Sonic 4: Episode 2 gets South Korean rating

So a South Korean rating board has now leaked the rating for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. What does this mean? It means that it is coming very soon. You can see a picture of the rating here.

It seems that SEGA’s Ken Balough is also teasing the game. Saying they will talk about it more once Sonic CD is released. Come on SEGA, don’t just drop digital titles, do some online promotion through your community team and other sites to promote it. Hey, we are a site that would love to get some hands on with the next Sonic 4 episode (wink, wink).

Binary Domain – Japanese Gameplay Trailer

Every time I see more of Binary Domain I think it looks better and better. I’m surprised at the lack of hype surrounding this game considering it’s a third person shooter. But it wouldn’t be a great Sega game if everyone wasn’t ignoring it!

Renegade Ops vehicle pack coming to PSN next week


If you bought Renegade Ops back in September, as part of Sony’s PLAY Program, you should be getting messages on your PSN about the upcoming Vehicle Pack add-on.

I assume this vehicle pack will later be released on Xbox Live and for the rest of the PSN users that didn’t buy Renegade Ops the first week it was out. But as of right now, no news.

European PSN members can get Sonic Generations and free Sonic CD theme

That is right, the downloadable version of Sonic Generations has hit the European PSN. For those Sonic games that refuse to go into a store and purchase the game, you will be able to pick it up now for £31.99/€39.99. The game is pretty big, weighing in at 8704MB.

But if you don’t have money, don’t get sad. SEGA has released a free Sonic CD XMB theme. The theme is basically Metal Sonic and Sonic racing through Stardust Speedway. The theme will change from good to bad versions. Pretty neat.

SEGA to have upcoming games playable at Jump Festa


SEGA will have the majority of their handheld titles (and one arcade title) playable at Jump Festa. Check out the list of playable titles.

  • Samurai & Dragons (Vita)
  • Shining Blade (PSP)
  • Rhythm Thief R (3DS)
  • Hatsune Miku and Future Stars Project Mirai (3DS)
  • Hatsune Miku Project Diva Arcade (Arcade)
By the time that the show starts, Puyo Puyo will already be out (comes out 12/15). As for Project Diva Arcade, this one is already out  in game centers. Everything else is a 2012 title.
So what do you get for playing unreleased games? Free swag. Isn’t that awesome? If you live in Japan, the event will start on December 17th and end on the 18th at the Makuhari Messe outside of Tokyo.

Yakuza social game might be headed to a smart phone near you


GREE platform, a mobile social gaming company that brought hit games to cell phone is moving its operations world wide. On the site they said they will expand their business to iOS and Android devices. They announced Seven major publishers who are joining, one of those publishers being SEGA.

Here is the less exciting news, some of the publishers listed their games as Japan only. So Yakuza for GREE a Japan only title? Nope. But it isn’t confirmed to be coming West yet, it says “locations TBA.” Hit to the jump to see all the publishers involved and click here to see the product page.

The voice behind City Escape!

Ain’t it awesome? =3 Ted Poley has released a behind the scenes video of him recording his beautiful voice for City Escape.

This is my holiday gift to the gamers out there, this is from my own private collection. this is a full take all the way through of a recent session to re-do the song ESCAPE FROM THE CITY as a tribute to the 20th anniversary of Sonic. Some,or most of this “take” made the final cut. Its not as easy as it looks, it took many hours to prep and rehearse so that i could nail it in the studio while the clock was ticking,plus, i wrote the lyrics so i was very familiar with the song….this gives a rare behind the scenes look at what it takes to get it right,this was the final take so there are some other vocals already on the track that you will hear leaking out from my headphones. I wrote the lyrics and a brand new bridge section for this new version, and Tony Harnell came in later and sang also. please visit www.tedpoley.com and buy my greatest hits cd and also check out my new video BREATHE right here on youtube.you can buy the BREATHE single on itunes. someday i hope to play in japan with Jun Senoue who produced this song and we will play the many songs we have done for SEGA together live.

Famitsu Reveals – Samurai and Dragons for Vita

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:

Let’s Go to the “Sonic Generation” Art Show in Philadelphia!

When Gagaman of SEGA Memories wrote about the “Sonic Generation” fan art show in Philadelphia, PA, I knew I had to make the long trek to check it out. Grabbing my old near-broken digital camera (my new one is being repaired), I headed out into the tepid weather and braved the 9 minute subway ride to the Brave New Worlds comic book shop. The show, which is actually rather small despite the spiffy website, features various renditions of Sonic, Tails and Eggman from a variety of artists. Located in the outer lobby of Brave New Worlds, the gallery takes up what usually would have been a blank wall.

Click here for photos and more!

Binary Domain – Japanese Story Trailer 3

Here’s another story trailer for Binary Domain, it’s in Japanese so I can’t say much about it but I’m glad to see it looks as though it’s going to have a pretty deep plot which is what I’ve come to expect from Nagoshi and his new Yakuza Team.

I really hope this game does well for Nagoshi- he really needs to break into the West with both this and Yakuza but to be honest I don’t see a lot of hype around Binary Domain so I’m not convinced. Which is a shame, the guy can’t seem to catch a break.

Binary Domain is a Squad Based shooter Created by the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. (Yakuza)
The game is planned for a world-wide release on February 2012 for PS3 and Xbox360.

[Thanks Suzuki Yu]

Sonic’s 20th anniversary nendoroid figure gets priced

We brought you the news that Good Smile Company would be making a nendoroid figure for Sonic’s 20th anniversary in Japan.

Now for what you all want to know. How much will this beautiful figure cost me? If you live in Japan it will cost you ¥3,500 (about $45 USD). If you live outside of Japan, you will be paying more for importing it. The figure comes with Sonic (you can pose him standing or running), item box, chaos emerald and point marker. When is it out? April 2012 is what Good Smile Company is aiming for. Check out the product page here.

VirtuaTennis – 10 Years Gone


It’s a decade since Vitua Tennis first graced the Dreamcast, it seems to me like it was only yesterday I was around my best friends house sitting in their mothers living room playing doubles on Virtua Tennis with his brother. Ah- those were the days!

A decade on and now we’re sitting in our living rooms still playing VT when the mood takes us! I think it says a lot when a person like me, who despises sport of all kind, can still get hours of fun out of a sports game and I’ve wasted many, many hours.

I’m pretty impressed that Sega put together a 40 minute documentary on the history of Virtua Tennis. This is how you celebrate one of your classic series, take note Nintendo!

Buy Crush 40’s “Song of Hope” on iTunes and help support Japan’s relief efforts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPF124mm-VA

Like what you heard? Then go buy it on iTunes. You should go buy it anyways, since it’s only 99 cents, and your purchase goes to help Japan’s relief efforts from the Earthquake / Hurricane. Hell, if I can afford it, so can you! Song of Hope is available in both Europe and the US on iTunes.

This isn’t your typical Crush 40 cheesy buttrock song, it actually sounds more like traditional rock, so I think more people will like it =)

Well, I was told that the money made off this song goes to Japan charities by someone, but now I’m not sure, I can’t find solid info anywhere about it. I don’t want to give you guys false info. If anyone could let us know in the comments section that would be great!

Sonic 20th Anniversary Soundtracks Now Available on iTunes

Today, Sega of Japan announced that the Sonic 20th Anniversary Soundtrack would be available on iTunes in Japan, Europe and The United States. The soundtracks include Sonic CD, Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 and Sonic Heroes. Also available are two Crush 40 albums including a “Best of” and Jun Senoue’s “The Works”. The albums are only $9.99 American so download now!