Super Monkey Ball 3DS Announcement Trailer

Check out the western announcement trailer for Super Monkey Ball 3DS! The trailer is all CGI and highlights the three games that will feature in Super Monkey Ball 3DS, classic Monkey Ball rolling, Monkey Fight and Monkey Race. There also seems to be a new bad guy on the block!

I’ve been a monkey ball fan since the first game but I’ve avoided the series since Monkey Ball Deluxe. This is due to the direction the series has taken, using the party games as more of a gimmick to show off a new control scheme instead of focusing on what’s important. Making fun, fleshed out games.

Super Monkey Ball 3DS seems to have returned to the ‘quality over quantity’ notion, and Monkey Fight and Monkey Race, two of my favourite party games, have returned,  although they seem to have new gameplay mechanics. But unfortunately my favourite party game of the lot, Monkey Target is absent!

Pakistani McDonalds Ad Featuring Sonic Heroes

Kotaku Wrote:

You may have seen these cheap LCD games offered as McDonalds Happy Meal toys before. They’ve been run in several territories around the world. But you’ve never seen them advertised like they were in Pakistan.

Back in 2004, what must surely be one of the world’s least popular McDonalds outlets tried a unique method of selling the Sonic games: making an animated commercial that looks like it was made by a 12-year-old. In 1994.

Oh, and Rouge the Bat is naked. Creepy.

I have a few of these McDonald games still lying around (they were given away free with Happy Meals, I suppose that is the drill across the world), I don’t remember seeing this advertisement though. The advert has surprisingly poor production values and is entirely the fault of McDonalds, since SEGA has no presence in our country. This commercial marks the first and last time a SEGA game (or endorsed) product was marketed and distributed in Pakistan.

For Kotaku’s information, McDonalds is comparatively more popular in Karachi than it is in America, I am not sure but we definitely have more than 20 McDonalds outlets in my city alone.

Conduit 2 trailer shows off weapons


Seems that the weapons for Conduit 2 will be a mash up of other weapons found in popular FPS games, not that this is a bad thing. We have a gravity gun looking weapon and the “see enemies & shoot them behind walls” gun that was in Resistance 2, might have been in more games.

I thought the game was out next month but it seems to be delayed till March. This game best be awesome.

[Source: SEGA PR]
[Video uploaded by GoNintendo]

Some awesome looking custom SEGA consoles

What is better than a SEGA Genesis and Dreamcast? Custom ones that feature your favorite franchises. Here are four, all by the same artist. If you want to check out his site, click here.

Wish he would have done a custom SEGA Saturn, but this is pretty awesome.

[Via: Destructoid]

Sonic 2 HD is looking awesome, teaser trailer released


The team behind Sonic 2 HD are almost ready to release the alpha build, so to tease the internet they have decided to make one of those teaser trailers that everyone likes.

The game is going to stay ‘true’ to the original and keep the physics, which most Sonic fans seem to like. Should be a solid release, but you have to question why SEGA, a big company, can’t put out a product like this? It isn’t like Sonic games don’t sell…

[Source: YouTube]

So how well is Virtua Fighter 5 doing in the arcades?

Recently Tekken producer, Katsuhiro Harada, put up a scan of the latest Amusement Journal to show off that Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion was number one. Screw that, what about Virtua Fighter?

Virtura Fighter 5 R came in 5th place and Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown came in at 14th place. This might seem bad, but if you combined the earnings of both titles as one it would come in at a solid 3rd place. R came out in February 2008, so the title is going to be 3 years old soon. While Final Showdown came out in July of last year.

Shows how much more popular Tekken is, since Bloodline Rebellion version came out in December of 2008.

[Source: VFDC]

Sonic 4 premium theme hitting PSN on Janurary 18th


So basically the next PSN store update will include a Sonic 4 premium theme. Premium themes on the PS3 are basically moving themes, they are rather cool, at least some are.

This one will have Sonic in Splash Hill Zone, with Sonic jumping around in the level and then Dr. Robotnik will fly by every now and then. This theme will be FREE if you are a Playstation Plus member (or sign up this month), $2.99 if you aren’t.

[Source: Sonic City Blognik]

Space Channel 5: Part 2 achievements revealed

[Achievement unlock: Super Sexy!]

The guys over at SEGAOnline got their hands on the copy of Space Channel 5 Part 2’s achievements. I assume that the retail collection & PSN version will be exactly the same.

I know that Microsoft has released a disc based compilation of XBLA games and the achievements appear the same as the ‘downloaded’ titles.

Hit the jump to see the list.

Yakuza of the End now featuring celebrity zombies

SEGA held a press confress to announce 3 celebrity zombies that you will be able to find in Yakuza of the End.

The three zombies are:

  • Esper Ito – A Japanese comedian, considered to be one of the funniest. More info.
  • David Ito – David is an actor, mostly famous for his appearances in TV dramas. More info.
  • Terry Ito – Stage producer turned movie director. You can find more information here.

Three celebrities, with the same last name all turn into Zombies? Something is going on! Check out the rest of the screens below.

[Source: AndriaSang]

Total War Shogun 2: Campaign Trailer

Sega sure are releasing a lot of great trailers today! Four new Valkyria Chronicles 3 trailers, two must see Yakuza Of the End trailers and now it is the turn of Total War: Shogun 2.

Another game that just keeps looking better, Shogun 2 is set to be the pinnacle of strategy gaming in 2011. With a return to the roots of the series, not only with the setting and era but a return to the sword based combat which made the series so great to begin with. This makes many Total War fans very happy, including myself!

The game has been refined in many areas not least the multiplayer mode which has really been fleshed out for the first time in a Total War game. The Multiplayer section of Shogun 2 could easily be a stand alone game. In multiplayer you build your own general and compete to be the ultimate ruler of Japan, the Shogun! At the end of each month the overall winner is given the golden shogun armour for bragging rights. Only one person in the whole world may wear this per month! Sounds fun!

Two new Yakuza: Of the End Trailers – Amazing!

With every new trailer and every new bit of information we come across the crazy Yakuza spin off title ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku: Of the End’ AKA ‘Yakuza: Of the End’ just looks better and better.

I hope with this title the series starts to get the recognition it deserves in the West because Sega pulled off a pretty amazing feet putting out a Yakuza game the size of any good RPG pretty much year on year and each time it has got better and better with the exception of Yakuza 3 which didn’t quite live up to the events of Yakuza 2, story wise in my opinion. With this and the English release of Yakuza 4 I’m going to be deep in the Japanese underworld all year in 2011!

Hit the Jump for trailer two!

Aaron Webber: Say My Name, Say My Name

To thank those who bought multiple versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, Ken Balough (Digital Brand Manager, Sonic 4) and Aaron Webber (Community Manager, Sonic 4) issued a little thank you video. As a nice surprise, they revealed that the public thanking would not be limited to those who bought three or more versions of the game. Instead, they would thank every single person who put their name into True Blue initiative. At 1:35 you’ll see and hear Aaron Webber saying my name as he looks deeply into the camera. No doubt hoping that I heard his thanks. Well Aaron, your thanks has been heard. And in return I say: thank you too!