Author Archives: Barry

My Life with SEGA vs. Aliens vs. Predator

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The screaming continues on My Life with SEGA with Aliens vs. Predator for PlayStation 3. For the first time ever, I’m reviewing a current generation title on a non-SEGA console, based on the long-standing franchises from 20th Century Fox.

Both franchises have experienced their fair share of hardships. The Alien series was effectively derailed after the ill-conceived Alien 3 in 1992, while the Predator went dormant after the been-there-done-that reception of 1990’s Predator 2. In spite of this, the comic series published by Dark Horse comics has fairly well received since its conception. It has lived on in comics, novels, films and, of course, video games.

The first game based on the series appeared on Atari’s swan song, the Jaguar, and grew from there. Now, it has found its way to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, published by our beloved SEGA….

So, how does it stack up now that it has been cast into several bargain bins across the country with little reverence? Let’s find out! Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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Sonic Lost World official site reveals World names and Color Powers

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The official website for Sonic Lost World has expanded to reveal the names of the seven worlds featured in the game as well as the eight color powers players will be able to utilize. Interesting to note, the game looks to be going with the Mario naming convention of “Worlds” for the stages that have typically been labeled as “Zones” or “Action Stages” in past titles. Meanwhile, “Zone” replaces “Act”. We haven’t heard an official reason for this from SEGA, but my guess is that each “World” features very unique “Zones”. Frozen Factory, for example, has a snow stage and a casino stage. Both are very different, so they’re not so much different acts of the same Zone but are rather their own Zones in and of themselves. Confusing, but it makes sense if you think about it.

After the break, SPOILER ALERT, it’s the World names and Color Powers.

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My Life with SEGA Season 2 kicks off with Alien Trilogy: Revisited

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My Life with SEGA: Season 2 opens with a three-part episode detailing the Alien franchise, from Alien Trilogy on SEGA Saturn to Aliens vs. Predator on PS3, even Aliens: Colonial Marines. Ugh! I think I just vomited a little. In my pants.

Anyway, in this week’s episode, I’m revisiting Alien Trilogy. You may be thinking, “Jesus, what more does he have to say about it? Move on already!” Well, I wasn’t entirely happy with that video to begin with, and my feeling’s towards it have changed a bit since….2011? Good lord.

Without further ado, I give you Alien Trilogy: Revisited. Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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Sonic to return to television in the CG animated comedy series “Sonic Boom” – due out Fall 2014

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SEGA dropped a bombshell on the Sonic community today, announcing Sonic’s return to television with a CG animated comedy series tentatively titled Sonic Boom.

Sonic the Hedgehog, the iconic video game character who has brought his trademark speed and attitude to four TV series and more than 70 video games, is returning to television in his first-ever CG animated series in the fall 2014. The action packed comedy series aimed at children 6-11 will debut first on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on CANAL J and GULLI in France, with a global rollout to follow. The initial order of 52 eleven-minute episodes is co-produced by SEGA of America Inc. and Genao Productions.

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Contest: Enter “The Cave – Face Your Fears” on Facebook and Twitter to win The Cave swag!

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To celebrate the first of October, a date in which many shift their focus to things that go bump in the night, we’re kicking off a week long contest in which we’ll be giving away goodies from SEGA and Double Fine’s The Cave. Set to release to iOS on October 3rd, the iOS version of The Cave touts enhanced touchscreen controls. Up for grabs is a The Cave branded soft iPad case and a complete set of The Cave action figures. Two lucky winners will get their hands on these exclusive items, and the how to enter is simple:

To win the The Cave iPad case, follow us on Twitter and tweet us the answer to this question: “What is your greatest fear?” followed by the hashtag #SEGAbitsFYF

To win The Cave action figure set, like us on Facebook and reply to the cover photo image (simply click the cover photo and write a comment) with the answer to this question: “What is your greatest fear?”

We’re accepting entries until October 8th, so you have one week to enter. Winners will be selected based on their answer, so be creative!

