Author Archives: Barry

Aaron Webber leaves SEGA of America

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Today we learned the sad news that one of SEGA of America’s greats, Aaron Webber also known as Ruby Eclipse, will be leaving SEGA of America. SEGAbits and Sonic Retro staff were speculating that such news would hit (yes, this is what we do in our private chats, talk about Aaron, that’s how much we love him) when Aaron tweeted that his return flight from this year’s E3 Sonic Revolution was “The final trip!”. Sonic Boom Producer Stephen Frost also dedicated a White Castle meal to Aaron, tweeting “Here’s to good times and an awesome future”.

All of us at SEGAbits and Sonic Retro wish Aaron all the best, and we will cherish all the good times we shared. Oh, and Aaron? Let’s play a game of Spiral Knights or PSO2 soon.

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SEGAbits Plays Episode #2: Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, and Donald Duck SEGA Pico games

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SEGAbits Plays is back with another live stream of SEGA Pico games! While episode #0 played several licensed games, this time we’re focusing on Tails and the Music Maker, Sonic the Hedgehog’s Gameworld (the Japanese import and the American version) as well as a very special playthrough of Fishing Pico – Donald no Adventure. Yes, the SEGA Pico had a fishing controller. Joining Barry in this two hour Pico party is Sonic Retro’s Bartman. Keep your eyes peeled for Sonic recolors and an excessively gory drawing of Plucky Duck.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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Visual Memories: Digging through Sonic Adventure & Sonic Adventure 2’s DLC

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We’ve said it time and time again here at SEGAbits: the Dreamcast was an incredibly innovative console! Back in the late 90’s, Dreamcast owners could hop online via their console to surf the web and download various things to their VMU including free DLC. That’s right, not only did SEGA offer DLC in the late 90’s, it was free! Continuing our Sonic 23rd birthday celebrations, Liam aka TrackerTD of our This Is Saturn YouTube series put together this great showcase of most of the DLC offered in Sonic Adventure & Sonic Adventure 2. Celebrate New Years, the Dreamcast launch, Halloween, and more in the many fun additions made to these memorable Sonic titles.

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SEGAbits, The Sonic Stadium, & Sonic Retro team up to celebrate Sonic’s golden birthday – party all week long!

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Twenty-three years ago today, SEGA changed the future of video games with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, and to celebrate Sonic’s golden birthday (that’s when your age matches your birthdate) we’re teaming up with The Sonic Stadium and Sonic Retro. All week long, all three sites will form Team SegaSonic, bringing you Sonic the Hedgehog articles, original content, videos, streams, and more from today through to the 29th! Also, as part of the celebrations, we’ll be hosting a panel with Sonic Retro at Too Many Games in Oaks, PA on Saturday the 28th at noon – featuring a Dreamcast round table, a My Life with SEGA episode premiere, the history of Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Hidden Palace Zone, and a trivia contest with rare SEGA prizes including The House of the Dead 3 & 4 posters signed by series director Takashi Oda. There will also be several Sonic prizes on hand.

Readers can join in on the celebrations as well! All you have to do is follow SEGAbits, The Sonic Stadium, and Sonic Retro on Twitter and share your Sonic the Hedgehog photos and memories with the hashtag #Sonic23on23. The best tweets will be retweeted and shared to over 11,000 SEGA and Sonic fans, and we all know that in today’s world nothing is more rewarding than a retweet.

Happy Birthday, Sonic! The party has just begun!

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Sonic Dash for Android features two new racers – the Android Robot and Andronic

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SEGA has teamed up with Google Play for an Android exclusive addition to Sonic Dash. For a limited time, players can race as the Android Robot, and if players race well enough as him, they can permanently unlock a special Sonic Android Robot to race as dubbed (are you ready for this?) “Andronic”. Yup, Andronic is now a thing. Watch your back, Tails Doll!

You can download Sonic Dash for free from the Google Play store, and act fast if you want to play as the two new characters because as mentioned, they’re for a limited time!

Update: For those wondering how to unlock Andronic, the Google Play page says: “Choose to play as the Android Robot on the Character Select screen 50 times before the event is over to unlock a very unique and exclusive character for you to play as.”

