SEGA Network partner site The Dreamcast Junkyard deemed “essential reading for future generations” by The British Library


 
An insanely awesome bit of news dropped earlier this month, though we’ve just learned of it this weekend. The British Library has begun to digitally archive all of the UK web, meaning just about everything on the internet originating from the UK will be stored for future generations. Very cool stuff, but it gets even cooler. SEGA Network partner site The Dreamcast Junkyard, one of the first SEGA blogs I wrote for and continue to write for, was selected by curators and other experts from all the participating libraries to be essential reading for future generations researching our life and times in 2013. How many sites did these experts put on the list? A mere 100 websites. That’s right, amongst the likes of  Ebay, Twitter, Facebook and UK sites like Daily Mash, Moonpig, the official website of Stephen Hawking, the BBC and lots of political and official government websites, sits a SEGA fansite. How awesome is that? The BBC even noted The Dreamcast Junkyard by saying:

Some other lesser known ones include the Anarchist Federation, the Dracula Society and The Dreamcast Junkyard – a blog dedicated to the community of gamers who continue to play Dreamcast games online, despite the fact they were officially discontinued in 2002.

A big congrats to The Dreamcast Junkyard writing team including the site’s founder Tomleecee and writers fatherkrishna, The GagaMan(n), Barry the Nomad, Caleb, and NebachadnezzaR.

Castle of Illusion Remake finally confirmed

For the last several weeks we’ve been getting some serious hints that a remake of the classic Genesis Mickey Mouse game Castle of Illusion was incoming, including leaked box art and a teaser trailer. With today’s announcement on Sony’s Playstation blog we can finally confirm it: the remake is real and it will be hitting PSN, Xbox Live and Steam this summer.

The game is being developed by SEGA Studios Australia, which will be shutting down later this year. The team has confirmed that they are working closely with the director of the original game to ensure that they not only remain true to the original, but also include new elements that were intended for the original game but could not be implemented due to the technical limitations of the day. You can find some gorgeous screenshots, as well as comments from the team, below the fold.

Project X Zone Limited Edition version revealed

projectxzone

Did you know if you pre-order Project X Zone, you will get the limited edition version for free? Yep, the first printing run of Project X Zone comes in a neat case, soundtrack, mini-art book, and a mini-poster to hang on your man cave.

Not sure if this is a Gamestop exclusive, but it was the only site that I found the ‘limited edition’ version. Amazon hasn’t even updated the release date (since it was delayed or have box art up).

Hatsune Miku to guest star in Monster Hunter Frontier G & 7th Dragon 2020-II


Its crazy how popular Hatsune Miku is in Japan. The vocaloid goddess herself will ‘guest star’ in Capcom’s Monster Hunter Frontier G and will do the opening music for the intro to 7th Dragon 2020-II from SEGA. She also did the for the last 7th Dragon game, properly titled 7th Dragon 2020. One thing that always excited me about the 7th Dragon franchise was that they are being produced by SEGA’s legendary Rieko Kodama.

As for the Monster Hunter cameo, she isn’t really in the game. What they do have is a costume so you can dress your character up like Hatsune Miku herself. If you didn’t know, Monster Hunter Frontier G is a online enabled Monster Hunter game for 360 and PC that requires a monthly payment to play.

Namco releases a new trailer for Project X Zone


Project X Zone is being published by Namco-Bandai, but will cross over with Capcom and SEGA. As you can see from the trailer they didn’t add any new characters. You’d think them sneaking Sonic the Hedgehog would have sold a few more copies, right?

So what does everyone think of this game? Looking good? Excited?

Marza Animation Planet trademarks “Luna’s Arc”

LunasArc2
Marza Animation Planet, a SEGA-Sammy owned CGI animation studio has trademarked the title ‘Luna’s Arc’.

This could be the title to their next film, which they chose the script from their online competition: Story Circus.  They have done the competition two years in a row and have picked up two full scripts to do an animated film on. Who knows, maybe next year us SEGAbit people will submit some scripts.

As for what this could be, who knows. Luna is Italian/Spanish for moon, which could me a space sort of film. What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments.

