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Developer Retrospective: We take flight with SEGA’s Team Andromeda

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YOTSD_TA

The SEGA Saturn’s surprise early launch in America is considered one of the most disastrous mistakes in the history of the video game industry. It angered SEGA’s third party publishers and retail partners, it allowed Sony to get the drop on the Saturn with a lower price point and it ultimately destroyed SEGA’s dominance in the American market, financially crippling SEGA permanently. The launch did have a bright spot though: it introduced the games of SEGA’s Team Andromeda to the West.

This month is devoted to the games of Team Andromeda, and to kick things off we have a developer and Panzer Dragoon franchise retrospective. Ready to take flight?

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Developer Retrospective: A look back at the games of SEGA’s WOW Entertainment

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When SEGA WOW Month began, we took a look back at the games of SEGA’s Overworks. While Overworks existed for only a short span of time before merging with WOW Entertainment, this month has made it very clear that Skies of Arcadia made a major impact on SEGA fans. But what of WOW Entertainment? Unlike Overworks, WOW managed to release a large number of games spanning different genres on different pieces of hardware. From sequels to classic franchises like The House of the Dead and Columns, to new franchises like SEGA GT and arcade oddities like The Typing of the Dead, a collaboration with Namco, and a dog walking simulator. While WOW Entertainment can’t be pinned down to one iconic title, they more than made up for this with an amazing library of games!

Join us now for part two of our SEGA WOW retrospective, in which we take a look at the many games of WOW Entertainment.

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SEGA Channel Retro: Independence Day Stream Archive

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Originally broadcast the day before today, I check out a couple of fan favorite SEGA games on the original Xbox console in favor of America’s 4th of July celebration. Watch me play the first hour of Jet Set Radio Future and take notes on how I try to woo the ladies of OutRun 2. Finally I stretch my freedom as far as possible by playing Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 which released on the Triforce Arcade Hardware, which was a cross production between Nintendo, Namco and SEGA.

You can check out our live streams on our Twitch channel or catch the archives on our YouTube channel. You can also expand this article to check each listing for each video, with our Twitch videos reaching 60 frames per second. Also be sure to check out highlights of our previous streams in the related posts!

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Retro Review: Shadow the Hedgehog

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On January 4th 2006, I submitted to Gamefaqs a review for Shadow the Hedgehog , a game which at the time I boldly declared “the worst SEGA game I’ve ever played.” To date, the 2/10 score I gave it is the lowest I’ve scored a game in any context, on any site I’ve reviewed for, and nothing I’ve played either before or since has inspired a similar score. My outlook on SEGA at the time was incredibly bleak; it was a game that really tore down my confidence in the company and where it was headed, and for those reasons I’ve left this review, for the most part, as is, as a piece of history for how I viewed SEGA at the time, and where I feared the company was headed. Though I’ve edited it a little for form and trimmed it down, the message remains intact. Read on for my thoughts on Shadow the Hedgehog, directly from 2006, as I sat down to review what was (and still is) the worst game I had ever played.

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New Head of Xbox Phil Spencer says gamers want Microsoft to bring back Shenmue

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Following his recent appointment as Head of Xbox at Microsoft, Phil Spencer spoke with Polygon about his ideas for the future of the brand. Regarding his leadership, Spencer promised that “with me you’re going to get a focus on gaming first and a best platform to play games on.” When asked about what games he receives requests for, Spencer named the Shenmue franchise as the biggest request Xbox owners ask Microsoft for. Spencer jokingly referred to it as “the big Shenmue contingency.”

A new Shenmue isn’t on the horizon just yet, but it is good to know that people like Phil Spencer have the franchise on their minds thanks to the efforts of fan campaigns. Help out the #SaveShenmue campaign yourself by heading over to their site and spreading the word.

 

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Xbox’s Fable was originally to release on SEGA Dreamcast

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Examiner.com shared an interesting bit of news today regarding the early development of Xbox’s Fable. According to Fable Anniversary Lead Designer Tim Timmins, the game was originally intended for the SEGA Dreamcast. In a recent interview with Examiner, Timmins revealed that he learned this during recent discussions with Prima Games, who were handling Fable‘s strategy guide at the time the game originally released. “Did you know that Fable was originally going to be a Dreamcast game, before the Xbox came along?” Timmins told Examiner, “There was also supposed to be a boss fight with a boss that was about 50 feet tall that mirrored your every move.”

These sorts of stories shouldn’t be new to SEGA fans, as several SEGA developed games in the early Xbox era were initially planned to be Dreamcast titles, including ToeJam and Earl 3 and Jet Set Radio Future. Still, it’s interesting to hear that one of Microsoft’s big titles could have appeared on the Dreamcast had the past gone in a different direction.

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A TSA officer told Peter Moore: “I don’t need to see your passport. You’re the asshole that gave away Shenmue to Xbox”

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Petermoore
This is a funny post today on ‘Today I learned’ subreddit, the section is for people to post facts that they just learned today. This one being SEGA related, I thought it would be fun to share. The source is this wikipedia entry.

