Year of the Developers: Experience synesthesia with SEGA’s United Game Artists

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This month we are proud to celebrate the unique and musical driven games of United Game Artists (ユナイテッド・ゲーム・アーティスツ). The team was made up of members of SEGA AM6 and headed by Sega AM3’s Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Unfortunately, the team was short lived and only released three titles under the ‘United Game Artists’ banner. Regardless, those three games have made such an impact on us gamers that we are still talking about them over a decade later.

Alien: Isolation pre-release footage released, features unused third person view

Games change during development, even change after media journalists have gotten a good look at the game. Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation is no different. The footage above shows what could have been Alien: Isolation before they changed it to first person prospective.

Personally think they did the right move making it first person due to the nature of using melee combat and I hate using melee combat in 3rd person shooters (see: Gears of War, Binary Domain and Uncharted series).

So what do you think?

Alien: Isolation’s first add-on pack set to release on October 28th

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SEGA has announced the first Alien: Isolation add-on pack, titled “Corporate Lockdown”, is set to release October 28th. The first of five planned add-on packs, “Corporate Lockdown”, adds three new maps to the game’s Survivor Mode. Each add-on pack will feature new playable characters, offering a different perspective on the main campaign’s story. In “Corporate Lockdown”, players take control of Seegson Executive Ransome who takes on three new challenge maps: ‘Severance’, ‘Scorched Earth’ and ‘Loose Ends’. After the break, check out an additional screenshot from the add-on pack as well as SEGA’s full press release. Also, make sure to check out My Life with SEGA’s Alien: Isolation video review.

SEGA in the Charts: Alien: Isolation debuts in 2nd behind FIFA 15 in the UK

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How about some good news for a Monday? Via VGChartz and SEGAbits forum member Nirmugen comes news that Alien: Isolation launched in the second position on the UK charts, behind FIFA 15 which remains the best-selling game in the UK for three weeks running. Given soccer’s football’s appeal in the UK, it’s quite impressive that a SEGA title managed to chart so highly – especially after speculation that Aliens: Colonial Marines may have tainted the public’s interest in the Alien franchise. However, it should be noted that despite the quality of Aliens: Colonial Marines [watch and/or read our review], the game still managed to surge back into the charts as early as January 2014.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Coming to Europe This November

If you’re European and dreaded having to wait a very long time for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, then we’ve got some good news for you: you have to wait somewhat less than you used to. According to Eurogamer, SEGA is bringing the game to Europe this November in disc and digital formats. No specific release date was given, but at least we know that we just have to wait two months instead of nine.

Well, unless you’re going to import the game. If so, you can get it from the US starting September 30th or you can already import it from Japan. That or you’re one of those weird not-European people who lives there and doesn’t have to either import or wait that long for the game.

Atlus Review: Abyss Odyssey (Xbox 360)

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If you’re familiar with ACE Team, they’re responsible for some of the most off the wall games including Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages and before they became a commercial developer, they were a pretty interesting mod developer. Their continued partnership with Atlus has brought another release that is less absurd thematically, but brings us a rogue-like title that wraps mechanics similar to the Super Smash Bros. series with Abyss Odyssey. It’s not a carbon copy of the Subspace Emissary from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, nor is it a cumbersome slog akin to Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. The game centers itself around its fighting game mechanic and drives you to advance onto closed off fighting arenas, hunting for loot and building your character to become stronger as you find better weapons and techniques.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax North and South American releases not region locked, preorder bonuses revealed

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Earlier today, Atlus announced on their website for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax that the North and South American releases of the game will not be region locked. While this news is appreciated, it’s appreciable because the first iteration of the game, Persona 4: Arena, was one of a small number of region locked games on PS3. This was a move that sparked much ire especially from European gamers, who received their release of the game under publisher Zen United and several months after North American gamers had received their copy of the game. The concepts of timely releases and maintaining fan hype are especially important for fighting games; the absence of properly handled releases threaten the development of scenes.

In any case, it seems that European gamers who are unwilling to wait for a European release will be able to import the games without worry of playability. It’s worth noting that there is currently no official news on a European release, though a release may be possible. The Persona Europe Facebook page has made posts for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax among other games recently, and shared an image last September saying “More info soon!” but of course what was meant by that can’t be known for certain.

In that same news posting today Atlus also revealed the preorder bonuses for the game and the spread is thus: a Teddie bop bag, the first of two sets of Persona Tarot cards (the other set to be included with the release of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth), and the Tohru Adachi DLC pack that unlocks both the character and an accompanying story mode episode. These goodies will also be available to first-run copies of the game

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax releases on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in Japan on August 28 and in North America on September 30.

Alien: Isolation pre-order content reunites the original film cast


 
SEGA’s Alien: Isolation tease has been revealed, and it’s a big one! Fans (or anybody for that matter) who pre-order the game will receive exclusive DLC in the form of two bonus missions starring Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley), Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert), Harry Dean Stanton (Brett), Yaphet Kotto (Parker) and Ian Holm (Ash, likeness and sound-alike). The missions will place the player in two classic scenes from the movie, allowing fans to relive memories of the original Alien in the first person perspective. The content and the game will be released as the Nostromo Edition, which is a free upgrade for those who pre-ordered – so not unlike SEGA’s recent bonus editions. After the break, read the full press releases and check out a gallery of images from the DLC.

SEGAbits at E3 Preview: Abyss Odyssey (Xbox 360, PS3 and PC)

This is going to be an interesting year for us here at SEGAbits, as we try to get accustomed to covering Atlus games. I’ve been trying to familiarize myself with the company, but I haven’t truly begun to introduce myself to their catalog until today, when I played several of their games on the showfloor. I’m going to do my best to provide coverage of this company, but I am somewhat out of my depth here. First on my docket? Abyss Odyssey!

I had a fun time with this game. It’s essentially a Smash Bros game with rogue-like elements. So pretty much a side scrolling brawler that can be really, really hard and brutal. Allies can hit and damage each other in this game, the labyrinth quickly becomes much more difficult the deeper you go, and dying will result in you going back to your previous checkpoint, sans all of your equipment and items. Death in this game carries a serious consequence! For a rogue-like this game is actually pretty generous, as you get to keep all of your collected experience, skills and gold.

SEGA releases new screens and a trailer for Alien: Isolation

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The Alien: Isolation news continues to pour in, as SEGA has released five new screens and a trailer dubbed “Survive”, just in time for E3. The trailer, which can be seen here, highlights the game’s survival gameplay and creepy atmosphere. The fire effects are looking phenomenal, and the game itself is shaping up to be very true to the original film. Expect our hands-on impressions and a developer interview soon as we continue to report live from E3.