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Atlus Review: Abyss Odyssey (Xbox 360)

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If you’re familiar with ACE Team, they’re responsible for some of the most off the wall games including Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages and before they became a commercial developer, they were a pretty interesting mod developer. Their continued partnership with Atlus has brought another release that is less absurd thematically, but brings us a rogue-like title that wraps mechanics similar to the Super Smash Bros. series with Abyss Odyssey. It’s not a carbon copy of the Subspace Emissary from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, nor is it a cumbersome slog akin to Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. The game centers itself around its fighting game mechanic and drives you to advance onto closed off fighting arenas, hunting for loot and building your character to become stronger as you find better weapons and techniques.

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Watch the full ‘Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation’ San Diego Comic Con panel

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This past weekend, SEGAbits writers Ben, Shigs, and Nuckles hit San Diego Comic Con and SEGA’s game preview event located at the nearby Nerd HQ. While Comic Con isn’t as game centric as E3, there was quite a bit of SEGA goodness to be found. We were able to check out the latest preview builds of Alien: Isolation and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, as well as interview Archie Comics on the upcoming Sonic Boom comic book series. But the main event had to have been Sunday’s Console Wars panel. The panel, which centered around the SEGA and Nintendo rivalry of the 90’s, featured special guests Tom Kalinske (Sega of America), Al Nilsen (Sega of America), Bill White (Nintendo of America), and Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo of America), as well as Console Wars author Blake J. Harris and Julian Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming Console Wars documentary.

Thanks to Blake, Nuckles and Shigs were given the VIP treatment and secured some awesome seats – allowing us to film the panel and Q&A session and meet the SEGA and Nintendo legends! Check out the full panel above, and make sure to pick up your copy of Console Wars if you haven’t already!

Want more Console Wars discussion? Check out our three part interview series with Tom Kalinske, Al Nilsen, and Blake J. Harris.

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SEGAbits at Comic Con Preview: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

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From its announcement, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has drawn a healthy bit of skepticism, especially among the hedgehog’s older fans. Developed outside of Sonic Team by the unproven Western studio Big Red Button and intended to coincide with the release of the Sonic Boom cartoon series, fears typically associated with the phrase licensed game immediately came to mind. Having had the opportunity to play the demo, it’s evident that Sonic Boom has potential, I just hope that what I played isn’t too indicative of what we’ll be playing when the game releases this November.

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SEGAbits at Comic Con Preview: Alien: Isolation

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I should preface this by saying that I’ve never been a huge Aliens fan. I’d seen Alien years ago, and while I thought it was a fun and creepy movie, it’s never been a series that I’d become overly familiar with. I was excited though when SEGA picked up the license, hoping to see what type of spin they’d put on an IP that offers a lot of opportunity.

On that note, I’d like to thank whatever deity exists out there that made me forget to place my preorder for that Colonial Marines game. But Alien: Isolation is from the start an entirely different beast. Planted firmly in the survival horror genre and not feeling, based on this demo, like a shooter of any kind, this game is scary. It’s a wonderfully, ridiculously scary bit of survival horror that has the potential to reinvigorate a genre that’s become so much less about scares in recent years than it ever should have been.

It’s the type of game that will have you diving for the light switch.

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Check out the trailer for “My Life with SEGA: Theater of the Eye” – set to release in 2015

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My Life with SEGA’s A.J. Rosa is in the process of creating his third SEGA-inspired short film: Theater of the Eye! Like the previous My Life with SEGA shorts The Next Level and No Limits, Theater of the Eye‘s name comes from a SEGA ad campaign slogan. Unlike the previous shorts, which were inspired by gritty revenge flicks and buddy cop movies, Theater of the Eye takes inspiration from the Star Trek films and is set to feature A.J. commanding a crew onboard a giant SEGA Genesis. Erica Winter and Mickey Mac, of previous and upcoming 2-Man Scramble videos, are set to appear and A.J. hopes to feature cameos from other SEGA YouTube personalities and SEGAbits team members.

