Author Archives: Ben

Like skating!? Like Sonic?! Looks like SEGA has the event for you.

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Venice Beach, CA (one of the coolest places ever) is going to be hosting Sonic Generations Of Skate, an event which will feature 3 generations of pro skaters (including Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero) as they compete for prizes in vert-style competitions. Said to take place throughout what SEGA’s calling “a Sonic-themed day,” attendees will have the opportunity to play Sonic Generations, as well as the chance to, of course, skate, both in open skating sessions as well as in Skate Clinics, where those who sign up will have the opportunity to gain skating tips from various experts. You can order your tickets either for the open skate sessions or the Skate Clinics here, though space is limited and tickets are going fast.

“ASA is always trying to develop events with unique formats and fresh concepts that bring something new to the table— both for the skaters and the crowd. SEGA really understood that mentality and is a tremendous partner for this event. They have such a great history of setting trends in their own industry, as proven by Sonic the Hedgehog reaching his 20th anniversary this year.”

-Rick Bratman, CEO of ASA Entertainment.

Sonic Generations of Skate is set to take place on Saturday October 22nd. Don’t live in Cali? You’ll have the opportunity to catch the event on Fox Sports Network Friday, November 25th.

[Source: Sega Blog]

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New TGS trailer for Anarchy Reigns

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Check out the latest trailer for Platinum Games’ upcoming Anarchy Reigns. This one’s more story-driven, though I think SEGA should really consider releasing a demo one day soon.

Game releases early next year.

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Editorial: Great DC games that most people hated

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Today celebrates the North American launch of the Sega Dreamcast. Hard to believe that it really has been 12 years, but it was on September 9th, 1999 when SEGA’s final console had its North American release, and the gaming landscape arguably hasn’t been the same since.

There are of course many ways that I can, as a writer for a SEGA-driven website, choose to honor the system. In the end, though, I’ve decided to shed some light on Dreamcast games that don’t often make any lists, that aren’t looked back fondly upon, that will likley divide up even people who read this editorial. But these are games that were not met with warm reception, even back in the day, but that I loved anyway. Someone’s gotta remember them, right?

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New Shinobi 3DS Trailer: Evil Rises

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Check out this new footage from the upcoming Shinobi title. I have to say, not a bad trailer. Visually it definitely leans more on the level of the DS than the 3DS: a wasted opportunity to do something special with the franchise revival from a graphics standpoint. That said, I can’t deny that it features a pretty cool art style with what looks like some stylish story sequences.

Shinobi 3DS will be available in November exclusively for Nintendo’s 3D handheld.

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Sega Blog posts Q&A with Rise of Nightmares developers

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Today saw the release of Rise of Nightmares in North America, and to help satisfy our craving for zombie craziness, SEGA has posted an interview with the game’s producer and director (Satoshi Ito and Ryuta Ueda, respectively) to their blog. The interview covers a wide range of topics, such as those discussing the target audience, the aims of the development team, the game’s lack of firearms, the composition of the music, as well as the title’s similarities to House of the Dead.

Rise of Nightmares is being created by the team behind House of the Dead, what similarities can we expect?

Ito: Actually, I’m the only one in the Rise of Nightmares team who used to be a member of the House of the Dead team, and I worked for the first original House of the Dead title. As for “similarities” with House of the Dead, there are lots they have in common; such as: having the player stand while gameplay, first-person view, and life-size zombies are coming closer, but the major similarity is that developing a Kinect title is much alike with developing an arcade game (AC), which is one of SEGA ‘s greatest talent. When developing a new title for AC, we usually think about what to carry (or to ride on), where to place the buttons, and how to play the game. At the first phase of House of the Dead development, we have tested various things like implementing a mechanic where the player can kick by pedaling. House of the Dead has ultimately turned out to be a simple game, but we have made use of those trial-and-error experiences for this title.

The rest of the interview can be found at Sega.com.

The game comes out in Europe on Friday September 9th.

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Big announcement from Nagoshi incoming?

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Toshihiro Nagoshi certainly seems to be busy these days. He’s currently hard at work on his new IP, Binary Domain, which is set to launch in early 2012. But that’s not all; Andriasang’s reporting that Nagoshi will be making a big announcement on August 31st during a press conference, which you’ll apparently be able to view here…somewhere. Stay tuned.

[Source: Andriasang]

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Valkyria Chronicles 3: Extra Edition looking more likely

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As we recently reported, rumors are swirling about a Valkyria Chronicles-related announcement at the upcoming TGS due to a small tease on SEGA’s website. Well, from the looks of it, the secret may have been spoiled a little early. Japanese retailer Game Star has listed a Valkyria Chronicles: Extra Edition for a November 23rd release date, making it look incredibly likely that a budget-priced Valkyria Chronicles 3 is indeed on the way to Japanese PSPs.

