Author Archives: George

SEGA is interested hiring recently fired THQ employees

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THQ today announced that they will be closing two of its Australian studios, resulting in close to 200 people losing their jobs.
SEGA, who has been hiring recently for their Australian studios, have two positions open. Art Director and a Senior Engine Programmer are what they are looking for, but the studio has confirmed that they are talking to SEGA Executives about getting more positions filled.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of yet another great Australian developer, and are sorry to see THQ’s studios close their doors after so many years of game development. We will be speaking to the SEGA executives to explore our short term hiring strategy to reflect the sudden influx of talent in Australia. We hope to be able to announce the potential for taking on more staff soon.” – Marcus Fielding, Studio Director at SEGA Studios Australia

SEGA now owns the largest studio in Brisbane, SEGA Studios Australia. Now lets see if all the new talent will mean an amazing title!

[Source: MCV]

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Rise of Nightmares achievements hit the web

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Rise of Nightmare’s achievements hit the web, some of the achievements being creeper “Watcher” and others being typically what you expected “Iron Fist.”

There is one issue though, most of the big achievements are locked, so we won’t be able to see them till the game releases. Hit the jump to see the achievements.

Continue Reading ➜

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Renegade Ops joins new PSN program called “PSN Play”

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Sony just announced a new ‘annual’ program they will be launching called “PSN Play”. Basically if you pre-order a ‘PSN Play’ title, you will receive a free PSN theme. If you purchase the title before a date (this time around it’s September 19th) you will get a free piece of DLC for that game.

But, if you get all of the ‘PSN Play’ titles, you will get  a free unreleased game. This time around if you buy all four titles above by September 19th, you will get Payday: The Heist for free. If you have Playstation Plus, you get 20% off on top of that.  Do want. Renegade Ops is out September 13th on PSN.

[Source: Playstation.Blog]

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SEGA Australia gets new junior product manager

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SEGA Australia has a new junior product manager. Khiet Chu, who has 3 years of experience. He’s previously worked with Corporate Express Ltd as product coordinator.

“We are pleased to have Khiet on board and his passion for gaming and previous work experience will make him a strong addition to our team.” – Neroli Baird, marketing manager at SEGA Australia

It is good to see SEGA expand, especially in countries like Australia. Let’s hope they get more studios.

[Source: MCV]

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Swingin’ Report Show #15: Shark Week

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This is Shark week because Sharky returns on the podcast. Me and him sit down to talk about Binary Domain’s graphics, Sonic physics and much more. This podcast is not for one that is easily offended. Enjoy

[audio:http://www.segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/Swingin_Report_Show_15_Shark_Week.mp3]

[Download] [Archive]

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How to get an avatar to show up for your comments

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A few people have been asking me how did I get an avatar to show up in the comment section. Actually, I should have probably posted this awhile back, we are using a 3rd party site for this. Gravatar is a site that allows you to change your avatar and it work with other blogs (SEGA Blog, Sonic Stadium).

Steps:

  1. Go to www.gravatar.com
  2. Sign up (make sure you sign up with the e-mail you use to post here)
  3. Post away.
(Note: It takes awhile for your new avatar to show up)

Gravatar uses your e-mail to choose the avatar. So if you use the same e-mail on another wordpress blog, it will show the same avatar. So lets fill in those avatar spots, no excuses.

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Binary Domain gets a ton of new screens

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Most people seem to have a negative opinion of Binary Domain’s graphics, but to be honest, they aren’t bad. People have been saying it looks like Yakuza 3, so it’s bad. First of all Yakuza 3 does not have bad graphics and this title looks better than the Yakuza titles.
One of the first obvious improvements is the sharpness of the picture, Yakuza 3 (and 4) weren’t so sharp. Not only that, the textures look way better. If the areas are as big as those in the Yakuza games, this could be Nagoshi’s best looking title.

That is not saying that the title will be one of the best looking titles for 2012.

Continue Reading ➜

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Glu Mobile buys out Shinobi 3DS developer

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Glu Mobile is a mobile phone publisher known for putting out tons of licensed games for bigger publishers. They have done Call of Duty mobile games, Transformers and even Sonic the Hedgehog stuff. So it sort of makes sense that they are interested in Griptonite.

Griptonite Games is also known for doing licensed games on handhelds. This includes recent stuff like Captain America: Super Solider and Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters. Griptonite Games supposedly has 200 employees, meaning the buyout will double the employees over at Glu Mobile.

What will they do at Glu Mobile? They will be working on freemium games, which Glu is set to debut in the second fiscal quarter of 2012. What about Shinobi 3DS? I assume they will finish up the work that SEGA is paying for, but I don’t see them returning for a sequel.

