Hey Kid, You Want to See Some Chemical Plant Zone Gameplay Footage?

You got it! From Gameswelt.de, and uploaded to Youtube by a Sonic fan (I can only assume) comes the first gameplay footage of Chemical Plant Zone, in both classic and modern flavors. Oh yeah, that means Chemical Plant music remix! These are only snippets of the stage acts, so those weary of full act spoilers don’t need to worry too much.

Thanks to forum user ezodagrom for the heads up!

[Source: Gameswelt.de]

Review: Captain America: Super Soldier (Wii)

When Nuckles87 assigned me to do the hands on for Captain America on Wii during E3, I wasn’t too happy. The game just looked like another washed down, crappy port. I was surprised however, at the level of quality the game had. The game is handled by High Voltage. Mainly the HV team that handled Tournament of Legends (poorly reviewed but I thought it was okay). Now, I bought the PS3 version which I love despite how some may feel (No offense Aki), but after playing and beating the Wii version, does it hold up well or is it just another watered-down Wii port? Read on. Read further down for a Bonus Feature.

Swingin’ Report Show #15: Shark Week

This is Shark week because Sharky returns on the podcast. Me and him sit down to talk about Binary Domain’s graphics, Sonic physics and much more. This podcast is not for one that is easily offended. Enjoy

[audio:http://www.segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/Swingin_Report_Show_15_Shark_Week.mp3]

[Download] [Archive]

The Weekly Five: The Best VMU Games

Despite being over ten years old, VMU games can still be fun! Sure they pale in comparison to modern day handheld devices, but even back when VMUs were new they couldn’t compete with the handhelds of the early 00’s. The main purpose of a VMU was to save your game data, the fact that they could play mini-games was the cherry on top. While the VMU didn’t change the world, at least SEGA didn’t advertise it as the standout feature of the console (subtle dig at the Wii U). While I don’t carry a VMU about with me like I did back in ’99, I still make it a point to occasionally pick up some CR2032 batteries to bring my VMU back to life. What follows are my personal favorite VMU games.

Want to play these yourself, but don’t have all the Dreamcast titles that offer these extra features? Check out Blue Swirl’s VMU Tool. An awesome application for the Dreamcast which allows you to make a number of (safe) modifications to existing VMUs as well as download game saves and VMU games from the entire Dreamcast library. It even has a VMU emulator, for those too lazy to play an actual VMU.

How to get an avatar to show up for your comments

A few people have been asking me how did I get an avatar to show up in the comment section. Actually, I should have probably posted this awhile back, we are using a 3rd party site for this. Gravatar is a site that allows you to change your avatar and it work with other blogs (SEGA Blog, Sonic Stadium).

Steps:

  1. Go to www.gravatar.com
  2. Sign up (make sure you sign up with the e-mail you use to post here)
  3. Post away.
(Note: It takes awhile for your new avatar to show up)

Gravatar uses your e-mail to choose the avatar. So if you use the same e-mail on another wordpress blog, it will show the same avatar. So lets fill in those avatar spots, no excuses.

7th Dragon 2020 – First Gameplay

Here is the first gameplay clips of 7th Dragon 2020 for the PSP. 7th Dragon 2020 is a the sequel to 7th Dragon which was released on the Nintendo DS last year. Unlike 7th Dragon, 7th Dragon 2020 is fully animated in 3D and it looks a lot better for it.

Whilst the first game was set in a semi-present sort of otherworldly universe 2020 will be set in the near future, the year 2020 to be precise! The aim of the game is simple, explore a large open world map, find and kill all 7 dragons that inhabit it… Of course it’s always easier said then done.

The 7th Dragon games are being produced by Rieko Kodama who has worked on a number of great Sega JRPGs including Phantasy Star and Skies of Arcadia.

Hit the jump for the character creation video.

Udon releases Valkyria Chronicles Art Book

I think any gamer who has played or seen Valkyria will attest to the fact that the games unique water colors art style was one of the main draws for the game. I first remember when I saw screen shots of the game I was baffled as to whether they wear concept arts or in game screen shots it wasn’t until I saw the game in motion till I realised this was actually in game.

Anyway SEGA released an Art Book showcasing the beautiful art of the game with the developers and artistis discussing as well. Additionally the art book shows art that didn’t make it in the game such as the swim suit costume for Silveria (cause no art book is complete without objectifying the characters).

So this art book was released a few years back in Japan but Udon has just released a translated copy.

Check out some of the pages from the book at Kotaku.

Binary Domain gets a ton of new screens


Most people seem to have a negative opinion of Binary Domain’s graphics, but to be honest, they aren’t bad. People have been saying it looks like Yakuza 3, so it’s bad. First of all Yakuza 3 does not have bad graphics and this title looks better than the Yakuza titles.
One of the first obvious improvements is the sharpness of the picture, Yakuza 3 (and 4) weren’t so sharp. Not only that, the textures look way better. If the areas are as big as those in the Yakuza games, this could be Nagoshi’s best looking title.

That is not saying that the title will be one of the best looking titles for 2012.

