.’ Check it out above!

New Persona 4: Dancing All Night Trailer shows off the cast’s dancing moves

Here’s a new trailer for Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Atlus’ dancing rhythm game for the PS Vita. P4: Dancing All Night features characters from the popular Persona series- you guessed it, dancing all night. But this trailer boasts more than just a jig with a boy in a bear suit. Dancing All Night features a pretty meaty story mode, told through animated cut scenes and Persona style talking heads. Plus an impressive selection of songs and outfits to dress your favourite Persona 4 characters in.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night will release on June 25th, 2015 for the PS Vita in Japan. Western dates still to be announced sometime within the year.

Hortensia Saga – New Trailer

After the roaring success of SEGA’s free to play mobile RPG Chain Chronicles the company seems to be investing big in mobile RPGs. Next in line is Hortensia Saga, like Chain Chronicles before it, Hortensia Saga uses the 3×3 grid for tactical-RPG gameplay. The trailer shows off some gameplay, characters as well as some pretty well animated anime cut-scenes.

No word yet on a Western release but if Chain Chronicles is anything to go by we can expect a Western release by Gumi.

Total War: ATTILA – Blood & Burning Pack

Unleashing the full horror of the apocalypse! The Blood & Burning add-on brings blood effects, decapitations, limb-lops, disembowelment and more to Total War: ATTILA. Disease-ridden soldiers can be seen vomiting on the battlefield and decapitations and gore-slicked event pictures feature on the campaign map.

If that kind of thing floats your boat, the ‘Blood & Burning Pack’ is available on Steam now for just £1.99/$1.99.

The SEGA Dreamcast wins Wired’s drop test

As if you needed any more convincing that the Dreamcast is the best games console of all time! But just for the doubters ‘Wired’ have performed an ‘experiment’ in which they drop four generations of consoles, from the 16 bit, all the way to the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. The survivors of the drop test (those which still function) are doused with Mountain Dew and tested again. There could only ever be one winner and naturally it was every ones favourite white dream machine!

So what does kill a Dreamcast? Well, my first one died when lightening struck the phone line by my house and I was playing Phantasy Star Online at the time. My second Dreamcast I had to put in storage, it died of a broken heart. However my 1991 MegaDrive/Genesis works perfectly after all these years and I’ve dropped that thing more times than your mum dropped her pants in college.

SEGA Central at EGXrezzed – Meet Tembo

SEGA are at EGXrezzed this year showing off some of their big 2015 titles. Total War Battles: Kingdoms, Total War Arena and Total War: Attila will all be playable at this event. But that isn’t alll, so will SEGA and Game Freaks first collaboration since 1994, TEMBO THE BADASS ELEPGANT. Check out this short preview of TEMBO from SEGA Central.

If you guys didn’t know, SEGA and GameFreak’s last collaboration was Pulseman on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive! It is good to see them team up again. I’ve heard whispers that the developer had some semi successful franchise on Nintendo’s handheld systems between SEGA’s Pulseman and now, but the name of the franchise escapes me at the moment. Had something to do with pocket sized monsters?

Tembo the Badass Elephant gameplay video

Want to see more of Tembo the Badass Elephant? Of course you do. IGN have uploaded eight minutes of gameplay, showcasing a city level and a forest level. In this video you can get a better look at Tembos abilities including squirting water, platforming, physics based puzzles, butt-stomping and more.

I love how colourful, vibrate and crisp the visuals are, it’s such a joy to watch in motion. There is a moment in the video at the 4:30 mark where Tembo is running, full speed over green rolling hills reminiscent of the Sonic series and I’m reminded of what made me a Sonic fan all those years ago. Badass indeed!

Creative Assembly is celebrating 15 Years of Total War

Human history is a bloody and violent one. Kingdoms and empires have risen and fallen at the edge of a sword. From the time we first sharpen flint we’ve been a pretty stabby lot– thank goodness for that! Total War simply couldn’t exist without it. Thanks to SEGA and Creative Assembly we can relive our ancestors violent, tyrannical and stabby ways in a fun game! Yay!

The Total War franchise is celebrating its 15 year anniversary in 2015! Total War spans 11 games, over 2000 years of historical warfare and an incredible estimated 4.8 billion battles waged in the last 15 years. To celebrate this milestone SEGA and Creative Assembly have released a trailer (see above) to reflect on their own history and give us a hint of what’s to come.

If you visit the EGX Rezzed show in London this weekend you’ll be able to play both retro and modern titles spanning 15 years of Total War history. Plus a ‘huge’ Total War prize giveaway! See you on the battlefield!

Opinion: What Modern Sonic can learn from Classic Sonic

ClassicSonic
Like most long suffering Sonic the Hedgehog fans I have a love/hate relationship with the Sonic series. For every step forward Sonic takes, he takes two steps backwards or worse. I’m sure we call all agree, we’d like to see our beloved Sonic series shine again. Unfortunately we don’t all agree on how to achieve this goal. By creating various ‘generations of Sonic’ with a variety of differently play style,s SEGA have built a polarized, multifaceted fan base who all want something different from the series. From classic Sonic fans who like 2D side scrolling to Adventure fans who enjoy a varied play styles and a story driven experience and not forgetting the Rush fans that just want a good bit of fast.

Is any one group of the Sonic fan base more correct than the other? No, of course not- it takes all sorts. Though I do love the classics, I am no stranger to the modern Sonic games and I believe both have plenty to offer. I enjoy both Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations. I routinely return to Sonic Rush and it’s incredible OST. I spent an unhealthy portion of my teenage years in a stuffy dark bedroom playing the Sonic Adventure titles.

So is it possible to cater to the entire multifaceted Sonic fanbase? Probably not! But is it possible to create a Sonic game the majority of us can enjoy without it being a bloated hot mess? Maybe! Here are some of my suggestions.

Sonic Adventure 2 scene recreated on Source Filmmaker


The Source Filmmaker (SFM) is the movie-making tool created by Valve, it allows users to make movies inside the Source game engine. SFM is available for anyone to use and has powered some really creative short films.

Here is one such film I thought was worth sharing. The film is a recreation of the Sonic Adventure 2 ‘faker’ cut-scene where Sonic faces off against Shadow. It is incredibly well made and a joy to watch for any fan of the Adventure series. Check it out!