Mike Hayes – Aliens: Colonial Marines to be top quality product


SEGA have been on the ropes with the development of Colonial Marines. Everyone thought it was a dead project but it is back. But will it be a shitty cash-in like other SEGA license games or a good product? Mike Hayes reassures you that they are trying to deliver a top quality product.

“As a general point, when you have a great licence, the amount you need to spend on marketing is significantly less. So the two balance each other out. But that’s independent of how much money you invest in the game, because we know how well tie-in licence games have gone recently, we have to create a game that stands on its own two feet. This is a quality-first approach.” – Mike Hayes, President of SEGA West

Another concerning factor is that Gear Box Software’s newest game, Duke Nukem Forever isn’t doing that great with the critics and seems to have disappointed fans that have waited 10+ years for the release of the game.

[Source:MCV]

Guess who is directing Rise of Nightmares!

[Ueda is on the left.]

Ryuta Ueda! Who is he you ask? Just a man that worked on games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Jet Set Radio and the first 3 Yakuza games. Pretty much classy stuff.

Not only is he directing the project, he is also writing scenarios, doing the artwork and more (so teases his facebook page).  So if you are a hardcore SEGA fan, this is a title you might want to keep a close eye on.

[Via: The Forums]

1up: Sonic games? Best post whiny video


Oh lawl, I get it. It’s a Sonic game, we best make a “funny video” slowly making fun of the quality in Sonic games. Yes, I know most of us aren’t into Mario & Sonic games, but are they the worst thing to happen to Sonic or even Mario? No.

Funny how this makes a site like 1up depressed, didn’t even seem like the person in the video even played the game before citing it as crap. Journalism. Didn’t they also announce like 3 Mario solo games at E3? No Mario video? Just Sonic?

Yeah, 1up isn’t going to be missed now that they got bought out by IGN.

Aliens: Colonial Marines – Destructoid Interview

Destructoid snagged a pretty informative interview with Brian Martel, Chief Creative Officer at Gearbox Software. In the interview they discuss key elements of the game itself (obviously) such as drop in/drop out Co-op gameplay and new Xeno types like ‘The Crusher’. They also discuss working with such talent as Ridley Scott.

Finally the attention turned to Nintendo’s new console the ‘Wii U’ and the ways it could enhance the Aliens: Colonial Marines experience. The interviewer suggests this might be the most compelling possible use of the Wii-U he has heard so far and I tend to agree. I haven’t see anything that makes me want to rush out and pick up Nintendo’s new console yet, no not even that Zelda tech demo! However the idea of using the controller screen to view the motion tracker, security cameras, hacking mini games or say, my own idea; to see through allies’ head cams would be totally awesome, even more so when they get killed and it snaps to static.

P.S Why does everyone rag on Alien3 like it was a terrible movie? It wasn’t a classic but as far as horror movies go it was pretty cool! Alien Resurrection on the other hand…

7th Dragon 2020 Trailer – Kill All Dragons or Die

Check out this trailer for 7th Dragon 2020. The original 7th Dragon on the DS was quite a fun little game. In traditional old school JRPG style you had to travel the land with a party of warriors killing the seven dragons which ruled it. Of course that’s a very simplified version of the tale as I don’t speak/read a lick of Japanese.

The game was headed by Rieko Kodama (Also credited as Phoenix Rie, or Phoenix in some of her early work.) Kodama has worked on many JRPGs including Phantasy Star and my personal favourite, Skies of Arcadia.

7th Dragon 2020 is heading to the PSP in Japan this year.

Yuji Naka working on a fishing game with Namco Bandai

Famitsu has revealed a new fishing game being done at Namco Bandai. In the write up, they say that the producer is none other than Yuji Naka. Well, isn’t that something. The game is obviously set to appear on the Nintendo Wii.
The game will take the player to tropical island resorts, jungle lakes and other watery locations to catch over 200 fish and collect over 1,000 items. Included in the game are penguins, because Naka loves those little guys.

Didn’t know there was a huge market for fishing games, but just gives you a little hope for a Big the Cat fishing game from SEGA.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Mike Hayes: Sonic 4 Episode 2 will be “excellent”

Though it’s been said before, it never hurts to hear it again. SEGA of America and Europe president Mike Hayes has recently said that the company has heard the voices of fans who were disappointed with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, and that he believes Episode 2 will take these opinions into account and be “excellent.”

“I know there were some quality issues that we had there that we’ve taken on board and there will be further episodes following up on that. I think the next one’s excellent. I think that’s going to overcome some of the issues that we had on the first one.”

Nothing about Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 was present at either E3 or Sonic Boom; Probably SEGA’s hoping to keep everyone’s attention this year on Sonic Generations. If Episode 2 controls similarly to Sonic Generations’ classic Sonic stages, I’m sure (rational) fans will be much happier with it than they were with Episode 1.

[Source: ScrewAttack]

SEGA confirms Sonic Generations demo


You know you all want to play Sonic Generations and now it’s been confirmed by Takashi Iizuka at the Sonic Boom fan event that that there will be a demo.

I think we all expected a demo and I assume the demo will be the Green Hill Zone stage with classic and modern gameplay. Whatever stage they choose, it will be awesome.

[Via: Sonic Stadium]

Binary Domain confirms Kinect support


I’m still on the edge about voice commands in video games. The reason? They never work out and are just stupid concepts. Regardless of how I feel about this, Nagoshi’s newest title will have voice commands for squad members. If you have Kinect, you will be able to use that.

Oddly enough, Playstation Eye, which also has a microphone, has not been confirmed to be supported.

[Source: Joystiq]

Sonic Generations – City Escape Interview & Walkthrough

So this is pretty awesome, GameSpot snagged a nice long interview with ‘new guy’ (yeah, I’ll learn your name in due time… When you live up to Aaron and Ken!) and the game director Hiroshi Miyamoto.

You can see the entire walkthrough of Green Hill Zone and City Escape in both modern and classic gameplay. It looks pretty great! Part one is above and hit the jump to see part 2!

Overkill: Extended Cut to get 60% more content

The port of the highly successful The House of the Dead: Overkill is to get a large amount of new content. Destructoid confirms that the Extended Cut is due to not only have new levels as confirmed beforehand, but new zombies, weapons, and even audio tracks. There has also been a new mini-game added that occurs during cutscenes. It is safe to assume that those who are thinking of double dipping for this version can be justified in knowing that they will not be buying the same game twice.

[Source: Destructoid]

Sony dates rest of the Genesis PSN releases

Awhile back SEGA announced it would be releasing a collection of SEGA Genesis titles, mostly titles already out on XBLA.  If you are a Playstation Plus subscriber, these games where free. But since only Sonic and Sonic 2 have been released, when will the rest?

Playstation Plus:

  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Mar 1 – June 14 (out now obviously)
  • Streets of Rage 2: June 14 –July 12
  • Golden Axe 2: July 12 – August 9
  • Comix Zone: August 9 – September 6
  • Altered Beast: September 6 – October 4

If you don’t have Playstation Plus, here is the regular schedule. Playstation Plus basically get the games a week early.