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SEGAbits at E3 Interview: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd Interview with Producer Sam Mullen

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Sam Mullen, Localization Producer for SEGA, joined us for an interview at E3 2014 to discuss Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd and our hopes for future Western releases of SEGA’s Japanese titles. Hatsune Miku Project Diva f 2nd is due out Fall 2014 for the Playstation 3 and Vita. We’re especially looking forward to the title, as we gave the original game for the Vita a well deserved “A” grade.

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SEGAbits at E3: A Tour of the SEGA Booth

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Let’s take a first person walkthrough SEGA’s booth at E3 2014! On the way, we’ll encounter SEGAbits/The Sonic Stadium writer Shigs playing Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Wii U, check out the Sonic Boom, Hatsune Miku, and Alien: Isolation booths. We even run into SEGA of America Community Manager Julian Mehlfeld for the shortest SEGA interview ever. Enjoy!

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SEGAbits at E3 Interview: Sonic Boom Producer Stephen Frost

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Our E3 coverage continues with an interview with Sonic Boom Producer Stephen Frost! Stephen was nice enough to sit down on the final day of the expo to answer our questions about the upcoming Wii U and 3DS games Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. Developed by Big Red Button Entertainment (Wii U) and Sanzaru Games (3DS), both titles are due out November 2014.

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Sonic Boom games heading to Japan, retitled “Sonic Toon”

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It looks like SEGA has reversed their decision to keep Sonic Boom as a Western-only series, as Nintendo Everything reports, the latest issue of Famitsu revealed that the Wii U and 3DS titles will be releasing in Japan under the name of Sonic Toon. No word on whether the TV series will also see release in Japan, but given the new title of Sonic Toon it is possible that the TV show will also be localized and the whole franchise is to be seen as a cartoonish Western branch of the series in Japan. Hey SEGA, as long as you’re sending games Japan’s way, why not localize some of the Japanese SEGA titles for us Westerners, we can consider it a trade.

More news on Sonic Boom Toon as we hear it!

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Sony and SEGA to team up for a series of Sonic the Hedgehog movies, films to be animated by Marza Animation Planet

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The Hollywood Reporter has dropped a bombshell on Sonic fans by way of the announcement of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie! The film is reported to be a partnership between Sony Pictures Entertainment and SEGA, with animation handled by SEGA’s own Marza Animation Planet (of Night of the Werehog fame). The movie is described as “a hybrid CG-animated/live-action feature” is to be produced by Neal Moritz (22 Jump Street), Takeshi Ito and Mie Onishi of Marza, and executive produced by Toby Ascher with a screenplay written by Upright Citizens Brigade alums Evan Susser and Van Robichaux. Sonic and Eggman are the only confirmed characters thus far. Columbia Pictures president of production Hannah Minghella said “There are limitless stories to tell with a character like Sonic the Hedgehog and a built-in international fan base. Along with our wonderful creative partners at Marza, we’re looking to capture everything that generations of fans know and love about Sonic while also growing his audience wider than ever before.” Marza CEO Masanao Maeda added, “Sonic has had dozens of adventures on the console and the small screen, and we’re thrilled that he’s now coming to the big screen. Sony Pictures has had great success with hybrid animated and live-action features, and we’re confident that this collaboration will bring a fresh take to Sonic, while still capturing everything that the fans love about him.”

We’ll share more info as soon as we hear it!

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SEGA releases new screens and a trailer for Alien: Isolation

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The Alien: Isolation news continues to pour in, as SEGA has released five new screens and a trailer dubbed “Survive”, just in time for E3. The trailer, which can be seen here, highlights the game’s survival gameplay and creepy atmosphere. The fire effects are looking phenomenal, and the game itself is shaping up to be very true to the original film. Expect our hands-on impressions and a developer interview soon as we continue to report live from E3.