‘Moore disclosed to GamingSteve.com that at a security checkpoint at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, a TSA security agent said “I don’t need to see your passport. You’re the asshole that gave away Shenmue to Xbox.”‘

If there is anything I agree with here is that Shenmue does have one of the most vocal fanbases ever. Do I think it was bad to move Shenmue 2 to Xbox? Not necessarily, I thought it was bad not releasing the Dreamcast version along with the Xbox version.

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Art of SEGA: House of the Dead III

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House of the Dead isn’t exactly the most beautiful game series, but it still required a substantial amount of concept art in order to determine the design of the protagonists, enemies, and game play scenarios. Below is a load of concept art, provided by our sister site Website of the Dead. As usual, we won’t be posting everything they have, so be sure to check out their database here!
Also, remember to submit something to our art contest!

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Toejam & Earl 3 for Dreamcast unearthed, founder starting fundraiser to release beta to public

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We already know that SEGA got ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth out on Xbox, but the game was originally being worked on for Dreamcast. This isn’t the only game, lots of early SEGA 3rd party games where mean’t to be Dreamcast titles, like Shinobi and Gunvalkyrie. Seems like the unfinished Dreamcast versions of these games never see the light of day, thankfully there are people that find them. That is what happen here.

The person that found the rare gem is a forum member from Assemble Games that goes by the handle ZakhooiTM. Mr. ZakhooiTM is starting a fund raiser to get the code online, for all public to freely download and try. You can find more information here.  Above is over 30 minutes of gameplay from the beta and  after the jump we have 2-player mode footage. Enjoy

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Microsoft didn’t aquire SEGA due to lack of ‘muscle’

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Right now Microsoft is a big player in the game console race, but a decade ago they weren’t in the same position as they are now. Like a bad stereotype, before Microsoft entered the market with the Xbox, there were tons of rumors about them purchasing a gaming company, and one of those comapnies was SEGA.

So why didn’t Microsoft ever pick up SEGA? Well, according to then-CEO Bill Gates, he thought that the house of Sonic lacked the ‘muscle’ to compete with a company like Sony. This is what Joachim Kempin, who worked at Microsoft from 1983 to 2003, had to say:

“There were three companies at that point in time, I think this was [Sony,] Sega and Nintendo. There was always talk maybe we buy Sega or something like that; that never materialized, but we were actually able to license them what they call Windows CE, the younger brother of Windows, to run on their system and make that their platform. But for Bill [Gates] this wasn’t enough, he didn’t think that Sega had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony so we did our own Xbox thing.”

He did state that SEGA was “a very different bird” which we can all agree. But its not like they hated everything SEGA did, I mean, they did put the Xbox in the hands of Dreamcast era SEGA COO Peter Moore.

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SEGA Memories: Panzer Dragoon Orta

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Everyone has that “one game” that defines their tastes and preferences for the rest of their lives. That one game that helped them discover or rediscover a genre. That one game they fell in love with and, to this day, hold it aloft as the best game ever made. Being a SEGA fan working on a SEGA site, it should come as no surprise to anyone that for me, that game was a SEGA game. What may come as a surprise though, is that it wasn’t a game made for a SEGA console, or some original genre-defining experience. It was instead, simply a master class release for the dying rail shooter genre: Panzer Dragoon Orta.

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Reminder – Guardian Heroes is up on XBLA Today!

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One of the best side scrolling games of all time has finally landed on XBLA, Guardian Heroes is a side scrolling beat’em’up with RPG elements made by the sprite masters of the 90’s, Treasure!

Guardian Heroes on XBLA has been given a HD makeover with new magic effects and online multiplayer. Best of all it will only cost you 800 Microsoft points whilst a mint condition copy of the game for Sega Saturn could set you back over $100 dollars!

It’s a freaking steal and having had it since I woke up this morning I can safely say it’s well worth the price of admission! So go on, treat yourself to a great game. Not to mention if enough interest is shown in the game Sega/Treasure has said they would like to make a sequel! DO IT!

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Guardian Heroes – Japanese Trailer

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Check this out, Sega Japan has released a new trailer for Guardian Heroes and it’s looking bloody good! If this doesn’t fill you with warm bubbly nostalgia I don’t know what will. From the cheesy music to the bright, bold graphics this reminds me of a better, simpler time for gaming.

Guardian Heroes will be released on October 12th exclusively for XBLA and will cost you $10.

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Rise of Nightmares – Controls Trailer

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Yet another quirky trailer for Rise of Nightmares, Sega’s zombie-slaying Kinect exclusive, has hit the net. The trailer highlights the unique control scheme and shows how much people are enjoying it, (or not).

Rise of Nightmares releases this month (September 2011) exclusively for Kinect. Who’s getting it!?

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Rise of Nightmares demonstration videos

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Straight from E3 are a couple videos of SEGA’s survival horror Kinect game Rise of Nightmare that showcase a range of gameplay elements such as covering your ears to stop loud sounds and the various ways to interact with the world of the game. Check after the break for a longer video of the game. Rise of Nightmares is slated for an October launch.

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