Author Archives: Barry

Alien: Isolation pre-order content reunites the original film cast

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SEGA’s Alien: Isolation tease has been revealed, and it’s a big one! Fans (or anybody for that matter) who pre-order the game will receive exclusive DLC in the form of two bonus missions starring Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley), Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert), Harry Dean Stanton (Brett), Yaphet Kotto (Parker) and Ian Holm (Ash, likeness and sound-alike). The missions will place the player in two classic scenes from the movie, allowing fans to relive memories of the original Alien in the first person perspective. The content and the game will be released as the Nostromo Edition, which is a free upgrade for those who pre-ordered – so not unlike SEGA’s recent bonus editions. After the break, read the full press releases and check out a gallery of images from the DLC.

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Swingin’ Report Show #66: Interview with Roger Craig Smith, voice of Batman, Sonic the Hedgehog, and many more!

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This week on the Swingin’ Report Show, hosts Barry and George welcome a guest who has helped shape the sound of SEGA’s speedy mascot – Roger Craig Smith, voice actor of Sonic the Hedgehog! Roger is also well known for voicing Batman, Captain America, Chris Redfield, Ezio Auditore, and more. Recent projects include Batman: Arkham Origins which features the recently released “Cold, Cold Heart” DLC pack and SEGA’s Sonic Boom which spans video games and a television show which release later this year.

Join us as we talk with Roger about voicing Gotham’s Dark Knight and Green Hill’s Blue Blur. Roger also provides details on how he got into the business, and has some great advice for aspiring voice actors. Yes, we even asked him about his work on Valkyria Chronicles and his earliest work as Sonic at Alton Towers.

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Sonic Jump Fever releases worldwide Thursday, July 10th

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SEGA and Hardlight Studio’s followup to the mobile game Sonic Jump, Sonic Jump Fever, has been announced to be releasing worldwide on July 10th. The had a soft launch in Canada back in April, and we went hands-on with the game when we attended E3. From our experience, the game is faster paced and more frantic than Sonic Jump, and it has enough new elements (including Chao gardens!) to make it worth checking out if you enjoyed the original. The game is expected to be free-to-play, so it can’t hurt to download it when it releases in a few days.

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SEGA teasing “HUGE” Alien: Isolation news to be revealed this Wednesday

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The Alien: Isolation Twitter account has begun to tease a reveal for this Wednesday that they describe as “HUGE”. The above image was shared with the hint “Solve, seek and you shall find: http://www.youtube.com/______ ?”. Savvy fans scrambled the message to reveal a YouTube account titled “nostromoedition”. Could Wednesday’s tease be a Collector’s Edition of the game dubbed the Nostromo Edition?

The nostromoedition YouTube channel features a lone video titled “Are You Ready To Play?” and the description “Congratulations for unlocking this hidden Alien: Isolation video. As our Robot friend is telling you, the next reveal happens tomorrow -Tuesday, 8th July at 15:00 PM GMT. Come back and don’t miss out!”. The video itself features a screen from the game and the July 8th reveal time.

What could the reveal be? We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to learn more.

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SEGAbits at Too Many Games 2014 – “Surviving the Dreamcast Apocalypse” panel and more!

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SEGAbits made its very first convention appearance this year at TooManyGames in Oaks, PA. In addition to walking the convention floor, Barry the Nomad, Patrick aka Kori-Maru (Website of the Dead), David the Lurker (Sonic Retro) and A.J. Rosa (My Life with SEGA) held a panel discussing the life and death of SEGA’s swan song, the Dreamcast. The same panel also included a presentation from Sonic Retro, covering the history of Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Hidden Palace Zone – with rarely seen footage of Sonic 2‘s release and early efforts to remake the lost zone. We also met with several fellow SEGA fans, gave away a pile of rare SEGA swag, and did we mention the panel was standing room only? SEGAbits Does.

Also featured in this video is a convention walkthrough with the crew, and a one-on-one bout between Patrick and A.J.

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Swingin’ Report Show #65: TooManyGames 2014 Gaming Convention Wrap-Up

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Last week’s assault on TooManyGames in Oaks, PA was a big success! Our panel, “Surviving the Dreamcast Apocalypse: SEGA Fans in the 21st Century”, was packed to the point of standing room only. The panel itself went very well, with a great round table conversation about the Dreamcast’s demise and SEGA’s future, an exciting new episode of My Life with SEGA, a fascinating look at the behind-the-scenes of Sonic 2‘s Hidden Palace Zone, and tons of SEGA prizes. This week’s episode of the Swingin’ Report Show features Barry, A.J., and Kori-Maru’s thoughts on the convention, a bit of gloating about retro gaming purchases, and that awkward feeling of meeting people from the internet in person for the first time. Unfortunately for George, he wasn’t there, but he lives vicariously though us in our lively post convention wrap-up.

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Mega-Bit Kickstarter begins, features figures inspired by SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis cartridges

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A Kickstarter project officially licensed by SEGA began today, featuring SEGA Genesis inspired figures from Squid Kids Inc.’s So Analog line called Mega-Bit (“Mega-Bit”… I like the sound of that for some reason). In the past, So Analog had brought retro media like NES carts and audio cassette tapes to life, and the Mega-Bit line of figures continues this idea with SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges sporting arms, legs, and beady little eyes. While So Analog creator Nate Mitchell could have gotten away with a no name line of figures sporting Genesis-like labels, instead Nate went straight to SEGA and obtained the license to slap reproduction labels from classic SEGA Genesis games on the Mega-Bit line of figures. Since it’s a Kickstarter project, the line won’t see the light of day unless $30,000 is raised in the next 28 days.

To entice backers, rewards include a SEGA cartridge keychain, blank Mega-Bit figures for those DIY types ($30 level), exclusive figures featuring a callback to Nate’s first Kickstarter campaign and a Sonic the Hedgehog Not For Resale figure, non-exclusive figures featuring Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Altered Beast ($35 each), a Kickstarter exclusive SEGA Genesis 25th anniversary figure ($50), and several exclusive color variations of the previously mentioned figures as well as larger figure bundles ($50-$500). If you want more than one figure, there is also instructions on how to obtain them via pledging. Interested in backing the project? Head on over to the Kickstarter page today!

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Console Wars panel announced for San Diego Comic Con on Sunday, July 27th

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The official site for the Console Wars book has officially announced that a Console Wars panel will be taking place at San Diego Comic Con featuring SEGA and Nintendo all-stars Tom Kalinske (Sega of America), Al Nilsen (Sega of America), Bill White (Nintendo of America), and Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo of America), as well as Julian Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming Console Wars documentary alongside Console Wars author Blake J. Harris. The panel will be in Room 23ABC at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 27th and Blake will be signing copies of the book in the autographing area, table AA09, from 4 – 5 p.m.

And guess what? SEGAbits just might be attending, as we’ve obtained press passes for the convention! We’ll alert our readers on the social networks once we have our Comic Con plans finalized.

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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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