While Western gamers may gain some hope from the idea that SEGA is not yet done with Valkyria Chronicles 3, no North American or European release has thusfar been announced for the title. Time will tell if that remains true for Extra Edition.

[Source: Andriasang]

Update: It is now being reported that SEGA will be re-releasing….the re-release of Valkyria Chronicles 2 as well, now for an even lower price of 1,890 yen. According to the same retailer, both these low-priced versions will be released on November 23rd.

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New Aliens: Colonial Marines images surface at GamesCom

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Now, here’s a game that continues to look promising. The long-awaited result of the partnership between SEGA and Gearbox remains a mystery in a lot of ways, but the snippets of information that we continue to receive certainly paint a promising picture. Check out these fresh new screens at the jump as you whet your appetite for the game’s eventual release (PS3, 360, Wii U, and PC) in 2012.

[Source: AVP Galaxy]

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GamesCom: New Binary Domain screens

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It wouldn’t be a SEGA showing at GamesCom without some new screens, right? Check out the latest images from Toshihiro Nagoshi’s upcoming new IP, Binary Domain. As someone who has been critical of the game’s visuals, I’m happy to report that these screens look a lot nicer (to me, anyway) than what we’ve seen so far: here’s hoping that this applies to when the game’s in motion as well.

[Source: Playstationlifestyle]

Check out all the new screens after the break.

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SEGA releases humorous and violent Rise of Nightmares trailer

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Check out this trailer, courtesy of Gamespot, for SEGA’s upcoming Kinect bloodbath, Rise of Nightmares. I’ve got to give credit where credit is due; this game definitely stands out from the rest of the Kinect lineup. Rise of Nightmares will be releasing September 6th exclusively for the Kinect. How well (or not) it ends up selling on the family-friendly device should be interesting indeed.

[Source: Sega Neptune]

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Toshihiro Nagoshi shows support for Suda 51’s next game

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Grasshopper Manufacture head/creative director Suda 51’s next project was revealed a couple of weeks back, and it has been attracting lots of attention. Called Lollipop Chainsaw, the game looks to be as crazy and over-the-top as Suda 51’s past releases, though this time he’ll have the help of James Gunn, who wrote the Dawn of the Dead remake a few years back, in the story department.

What makes this news Segabits worthy though is the interesting appearance of none other than SEGA’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, (Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball) who was on hand at a recent press event to voice his support for the title, praising Suda 51 for his “aggressive” games and his focus on creating new IP.

I’ve long thought that SEGA missed the boat by not opting to pick up the original No More Heroes for publishing a few years back, as Suda 51 seems in a lot of ways to embody the crazy spirit that SEGA’s games were known for back in the Dreamcast era. Lollipop Chainsaw will be published in Western territories by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (the recent Mortal Kombat game) who claim to want to expand Grasshopper Manufactures’ audience beyond its current fanbase. Here’s hoping for some success, Japan could use more successful new IP.

[Source: Andriasing]

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SEGA Sequel Saturdays: What is Anarchy Reigns?

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We’re at Episode 25 of SEGA Sequel Saturdays, and for this edition I’m compelled to ask a simple question: what the heck is Anarchy Reigns? Though SEGA has, from the start, released a relatively consistent stream of footage and tidbits of into, I can’t shake the feeling that I have no idea what the game is going to be, and each new bit of footage or information we receive has the effect of confusing me more and more. To be fair to SEGA, the game’s not planned for release until January 2012, which means we’re still a long way off, but today I’m asking a couple of questions that I really want to have answered, in some form, for me to ultimately decide whether I’m excited for this game or not.

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SEGA declared Japan’s #1 publisher for June

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Famitsu, with data from Gamespot Asia, has announced that SEGA’s video game sales accounted for 20.9% of all Japanese publisher revenue for the month of June, making SEGA June’s #1 publisher in Japan. This was accomplished mostly due to their recent hit Yakuza: Of the End, the zombie-shooting iteration of the popular (over there) Yakuza franchise, which has sold 376,000 copies so far.

The rankings are as follows:

1. Sega – 20.9
2. Nintendo – 14.8
3. Level-5 – 9.1
4. Namco Bandai Games – 8.6
5. Gust – 5.5
6. Capcom
7. Konami
8. Kadokawa Shoten
9. 5pb.
10. Tecmo Koei

[Source; Famitsu via VGchartz.com]

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