This year marks the 30th anniversary of SEGA Corporation as the company has started out as both arcade and consumer businesses. To celebrate their years of service, Famitsu mangazine managed to speak with Sega’s third CS Research and Development producer, Yosuke Okunari about his work.
Seems that some kickstarters (sometimes) run on pure nostalgia, case in point: Boogerman. Do you remember this 90’s not so classic video game? I mean, I get nostalgic when I see the box but I know the contents inside that box were garbage.
Boogerman wants to celebrate its 20th anniversary in style, so they are featuring a better 90’s hero in the game’s co-op mode: Earthworm Jim. Who doesn’t love the worm?
Boogerman 20th Anniversary kickstarter says that the game is a brand new HD adventure by the original creators. Worth funding? Let us know in the comments.
SEGA is releasing their animated film, Bayonetta: Bloody Fate in theaters over in Japan by the end of next month. If you where a fan of their 2010 action game Bayonetta, you will want to see this trailer.
The animation studio behind this film is Gonzo who also did Afro Samurai. If that wasn’t enough, the director for Afro Samurai will also be doing this film. Expect it to be over the top. It comes out in Japanese theaters on November 23rd.
We already know that SEGA got ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth out on Xbox, but the game was originally being worked on for Dreamcast. This isn’t the only game, lots of early SEGA 3rd party games where mean’t to be Dreamcast titles, like Shinobi and Gunvalkyrie. Seems like the unfinished Dreamcast versions of these games never see the light of day, thankfully there are people that find them. That is what happen here.
The person that found the rare gem is a forum member from Assemble Games that goes by the handle ZakhooiTM. Mr. ZakhooiTM is starting a fund raiser to get the code online, for all public to freely download and try. You can find more information here. Above is over 30 minutes of gameplay from the beta and after the jump we have 2-player mode footage. Enjoy
How would you like to win some fabulous SEGA merchandise, much of which will never be released to the public? I am happy to announce that now you can, and all you have to do is participate in a little art contest to express your SEGA love. If you think you can draw, shoot a good video, or even if you just fancy yourself a good writer, all you have to do is create a piece of SEGA art and send it into segabitscontest at gmail dot com. From there we will pick our favorite piece of art! Of course, since art is subjective, we will also have five runner up prizes.
The grand prize will consist of:
A set of Valkyria Chronicles 2 pins, a set of Jet Set Radio pins, 2 different Castle of Illusion pins, the original Valkyria Chronicles art book, the Eyes of Bayonetta art book and DVD, the original Jet Set Radio Future soundtrack, the Jet Set Radio soundtrack, a commission from Sonic comic artist Tracy Yardley.
We will also be offering five runner up prizes consisting of all the pins listed above. The contest will be ending November 26th. Unlike Summer of Art, don’t count on any extensions.
You can find some more information about this contest (as well as what happened to the Summer of Art contest) below.
Hello SEGABits readers, Kori-Maru here back from my trip from New York Comic Con with coverage of SEGA and Hardlight Studios panel titled “SEGA Through Out The Years” with special guests from SEGA attending the panel such as Ethan Einhorn, Chris Olsen, and Masayoshi Kikuchi-san as they explain SEGA’s history, focus on mobile, a few announcements, and the company’s future followed by Q/A and trivia contest. During the Q/A session, there were a lot of interesting questions from the audiences that may interest a lot of SEGA fans, so stay tuned for that. I also have tons of pictures of a few SEGA cosplayers and employees for our readers to look at. To view the video of the panel and pictures from the convention, hit the jump!
Western Sakura Wars, anime, and hardcore SEGA fans alike can now rejoice as Sakura Wars the Movie makes it’s grand return today on Blu-Ray disc for $34.98 in retail stores and $17.49 with 50% savings on Funimation’s store page. The Blu-Ray version contains tons of special features such as interviews with the creators, promotional videos, Japanese commercials and more. Hit the jump for the summary of the movie.
Seems that today is all Alien: Isolation as a source by Kotaku spills the beans on the upcoming Creative Assembly Aliens shooter being called ‘Alien: Isolation‘. According to the source, the game is inspired by Bioshock and Dishonored. Also according to the source, SEGA is taking critical reception of Aliens: Colonial Marines seriously and are doing what they can to make Alien: Isolation a great game. Even though Isolation hasn’t been formally announced, it has already been met with delays. I assume this is why the game didn’t show up at Gamescom or other gaming events this year.
