Even more great Sega collectibles have gone up on the eBay auction today and you can start bidding now! 100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Red Cross relief effort for Japan.
You can see the list of items for auction HERE!
All items start at just 99 cents and it is going to a good cause, get bidding!
As many of you may know by now Super Monkey Ball has three game modes: Main game, which plays much like any good Monkey Ball game should, roll the ball to the goal! Monkey Race, which looks like a poor mans’ ‘Sega All-Star Racing’ and Monkey Fight, which has more than a passing resemblance to Super Smash Bros.
This trailer highlights the gameplay found in Monkey Fight mode, which looks much better than Monkey Race. Still, is it really too much to ask for the fun gameplay of ‘Monkey Fight’ from Super Monkey Ball Deluxe?
[Get into the beta: Sign up here! All gone!]
I’ve spent the last two days playing ‘Spiral Knights’, Published by Sega and developed by Three Rings (of Puzzle Pirates fame) Spiral Knights is a free MMO-Action game which plays in a similar way to Phantasy Star Online.
Based on what I have played so far the game is a very enjoyable experience. It’s quite easy to get into and understand what’s going on, right off the bat. Unlike many MMO’s where you can often find yourself bogged down with fetch quests, waiting ages for people to play with and hundreds of items to sift through, Spiral Knights is light on all of that nonsense.
Mush like PSO you can hop in and out at any time and find a party in moments of logging in.
Update 3: March 16th 2011
Things appear to be headed from bad to worse with Japan with the looming threat of a nuclear meltdown. Sonic Stadium has revealed that Sonic games on the iPhone are also part of the revenue donation for earth quake relief.
We’ve all seen the devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake, tsunami and the ongoing nuclear worries. Many companies have felt the effects, not least Sega, who have donated a considerable amout of money to the recovery efforts. In this article I will cover all of the Sega related infomation we have linked to the earthquake.
Donations:
Sega have been extremely generous when it comes to donations from both sides of the pond.
-Sega Japan is donating 200 million yen to support recovery efforts. That is approximately £1,542,827 GBP or $2,481,722 USD.
-Sega Europe and Sports Interactive have donated all of their revenue from the Football Manager app starting from last Friday for the next 7 days to the disaster relief funds in Japan.
-Sega America will donate all proceeds from Sonic iOS titles to the Red Cross disaster relief funds in Japan.
As an added incentive Sega have even lowered the price of the Sonic iOS games for this week, there is simply no excuse not to go get them right now!
Find out more after the jump:
Check out this launch trailer for Shogun 2, it’s a fantastic trailer that highlights some great battle scenes, the fantastic graphics and some choice quotes from critics.
Total War: Shogun 2 is out now!
Today Sega has officially announced ‘Spiral Knights’ a free-to-play MMO action game heavily based on Co-Op dungeon crawling and puzzle solving and apparently has very little grinding. The game also has real time action and not the boring monotonous ‘target and watch’ game play of most MMORPGs. Graphically the game looks quite sharp, colourful and cartoony, right up my street!
I suspect the game will use in-game shops where players can buy new clothes, items and weapons for real money; this is what will pay for the up keep of the server and has become a very popular business model for MMORPGs in recent years.
You can also play the game before release by heading over to the games official website HERE!
Over to Sega community manager Edward for more details;
“Spiral Knights is a brand new, totally free-to-play online multiplayer game developed by the excellent craftsmen who brought you Puzzle Pirates. The game debuts soon — it’s available for download this April 4th. A constantly changing world with a deep story, Spiral Knights is heavy on teamwork and creativity, and short on typical MMO-style grinding.”
Looks quite cool and as it is free I’ll probably try it out!
Here is a new trailer for Super Monkey Ball 3DS, the trailer shows off the main game and its control scheme. In all honesty the game looks quite fun, bright, and has the same addictive Monkey Ball game play I’ve always loved.
But I really, really hope there is an option to take down those red safety bars that appear in the levels… There is nothing worse than this series being toned down and made too easy for us older fans that look for a bit of challenge in our Monkey Ball ventures.
I’m still a bit disappointed that Monkey Target didn’t make it into the party game selection, but looking at how they changed Monkey Fight and Monkey Race I’m not sure I’d want it after all…
Are you a fan of Yu Suzuki? Of course you are! Well this video is for you.
This is the GDC career retrospective of Yu Suzuki and it’s translated into English. Full of great information regarding Suzuki’s long career with Sega and the ground breaking, revolutionary games he has created over the years including OutRun, Virtua Fighter and Shenmue amongst others.
I’m sure you’ll agree, this man is a legend.
Here is a fantastic trailer showing off the new multiplayer features of Shogun 2 in full detail. Learn how to play the new MMO-like persistent world game, join clans and customize your general. The game looks truly awesome.
Usually at Segabits we would stay clear of critic bashing but I really feel this needs to be said.
This is of course in regards to the review score Greg Miller of IGN has just given Yakuza 4 (6.5/10).
Just about everyone who has played the Japanese version of the game, be it the Japanese people I’ve spoken to about it or the Westerners who have imported the game, seem to all agree that Yakuza 4 is one of the best games in the series yet. On the other side of the coin, it’s generally agreed by most fans that Yakuza 3 was the weakest installment in the series so far with a very slow start with its baby sitting children and rather monotonous fetch quests making up the first quarter of the game.
However not Greg Miller it seems, who, throughout his review, speaks about how much he enjoyed Yakuza 3’s story and, even more jarring, how Yakuza 4 has a weak story which seems to contradict what every other Yakuza fan has said.
Hit the jump for MORE!
Here is a crazy cross over I never saw happening! Sega have announced a Shogun 2 and Team Fortress 2 cross over to promote the release of Shogun 2 on steam.
This cross over comes in the form of eight in-game items for Valve’s online FPS, Team Fortress 2.
The items will be made available as an exclusive pre-purchase bonus for Steam gamers and also as a separate TF2 item pack. If you’ve already pre-purchased Total War: Shogun 2 on Steam or you do so before release and own TF2, you’ll automatically gain access to these unique items.
Hit the jump for the press release and screens of said items.
Here’s a very Japanese advert if I ever saw one! The lengthy advert highlights the three game play modes featured in Super Monkey Ball 3D.
The Classic Super Monkey Ball game play which we all know and love. Monkey Race which is a bit of a Mario Kart knock off and Monkey Fight, which is a bit of a Smash Bros knock off… Yeah.
Why they felt they needed to change Race and Fight from the frankly great fun party games they were in Super Monkey Ball Deluxe is beyond me but even more strange in my opinion is the omission of Monkey Target, easily the best party game the series ever had. Oh well, maybe next time.
Some of the lead members of the Total War creation process discuss how they have improved their games over the years, focusing mainly on the changes they brought to the table in the highly controversial Empires game which was the first game to add real time naval battles.
Then the go onto discuss some of their favorite moments in the series, personally mine is simply watching a barrage of fire arrows fill the sky from the safety of my castle wall and rain down on the siege army in a blaze of glory… Mmm fire arrows.
With the release of Phantasy Star Portable 2:Infinity in Japan (today) also comes news of the minimum requirements needed for the Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha Test.
Some lucky people who get a hold of the initial shipment of PSP2:I will also receive a code inside their game case. Others who subscribe to PSO:BB and PSU in Japan can receive the code though e-mail. These people can register their code right now at http://pso2.jp/alpha.
You will need to register for a SEGA ID then use the code to log in by pressing the alpha test button in blue.
Hit the jump for the all important Minimum Requirements,