News

Mario & Sonic platformer never happened due to internal disagreement

by

When we where kids, growing up in the 16-bit era, we always took sides with either Sonic or Mario. But deep down inside, we always wanted to see them do a game together, an awesome platformer. Then SEGA announced Mario & Sonic Olympic series, making people angry. But why not make a platformer game?

“Prior to this project there has always been a discussion between Nintendo and Sega about bringing Sonic and Mario together somehow. But every time we talked about it, there was an issue as to exactly how we could achieve that.

These characters come from two totally different backgrounds, and have completely different worlds. If you do any kind of collaboration, you can’t just get them to run on one of the Sonic stages or vice versa. You have to create something from scratch, a neutral location. Nintendo and SEGA never managed to agree on just where or what kind of universe we could set a Mario and Sonic adventure in.

Then, some time ago, SEGA secured a license to create games based on the Olympics. At that point I came up with the idea of having Mario and Sonic compete with each other in the Olympic games setting. We proposed that idea to Nintendo and they were really positive and interested in the idea, so that is where we started building it into a concrete game proposal.” – Osamu Ohash, Producer.

Very interesting, minigames seem to be the easiest way to cash in on the brand names.

[Source: Spong]

16 Comments

SEGA: No plans for a full SEGA Rally brand revival

by

With SEGA announcing SEGA Rally Online Arcade for Xbox Live and PSN, the he question from fans has been; is SEGA trying to revive the brand and release a new console version of the game like 2007’s SEGA Rally Revo?

“Sega constantly wrestles with what existing IP we should try and reignite. We did a pretty good job with Sega Rally back in 2007, but it came out at a time when the consumer was moving away from driving games in general. There’s a bit of a resurgence in those games – I’ve got to say Codemasters did a brilliant job with F1 2010, it was first-class – and therefore, is it a viable market? We’re constantly looking at it.”

“Have we got any plans for Sega Rally on any platform at the moment? The answer is no. But we constantly review those IPs to see if we can reinvent them. A lot of it is dependent on what those platforms can do. And of course the cost of development.” – Mike Hayes, SEGA West CEO

It is too bad to see, but at least we are getting a digital title for now. One of the complaints for SEGA Rally Revo was that it didn’t have enough content for most racing fans, so maybe releasing the franchise as a XBLA/PSN title is a smarter choice.

[Source: Eurogamer]

No Comments

SEGA: UK studios are ‘the bedrock of our business’

by

It’s no secret that Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive are successful studios, but they still seem to surprise SEGA.

“Our UK internal studios are probably the bedrock of our business. For the second year both Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly are outperforming their business plans from a profitability perspective. These guys are on top of the game, it’s a real testimony to the games they make.” – Gary Dunn, SEGA Europe VP of production

If only SEGA could emulate this and get a few good American developers under their belt. SEGA has said they will try to focus on improving SEGA America, we will have to see what they have planned.

[Source: GoNintendo]

2 Comments

Renegade Ops – Gameplay trailer!

by

Anyone else getting serious flashbacks to the mid 90’s whilst watching this? The gameplay in Sega & Avalanche Studios’ new digital download game Renegade Ops takes me right back to games like ‘Jackle’ for the NES or ‘Desert Strike’ for the Genesis in everything but the absolutely beautiful graphics!

I think this is one of the best-looking downloadable titles I’ve seen in a while! I really like the way the Jeep appears to handle, it reminds me of the Halo Warthog, awesome!

3 Comments

SEGA Brisbane working on a new game

by

SEGA Brisbane, formerly Creative Assembly Australia, has revealed that they are indeed working on a new game and that ever since the critically panned Stormrise, the team has been invested in heavily for higher standards. Speaking during an interview, SEGA Vice-President of Production Gary Dunn said;

“Suffice to say since Stormrise’s completion, the studio down under has been heavily invested in, entirely new leadership team from the likes of EA, Ubisoft… the people who made Stormrise aren’t the people who populate, at least the leadership, that studio. There’s a new set of standards in place, they’re doing a very different game”

But the interview itself is a fairly long and details more than just one branch of Creative Assembly and goes on to talk about the new Alien title and how the team wanted to work on it soon after completing Viking. Well worth a read for anyone who are interested in either title. To read the full interview, click on the link below.

[Source: Strategy Informer]

5 Comments

First Wii/3DS Screens of Mario & Sonic London Olympics!

by

Usually screens of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games wouldn’t excite me too much. But color me surprised when I caught a glimpse of the first screens to be released and I got… a little excited! That was probably due to spotting one of my favorite 3D Sonic stages, Windy Valley of Sonic Adventure, returning as the location of a Dream Event. On the Mario side of things we have a 2D remake of Yoshi’s Story, which makes me hopeful that we’ll see some 2D Sonic stages return.