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Alien: Isolation developer interview highlights a new time challenge mode

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Game Trailers have uploaded an E3 developer interview featuring The Creative Assembly’s Alistair Hope answering questions during in-game footage of the upcoming Alien: Isolation. Hope highlights the game’s lonely atmosphere, the emphasis on survival and puzzles, and reveals a new time challenge mode. The game is looking great thus far, and those who fear another Aliens: Colonial Marines need only to watch the footage and remember that this is an internally developed SEGA title, not another Gearbox Software effort.

SEGAbits writers will be hitting the show floor of E3 today, playing Alien: Isolation and interviewing the developers, so expect our own impressions soon!

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Sonic Jump Fever releasing to iOS and Android soon – check out the announcement trailer!

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SEGA has released a trailer for Sonic Jump Fever, a sequel to Hardlight Studio’s Sonic Jump, which was in turn a remake of a 2005 mobile title. Sonic Jump Fever had received a soft launch in Canada this past April to test the game, and it appears all went to plan as the game is set to release to other territories soon! The game’s description is as follows: “Prepare to feel the FEVER in an explosive race against the clock! Join Sonic and friends in high-speed bursts of vertical jumping mayhem. Play for free and rack up huge combos to blast past your friends’ high scores. Use boosters, upgrades, unique character abilities and Chao pets to maximize your score. Then kick your game into overdrive with Fever Mode and hit the top of the Leaderboard! With brand new levels and leaderboards every week, the challenge never ends!”

SEGAbits will be attending a VIP mobile event this week which will showcase SEGA’s mobile offerings including Sonic Jump Fever, so expect hands-on impressions soon!

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SEGAbits at E3 2014 coverage begins – previews and interviews from the show floor coming soon

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Another Electronic Entertainment Expo is upon us, and once again SEGAbits is attending on location at the Los Angeles Convention center to bring you previews of the latest SEGA games and interviews with the people behind them! No secondhand reporting here. This year, SEGA has a small but highly unique assortment of games on display which we’ll be playing and talking about as the week goes on. At the SEGA booth are Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (Wii U), Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (3DS), Alien: Isolation (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, PC), and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd (PS3, Vita, PSN). We’ll also be covering Bayonetta 2 (Wii U), which will likely be on display at the Nintendo booth.

SEGA’s recent acquisition Atlus will also be receiving coverage from us, with Atlus showing off Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3/360), Persona Q (3DS), Persona 4: Dancing All Night (PS Vita), Abyss Odyssey (PC, PS3, 360), Citizens of Earth (3DS, Wii U, PC, PS Vita, PS4) and an unannounced Title (PC, PS Vita, PS4). In addition to all of that, we’ll be attending a VIP event held by SEGA’s mobile division where we’ll be playing and talking to the developers of the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog, Crazy Taxi, and Super Monkey Ball mobile games.

You can view all of our E3 coverage here throughout the week, and you can find live updates on our Twitter and Facebook accounts. We also have a live from E3 podcast in the works, which we plan to release during the show. The countdown is over, welcome to E3 2014!

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Classic SEGA Ads: SEGA challenges you with After Burner for the Master System!

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Wake up and check out this crazy SEGA commercial from 1988, advertising After Burner for the SEGA Master System. As most video game ads from the era tend to do, a young boy is transported from his living room to being behind the controls of an F-14 Tomcat. After flashing a thumbs up to the camera, the boy blasts off into the pixelated blue skies, taking on enemy fighters. However instead of looking outside the windows, he is playing After Burner inside the fighter jet (cue the “yo dawg i heard you like” meme). The announcer excitedly tells players that they can execute battle rolls, nose dives, supersonic speed (5 years before Sonic the Hedgehog!), and radar lock-on. The boy then, in his best impression of an action star delivering a death blow quip, says “your turn to burn!”. The ad ends with a tagline rarely reapeated nowadays, but it sure is fantastic: “SEGA: The Challenge Will Always Be There.” – emphasis on “Aaalways”, thanks to the narrator.

Overall, this is amazing ad! Fun effects work, lots of gameplay footage and music despite the real world setting of the boy in the fighter jet, and that ending tagline is just so damn strong. I think “The Challenge Will Always Be There.” deserves a comeback, don’t you?

After the break, see how SEGA of Japan advertised After Burner for the SEGA Mark III!

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