Microsoft talks whether Sonic is a core game or casual


I have to disagree with this statement. I think the whole gaming industry has lost face on what is ‘core’, ‘casual’ and ‘non-gamer’. I think that casual games can be a good thing. I mean Space Channel 5 was always meant to be a casual game, so was NiGHTS and Puyo Puyo. Non-gamer games are those workout games, aiming to people that don’t have interest in playing games.

“If you think about a game like Sonic the Hedgehog, in the old days, would you say Sonic was a core game or a casual game? It’s a mix between both. There isn’t some complicated set of controls to learn but it has all the gameplay skill and depth. If we’d never heard of Sonic the Hedgehog…and I’m like ‘we’ve got this awesome game, you’re this little blue hedgehog and you’re running around collecting golden rings’ you’d be like ‘that’s not a core game, where are the games for the core?’, and yet Sonic was a core game.”Kudo Tsunoda, Microsoft

Sonic and Mario were never core, they are designed with massive appeal and that is OK. Not every game has to be core. If it is designed to please hardcore and the casual gamers, that is fine. That still makes it casual.

[Source: Kombo]

WnRful

SEGA’s PAX Party


Got some video from the event, which will be going up later, but I thought I’d post the picture above just to illustrate the awesomeness. Unfortunately, the lighting screwed this group pic to hell.

This is the Squad 7 cosplay group.  SEGA moderator STH met them at this years Sakuracon, and they came to Seattle specifically for this party! They are an awesome bunch of folks to, I might add. People have apparently even confused them for official SEGA cosplayers!

Latest SEGA trademarks: War Begins

SEGA has filed for four new trademarks. These are  mostly in Japanese and could be used for upcoming projects. Sometimes they are never used, so you never know.

  • 商願2010-056172 FINAL SHOWDOWN
  • 商願2010-057113 §ダイバ写真館\むちゃプリ
  • 商願2010-057457 WAR BEGINS
  • 商願2010-059134 §★GET TENKA★GET∞れき し たい せん\歴史大戦\ゲッテンカ\天下一バトルロイヤル∞て ん か いち

Final Showdown? Could this be related to Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown?

[Thanks: Pao]

Unannounced Phantasy Star Online project in development


Seems that all the puzzle pieces are falling into place. Satoshi Sakai has recently teased that there is more than just Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity in development for PSO’s 10th year anniversary. The tease comes from Japanese magazine Dengkei Playstation.

“(Infinity) not the only PSO 10th anniversary project.”

Given that SEGA has renewed PSO2.jp domain, Sakai has teased about a new console online Phantasy Star game before, I’m pretty sure its coming. If it does come, I hope PC, PS3 and 360 gamers can play together. Please?

[Thanks: Shadiwulf]

The Conduit 2 fact sheet (What you need to know)

Here is a fact sheet about the upcoming (and recently delayed) Conduit 2. Ignore my silly fact above, that is sadly not on the list. Read on to learn all the ‘facts’ about Conduit 2.

Conduit 2 Fact Sheet – Launch Date: 2011, Players: 1-12

Set moments after the explosive finale of The Conduit, Agent Michael Ford finds himself thrust once again into the machinations of the sinister and enigmatic John Adams and his Trust organization. After uncovering and partially thwarting Adam’s fabricated alien invasion, Ford and the alien entity Prometheus set out to end the Trust’s control in an adventure spanning the globe. New and improved weapons and enemies, competitive modes playable both online and in the same room via splitscreen make the follow-up to the best shooter on the Wii a can’t miss experience.

HVS Working on Captain America For Wii

Sorry, tried to find a funnier pic, but this'll work.

I did an interview with Conduit 2’s Creative Director for the website Conduit Portal, and gave me a bit of info: High Voltage Software is working on the game adaption for Captain America: The First Avenger for the Wii.

SEGA was apparently happy with what they did with Iron Man 2, and are giving them much more freedom with this game. You can expect some further details, along with a whole load of details regarding HVS and their work with SEGA, when the interview is released in the next few days.

SEGA teasing Black Rock Shooter RPG?

If you don’t know what Black Rock Shooter is, it sounds like some Western game, but its very Japanese. Black Rock Shooter is a anime OVA, that began life as a fan made Vocaloid song. Above is the teaser from the site. It translates to:

She becomes RPG

2032 A.D.

Mankind was destroyed.

Before she wakes up.

She becomes RPG

Maybe this is SEGA trying their luck with girly character anime games? They did have success with Miku PSP game and have that K-on game coming out. Could this be by Red Entertainment?

[Source: Teaser Site]
[Thanks: Sieghardt]

Aliens: Colonial Marines still in the works says Gearbox


Aliens: Colonial Marines has been said to be alive by Gearbox president Randy Pitchfork, who already confirmed back in February that the game was back in development. But after it missed E3 and when they announced that they where doing Duke Nukem: Forever at PAX, I just assumed the project was dead. Not so it seems.

“Earlier this week, I was down in San Francisco and I had lunch with the head of Sega of America and he is committed to this. And we’re going to make this awesome. I know it’s been awhile since the announcement first happened that we’re in for Aliens. I promise you it will not take as long as Duke Nukem Forever. We’re not going to let this dream die, it’s going to happen.”

I hope that Gearbox does not stretch itself too much. They talked about a new Brothers in Arms, new Borderlands game and a unannounced game. Quality over quantity.

[Source: Joystiq]
[Thanks: Revenge of JM]

Sonic Colors – Act 1 Planet Wisp complete playthrough [update]

Kotaku had SEGA America community manager Aaron Webber play through the first act of Planet Wisp for them at PAX. This video is a change of pace from other Sonic Colors gameplay videos as of recently. RubyEclipse is an expert at this game. As you can see from the gameplay footage, Sonic Colors looks a lot like Sonic Unleashed.

[Source: Kotaku AU]

Edit: Here is another video, it is much clearer in quality but the player isn’t as good. Hit the jump to see it.

Explanation of the Emergency Maintenance

Hey everyone. Sorry about the emergency maintenance. We realized that WP-united was creating duplicate user accounts in wordpress for no reason at all. So I had to go through the user mapping tool and break all the integration on the duplicate accounts and then delete all the duplicate accounts while integrating the real accounts.

Then after that I had to go and link all the newly posted articles to their rightful author. I can’t link comments to a specific author, so all comments that have been made on the new posts since the site relaunch say “UNREGISTERED”. Just wanted to let you guys know about that.

Hopefully this error doesn’t happen again, seeing as I have all current accounts integrated. Sorry if this downtime caused any inconvenience!

Pre-order Vanquish at Zavvi and get a lenticular sleeve

Pre-order Vanquish at UK retailer Zavvi for the price of £28.99 and get an awesome lenticular sleeve with your pre-order!  This deal applies to both the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. Why does SEGA Europe always have the best pre-order offers? SEGA America never gives us people living in the America’s anything good!

Hit the Jump to see the sleeve in action!

We could be seeing Sakura Wars at TGS


People want a new Sakura Wars game and it seems that the series developer, Red Entertainment, has something to announce soon. They updated their blog with a hint about a TGS announcement.

“The next time I handle the blog, I believe I will, for the first time in a while, be able to have a splendid announcement.”

The splendid announcement could be something else besides a new Sakura Wars. Even if its a new game, I doubt it will be released here. I head “Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love” didn’t do so hot.

[Source: AndriaSang]

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