[Source: Gamasutra]

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House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut reveals first exclusive level

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House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut was said to have a ton of new content, which also includes new stages. This first one to be revealed is called “Naked Terror”. You have to shoot your way through a stripper bar, killling exotic dancers and biker mutants.

But that isn’t all: the level has you playing as Varla Guns and her exotic dancer friend Candy, both of which were only NPCs in the last release.

House of the Dead Overkill: Extended Cut is coming exclusively to Playstation 3 on October 25th in the USA. Are you ready?

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Gamestop gets Rise of Nightmares pre-order items

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With the release of Rise of Nightmares fast approaching, most users that are intrested in the title are already planning to pre-order the game. Well, if you want extras to deck out your Xbox 360, you might want to pre-order it at Gamestop.

If you do you will get the following:

  • “Mini Zombie” from the game that will interact with the player’s Avatar on the Xbox 360® dashboard (pictures above)
  • Gamestop-Exclusive Premium theme for their Xbox 360® dashboard, inspired by some of the game’s most terrifying locations
  • Gamestop-Exclusive Gamer Picture pack that includes a total of ten pictures

 

Rise of Nightmares is coming exclusively to the Kinect for Xbox 360 on September 6th, 2011 (US release date).

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Swingin’ Report Show #14: Capes and Tights

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Shigs joins us this week to talk about his sexy trip to Comic Con, we talk about this weeks news including the fact that SEGA Is loosing money and much more. Classic game talk this week is Comix Zone. Underrated masterpiece or overrated junk?

[audio:http://www.segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/Swingin_Report_Show_14_Tights_and_capes.mp3]

[Download] [Archive]

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SEGA-Sammy report net income loss of over $28 million

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The first quarter of the year hasn’t been to kind to Japan and its video game industry. What with the tsunami and earthquakes that ravaged the lands. Its not that surprising seeing SEGA-Sammy post about losing revenue.

“During the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, some uncertainty prevailed in the Japanese economy due to various impacts in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake that took place on March 11, 2011, including the concern for the availability of parts and materials and the struggle to cope with the shortage of electricity supply which is now likely to be prolonged”

This means that operating their Japanese studios, pachinko slots and arcade buildings cost more than previously, thus where some loses come in. But what about SEGA, the consumer division?

Continue Reading ➜

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SEGA hosting GamesAid Cricket Challenge Cup

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GamesAid has joined with SEGA to host the second annual Cricket Challenge Cup in the UK.

The contest will bring 4 teams that will take part in a number of ’10/10′ over matches to try and raise at least £2,200 for charity.

The teams:

  • SEGA All-Stars (Captain: John Clark)
  • Square-Enix (Ian Livingstone
  • The Outcasts (Doron Garfunkel)
  • Screaming Lord Hatch’s Invitational XI (Alistair Hatch)

“Sega are proud to host the inaugural GamesAid Cricket Challenge Cup and we look forward to the second annual industry cricket challenge. Healthy completion and fun between industry peers, whilst raising awareness and funds for GamesAid epitomizes the spirit of our industry. We’d also like to win our trophy back” – Sega’s UK MD John Clark

The event will take place on September 7th, in London’s Kew Green. If your in the area, stop by and give some money.

[Source: MCVUK]

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SEGA gets $10,000 from piracy court case

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SEGA won their piracy lawsuit against the site called MAPHIA, which SEGA claimed “allowed for, and actively encouraged, the upload and download of unauthorized versions of copyrighted Sega video games.” So what did SEGA walk away with? $10,000 dollars and paid legal fees. Slam dunk.

This isn’t a case of people backing up games. Sherman, the owner of the site, sold made profit by selling games copiers. So he basically sold hardware to allow people to copy video games, or so it seems. Sherman wasn’t found guilty of direct infringement though, he got ‘contributory infringement’. This means that he knew the copying was happening and the purpose of the site was to sell game copiers.

Sherman also had to face trademark infringement because the SEGA trademark was used. The court ruled “a likelihood of consumer confusion regarding hte sponsorship and origin of the game files available.”

SEGA would have been entitled to triple the amount in damages if it could have proved their other claims, but the court said they couldn’t. I’m on the fence about this court case, I’m against piracy, but this guy wasn’t really pirating himself. What do you guys think?

[Source: ShackNews]

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Check out the awesome custom squid girl SEGA Genesis

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So why is this called a squid girl Genesis? Well, in Japan there is a anime called “Invader! Squid Girl” that came from 2chan image boards. I guess its pretty popular with the natives over there, in the series they have a mock version of the Genesis (Mega Drive in Japan) called the Ika Drive. So a fan decided to repaint his working Mega Drive to match.

Got to be honest, I’m actually a fan of the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive classic (first console) in white. Those blue buttons also look great. What do you guys think?

[Source: Destructoid]

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