After the break, check out more screens and a link to an early preview of the games.

Continue Reading ➜

Ywf kbtBIT wH djCxHrU

8 Comments

Aaron Webber on GameSpot. More Hints at Sonic Boom Event

by

Aaron Webber was recently on Gamespot’s Daily Demo. He discussed Sonic Generations for awhile and also talked about the upcoming Sonic Boom event on June 8th at Club Nokia. Some hints of what to be expected include “Musical Guests” and “stars from Sonic’s history”.

As always we’ll keep you informed as more details of this event emerge.

No Comments

Virtua Fighter gets El Shaddai crossover

by

[Example: Jean’s title says “Daijoubuda” (It’s okay) and Goh’s says “Mondainai” (No problem). Both popular El Shaddai phrases.]

SEGA and Ignition have struck up a deal for an odd crossover between El Shaddai and SEGA’s successful arcade fighter Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown.

The crossover will have some of El Shaddai’s most known phrases and when the user clears certain conditions in VF, you’ll unlock the phrases as titles (which appear under your character’s picture).

Never heard of the “El Shaddai” franchise, so I did a quick google search. Hey Ignition, this crossover already worked, since you got +1 more person google searching your game.

[Source: AndriaSang]

2 Comments

SEGA Recycles 79% of 16-bit compilations

by

Sega is readying themselves to re-re-re-release another bunch of 16-bit classics, which prompted Sega-16’s Ken Horowitz to compile a list of games all 3 current gen compilations (Sega Genesis Collection, Sonic Ultimate Collection & the upcoming Gold Collection) share.

It is intresting to note how oddly some titles have been dropped in future compilations for example Streets of Rage 3 is absent in the Gold Collection.

Horowitz also provides his own analysis as to why there is so much redundancy in the compilations and ends his post with something SEGA fans would love…

Give us collections featuring 32x & CD games!

Check out his insightful feature over here.
Check out the list of games here

5 Comments

Next Shining game’s marketing assets leaked?

by


According to AndriaSang, these images have popped up online and have been touted as being marketing assets for the next Shining game that SEGA has teased. They say it is probably fake, but since we run rumors here, why not see them over.

According to the assets the code name for the game is “Gensou no Lorelei.” The background story revolves around the empire of Dragonia stealing the spirit power and sending the world into chaos. Not very original, but hit the jump to find out more.

Continue Reading ➜

12 Comments

Virtua Tennis 4 – Gameplay Trailer

by

That boat stage is absolutely beautiful, very blue, very Sega.

I stand by what I’ve said time and time again; there is no better tennis series than Virtua Tennis! Whilst VT2009 kind of dropped the ball. (Pun, lol) the other games in the series have all been really very good, including the amazing Dreamcast games and VT:World Tour on the PSP.

Virtua Tennis 4 is just as good, if not better! The world tour mode has been revamped and is really something special, and whilst the Kenect controls are a bit hit and miss, the Move controls are perfect and beat Top Spin’s efforts hands down.

Then there is the always welcome, always great fun mini games that for someone like me who isn’t a big fan of tennis add so much to the package and is fun to play with the girlfriend and family.

1 Comment

Aliens: Colonial Marines coming this November?

by


Jesus, how many times have I reported about this game making an appearance in the last 3 years and it never showed up? Frankly I’m tired of talking about it, want to see it actually be shown. SEGA has been tight lipped about this title and it might be their E3 surprise.

The ‘release’ date this time around comes from Gamestop, saying it will come out on November 12th. I see this as a retailer just taking an educated guess. They also listed Binary Domain as coming out this year, when SEGA already said early 2012. So I wouldn’t get excited at all about this news.

[Source: Eurogamer]

NZKyb rDiHRYcaVhfbJQ

1 Comment

SEGA has 20 games to release on 3DS

by

Well, that is what the new financial results sheet lead us to believe. But is this 20 retail games? Not very likely. SEGA has said they are thinking of releasing less games to retail and since they hardly release 20 games for a single platform, much less a new one, I don’t see this happening.

So why list 20? Simple, there is such a thing as digital downloads. I think SEGA will be hitting us with some of the Game Gear sweetness. Who knows, might throw in some SEGA Genesis in there, you know they love to re-release those.

[Source: Siliconera]

6 Comments

Binary Domain to be playable at E3

by

SEGA and Microsoft had a retail meeting on Friday, in Japan. One of the things that leaked out from the meeting was the confirmation that Binary Domain would have a playable build at E3.

Will the game live up to our hype? We shall see, since we will be at E3 this year writing up articles about games you care about. Hey SEGA, how about hooking us up with an interview with Nagoshi?

[Source: Andriasang]

No Comments