Tuesday Tunes: AJ takes a look at Flashback: Quest for Identity
E3 2013: Total War Rome II Hands-On
Round Table: Our favorite games of E3 2013
E3: Company of Heroes 2 Hands-on impressions
The Weekly Five: Last generation SEGA IPs that I want to see return next generation
Hands-on: Sonic Lost World (Wii U)Featured Articles
Guess who finally got his hands on a Sega Master System this weekend after 27 years? Me! In this video featuring my fat, bearded mug, I’m gonna show you my first experience with the Master System itself (outside of a Genesis converter)along with 4 games. Snail Maze, Outrun, Space Harrier and Lord of the Sword.
Go to the comments section for a very cool Master system video I found on youtube.
Hey folks, do you remember the newspost we put up about the Hatsune Miku game being tested near L.A. a few days ago? Well, it just happens to be at the closest mall near me. So, I set out and got some video.
It’s not just for Project Diva though, Round 1 is an AWESOME arcade. It’s a Japanese owned arcade franchise and it only has two arcades so far. Both in So Cal. They got Karaoke, Bowling, those Japanese photo booths, sit down fighting cabinets, tons of UFO catchers and most important, the newest video arcade games. This includes pretty much every light gun and racer game Sega’s made in the past ten years. It’s great for import Japanese games as well. From Initial D, Namco’s Mario Kart Arcade, Taiko Drum Master to many rhythm games including of course, Project Diva. Think Dave and Busters with a very Japanese flavor but with just some cafeteria food instead of a full restaurant.
Three months until the release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and there is still a lot we don’t know. What racers have we yet to see? How does the vehicle mod system work? Is Cream the Rabbit somewhere in the game? Thankfully, we’re not completely in the dark, as Sumo Digital and SEGA have revealed quite a bit since the game’s announcement. I thought I’d write up a short article collecting all we know of the game’s track roster. What has been announced, what has yet to be announced and what SEGA eras are getting represented? After the break, we’ll answer those questions! But not the one about Cream, sorry.
It’s sad to see how bad Sega is doing these days. With the whole restructuring and with many offices closing it’s hard not to worry about our favorite game company’s future. Heck, if I were Kellie, Ken or the rest of the community staff, I’d be dusting off my resume’s right about now. But I feel many of us kinda saw this coming. We promoted and championed our favorite new Sega games (and still do) only to see them poorly marketed and handled like garbage with little promotion outside of Sega’s own website. So why is Sega doing so badly as of late? What are they doing wrong? Read on to see my own personal feelings on the matter. Just remember folks, this is an opinion article.
There have been a lot of talks since SEGA announced that Sonic 4: Episode 2 wouldn’t be headed for the Nintendo Wii. Many long time Sonic fans got angry, mostly because they only own Wiis. I know some of you might grunt at the thought of only owning a Nintendo Wii, but that’s their choice.
Not to mention that the first title appeared on the Wiiware service, got pretty good scores on the service. So why do you think SEGA pulled it and why do I think they should reconsider putting it back on the Wii?
Last time, Kotaku got their report on SEGA’s restructuring all wrong. This time, while their hearts are very much in the right place, they’re miseducating their readers on SEGA’s 1996 3D fighting game Sonic the Fighters. You can check their full article out here. Give it a read and come back for the korrections corrections.
Last Friday we learned the sad news that SEGA West was restructuring, downsizing and canceling certain games. I think we’ve all discussed the news enough, what I wanted to focus on in this editorial are the gaming sites who did an awful job of reporting the news. For whatever reason, unpaid fans who write for blogs do a better job reading press releases and reporting on them than big name sites like Kotaku. I also wanted to draw attention to a general gaming blog, toplessrobot.com, who did an equally awful job in reporting on the news.
In February 2007, Sonic the Hedgehog was still fresh in the memories of Sonic fans. Yet they already had a new game to play in the form of the Wii exclusive Sonic and the Secret Rings. Secret Rings was a radically different kind of Sonic game, featuring on-rails play and a heavy emphasis on motion controls. Secret Rings had been championed the previous year by journalists as a Sonic game that was actually good, that took a radically different approach to the formula to solve the franchise’s problems. What gamers actually got was a mixed bag of great and poor design decisions that was still a huge step up from Sonic 06, and would start Sonic on his slow, winding road to recovery.
This six part series looks at the disaster that was Sonic’s 15th anniversary, and how the series slowly redeemed itself over the following five years, culminating Sonic’s next anniversary title, Sonic Generations.
It’s a little hard to believe that it’s already been five years since Sonic the Hedgehog or “Sonic 06” as it’s called by fans, made its debut. It feels like only yesterday that this infamous train wreck of a game was released and utterly destroyed what little credibility the character had left in gaming. Of course, by 2006 bad Sonic games were nothing new for anybody. Even in his halcyon days Sonic still churned out stinkers, like the infamously not 3D Sonic 3D Blast, and the utterly horrible (and largely forgotten) Sonic Jam for the Game.com. Heck, the franchise had churned out a whopper of a stinker just a year before in the form of Shadow the Hedgehog, the first Sonic game from Sonic Team to average in the 4s on Game Rankings. Even so, Sonic 2006 represented something new for the franchise: it was the first main entry considered utterly deplorable by both critics and fans alike. Sure, Sonic has had his “controversial” games. Sonic Heroes sparked some massive debates on the SEGA forums back in the day and the Sonic Adventure series had its share of dissenters in the press that grew ever more vocal as they were re-released on other platforms. None of them have received the amount of vitriol and did the same amount of damage to the franchise that Sonic 2006 was able to do with its released.
Since the reveal of Binary Domain’s box art, I’ve been thinking about just what is it that makes it so… ineffective. I hesitate to use the word “bad”, as artistry clearly went into producing the cover. However, I think the reason for the cover’s failing is that not a lot of thought went into it. Sure they threw a lot into the scene, but perhaps they threw in too much? I’ve been working in the graphic design industry for five years now, so I thought I’d put some of my professional experience to practice and pick apart Binary Domain’s cover art problems, and perhaps find a better solution. Is it worth the time picking apart the game’s cover? Of course it is! As a new IP, the only thing the game has going for it is SEGA’s name when it comes to appearing on a shelf. First impressions are key for a new franchise, and sadly Binary Domain is not making a good first impression.
Review: The House of the Dead Overkill – The Lost Reels (IOS & Andriod)
Posted on Friday May 24, 2013
The House of the Dead Overkill: The Lost Reels is now available on the App Stores and Google Play
Posted on Thursday April 25, 2013
My Life With SEGA enters The House of the Dead!
Posted on Thursday April 18, 2013
Issac’s Back Baby! The House of the Dead Overkill: The Lost Reels heading to IOS & Android phones
Posted on Wednesday March 27, 2013
