Author Archives: George

SEGA Sammy Visual Entertainment changes name, new project

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(One of the first images for the pilot)

SEGA Sammy Visual Entertainment has announced that they are changing their name to “Marza Animation Planet“. So “Marza” is not the name of the new title they are working on, but actually the name of their studio now.

Marza Animation Planet have just completed a pilot for Toei, their pilot is a CGI adaptation of the Space Pirate Captain Harlock manga. The pilot was directed by Shinji Aramaki (Apple Seed), characters designed by Yutaka Minowa (Ninja Scroll) and written by Harutoshi Fukui (Mobile Suit Gundam UC).

More details will be announced about the pilot in this week’s Tokyo International Anime Fair.

[Thanks: Liam & F-D_M via E-mail]

Continue Reading ➜

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VF5: Final Showdown to support Twitter

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I thought SEGA was going to be the only company to totally ignore Twitter integration, I was wrong. If there is any game I would would ‘freely promote’ to my followers, its Virtua Fighter.

Users that are playing the arcade version will be able to link their Twitter accounts to their VF.net accounts via PC or cellphone. You will be able to follow players on twitter, without needing to leave the arcade.

Continue Reading ➜

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Rumor: SEGA survey askes if you want a Sonic Prequel

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These images are going around the internet about a ‘survey’ for Sonic fans. They want fan feedback to ‘improve’ Sonic games. They ask fans what games they like the most, if they like classic Sonic or the new design and if you would like a prequel to Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis/Mega Drive).

We e-mailed SEGA if the survey was real, if they answer us we will update the post.

[Source: GoNintendo]

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SEGA’s top priority is the American market

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Mike Hayes says that if they need to go in, buy some studios, it will do that. He says that he wants the SEGA brand to hold as much value as it does in Europe.

“What I need to do is find games that are more appropriate for the American territory. That is very much where the focus for the company is going to be, whether that is in acquisition or working with developers on commissions to create more product for the American market. Where those brands may be less successful in the US is where we have a bigger task in pulling Sega back to the position it was. We want Sega in the US to be in as good a position as it is in Europe. …We’re never complacent. We’re happy with our position in Europe, but I need to be able to build the American business quite aggressively over the next three to five years.” – Mike Hayes, President of SEGA West

It all sounds exciting, but what studio in America should they buy out and games should they release?

[via Go Nintendo]

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Yuji Naka is happy with new Sonic games

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The guys from Destructoid have recently posted a interview with Yuji Naka, asking him what he thinks of Sonic’s current games and if he got to play them..

“Yes, I’ve played them a bit. I’m happy to see that Sonic is still growing after my departure. All the people that worked under me are still continuing the legacy of Sonic, and I’m glad to see that as well.

Realize that next year Sonic will be 20 years old. I look at it this way: 20 years of age is old enough to go out on your own, not relying on your father anymore. In that way, it’s good to take a step back and see what Sonic does from now.”

It is sad to see Yuji Naka not having any interest in doing a 20th anniversary game and ‘moving on’ from the franchise. What do you guys think?

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SEGA working on ‘hardcore’ Kinect games

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Mike Hayes believes that we will be seeing hardcore titles for Kinect next year, saying its impossible to make a game for the hardcore in a year.

“My guess is when we’re at E3 next year, more of the features of Kinect will be in use by developers. I think you’ll find more clever and sophisticated applications then. It is a reasonably complicated piece of kit, therefore it’s going to take us longer to use all of those aspects in a game. We’re not going to be able to develop something [for the hardcore] in under a year, which is frankly what we’ve had.” –  Mike Hayes

SEGA said they are not going to copy Wii games  when it comes to making new Kinect games. The team making this ‘hardcore’ Kinect title? Members from SEGA Racing studio that still work at SEGA. When can we expect the title? Late 2011, early 2012. That is a long wait…

[Source: CVG]

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SEGA having a Sonic the Hedgehog video contest

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Sonic turns 19 today, so SEGA is holding a video contest. The winner will get a trip to Tokyo and a 32gb iPod Touch. Seems that SEGA is swimming in a sea of iPod Touches.

They also promise “loads of other prizes”, check out out the official page here. 100 people will get Sonic swag, not bad. I will now dress up my cat as Sonic and try to make him spin dash.