Fan made: nikibaby’s sweet Sharpie SEGA drawings

jetseta
 
Third place SEGAbits third anniversary contest winner nikibaby won herself a My Life with SEGA DVD thanks to these two cool photos showing off her unique drawing style. Of course, the contest rules stipulated that the entry would have to be a review, but we left it as open as possible, hoping to see some more unique takes on the guidelines of the contest. As such, nikibaby worked in a short, but sweet, written review of SEGA by proclaiming “I ♥ SEGA”.

But the real stars of the pieces are her takes on iconic SEGA characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Jet Set Radio’s Beat. Using nothing but paper and Sharpie markers, nikibaby depicted Beat by way of bright colors, hatching, and cross-hatching. Sonic, meanwhile, was expertly drawn using a technique called pointillism. Bonus points for not scanning the drawings, but rather displaying them in a photo alongside the markers used. You can see nikibaby’s Sonic drawing after the break.

Great job, nikibaby!

Archie Comics releases a trailer for the Sonic & Mega Man comic book crossover – hitting stores today!

Yesterday we shared a five page preview of the Sonic and Mega Man crossover comic, and today IGN has released a launch trailer for the event. Yes, you read that correctly, a video trailer for a comic book. The trailer is actually quite well done, with a motion comic vibe to it and a ton of great drawings lightly animated to awesome official music from both franchises. Check out the trailer above and head to your comic shop today to pick up Mega Man #24, the first of twelve parts in the crossover event.

Android and iOS: Sonic the Hedgehog remastered video surfaces, as well as date and price

Android Police have posted gameplay video of the remastered Sonic the Hedgehog game, which is releasing soon to Android and iOS platforms. How soon? According to Android Police, the game is set to hit this month and will retail for $2.99, the same price as the existing app on iOS (which SEGA has said will update to the remastered version).

It appears that the video above has been edited to remove the menu screen, which has been noted in past previews. Perhaps there were a few surprises that SEGA didn’t want spoiled just yet? Also, oddly, there is little to no sound in the above video. Hopefully SEGA releases a proper trailer soon so we get more of an idea of how the game will look and sound.

Preview the Sonic and Mega Man crossover “Worlds Collide: Part One”

prv15996_cov
 
Courtesy of Comic Book Resources comes an exclusive five page preview of the Sonic and Mega Man crossover event, Worlds Collide: Part One, which kicks off this month in the pages of the Archie Comics series Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe, and Mega Man. The crossover event, which will span twelve issues from three different series, concludes in August. In November, Archie plans to release the first of three trade paperback books, Sonic / Mega Man World Collide Vol. 1: Kindred Spirits, which will collect the first four issues and will undoubtably include extra goodies like pencil sketches and varient covers.

Check out the full preview over at Comic Book Resources

SEGA Tunes SEGAbits community spotlight: Brian Corey’s cover of Splash Garden

This week we’re bringing you a special Tuesday Tunes, as we’re featuring the music of a SEGAbits community member! Ungibbed, aka Brian Corey, put together this cover of the NiGHTS into Dreams tune Splash Garden from memory. Pretty impressive if you ask us! Of course, we don’t blame him for getting the tune stuck in his head, as Splash Garden is a stage that Saturn fans have surely played again and again.

Great job, Brian, on this awesome cover! We look forward to hearing more tunes from you in the future. Share your comments for Brian below, or in our dedicated topic in the SEGAbits forums.

Panzer Dragoon creator talks about his time at SEGA

pdsaga-1
Eurogamer is running a pretty neat piece on Yukio Futatsugi, the creator of the Panzer Dragoon franchise. Like every great piece they go into detail on how he grew up, the schools he went to and how he ended up at SEGA. One of the neat pieces of information was that at age 23 he took over Team Andromeda. Think about it, this dude was in charge of many people older than him at the age of 23. He was 25 when Panzer Dragoon came out. Crazy!

“I handed in several proposals, one of which was Panzer Dragoon,” says Futatsugi. “I’d only been there about two years, but they accepted my proposal and put me in charge of the project. Just like that I was making Panzer Dragoon for the Saturn launch. It was a difficult project. All the programmers and designers were above me in the company but I had to tell them what to do, which was tricky. But I was young, so I could be stubborn.”Yukio Futatsugi

The piece goes on and talks about his work after leaving SEGA, working at Microsoft Studios and releasing Phantom Dust (a great Xbox game, if you haven’t played it). He also confirms that Crimson Dragon is still in the works!