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Interview: Ron Gilbert, industry legend and Director of The Cave

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Continuing our The Cave coverage, which we will hereby refer to as “The SEGAbits 2013 Cave In” (or not) we have an interview with Ron Gilbert provided to us by SEGA. Double Fine’s The Cave, available on several digital platforms and releasing to iOS on October 3rd with enhanced touchscreen controls, is an adventure game in the vein of the LucasArts classic Maniac Mansion. Ron Gilbert is the man behind many LucasArts classics as well as the The Cave.

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The Cave releasing to iOS on October 3rd

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SEGA has revealed that Double Fine’s The Cave will be available on October 3rd on the App Store for $4.99/£2.99/€4.49 for iOS devices. The Cave is an adventure game from Ron Gilbert, creator of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, and Double Fine Productions, the studio behind Psychonauts and Brütal Legend. In The Cave Players assemble a team of three from seven unique adventurers and then descend into the mysterious depths. The iOS release features new touch screen controls  to enhance the experience. If you’d like to learn more about the game, check out the official site or visit The Cave Facebook page. You can find Double Fine on Twitter and see gameplay footage and more at the Double Fine YouTube page.

Stay tuned to SEGAbits this week, as we’ve partnered with SEGA to bring you some cool The Cave content including a contest featuring Cave swag. Cwag?

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SEGA Five: How to be the best Dreamcast collector that you can be

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In celebration of Dreamcast month, the Friday Five is back! In this installment, I thought I’d share some collecting tips for both budding, and seasoned, Dreamcast collectors. Despite the Dreamcast’s short lifespan, the console has a vast library and a number of accessories. In total, there exist around seven hundred and twenty Dreamcast games, both licensed and unlicensed. Accessories range from various controllers, to keyboards, mice, lightguns, twinsticks, arcade sticks, cameras, and more! Suffice to say, collecting for the Dreamcast is a lot of fun.

Let’s kick off the list with one of the most important things a Dreamcast collector needs to remember…

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The Deadly Six featured in latest Sonic Lost World trailer, game delayed one week for America

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SEGA has offered up sort of a “choose-your-own-adventure” trailer which allows viewers to select each member of the Deadly Six and in turn view a short preview of the boss battles featured in Sonic Lost World. The trailer, seen above, highlights the various battles Sonic will take part in to reach whatever end boss Sonic Team has in store for players. Interestingly, it appears that the game will have sub-bosses and main bosses, sort of a throwback to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Eagle eyed viewers will notice that certain elements of boss battles carry over to background elements seen in later stages. Nice touch.

Unfortunately, there is some bad news. Fans have noticed that the American version of the trailer pushed the game’s release date back from October 22nd to the 29th.

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Check out the SEGAbits YouTube channel trailer – OutRun Edition

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To celebrate 150 uploads, nearly 1,000 subscribers, and a new addition to the SEGAbits YouTube channel team, we’ve created a special trailer showcasing all that our channel has to offer. “A new addition?”, I hear you ask? Yes, Tracker of TrackerTDGaming and Sonic Wrecks will be joining the SEGAbits team! His first contribution will be a new video series for the channel entitled “This Is Saturn” – a show that celebrates all things SEGA Saturn.

So OutRun, don’t walk, to to the SEGAbits YouTube channel and subscribe today if you haven’t already!

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SEGA in the Media: FOX’s “Dads” takes the Dreamcast hostage

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FOX’s live action sitcom Dads, from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, is one of the fall season’s worst shows reviews-wise. Perhaps the production crew knew they had a stinker on their hands and threw a Dreamcast into the set dressing. Hey, if it worked for The Drew Carey Show, it could work for them. The series follows two guys named Warner and Eli who are successful video game developers who are forced to have their fathers move in with them, thus explaining the Dreamcast sitting on Seth Green’s desk. Why a modern game developer would have so many pieces of 90’s era hardware on his work desk is unknown. Perhaps they’re indie Dreamcast developers? In any case, save yourself the trouble watching the show and just enjoy the image above.

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Update from “Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA ” author David Munoz

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We have an update from “Service Games: Rise and Fall of Sega ” author David Munoz, who we interviewed last month:

Hi everyone,

Good news: we have found our editor. I can’t go into specifics just yet, but all of you should be familiar with his work in one way or another. I have already seen some of the edited beginning and the increase in quality is night and day. Hopefully everyone agrees! This is your last chance to send in any edits before the text is finalized, so don’t delay if you know of things we may have missed.