Be on the lookout for My Life with SEGA: Theater of the Eye in 2015, and in the meantime stay tuned to the SEGAbits YouTube Channel as more episodes of My Life with SEGA Season 3 are due to release soon. If you haven’t watched the Comix Zone premiere episode yet, make sure to check it out!

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Take a SEGA game room collection tour with Barry the Nomad

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I’ve been a SEGA collector and fan since 1991, with the first SEGA thing I ever owned being a SEGA Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog included. Since then, I’ve collected games and consoles as they released, and I’ve gone back and picked up games and hardware that I’ve missed out on. The result of the past 23 years is my game room, which packs in nearly all the gaming stuff I own plus an assortment of DVDs, blu-rays, books, and other things. I’ll admit, my collection doesn’t come close to some of the ones I’ve seen, but still it’s mine and I’m proud of it. I’ve been putting off making a collection video for a while now, mainly because there was always something on the horizon that I planned to add to the game room and I wanted to wait until I had the latest addition before making a video. But this week I figured I had the time and the room had enough to show off as is, so I made the above 43 minute walkthrough. Check it out and please don’t judge me based on some of the DVDs I own.

We plan to have more Game Room Tour videos in the future, featuring other SEGAbits contributors showing off their collections, so stay tuned for more sweaty hands and close up views of old SEGA merchandise!

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SEGA reveals their Comic Con plans – SEGAbits to report live from San Diego

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Another convention is on the horizon, and once again SEGAbits leaves no fan left behind as we’re set to invade San Diego Comic Con

SEGAbits writers nuckles87 and Shigs will be providing coverage from the event, attending panels and checking out SEGA’s video game offerings. On the panel side of things, we will be attending the Archie Comics panel for the new Sonic Boom comic book series as well as Blake J. Harris’s Console Wars panel featuring Tom Kalinske (Sega of America), Al Nilsen (Sega of America), Bill White (Nintendo of America), and Perrin Kaplan (Nintendo of America), as well as Julian Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming Console Wars documentary. If we’re lucky we might even get some one-on-one time with Blake, Tom, and Al!

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Round Table: Is Comix Zone too hard?

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RoundTable[Above art by SavinArtem via DeviantArt]

Welcome to another installment of our Round Table series. This one will be part of our Comix Zone week and will be looking at the questions asked by SEGA fans in the mid-90’s: Is Comix Zone too hard? There have been very few people I know that have beaten the game without using stuff like safe states or cheats. It is just one of those games that takes dedication and patience. Something most of us didn’t have much as a kid. Of course you can tell us your opinions in the comments.

Let’s get this discussion started!

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Classic SEGA Ads: So you want to live in a comic book?

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SEGA of America’s nineties advertisement strategy can be summarized thusly: come up with the most batshit insane thing you can and run with it. Anyone looking for proof need look no further than this…thing they produced to sell Comix Zone. I kind of get what they were going for, since old comic books often have over-the-top, melodramatic dialogue and bizarre storylines, but this is more like a crazy depiction of some weird cult than anything to do with super hero comics. Unless there was a weird cult in Comix Zone, since I’ve never been able to get much further than the second level.

Looking back though, does that really matter? I don’t think so! This is a fun, quirky little ad that encapsulate SEGA’s attitude more so then the game it’s advertising. It wouldn’t have sold me on Comix Zone back in the day, but it certainly makes me miss what video game advertisement used to be like. I’ll take this over a slick trailer filled with review scores any day.

As a little bonus, I thought I’d also include a print advertisement for Comix Zone, seen in comics and magazines. It’s a little blander, sure, but it also gets to the heart of what the game is a bit more. Check it out after the break!

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Comics to Cartridge: Comics that inspired Comix Zone

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[Sketch Turner drawn by RainDante]

It’s quite obvious that Comix Zone is a 16-bit video game tribute to the comic book medium. It takes several aspects from a variety of popular comics throughout history and uses them in its own way to create a unique world.  Here are some that I’ve noticed during play. Since the developers never talked about stories in comics that influenced them, some of these could only be coincidence.

