Microsoft talks whether Sonic is a core game or casual


I have to disagree with this statement. I think the whole gaming industry has lost face on what is ‘core’, ‘casual’ and ‘non-gamer’. I think that casual games can be a good thing. I mean Space Channel 5 was always meant to be a casual game, so was NiGHTS and Puyo Puyo. Non-gamer games are those workout games, aiming to people that don’t have interest in playing games.

“If you think about a game like Sonic the Hedgehog, in the old days, would you say Sonic was a core game or a casual game? It’s a mix between both. There isn’t some complicated set of controls to learn but it has all the gameplay skill and depth. If we’d never heard of Sonic the Hedgehog…and I’m like ‘we’ve got this awesome game, you’re this little blue hedgehog and you’re running around collecting golden rings’ you’d be like ‘that’s not a core game, where are the games for the core?’, and yet Sonic was a core game.”Kudo Tsunoda, Microsoft

Sonic and Mario were never core, they are designed with massive appeal and that is OK. Not every game has to be core. If it is designed to please hardcore and the casual gamers, that is fine. That still makes it casual.

[Source: Kombo]

Latest SEGA trademarks: War Begins

SEGA has filed for four new trademarks. These are  mostly in Japanese and could be used for upcoming projects. Sometimes they are never used, so you never know.

  • 商願2010-056172 FINAL SHOWDOWN
  • 商願2010-057113 §ダイバ写真館\むちゃプリ
  • 商願2010-057457 WAR BEGINS
  • 商願2010-059134 §★GET TENKA★GET∞れき し たい せん\歴史大戦\ゲッテンカ\天下一バトルロイヤル∞て ん か いち

Final Showdown? Could this be related to Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown?

[Thanks: Pao]

Unannounced Phantasy Star Online project in development


Seems that all the puzzle pieces are falling into place. Satoshi Sakai has recently teased that there is more than just Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity in development for PSO’s 10th year anniversary. The tease comes from Japanese magazine Dengkei Playstation.

“(Infinity) not the only PSO 10th anniversary project.”

Given that SEGA has renewed PSO2.jp domain, Sakai has teased about a new console online Phantasy Star game before, I’m pretty sure its coming. If it does come, I hope PC, PS3 and 360 gamers can play together. Please?

[Thanks: Shadiwulf]

The Conduit 2 fact sheet (What you need to know)

Here is a fact sheet about the upcoming (and recently delayed) Conduit 2. Ignore my silly fact above, that is sadly not on the list. Read on to learn all the ‘facts’ about Conduit 2.

Conduit 2 Fact Sheet – Launch Date: 2011, Players: 1-12

Set moments after the explosive finale of The Conduit, Agent Michael Ford finds himself thrust once again into the machinations of the sinister and enigmatic John Adams and his Trust organization. After uncovering and partially thwarting Adam’s fabricated alien invasion, Ford and the alien entity Prometheus set out to end the Trust’s control in an adventure spanning the globe. New and improved weapons and enemies, competitive modes playable both online and in the same room via splitscreen make the follow-up to the best shooter on the Wii a can’t miss experience.

SEGA teasing Black Rock Shooter RPG?

If you don’t know what Black Rock Shooter is, it sounds like some Western game, but its very Japanese. Black Rock Shooter is a anime OVA, that began life as a fan made Vocaloid song. Above is the teaser from the site. It translates to:

She becomes RPG

2032 A.D.

Mankind was destroyed.

Before she wakes up.

She becomes RPG

Maybe this is SEGA trying their luck with girly character anime games? They did have success with Miku PSP game and have that K-on game coming out. Could this be by Red Entertainment?

[Source: Teaser Site]
[Thanks: Sieghardt]

Aliens: Colonial Marines still in the works says Gearbox


Aliens: Colonial Marines has been said to be alive by Gearbox president Randy Pitchfork, who already confirmed back in February that the game was back in development. But after it missed E3 and when they announced that they where doing Duke Nukem: Forever at PAX, I just assumed the project was dead. Not so it seems.

“Earlier this week, I was down in San Francisco and I had lunch with the head of Sega of America and he is committed to this. And we’re going to make this awesome. I know it’s been awhile since the announcement first happened that we’re in for Aliens. I promise you it will not take as long as Duke Nukem Forever. We’re not going to let this dream die, it’s going to happen.”

I hope that Gearbox does not stretch itself too much. They talked about a new Brothers in Arms, new Borderlands game and a unannounced game. Quality over quantity.

[Source: Joystiq]
[Thanks: Revenge of JM]

We could be seeing Sakura Wars at TGS


People want a new Sakura Wars game and it seems that the series developer, Red Entertainment, has something to announce soon. They updated their blog with a hint about a TGS announcement.

“The next time I handle the blog, I believe I will, for the first time in a while, be able to have a splendid announcement.”

The splendid announcement could be something else besides a new Sakura Wars. Even if its a new game, I doubt it will be released here. I head “Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love” didn’t do so hot.

[Source: AndriaSang]

SEGAbits hitting the 1.0 with remixed look


Welcome to SEGAbits 1.0, nothing much has really changed. We obviously have a lighter background and a new feature bar, that is a lot easier to update. That is good for the writers! We moved the login box to the top, to allow us to have more stuff on the right side of the blog (which we will be adding later).

Sorry for the downtime, I hope you enjoy the new look. Tell us what you think.

Conduit 2 won’t be released this year


Conduit 2 has been delayed to the first quarter of 2011. When the game does come out though, it will support the classic controller and classic controller pro, if you aren’t into the whole motion controller thing.

We already know that High Voltage Studios has fired some of its staff and the remaining people are working on this game, seems that they fired them too soon and could have used those helping hands!

[Source: Nintendojo]

SEGAbits Monthly August 2010 issue

Alright, so I sort of intended to do this monthly but I was on vacation for the July issue. I apologize. So here is August’s round up of stories. Sadly, this month is a bit shallow with orginal content, we are going to deliver tons of original stuff for the September round up.

Shogun 2 Total War – Battle Report #1

Jesus, the graphics in this game are amazing and this is only pre-alpha footage. Check out the first Battle Report for Shogun: Total War. You have 6 and a half minutes of pure gameplay bliss.

Looks like Creative Assembly has another winner on their hands. Now if only they would try doing another ‘action game’ that has as impressive graphics as this game….

VANQUISH Demo: 360 vs. PS3 build


The boys over at Digital Foundry have their hands full again, this time they sat down to judge the VANQUISH demo that came out the other day. They have confirmed this is ‘early code’ demo. .

“The key difference seems to be that the Xbox 360 goes for a conventional capped 30FPS, double-buffer approach (losing v-sync when dropping under the target frame-rate in order to maintain fluidity) whereas the PS3 game employs triple-buffering, effectively ensuring that there is not a single torn frame any time during the gameplay experience.”

Both versions run at 1024×720, with 2x multi-sampling anti-aliasing. They also say that the Xbox 360 version felt easier to control. I guess this is a personal preference since users on NeoGAF have reported the opposite.

Seems that the game will run great on both consoles, so breath easy my friends!

[Source: Eurogamer]

Yakuza 4 announcement trailer

Here is the Yakuza 4 announcement trailer, a bit late, since it was announced awhile back. Regardless, its coming out Spring 2011, for those of you who want to skip to the end.

I noticed that in the Western trailers, SEGA is afraid to let the characters talk, because they assume all Americans are afraid of Japanese speak. Well, we are, thank you SEGA.