Binary Domain – Story Trailer

The new trailer for SEGA’s squad based third person shooter, Binary Domain, has been released. In this trailer, we are shown the basic storyline of Binary Domain; as machines have started to blend in human society, to the point that they are carrying out terrorist attacks, a group of soldiers are dispatched to protect mankind from the machines. The trailer does not only focus on story and has moments of gameplay, ranging from battling giant bosses to your characters being cornered in a room with a horde of robots incoming as well as showing some of the locations the player will be visiting. Binary Domain is slated for February 2012.

[Thanks to Pao for the tip!]

SEGA opens up a new UK studio, working on PSVita game

Only a month or so ago after revealing that SEGA were planning a major expansion for their British based developer The Creative Assembly, the publisher today announced a new studio being set up in Solihull in the West Midlands of England and that they’re developing a new game for the Playstation Vita. If that location sounds familiar to some of you, it will be because this was were the ill-fated SEGA Racing Studio was once based. Indeed SEGA’s Gary Dunn, VP of product development for SEGA West confirmed that some members of the original team will be working in this new studio. He also went on to confirm that prior to this announcement, the group SEGA retain had been working under the banner of SEGA Technology Group. For a more indepth report, check after the break were VG247 had an indepth interview with Gary Dunn.

Check out Yakuza: Of the End DLC

The first DLC for SEGA’s recently released Yakuza: Of the End has been announced. Japanese members can go directly to PSN to download three free costumes which range from; Shun Akiyama in a detective outfit, Goro Majima in a pirate outfit and Ryuji Goda sporting a commando look. Click after the break to see some more screenshots of the DLC in action.

Streets of Rage 2 Arrives on PSN+

Axel, Blaze (not the cat) and friends are back in Sega’s next free Genesis game for PSN+ subscribers. Those with a PSN+ account or who are on the one month free “welcome back” plan can download it right now. If you are only on a temporary plan though, you will need to fork over $4.99 if you plan to keep playing a month from now. Exclusive to the PSN version are trophies and online scoreboards.

Sonic 20th anniversary figures are awesome


SEGA has announced that they are making 1,000 Sonic 20th Anniversary figures. Where can you get your hands on these awesome figures? Not in stores, sadly.

Not only that, the game’s figure differs from the US version to the world wide version. What is changed? The image in the box, the US is taken from the US artwork and the world wide one is the original they got with their game. Staying true!

If you want to see more pictures of the figures, check out the SEGA.blog.

Mike Hayes hints at HD Sonic on Wii U?

GoNintendo’s compiled a list of recent quotes from various publishers regarding the Wii U, and Sega West president Mike Hayes is one of several to offer an optimistic view of the system, and interestingly enough, he even makes a passing reference to “HD Sonic.”

“At some point we were the biggest, certainly top three third-party publisher on Wii, so for us it was a great platform… we’ve got absolutely no qualms about [Wii U]. I just think we’re all a bit premature in being a bit glass half full on 3DS. Everyone was clamouring ‘oh please bring it out in March, you must bring it out’ and then it’s like you get to June and it’s all ‘sales aren’t very good…’ Well, they haven’t got the software yet. That controller is absolutely brilliant and we have to think of innovative ways to use it. We’re doing high definition Sonics, we’re doing obviously Aliens: Colonial Marines, so you can bring them across, and that’s relatively low cost, which is good news. Then you spend your money on how do you use that controller effectively to make it unique and differentiate it.”

Hard to say whether he’s simply referring to a port of Sonic Generations, another HD Sonic game entirely, or maybe even Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. It’s also unclear if he’s simply being theoretical or whether actual plans are in the works to bring any of these titles to Wii U. I wouldn’t get too excited yet simply due to the vague nature of the statement, but coming from Mike Hayes, I’d say it’s from a rather credible source.

[Source: GoNintendo]

E3: Binary Domain Preview and Q&A

At E3, we were shown an exclusive demo of Binary Domain, an action packed third person shooter done by the same team behind Yakuza. The story is a cross-breed between “The Terminator” and I Robot. The year is 2080. The setting is Tokyo. A company has developed intelligent robots for the sake of manual labor. However, an incident occurs when someone has been producing robots that look like humans and some robots are given an ego. This is a breach of international law. An American company called Burgen corporation believes the Amita corporation is doing it. You pay as Dan Marshall, a member of the IRTA which regulates robotics internationally. You are sent into Japan to find the person responsible. However, Japan has gone back to its feudal days and has sealed itself off from foreign intervention, so you will have to infiltrate your way in and fight off large groups of robots who want you dead for invading.