The Sega Forums Return

Yep the official Sega forums are finally back online after a very long time, a month maybe? The blog is yet to return but I suspect it’ll soon be up too.

The blog and forum went down after some douche bag hacked into PlaySega and attempted to steal usernames, passwords and other personal information. Luckily Sega were on the ball and had personal information stored as an encrypted code of some kind. As a result of this the forum passwords are no longer linked to the PlaySega accounts so you will need to reset your password before you can post again.

So yeah, go forth and complain about not getting Shenmue 3 and Sonic’s eyes, mouth, spines, colour or shoes.

Glu Mobile buys out Shinobi 3DS developer

Glu Mobile is a mobile phone publisher known for putting out tons of licensed games for bigger publishers. They have done Call of Duty mobile games, Transformers and even Sonic the Hedgehog stuff. So it sort of makes sense that they are interested in Griptonite.

Griptonite Games is also known for doing licensed games on handhelds. This includes recent stuff like Captain America: Super Solider and Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters. Griptonite Games supposedly has 200 employees, meaning the buyout will double the employees over at Glu Mobile.

What will they do at Glu Mobile? They will be working on freemium games, which Glu is set to debut in the second fiscal quarter of 2012. What about Shinobi 3DS? I assume they will finish up the work that SEGA is paying for, but I don’t see them returning for a sequel.

[Source: Gamasutra]

House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut reveals first exclusive level


House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut was said to have a ton of new content, which also includes new stages. This first one to be revealed is called “Naked Terror”. You have to shoot your way through a stripper bar, killling exotic dancers and biker mutants.

But that isn’t all: the level has you playing as Varla Guns and her exotic dancer friend Candy, both of which were only NPCs in the last release.

House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut is coming exclusively to Playstation 3 on October 25th in the USA. Are you ready?

SEGA releases humorous and violent Rise of Nightmares trailer

Check out this trailer, courtesy of Gamespot, for SEGA’s upcoming Kinect bloodbath, Rise of Nightmares. I’ve got to give credit where credit is due; this game definitely stands out from the rest of the Kinect lineup. Rise of Nightmares will be releasing September 6th exclusively for the Kinect. How well (or not) it ends up selling on the family-friendly device should be interesting indeed.

[Source: Sega Neptune]

SEGA in the Media: Sonic and the Simpsons

sats

As a child of the late 80’s and early 90’s, two of my biggest obsessions were Sonic the Hedgehog and The Simpsons. Despite having very little to do with each other, both franchises were at their heights in the early 90’s. Sonic’s first game saw release in the summer of 1991, just as The Simpsons were nearing the end of their second season, debuting a number of episodes that came to define the series and showed that they had greatly improved upon the so-so first season. The Simpsons had also invaded the world of video games in 1991, with the release of Konami’s The Simpsons Arcade and, of note to SEGA fans, a number of Master System, Game Gear and Genesis titles. 1993 saw the release of The Simpsons Comics series and Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog, both still in print to this day, a rare feat for licensed comics.

It was only a matter of time before The Simpsons and Sonic crossed paths by way of The Simpsons propensity to reference popular culture. In this week’s SEGA in the Media we take a look at all the moments Sonic appeared on The Simpsons!

Gamestop gets Rise of Nightmares pre-order items

With the release of Rise of Nightmares fast approaching, most users that are intrested in the title are already planning to pre-order the game. Well, if you want extras to deck out your Xbox 360, you might want to pre-order it at Gamestop.

If you do you will get the following:

  • “Mini Zombie” from the game that will interact with the player’s Avatar on the Xbox 360® dashboard (pictures above)
  • Gamestop-Exclusive Premium theme for their Xbox 360® dashboard, inspired by some of the game’s most terrifying locations
  • Gamestop-Exclusive Gamer Picture pack that includes a total of ten pictures

 

Rise of Nightmares is coming exclusively to the Kinect for Xbox 360 on September 6th, 2011 (US release date).

Toshihiro Nagoshi shows support for Suda 51’s next game

Grasshopper Manufacture head/creative director Suda 51’s next project was revealed a couple of weeks back, and it has been attracting lots of attention. Called Lollipop Chainsaw, the game looks to be as crazy and over-the-top as Suda 51’s past releases, though this time he’ll have the help of James Gunn, who wrote the Dawn of the Dead remake a few years back, in the story department.

What makes this news Segabits worthy though is the interesting appearance of none other than SEGA’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, (Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball) who was on hand at a recent press event to voice his support for the title, praising Suda 51 for his “aggressive” games and his focus on creating new IP.

I’ve long thought that SEGA missed the boat by not opting to pick up the original No More Heroes for publishing a few years back, as Suda 51 seems in a lot of ways to embody the crazy spirit that SEGA’s games were known for back in the Dreamcast era. Lollipop Chainsaw will be published in Western territories by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (the recent Mortal Kombat game) who claim to want to expand Grasshopper Manufactures’ audience beyond its current fanbase. Here’s hoping for some success, Japan could use more successful new IP.

[Source: Andriasing]