We have a new timeline now. Hopefully way before this, but our plan is now to get everything to you guys before Christmas. This is obviously past our original date of this past August, but hopefully the extra additions and editing make up for it. As soon as we get the final text we will then send out the questionnaires. Print has the highest priority, followed by ebook. People who are waiting on a signed copy may not get their books before Christmas due to shipping times. If you are one of these people and you’d rather get it on time, please message or email me (servicegamessega at gmail.com) and we will refund you the difference and not sign them.

We are planning on launching the “hardback” only Kickstarter in January. This will give second-chance offers to everyone to get the color hardback editions, but will also help cover the added costs that all the delays accrued. We are planning on doing something special for backers of the original who want to back the new version, so stay tuned for that!

That’s it for news. Feel free to ask any questions and thanks for supporting this project… the end is in sight!

-David

After the break, check out a message from David, responding to comments posted on our interview with him.

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Help The Dreamcast Junkyard decide the top 200 Dreamcast games!

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SEGAbits partner site The Dreamcast Junkyard has set up a poll which includes every single Dreamcast game from all regions, including indie titles. The mission: to create a definitive top 200 list of the best Dreamcast games. If this sounds familiar, it’s because back in 2009, a top 100 list was created by The Dreamcast Junkyard using data collected from a similar poll. Given attitudes towards certain games have likely changed with time and rereleases, as well as the additions of new indie Dreamcast games to the console’s library, now it a good time as any to revisit and expand the list.

To contribute, simply head on over to the polling site and select every game that you would deem to be a worthy addition to a top 200 list. You can select as many as you’d like, and it is encouraged that you select a sizable amount. This is not a popularity contest for one specific title. It is a comparison of many (at the time of this writing, 100+) Dreamcast fan’s lists. Games that appear one more lists are the ones that are more likely to make it near the top. The poll runs until November 18th and the results will be revealed on November 27th, which is the Dreamcast’s 15 anniversary in Japan.

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SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show website opens, reveals game lineup

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SEGA of Japan has opened their 2013 Tokyo Game Show website, which reveals their game lineup for the show. Titles include Yakuza Ishin (PS3, PS4), Phantasy Star Online 2 (PC), Phantasy Star Nova (Vita), Hatsune Miku Project Mirai 2 (3DS), Hatsune Miku Project Diva-F 2nd (Vita, PS3), the recently revealed Puyo Puyo Tetris (PS3, Wii U, 3DS, Vita), Hero Bank (3DS) Song Set 575 (Vita), Lets make a Pro Soccer Club! (PS3, Vita), and Sonic Lost World (Wii U, 3DS). The site also offers a look at the SEGA booth, the show program, a list of swag being given out (probably my favorite page), and a shopping page where you’ll see a cute Sonic coffee mug and an awesome Mega Drive 25th anniversary shirt. Yet to be unlocked are movie and photo pages.

Tokyo Game Show begins September 19th, stay tuned to SEGAbits for more Tokyo Game Show news! After the break, check out some Puyo Puyo Tetris and Phantasy Star Nova screens from the SEGA TGS site.

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Review: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (XBLA)

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Before Sonic the Hedgehog, there was Mickey Mouse. In November 1990, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse released almost simultaneously in America, Europe, and Japan to the SEGA Genesis and Mega Drive consoles. At the time, the game was visually stunning, described in one video preview as “beautiful”, “brilliant” and continuing the tradition of Disney animation. On top of that, the platforming was brimming with inventive platforming elements accompanied by catchy, whimsical music. The game was great at the time, and replaying it in 2013 it is easy to see why it is deemed a platforming classic.

As far back as April of this year there were rumors that a remake was on the way, thanks to digital box art that had leaked. The idea of a Castle of Illusion remake really was an unexpected surprise. Sure the original is fantastic, but few fans were demanding a remake and even fewer fans ever expected SEGA to team with Disney to make it happen. But here we are, the summer is coming to an end, and we have a re-imagining of the SEGA classic. Was a remake really necessary, and does it maintain the magic that made the original so great?

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