Author Archives: Barry

Sonic’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Test Flight

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Thanksgiving may be three weeks away, but folks are already at work preparing for the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. A cool video surfaced showing the kick-off of the balloon handlers practicing. There are lots of shout outs to Sonic’s 20th anniversary, as well as a fun little “let’s hear it for Sonic!” at the end. This sort of stuff gives me that warm fuzzy feeling last felt in 1993 when Sonic appeared in the parade. Though let’s hope the hedgehog doesn’t pop like he did back then.

[Source: FOX New York]

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Arts & Crafts: Make your own Sonic Generations Genesis box!

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Back in late 2010 I put together a nifty Sonic the Hedgehog 4 mock Genesis box complete with cover art, a cartridge sticker and a fake instruction manual. The project was a mini labor of love for both retro Genesis box designs and my favorite SEGA franchise. Today, as Sonic Generations releases, I’m happy to present another Genesis box design, this time for Sonic Generations. I figured, as the series focuses on both modern and classic, it would be fitting to provide a classic version of the game case. As the actual Generations cases for 360 and PS3 tout 3D support, I thought I’d throw Master System fans a bone and added the “SegaScope 3-D” logo to the case.

Let’s get started! Click here for files and printing instructions!

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Time Eater Pumpkin Says: “Happy Halloween from SEGAbits!”

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Happy Halloween! To celebrate the release of Sonic Generations, I thought it would be fitting to carve a Time Eater pumpkin (code name: Peter Peter Pumpkin Time Eater). I carved this baby up over the weekend, during a very bizarre east coast snow storm. Fitting that the city was covered in white the same day that I carved a Time Eater. I’m kicking myself now for not taking a photo of it in the snow, but if I come across a time hole, I’ll make sure to jump back to Saturday to snap the photo. You can’t see it so well in the above shot, but I carved the lid in the shape of a clock gear. After the break, more Time Eater Pumpkin photos!

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SEGAbits Halloween Playlist

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Believe it or not, the day before Sonic Generations releases there’s a little holiday going on called Halloween. Everybody has their own Halloween traditions, mine focus on pumpkin carving and scary movies. This year I thought I’d mix things up by throwing video games into the mix, specifically five games with a Halloween slant, each played on a different SEGA console. What follows are the five games I’ll be playing over the Halloweekend, and I hope if you have any of them you’ll revisit them as well.

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SEGA in the Media: “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” doesn’t have SEGA

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With the Jurassic Park trilogy releasing on blu-ray this week, I thought it would be a fitting time to highlight a nod to SEGA in the second film “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”. An actual SEGA console does not appear, but our beloved gaming company does get a mention in the dialogue. While preparing to leave for another island filled with dinosaurs, Ian Malcolm is trying to persuade his daughter to go and stay with a friend of his. Unfortunately, she doesn’t want to go for a number of reasons, but the main one is that the woman “doesn’t have SEGA”. To quote Muldoon from the first film: “Clever girl.” Interestingly, I did not find this line of dialogue in the film’s script, so it looks like it was something added on the day of shooting. Perhaps Spielberg wanted to infuse a real world issue a kid would have, and staying with somebody who doesn’t have a SEGA is a great reason to not want to go. Perhaps they should get the girl a Game Gear or a Nomad?

Hear the audio of the scene here, or listen below in the embedded player:

She Doesn’t Have Sega. She’s Such a Troglodyte

Speaking of SEGA and Jurassic Park, head on over to our forums to discuss the many Jurassic Park games found on SEGA consoles.

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New Speed Highway Screens Go Up and Down and All Around

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Six days to go until Sonic Generations arrives! In the meantime, enjoy these new screens of the rarely seen Speed Highway while your digital copy of Daytona USA downloads. The screens come courtesy of Famitsu, and show not only the remade Sonic Adventure stage, but also the Sonic and Shadow race plus more screens on the 3DS stage Radical Highway. You’ll note that the above screen seems to be taking place at dawn. Could that mean… at dawn concludes the stage? Also, nearly every Speed Highway screen features a fan service sign somewhere in the background. One screen in particular, you’ll know it when you see it, name drops just about every Sonic character in a cluster of road signs. Pretty funny stuff.

UPDATE: See high res versions of the screens here.

[Source: Famitsu]

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Sonic Generations Original Stage Review

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With less than a week to go ’til Sonic Generations, I thought it would be fun to take a leap back and run through the original stages featured in Generations. What made the original stages so memorable? Are they a fitting choice for representation of the game they originally appeared in? Were there better choices that could have been made? Those questions and more will be explored after the break!

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Sonic Generations Early Reviews and More!

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With the release just a week away, early reviews are beginning to roll in for Sonic Generations. Thanks to members of Sonic Stadium’s forums, reviews are being compiled and new details from the game are being revealed. Before we get to the reviews, I thought this was an interesting tidbit: Iizuka revealed at Paris Games Week that the original Sonic the Hedgehog will be an unlockable in Generations. As long as the emulation is perfect, I’m all for adding a ninth copy of the game to my collection.