SEGA in the Charts: Japanese sales 6 – 12 June 2011

Last week in Japan saw the release of the third spinoff title in the Yakuza series after its original delay way back in late March. With the Japanese market struggling for software sales, Yakuza: Of the End has helped lift the market somewhat, although the majority of the Japanese market remains dead. Continue to read on to see how well Kazuma’s latest adventure did.

Takashi Iizuka confirms Sonic 4: Episode 2

The guys over at Siliconera had a chance to ask Iizuka if Sonic Team is planning a follow up to Sonic 4: Episode 1, in which he responded:

“We named Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, so there will be an episode 2. Since this year is the 20th anniversary of Sonic we wanted to focus on Sonic Generations. We don’t have a release date or anything.But, we can tell you it will be in the near future.”” – Takashi Iizuka

Near future? Iizuka and his love for time traveling plots. In all seriousness, it seems that Sonic Generations is getting the physics for cassic Sonic right. Would be interested if the physics being used in Generations will be used in Episode 2.

Spiral Knights is now available on Steam

Steam has recently allowed publishers to put free-to-play titles on its store, one of the first titles? Spiral Knights.

Now you will be able to enjoy the game with the Steam overlay, that allows you to chat with friends while you game. If this wasn’t enough, SEGA has launched a Spiral Knights Steam group. Join it to meet up with other Knights and have some excellent adventures.

[Source: SEGA.Blog]

Mike Hayes – Aliens: Colonial Marines to be top quality product


SEGA have been on the ropes with the development of Colonial Marines. Everyone thought it was a dead project but it is back. But will it be a shitty cash-in like other SEGA license games or a good product? Mike Hayes reassures you that they are trying to deliver a top quality product.

“As a general point, when you have a great licence, the amount you need to spend on marketing is significantly less. So the two balance each other out. But that’s independent of how much money you invest in the game, because we know how well tie-in licence games have gone recently, we have to create a game that stands on its own two feet. This is a quality-first approach.” – Mike Hayes, President of SEGA West

Another concerning factor is that Gear Box Software’s newest game, Duke Nukem Forever isn’t doing that great with the critics and seems to have disappointed fans that have waited 10+ years for the release of the game.

[Source:MCV]

E3: Sonic Generations Q&A With Takashi Iizuka

(NOTE: Because this is a Q&A with questions taken from staff from both Sonic Stadium and Segabits, this article will be posted on both sites simultaneously.)

On the Tuesday afternoon of E3, Alex (nuckles87) and I got the privilege of seeing the first new footage of City Escape from Sonic Generations played by Takashi Iizuka himself. Seeing little classic Sonic going through the famous SA2 level was a thrill. We saw as the large GUN truck made every attempt possible to run down the roly-poly hedgehog as two new remixes of “Escape from the City” played through both levels. As he played through he told some interesting tidbits, including the fact that outside of Green Hill zone, all stages on the 3DS will be different from the HD versions and will have levels based on the portable versions of Sonic’s games. Also, voice overs will be done for all nationalities. Not just Japanese and English. He quit the last level as the GUN truck with it’s giant sawblades ran over modern Sonic as he ran out of boost. Here, our Q&A commenced.

Guess who is directing Rise of Nightmares!

[Ueda is on the left.]

Ryuta Ueda! Who is he you ask? Just a man that worked on games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Jet Set Radio and the first 3 Yakuza games. Pretty much classy stuff.

Not only is he directing the project, he is also writing scenarios, doing the artwork and more (so teases his facebook page).  So if you are a hardcore SEGA fan, this is a title you might want to keep a close eye on.

[Via: The Forums]

1up: Sonic games? Best post whiny video


Oh lawl, I get it. It’s a Sonic game, we best make a “funny video” slowly making fun of the quality in Sonic games. Yes, I know most of us aren’t into Mario & Sonic games, but are they the worst thing to happen to Sonic or even Mario? No.

Funny how this makes a site like 1up depressed, didn’t even seem like the person in the video even played the game before citing it as crap. Journalism. Didn’t they also announce like 3 Mario solo games at E3? No Mario video? Just Sonic?

Yeah, 1up isn’t going to be missed now that they got bought out by IGN.