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SEGA: 3DS shows Nintendo’s brilliance

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Possibly the best new piece of hardware shown at E3 this year, is getting praise by SEGA West President Mike Hayes. He is even talking about mature audiences.

“With the quality of the device they’ve got it’s possible they can expand their audience into an older, broader audience. It was interesting to see games like Saint’s Row on the device. If we could bring, let’s say, a House of the Dead or an Aliens title, if the audience for 3DS is much broader it could give us much more scope in that market, and that’s as exciting as well as Mario & Sonic and Monkey Ball games. The 3DS is Nintendo through and through, this is Nintendo’s brilliance. They’re almost in their own technological world, doing their own thing. Whilst 3D TV is quite an amazing technology advancement, and many companies will get into that, Nintendo will now create this huge business with their own unique piece of technology that very few if any, will be able to copy. That’s Nintendo over and over again, it’s fantastic. For us as a third-party it’s a great leg up in terms of the portable business.” – Mike Hayes

I expect the 3DS to be more successful than the DS just because I agree with Mike Hayes, the appeal is more broader compared to the original DS.

[Source: GoNintendo]

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Hatsune Miku Project Diva Arcade comes out tomorrow

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It seems that Japanese audiences can’t get enough Hatsune Miku, even though the game is on PSP, meaning they can play it everywhere; it is coming to arcades. Actually expected the arcade release to come sooner.

The arcade game is basically a port of the first one, with new tracks. They say that the game might be updated via network to have more tracks in the future. They also added “extreme difficulty mode”, if you are feeling adventurous.

Not the end for the franchise, next month, on July 29th, Project Diva 2nd is coming to PSP.

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Alpha Protocol getting patched

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Chris Avellone from Obsidian Entertainment has confirmed that they are working on a patch for Alpha Protocol. They stated the reason that they have not released it yet was because of SEGA.

“We wanted to release something fairly quickly based upon some feedback we were getting. I think [SEGA] wanted to take a different approach by gathering more information over a longer period of time and provide a patch then. That’s what we’re figuring out right now.”

So what about DLC? This seems like the type of game that would benefit from such a thing, just like Bioware games. Don’t hold your breath.

“I don’t know if [SEGA is] talking about that at all yet. I can say that we’re not working on any DLC right now. We’d love to, but we’re not.”

With the game dropping to $39.99 already, maybe its the prefect time to get the game?

[Source: GameBanshee]

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Conduit 2 to ship with headset

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SEGA and High Voltage seem to be going over the top for their upcoming FPS game on the Wii. They have promised chatting before matches and during matches. So everyone can chat, SEGA will be bundling a headset with the game.

Also new, the game will have a ‘perk’ system like Modern Warfare 2, they will also be able to patch the game, have 30 suit upgrades, and 15 confirmed multiplayer maps. The team is thinking about DLC and even hinted at vehicles being used for some game types.

Sounds like the game will be jammed pack.

[Source: GoNintendo]

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SEGA Racing Classic Facebook Petition

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A Facebook petition has just started. The goal? To get SEGA Racing Classic ported over to XBLA and PSN. If you didn’t already know, SEGA Racing Classic is basically Daytona USA in 720p and running in widescreen.

If you want to join the petition, it is up via Facebook.

[Source: Ashley via e-mail]

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SEGA aware we hate mine carts in Sonic games

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So, we all seen the leaks that made rounds about the internet. You know, the Sonic 4 leaks? Well, SEGA is not happy with that (obviously) and said that it was early concepts.

“Yeah it’s a shame such an early concept was viewed upon when the reality is that the game we have today is very different from that. My job as brand manager is to communicate with the consumer, letting them know how we react to this feedback. We took it very seriously that our build had been stolen and took measures with first party to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, but more than anything we want to lay to rest fan concerns that the game isn’t polished or doesn’t have what it needs and I think a big part of that message was extending the development and making sure that fans feel like they’ve been hard because they have been.” – Ken Baloughs, Sonic 4 brand manager

I’m pretty sure that the leaks actually helped the game in the end of the day. Lets be honest, you think they would have told us about the mine cart level? SEGA was very secretive about the game, they would have most likely just released the game as was, mine carts and all. But after all the fans saw it, they complained. Now we have extended development times. Good? Bad?

[Source: Destructoid]

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