SEGA: No plans for a full SEGA Rally brand revival

With SEGA announcing SEGA Rally Online Arcade for Xbox Live and PSN, the he question from fans has been; is SEGA trying to revive the brand and release a new console version of the game like 2007’s SEGA Rally Revo?

“Sega constantly wrestles with what existing IP we should try and reignite. We did a pretty good job with Sega Rally back in 2007, but it came out at a time when the consumer was moving away from driving games in general. There’s a bit of a resurgence in those games – I’ve got to say Codemasters did a brilliant job with F1 2010, it was first-class – and therefore, is it a viable market? We’re constantly looking at it.”

“Have we got any plans for Sega Rally on any platform at the moment? The answer is no. But we constantly review those IPs to see if we can reinvent them. A lot of it is dependent on what those platforms can do. And of course the cost of development.” – Mike Hayes, SEGA West CEO

It is too bad to see, but at least we are getting a digital title for now. One of the complaints for SEGA Rally Revo was that it didn’t have enough content for most racing fans, so maybe releasing the franchise as a XBLA/PSN title is a smarter choice.

[Source: Eurogamer]

SEGA: UK studios are ‘the bedrock of our business’

It’s no secret that Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive are successful studios, but they still seem to surprise SEGA.

“Our UK internal studios are probably the bedrock of our business. For the second year both Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly are outperforming their business plans from a profitability perspective. These guys are on top of the game, it’s a real testimony to the games they make.” – Gary Dunn, SEGA Europe VP of production

If only SEGA could emulate this and get a few good American developers under their belt. SEGA has said they will try to focus on improving SEGA America, we will have to see what they have planned.

[Source: GoNintendo]

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Review: Thor: God of Thunder (DS)

Licensed games tend to be cursed. They’re usually made by low-end development teams with little budget and even less time. This is even more true with Sega’s games that are licensed out by Marvel. Iron Man, Incredible Hulk and especially Iron Man 2 have all been stinkers that seemed to have been made for a quick cash-in.

However, when given to the right developer, you can have a winning game on your hands. Such is the case when Sega gave development of the DS version of Thor to Wayforward. The company behind such other 2-D hits as Contra 4, Shante and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Here’ they bring their expertise to make what could have easily been movie tie-in garbage into a well polished 2-D action game.

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Renegade Ops – Gameplay trailer!

Anyone else getting serious flashbacks to the mid 90’s whilst watching this? The gameplay in Sega & Avalanche Studios’ new digital download game Renegade Ops takes me right back to games like ‘Jackle’ for the NES or ‘Desert Strike’ for the Genesis in everything but the absolutely beautiful graphics!

I think this is one of the best-looking downloadable titles I’ve seen in a while! I really like the way the Jeep appears to handle, it reminds me of the Halo Warthog, awesome!

SEGA Brisbane working on a new game

SEGA Brisbane, formerly Creative Assembly Australia, has revealed that they are indeed working on a new game and that ever since the critically panned Stormrise, the team has been invested in heavily for higher standards. Speaking during an interview, SEGA Vice-President of Production Gary Dunn said;

“Suffice to say since Stormrise’s completion, the studio down under has been heavily invested in, entirely new leadership team from the likes of EA, Ubisoft… the people who made Stormrise aren’t the people who populate, at least the leadership, that studio. There’s a new set of standards in place, they’re doing a very different game”

But the interview itself is a fairly long and details more than just one branch of Creative Assembly and goes on to talk about the new Alien title and how the team wanted to work on it soon after completing Viking. Well worth a read for anyone who are interested in either title. To read the full interview, click on the link below.

[Source: Strategy Informer]

First Wii/3DS Screens of Mario & Sonic London Olympics!

Usually screens of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games wouldn’t excite me too much. But color me surprised when I caught a glimpse of the first screens to be released and I got… a little excited! That was probably due to spotting one of my favorite 3D Sonic stages, Windy Valley of Sonic Adventure, returning as the location of a Dream Event. On the Mario side of things we have a 2D remake of Yoshi’s Story, which makes me hopeful that we’ll see some 2D Sonic stages return.

After the break, check out more screens and a link to an early preview of the games.