Let’s have a look.

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SEGA Channel Retro: CorvidDude’s Windy Valley Mod Interview Plus Abyss Odyssey Blind Playthrough

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The live show is already over, but you can check out the archived stream above as well as more content below and after the jump!

This week’s live show on SEGA Channel Retro is a tour through the Windy Valley Beta Mod that was released recently for Sonic Adventure DX. We’ll also have CorvidDude, the author of the mod bringing his insight on restoring the level from the AutoDemo.

If you want to check out the mod for yourself, you can hop over to CorvidDude’s YouTube channel and check the links in the description of this video.

I’m joined by Overlord, GeneHF and OverlyEquippedin our little venture as we also check out the latest Sonic title, Sonic Jump Fever as well as catch up with Sonic Dash with Andronic. Also say hello to me as I try to roll eggs with Billy Hatcher in SEGA Superstars. Finally I take a blind look at Atlus and ACE Team’s latest offering, Abyss Odyssey.

Sonic Adventure DX: Windy Valley Restoration Mod with CorvidDude [Twitch] [YouTube]

Sonic Jump Fever, Sonic Dash, SEGA Superstars [Twitch]

Abyss Odyssey [Twitch] [YouTube]

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Swingin’ Report Show #67: Mega-Bit Figures Inspired by SEGA Genesis Interview

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This week on the Swingin’ Report Show podcast, Barry and George are joined by Nate Mitchell – head of Squid Kids Ink and creator of the So Analog line of figures featuring old entertainment media with eyes, arms, and legs. Nate’s latest project is Mega-Bit, a SEGA Genesis game cartridge inspired line of So Analog figures featuring officially licensed SEGA classics.

To make his SEGA toys a reality, Nate has created a Kickstarter with SEGA’s approval. Those who support the project receive some awesome incentives including limited edition figures featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Shinobi. Support Nate and his Mega-Bit toys today!

Following the interview, Barry and George share their thoughts on 3D Fantasy Zone II and Alien: Isolation‘s recently revealed DLC starring the cast of the original film.

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

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My Life with SEGA Season 3 begins with a pulpy SEGA Genesis classic – Comix Zone

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My Life with SEGA is back, and in HD! That’s right, it’s retro gaming in high-definition.

In the season 3 premiere, I go back 18 years to re-experience a 16-bit piece of art, ripping through page after page of aliens and mutants in Comix Zone. Developed by Sega Technical Institute, this brawler from the mid 90’s was praised for it’s glorious presentation, but scolded for its late arrival and brief playthrough.

Now that Comix Zone is old enough to move out, how does it hold up today? Click it. Watch it. Love it. Damn! That sounds kinda’ dirty, doesn’t it? Oh well.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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SEGA Tunes: Comix Zone’s Road Kill plays Grunge music

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It’s no secret that Comix Zone‘s Sketch Turner was design around a grunge rock musician. Grunge music started in the mid-1980’s in Seattle and slowly spread thanks to labels like Sub Pop. It didn’t become commercially successful until the first half of the 90’s thanks to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and of course Stone Temple Pilots.

Howard Drossin, the composer behind the soundtrack for Comix Zone put a band together called ‘Road Kill’ (named after Turner’s pet rat and humble side kick).

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SEGA Retrospective: Turn the page, it’s Comix Zone Week!

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Welcome to Comix Zone week, where we will be giving you a whole week’s worth of Sketch Turner love. If you have a copy of this SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive classic, give it ago for nostalgia’s sake and stay tuned all week long for new content. This fabulous game was first made available in 1995 for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. It was later ported to Windows PC, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, and PSN. Its also been featured in both Sonic Mega Collection Plus and Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection.

Check out our full overview of Comix Zone after after the break!

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