The source says that you play as Amanda Ripley, who is the daughter of Ellen Ripley. Amanda Ripley is mentioned in the Aliens special edition as having died while Ellen was frozen in space, so her character is part of the Alien universe. Besides this mention, she doesn’t appear in the Alien extended universe (yet). Unlike Aliens: Colonial Marines, you won’t be taking down armies of Aliens in endless waves. The source says that you spend most of the time in the station and fight only one alien for “most” of the game.
Doesn’t mean there won’t be clones and other soldiers to shoot at though. Vents, lockers and melee weapons play a big role in Isolation. Keep in mind this information is six months old. Much of the game could have changed. Alien: Isolation is said to debut on both current and next generation consoles.
If you didn’t know Twentieth Century Fox has been really trying to push the Aliens brand and really wants to break through into the video game industry. Their latest effort was with SEGA on Aliens: Colonial Marines. Now they’re tradmarking the name “Alien: Isolation” for another game. Who is developing it? Who knows. Could this be that ‘Creative Assembly’ Aliens game?
Even if Creative Assembly did an Aliens game, would you still want to play it after Colonial Marines?
Relic Entertainment, one of the newest studios that SEGA bought from the now defunct THQ says that their Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine game was meant to be a trilogy but THQ going bankrupt stopped those plans.
“I had some big plans for Titus. The second part of his story was to focus on a ‘Titus Unleashed’ plot–basically there were forces arrayed against him that would see his loyalty to the Adeptus Astartes pushed to its limit, and his reaction would be to kind of ‘go rogue,’ and we’d see a different Titus, not quite as in control as we saw him in Space Marine. He would be kicked out as a consequence–exiled, which would basically be a death sentence for him.” – Raphael van Lierop, director
If you haven’t played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, you should give it a go. It has a lengthy single player campaign that gets a bit repetitive but the world just oozes charm and really captures the Warhammer universe. To read what what Raphael van Lierop had in mind for the sequels, check out the PA report. Would you want SEGA to continue the trilogy?
SEGA has posted up a new teaser site, with the phrase ‘The new story will begin’. So what do we know? That this could be an ‘action card battling game’ due to the site’s tag and that it will most likely be a Playstation Vita game (its in the HTML tag).
Regardless, it seems will will know more on October 28th or sooner (depending if Famitsu leaks it first). What are your thoughts?
Update: A press release has arrived, and with it clarification of the platforms! The story has been revised to reflect the new information.
Fans of mobile SEGA titles will be excited to hear that a bunch of releases are on the horizon! Today, SEGA has revealed that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 remastered will headline the mobile releases. Also coming is an iOS version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, a mobile adaptation of the 2012 Nintendo 3DS title Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure entitled Rhythm Thief & The Paris Caper, and the Japanese action RPG Demon Tribe. As of now, we’re only hearing about iOS releases, if we learn of other mobile operating systems getting the games, we’ll be sure to update this story.
After the break, learn more about each of the titles and check out some snazzy screenshots.
SEGA has released a pair of trailers for Sonic Lost World, out now in Europe and releasing October 29th in the United States for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. The embargo has lifted and reviews have been pouring in, and if you frequent any gaming forum you’ll know that reviews are quite varied. Sonic Stadium has been building a handy review list, with Famitsu, Nintendo World Report, Games Radar, The Guardian, GamesReactor, Digital Spy, GameTrailers and (gasp!) Destructoid all giving favorable reviews in the 9 to 7/10 range. Sites including IGN, Gamespot, Joystiq, Gameinformer, Edge and Eurogamer fall in the negative end of the spectrum with reviews ranging from 5 to 4/10. As SEGAbits is largely based in the US, expect our full reviews for both versions early November.
While reviews are an important gauge for consumers to figure out if a game is worth their money, it’s important to READ the reviews and not just go by the final tally. Should a demo release before the 29th, play the game for yourself or speak with friends. I’ve always found firsthand experience or the words or a trusted friend to be far more reliable than some guy on the internet. And yes, I realize the irony in that you’re probably reading this from me, some guy on the internet.
After the break, check out the 3DS trailer.
Even though we barely got Hatsune Miku Project Diva F on the Playstation 3 this summer, the Japanese are already preparing for its sequel. Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd will get a Japanese PSN demo on October 23rd.
Three songs on the demo:
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd is coming to both Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita in Japan in early 2014. No Western release dates have been revealed.
Today’s Steam Greenlight round up features 37 games that have been voted on by the Steam community, and for Ikaruga fans can rejoice as the game was among them!
There is currently no release date set, and there is no other news about this version other than what is already known, however the developer, according to their official Twitter, has expressed interest in adding more of their games to Steam.
There are already games by the developer on Steam such as Dynamite Headdy, Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier. However this is their first attempt at self publishing on the service.
More as it develops.