Aaron Webber on GameSpot. More Hints at Sonic Boom Event

Aaron Webber was recently on Gamespot’s Daily Demo. He discussed Sonic Generations for awhile and also talked about the upcoming Sonic Boom event on June 8th at Club Nokia. Some hints of what to be expected include “Musical Guests” and “stars from Sonic’s history”.

As always we’ll keep you informed as more details of this event emerge.

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Virtua Fighter gets El Shaddai crossover

[Example: Jean’s title says “Daijoubuda” (It’s okay) and Goh’s says “Mondainai” (No problem). Both popular El Shaddai phrases.]

SEGA and Ignition have struck up a deal for an odd crossover between El Shaddai and SEGA’s successful arcade fighter Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown.

The crossover will have some of El Shaddai’s most known phrases and when the user clears certain conditions in VF, you’ll unlock the phrases as titles (which appear under your character’s picture).

Never heard of the “El Shaddai” franchise, so I did a quick google search. Hey Ignition, this crossover already worked, since you got +1 more person google searching your game.

[Source: AndriaSang]

SEGA Recycles 79% of 16-bit compilations

Sega is readying themselves to re-re-re-release another bunch of 16-bit classics, which prompted Sega-16’s Ken Horowitz to compile a list of games all 3 current gen compilations (Sega Genesis Collection, Sonic Ultimate Collection & the upcoming Gold Collection) share.

It is intresting to note how oddly some titles have been dropped in future compilations for example Streets of Rage 3 is absent in the Gold Collection.

Horowitz also provides his own analysis as to why there is so much redundancy in the compilations and ends his post with something SEGA fans would love…

Give us collections featuring 32x & CD games!

Check out his insightful feature over here.
Check out the list of games here

Next Shining game’s marketing assets leaked?


According to AndriaSang, these images have popped up online and have been touted as being marketing assets for the next Shining game that SEGA has teased. They say it is probably fake, but since we run rumors here, why not see them over.

According to the assets the code name for the game is “Gensou no Lorelei.” The background story revolves around the empire of Dragonia stealing the spirit power and sending the world into chaos. Not very original, but hit the jump to find out more.

SEGA Sequel Saturdays: Astal

[Special Note: Today’s screens are from the website MobyGames and VGChartz. Due to Astal’s age and obscurity, MobyGames’ own screen captures are the most extensive collection available. For now.]

This week’s Sequel Saturday is going to be somewhat different from past entries. For one, this article will be asking for a remake, not a sequel. Rather than asking for sweeping changes in game play, I will be addressing things I would like to see improved in an Astal remake, and how I’d like it to be sold. Now let’s get started, shall we?

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Virtua Tennis 4 – Gameplay Trailer

That boat stage is absolutely beautiful, very blue, very Sega.

I stand by what I’ve said time and time again; there is no better tennis series than Virtua Tennis! Whilst VT2009 kind of dropped the ball. (Pun, lol) the other games in the series have all been really very good, including the amazing Dreamcast games and VT:World Tour on the PSP.

Virtua Tennis 4 is just as good, if not better! The world tour mode has been revamped and is really something special, and whilst the Kenect controls are a bit hit and miss, the Move controls are perfect and beat Top Spin’s efforts hands down.

Then there is the always welcome, always great fun mini games that for someone like me who isn’t a big fan of tennis add so much to the package and is fun to play with the girlfriend and family.

Aliens: Colonial Marines coming this November?


Jesus, how many times have I reported about this game making an appearance in the last 3 years and it never showed up? Frankly I’m tired of talking about it, want to see it actually be shown. SEGA has been tight lipped about this title and it might be their E3 surprise.

The ‘release’ date this time around comes from Gamestop, saying it will come out on November 12th. I see this as a retailer just taking an educated guess. They also listed Binary Domain as coming out this year, when SEGA already said early 2012. So I wouldn’t get excited at all about this news.

[Source: Eurogamer]

Guardian Heroes: Saturn mode vs. HD mode

[HD vs. Saturn mode]

SEGA was under the lens when the first screens of Guardian Heroes came out: the ones that used that ugly filter. SEGA has been saying that the game was ‘re-mastered’ for HD consoles. Putting a filter on graphics isn’t re-mastered… but did they do this? SEGA has listed what has changed, been re-done and has stayed the same.