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Rumor: Sonic 4: Episode 2 not fixing physics complaints

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We got an anonymous tip from a fellow reader that has actually played Sonic 4: Episode 2 and his opinion on the title wasn’t a positive one. He stated that the game uses the same physics from the first episode.

“I have obtained access to a prototype build via the Xbox Live PARTNERNET program, and what is concerning is that the physics are exactly the same as they were in Episode 1. Yes, letting go of the stick makes Sonic drop like a brick. The reason I am telling you this information is that if it is out in the open, the fans will have a chance to speak out and make Sega delay the game. I am worried if it is left too late Sega will push out yet another disappointing software product.” – Anonymous e-mail

Some fans didn’t seem to hate the new physics, but many did. We have more Sonic 4 information that he leaked, we will be posting something everyday, so come back when you can. Hopefully we can get some screenshots as well.

Edit: Put rumor in the title after some sites started running the story as a fact. This is a rumor and has been filed under rumor since I posted it.

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Swingin’ Report Show #25: The Incredible Christmas Episode

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This week we are turning up the Christmas light, so get yourself a hot brew and listen to this extended special episode of the Swingin’ Report Show. This week we got me, Sharky and Barry ranting. We also got Sonic Wreck’s Kevin Eva as a special guest, who also used to do Summer of Sonic and worked at SEGA Europe. If that isn’t enough to get you excited, we will also be giving four lucky listeners a copy of Sonic CD for Xbox Live Arcade. Listen in for details.

[Download] [Archive] [iTunes]

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Five Great Santas in SEGA History

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Consider this a SEGAbits exclusive: Santa is real! Yes, as it turns out the annual gift giver is the real deal. All those Santas we see at malls? They’re just the middle men. They’re the guys that report to the real Santa. How about all those variations we see of Santa in the media? This is a marketing effort on the real Santa’s part to keep his image alive. Proof of this exists everywhere, but today I thought I’d highlight five notable Santas in SEGA history. After the break, we reveal our Claus.

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Sonic CD is out, it’s cheap and it’s really, really good!

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SEGA have done something fantastic today, something you don’t see big publishers doing very often. They have chosen to reach out to the community and nabbed themselves Christian Whitehead aka ‘Taxman’ and his quite marvelous ‘Retro Engine’. It’s my understanding that Whitehead has been developing his ‘Retro Engine’ for quite some time now and gained a name for himself in the Sonic Community, and I can see why. His re-master release of Sonic CD for XBLA, PSN, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and of course PC is really, really good!

Unlike Backbone’s rather poor and often botched efforts at updating SEGA classics, Christian Whitehead’s ‘Retro Engine’ has given us Sonic CD locked at 60fps on every platform, both Euro/Japan and US sound tracks, new features, playable Tails, a choice of filters and modes, achievements and more… It really boasts the lot!

Hit the jump to find out why I think SEGA should snap up Whitehead and his engine!

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Retro Review: Christmas NiGHTS

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Anybody who recognizes the Christmas season has their traditions. Some go to church, some pig out on honey-glazed ham and others have their list of “must watch” tv shows and movies. But very few have a “must play” Christmas video game. Christmas themed games are out there, but most are so horrible that they would only hurt one’s holiday mood (never ever play Elf Bowling or Dreamcast’s The Grinch). Leave it to SEGA to fill that empty void of quality Christmas games with the NiGHTS into Dreams demo Christmas NiGHTS. But is this much talked about Saturn release a holiday classic? Or is it simply an overly glorified demo disc?

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The Weekly Five: SEGAbits Holiday Gift Guide

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‘Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the site, SEGA fans deserved presents, whether naughty or nice.

Okay, “site” and “nice” don’t rhyme. But you get where I’m going with this. The holidays (Christmas specifically, let’s not beat around the bush) are approaching, and you need ideas for what to give the SEGA fan in your life. If you don’t have a SEGA fan in your life, chances are YOU’RE the SEGA fan in your life. So what follows are five unique gift ideas for the holiday Christmas season.

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Famitsu Reveals – Samurai and Dragons for Vita

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Today Famitsu revealed news about a new Sega game for the PlayStation Vita, the game titled Samurai and Dragons. The games chief producer is Masayoshi Kikuchi, a man of high pedigree. Kikuchi was the producer of Yakuza, director of Jet Set Radio and planner of the Panzer Dragoon series which should garner any Sega fans interest.

The game will have two types of game play, the first is a multiplayer dungeon crawler where you team up with three other friends and explore/fight in dungeons (think Phantasy Star Online or Monster Hunter.)

The second half of the game involves city building and resource management similar a strategy game.

