If you guys heard the latest Swingin’ Report Show, you probably heard me talk about this Sonic Drive-In advert. Look at that, a great nod to Outrun. I love this sort of stuff. Maybe Barry is right, maybe they just want to be bought out by SEGA.
Would you guys eat more at Sonic Drive-In if it was SEGA themed?
Here is the latest Japanese trailer for Anarchy Reigns. Sadly the trailer is in Japanese, if only SEGA West acted like this game existed then we’d get English trailers. Oh, can we start the Anaracy Reigns is not coming West rumors now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uP6QpUWs_I
A new gameplay trailer has arrived for SEGA and Arkedo Studio’s Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. The trailer reveals a bit of the game’s plot, which I won’t spoil. You’ll have to see it in the trailer. It is – ahem – quite odd. The art style is definitely influenced by Rayman Origins and Splosion Man, complete with wacky over the top environments and lots of meat flying about. Gameplay looks very fun, it’s like if General Grievous of Star Wars went on a rampage on his wheel bike. The game is set for a summer release to XBLA, PSN and Steam.
Thanks to SEGAbits forum member max_cady for the heads up!
PSO2 Producer Satoshi Sakai sat down with fans recently to discuss the upcoming open BETA for Phantasy Star Online 2, as well as the final game, which is expected to launch in Japan this summer. They also revealed the stats of the last closed beta, and revealed that another closed BETA may be in order before they can continue with the open BETA. The stats for the closed BETA are as follows:
It seems that the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 is not the only console that the Creative Assembly’s Alien game is coming to. According to a recent job listing in which the developer is looking for a multiplayer/gameplay programmer to help create “a AAA multi-platform title on current and future generation consoles set in the Alien universe” This implication of future consoles could mean the successor to the Xbox 360/Playstation 3 or as implied elsewhere, perhaps closer to being made available on the Wii U. SEGA’s other Aliens title, Aliens: Colonial Marines, is also being produced for the Nintendo Wii U so to have a version of the Creative Assembly’s Alien title would not be out of the ordinary.
Matthew is an Associate Producer at SEGA of America and like many people in the industry the man has a LinkedIn account. You know, to chit chat with other Associate Producers at other companies and stuff like this. OK, maybe it’s time for me to admit that I don’t know what LinkedIn is used for. But who cares, he posted that he is working on an unannounced game for Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, PC, and the Wii-U.
So now we are thinking, what can this upcoming game be? Only Matthew Hickman would know. I’m sure if you make an account and bother him enough he will tell you. No, I’m kidding, don’t do that. But if you do want to do it, here is a link to his account.
The UK PSN exclusive show Playstation Access showcased snippets of new footage from Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The footage is exclusive to UK PSN users on their consoles. But hey, at least if you don’t have a PS3 and don’t live in the UK, you can now see the footage! If you do live in the UK and have access to PSN, make sure to turn on your PS3 and check the footage out. You can definitely see the influence Bizarre Creations racing game Blur had on All-Stars Racing Transformed in the neon boosters and weapons. Transformations appear seamless and the final shot of the dragons is awesome.
Thanks to The Sonic Stadium’s Ashthedragon and Rawrdom for uploading the footage.
Perfectly timed to coincide with All-Stars Racing Transformed debut comes a massive update to SEGA’s Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing for the iOS. The game has often been cited as being a big success, making a number of critics’ best games lists and it even made it into a iPod Touch commercial. So it only makes sense that SEGA and Sumo Digital would continue to update it. The update adds: Knuckles and Shadow as playable racers, a new track – Samba de Amigo’s mountainside Sun Fair track, a new home screen icon, Airplay-out mode, HDMI-out mode, iCloud saving, character faces on the minimap (originally racers were shown as anonymous red dots, now you’ll see that Beat is trailing you), Game Center profile pics on the minimap in multiplayer and many other improvements and bug fixes. I’ve explored the game some and found another unmentioned update, the ability to buy SEGA miles via in-app purchases. Very clever way to get a bit of money out of customers, SEGA. It should be noted that Knuckles, Shadow and the new track need to be purchased with SEGA miles. They are not unlocked once you update the app.
It has been awhile since the guys from Platinum Games have teased Bayonetta 2 and if this rumor is true, they won’t be talking about it ever again. Rumor has it that SEGA has cancelled the upcoming game Bayonetta 2 as part of their aggressive Western restructure strategy.
So why did they cancel it and why do I think the reason is bullshit?
Well, the hedgehog is out of the bag. Yes, there will be a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 2, dubbed “Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed”. Back in January 2011, following the release of the first game, I ran through five things an All-Stars Racing sequel must have. Now that the sequel has been announced, let’s take a look back at what we wished for, and what SEGA and Sumo Digital now promises to deliver. You’d be surprised by how well SEGA listened to fans on this one.
I sit down with Joe Neate, Producer for Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, to have a talk with him about the game. Will All Stars be usable online? Will there be more online modes? Will there be a larger number of franchises represented? Find that out and more in the video interview above.
This isn’t the entire story, though. For a more Sonic centric interview, check out Nuckles87’s interview over at Sonic Stadium!
Yesterday it was the announcement, preview and podcast. Today: concept art! Thanks to French gaming site console-toi.fr comes a collection of artworks from the Panzer Dragoon and Monkey Ball tracks. They also released a few new screens including a look at the back of B.D. Joe’s vehicle in flight. Fun fact: some screens have a “ASN” label. This refers to the game’s internal name “All-Stars Next”. Check out the concept art, and new screens, after the break!
Eurogamer has a preview of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed that I highly recommend you read. It’s very well written and pretty effectively illustrates the struggles many arcade racer developers are having today, and how much of a unique case the success of the original Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is.
The article also has loads of new info, which I’ve reported below:
The game has 27 characters. This is 7 more than the last game, not counting console specific characters.
A WiiU release cannot be confirmed or denied. I personally am quite confident we’ll see it at E3, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
The development team has been expanded, taking in people from two recently closed British game development studios that specialize in arcade racing titles: Bizarre Creations, the people responsible for Project Gotham Racing, The Club, and Blur, as well as people from Black Rock, creators of Split/Second. Gareth Wilson, whom we met at the press event in San Francisco, is one of those people. He came from Bizarre Creations and has games like Project Gotham 2-4 as well as Blur under his belt.
And the All-Stars news continues! Remember the Jet Set Radio graffiti contest Sega mentioned awhile back? Now, it will extend into Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed as Sega has just announced a Jet Set Radio level for that game. So all you budding artists now have a second chance to get your work in a SEGA game this year! Get your canvas out and start making a masterpiece.
Today, Sega has officially announced that Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed is coming to PS3, 360, Vita, 3DS and other consoles this fall. The “Transformed” subtitle refers to the fact that your vehicle transforms into other modes depending on what kind of track you’re racing onto. This includes the traditional road track, a water/river track that changes your vehicles into a watercraft, or the not-so friendly skies where your vehicle turns into a plane for some air combat racing. There are 16 brand new and unique courses to race on and several classic Sega IP’s will make their first appearance in this game. This goes from a glorious Panzer Dragoon track to Vyse from Skies of Arcadia as a new racer.
Both me and Nuckles87 got to check out the game last week in San Fransisco. You can check his hands-on over at Sonic Stadium or just stay here and check out my own preview. On top of that, we got me, Nuckles87 and Sven Joscylene from Sonic Stadium and Spong on a brand-new Sonic Talk later today for a one-hour special all about the game AND a video interview with Sumo Digital’s own Joe Neat tomorrow. Do we love you guys or what?! Not enough? Click the link to check out screenshots of the game! Our coverage is gonna set your heart racing!