As for early reviews, the Germans have gotten their hands on the finished game. Videogameszone.de rated the game an 85/100 while the magazine 360 Live rated the game a similar 8.5/10. Very respectable scores! After the break, details from the two reviews.

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The Weekly Five: I’m Lovin’ Modern Sonic

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The second Sonic Generations demo is out, and with it comes the first public demo of modern Sonic! Of course, we’ve had hours of footage and pages and pages of modern Sonic impressions. But none of that compares to actually playing the game. Having finally played the demo, I can happily say that modern Sonic is the best the 3D ‘hog has played in the HD era. Perhaps only being rivaled by the 3D Sonic of the Adventure titles. To celebrate Sonic’s return to form, let’s look at five reasons I’m lovin’ modern Sonic!

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Smithsonian’s The Art of Video Games exhibit to feature original SEGA art!

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Via a recent email update, it has been revealed that the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibit The Art of Video Games will include original concept art from the games featured. While the email doesn’t reveal much, it DOES feature a piece of original Sonic concept art showing off the interior of a blimp which I assume to be Flying Battery Zone. If that’s what they’re teasing, who knows what other pieces of SEGA art will appear! Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon and Phantasy Star are just some of the other SEGA franchises in the exhibition. Fingers crossed for some more original SEGA art! The exhibit opens in Washington, D.C. on March 16, 2012. I’m planning on going, who else is?

[Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum]

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The Weekly Five: Sonic Generations Classic Callbacks

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While Sonic Generations release is still a month away, thanks to the many screens and video clips released by SEGA, fans have been able to pick apart every pixel. Some screens feature road signs with in-jokes, while others feature references to classic Sonic stages from the Genesis/Mega Drive days. Yes, even though the game only features a handful of classic era zones, that hasn’t kept Sonic team from including callbacks to zones not featured in the game. In this week’s Weekly Five we’ll run through five of these way past cool references.

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Spoiler Alert: Giga.de Shows Insane Amounts of Sonic Generations

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Video contains a LOT of Generations footage:

While Sonic fans have been eagerly awaiting an IGN preview of Sonic Generations, only to learn that it had been pushed back due to SEGA extending the embargo, German gaming site Giga.de has gone all out with a near 30 minute video preview of Sonic Generations. Within the first minute viewers are introduced to the interactive menu, and I gotta say it looks fantastic. It actually reminds me of Kirby’s Epic Yarn in the way you traverse it. Also included are full playthroughs of many stages. So if you want to avoid spoilers, just watch the first few minutes for a taste of the menu and then click “stop”.

After the break, a list of observations. Of course, these venture into spoiler territory.

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Review: Rise of Nightmares

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Leave it to SEGA to be the first to dive in and attempt to offer something new and unique when it comes to a crazy peripheral like Microsoft’s Kinect. When the Kinect launched, SEGA released Sonic Free Riders. Free Riders was, in my opinion, an under-appreciated launch title that attempted to offer more than what other launch titles were offering. While Kinect Joy Ride and Adrenalin Misfits were pretty basic, and appealed to the family friendly party game crowd, Free Riders actually required skill and practice. The racer touted weapons that required a variety of actions to execute, different vehicles and stances and a number of hazards that again called for various actions to overcome. While not a perfect attempt, I applauded SEGA for what did work and for the boldness of attempting a Kinect title that featured so many methods of control. Now, SEGA returns to Kinect with Rise of Nightmares, a SEGA AM1 developed horror title which resembles SEGA’s famous The House of the Dead series. Like Free Riders, Rise of Nightmares puts a motion controlled spin on a well established genre (survival horror), promising a variety of weapons and actions as well as a Kinect first: body controlled free movement. Just how well did SEGA do? Read on!

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The Rest of the Dreamcast Collection Finally Announced for PSN and XBLA!

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Took them long enough, but SEGA has finally set a release date for the XBLA and PSN versions of Space Channel 5 Part 2 and SEGA Bass Fishing. Via the SEGA Blog, we now know that both titles will be released digitally on October 4th for PSN and October 5th for XBLA. Both titles, as well as Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi, have been available since February via the XBOX 360 disc release of The Dreamcast Collection. I reviewed it way back in March, rating it a B-. SEGA Bass Fishing is a fun and faithful port, but without the fishing controller it isn’t a “must play” game. Space Channel 5 Part 2, however, is an A+ release in my opinion. It’s a perfect port, widescreen support is very well implemented, and the game is a fantastic sequel brimming with catchy tunes and funky dancing. If you pick up one Dreamcast Collection game, make it Space Channel 5 Part 2.

By the way, wouldn’t the week of September 9th have made for a better release date?

[Source: SEGA Blog]

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