Having seen some rather blurry scans, it’s hard to say much about the game. But it seems to be very similar to Sega’s iPad game Kingdoms Conquest, an MMO type game where you join a faction vying for world domination and must battle other factions for control of the land. While I see no indiation that it’ll have that MMO feature from the little info we have I suspect that will be the case.

Hit the jump for scans:

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Retro Review: Sonic Rush Adventure

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The original Sonic Rush was easily one of the fastest Sonic games in history, and in a year that also brought us the likes of Shadow the Hedgehog, it also stood as a reminder of how good his games could be in the middle of increasingly dark times for the franchise. It introduced probably the best new character in ages with Blaze the Cat, and brought the blue hedgehog to the dual screened, polygon capable DS for the first time. That said, the game had its flaws. It was filled with bottomless pits, and the speed was often so intense that death by hole or suddenly appearing robot was far too common. Does Sonic Rush Adventure alleviate the flaws, or just add some new ones with its new focus on adventure?

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Review: Sonic Generations (3DS)

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I used to be a huge fan of Dimps in the past. Sonic Rush is one of my favorite Sonic games and I loved the Advance series sans number three. However, in recent years, it seems like there’s been a new Sonic Cycle. For every great Sonic console game, there’s a mediocre Dimps adaption on the portable systems. This started with Colors DS which IMO, came up a little short of capturing what made Rush and Rush Adventure fun. Then, we have Sonic 4 which had decent level design, but odd physics which turned some people away. Now, we have Dimps first foray onto the 3DS with Sonic Generations. Does it boost up to the glory days of the Advance and Rush series or does it trip over its own two feet? Grab a chili dog and read on. It’s gonna be a long one.

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Swingin’ Report Show #23: Let’s Try This Again

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The newest Swingin’ Report Show marks my triumphant return to the podcast, that should be enough for you to download, right? This week we talk about the latest SEGA news and show a special soft spot for Shinobi on the 3DS. This week’s guests include George, Barry the Nomad, Shigs and special guest Asher, illustrator and YouTube animator of Sonic Paradox.



[powerpress url="https://segabits.com/wp-content/uploads/SwininReportShow23.mp3"]


[Download] [Archive] [iTunes]

    
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Five of the Weirdest and/or Worst SEGA Accessories

    
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SEGA is awesome, there is no doubt about that, but they’re not infallible. Back in the hardware days, SEGA made their fair share of mistakes. I won’t name off the 32X and SEGA CD like a lot of gaming sites do, because to be honest, as an owner of both systems I have to say they have some really great titles. I’ll even defend accessories that only exist for the sake of a few games. Just because the Dreamcast fishing controller is rarely used, due to the limited library of fishing games, does not make it a bad accessory. It’s just highly specialized, and when put to use it is very effective. Same goes for the Samba de Amigo maracas and Virtual-On’s twin sticks. But there are SEGA accessories and add-ons out there that were failures, or were simply too weird to take seriously. This week we’ll take a look at five of these hiccups in SEGA’s history.


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Sonic’s Road to Redemption: Part 2, Picking Up the Pieces

    
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In February 2007, Sonic the Hedgehog was still fresh in the memories of Sonic fans. Yet they already had a new game to play in the form of the Wii exclusive Sonic and the Secret Rings. Secret Rings was a radically different kind of Sonic game, featuring on-rails play and a heavy emphasis on motion controls.  Secret Rings had been championed the previous year by journalists as a Sonic game that was actually good, that took a radically different approach to the formula to solve the franchise’s problems. What gamers actually got was a mixed bag of great and poor design decisions that was still a huge step up from Sonic 06, and would start Sonic on his slow, winding road to recovery.


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Review: Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games

    
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When the first Mario and Sonic title hit in 2007, it was a major deal. Two video game rivals competing in a shared title! Unfortunately, once the novelty of seeing Nintendo and SEGA’s mascots together wore off, what players were left with was a so-so mini-game compilation with the best moments being the Dream Events and remixed music tracks from both series. In 2009 the series returned with Mario and Sonic competing in the Winter Olympics, and while it wasn’t a huge improvement over the first game, it was a better title thanks to improved controls, more characters and more events. Now the Mario and Sonic universes go head to head in a third Olympics, is this time just more of the same or is the third try a charm? Read on to find out!


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Welcome to SEGAbits 3.0

    
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Welcome to the new theme for SEGAbits. I hope you guys all like the changes we made to the blog. Instead of having quotes in the banner, we now have changing pictures. Refresh the page to try that out.


We are always looking into improving the site, so if you have any comments or questions make sure you contact us. You can comment as well and let us know what you think.


Enjoy!


Shadi Edit: We are also working on a mobile version for those of you with smartphones, I’ll be making a post about that once it’s up. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you smartphone users.

    
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